Yesterday I was sitting in my Jeep parked in a parking lot, had the surfboards strapped to the top, and was waiting for Emily to get out of her class so we could go surfing. A homeless person walked by and stared at me for a moment (me thinking “oh great here we go”), then he asked…”What do i have to do?…Look at you, you have the jeep, the surfboards…”. After asking that he stared at me some more waiting for an answer…but i had a hard time figuring out what to say. I told him some bullshit like “keep trying” and he went on with his way.
That bugged me later on and had me thinking about what one “has to do” to be successful (i.e., have enough money to buy an old jeep and some crappy used surf boards).
My conclusion and what I should have said to the homeless guy:
You have to figure out a way to contribute to society. The more valuable your contribution, the more money you will make. Value in this case is determined by supply and demand. The more unique your skills and talents (provided they are in demand), the better off you will be. That is why someone who works at McDonalds (a job anyone can do) makes a fraction of someone who is an air traffic controller, java programmer, or famous musician (in-demand jobs very few can do).
Its a pretty obvious and well covered subject, but once given some thought on my own, thats my conclusion. Hopefully, homeless dude in search of some advise, this will find you someday when you’re surfing the internet at the public library and it will help you find your way to a financially stable life.
your 4th paragraph is a fiction, ideology at its best and likely believing it in some form is what brought about the condition of the homeless many. value is not set by a market except in conditions of deficit, what it is set by is culture and more importantly expectations and thus marketing. it is as such about appropriate appearance combined with performance, and mixed with marketing, that perpetrates systems of valuing certain commodities and certain forms of labor.