Quote:
Originally posted by polish_aristocrat
It is often hard to understand for people outside the US, but following this board closely gives you a good picture of that.
In the US people are very competive and they work hard.
In rest of the world, people don't like taking risk, they want safety most of all and prefer to have more spare time rather than making more money.
Furthermore, in the US, someone who is succesfull is admired by other people. They work hard and want to achieved what he had achieved.
In the rest of the world, people who are succesfull are often perceived as thiefes and in some countries you even feel guilty if you make lots of money.
Just an observation - these are good known facts but this board proves them.
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What you just described does not make up the vast majority of America. So many middle-class Americans will openly tell you that they're content and happy to live a middle class existance - they'd like to be rich if it's given to them, but for the most part, most will not take the initiative to make things happen. They watch TV shows like "Who wants to be a millionaire" because they like to live vicariously through those who are successful rather than becoming successful. They play the lottery every day because they think they have to be "lucky" to get rich, and it could never happen to them otherwise. They think credit is free money, and when they finally get so far in debt they claim bankruptcy and ask the government to bail them out. They believe the road to happiness is through hard work, but then only complain about doing it. Middle america is largely competitive with sports, not work.
There are obvious exceptions, but this is largely the America I have observed, and I've lived here all my life.