Revealing The 10 Ways The System Programs You To Be Poor
The system is built to keep you poor. From the education system to respecting authorities to never learning personal finance, here are ten ways the system programs you to be poor from birth.
Are you wondering why you struggle to get ahead? Why does modern society seem crazy all the time? Why does most of what is taught in the education system not prepare students to have a future? Here is a look at ten ways society has programmed you to be poor.
Lack Of Knowledge
Some of life's most important aspects are never discussed in the education system, from high school to college: personal finance, starting a business, and how to build wealth.
The education system's goal is not to help students succeed in life. It is to make students into obedient, non-critical-thinking employees. Employees do as they are told. They accept what they are given without question. Employees are passive.
The education system teaches the passive mentality. Study this book. Take this test. Do well. Receive a reward. Do poorly. No reward. Feel bad since your future depends on your grades in school.
This is Pavlovian conditioning. Pain. Reward. Fear
It is then encouraged in the workplace. Obey. Receive a better title or more pay. Do not obey. Get demoted or fired.
I believed that college was a requirement for success for a long time. The librarians would make fun of me. I would study for forty or more hours a week at the same desk in the library. At one point, the librarians joked that they should make a sign for the library desk that read “James’ Study Desk.” All of that time was spent studying was nothing. It did not help me anyway with what I do now.
Related - 12 Reasons Why Young People Should Not Go To College
Told Told To Keep Up With The Joneses
People are then told to keep up with the Joneses. They want what others have, even if they cannot afford it. The result is many people go into debt to appear rich when they are, in fact, poor.
Just because someone lives in a nice house or drives a nice car does not mean they are well off. Many people live beyond their means. They spend more money than they earn, so they go into debt. The same is true for people who live within their means.
People are encouraged to want to buy the latest gadget, the biggest house, and the fanciest car even if they cannot afford it.
Related - 3 Common Mindsets
Victim And Fixed Mindsets
People are raised from a young age through the education system, friends, and the media to have a victim or a fixed mindset. People are taught to blame other people. Not to take responsibility for their own lives.
The victim mindset always blames other people. It trains people to think everything is the fault of someone or something else. A victim mindset prevents people from taking responsibility for their lives.
The fixed mindset worries about fear. Someone with a fixed mindset will worry that a project is not perfect. Everything must be perfect. Perfectionism hinders them from completing tasks and reaching goals.
Short-Term Thinking
People are taught to think short term. Social media and short-form content encourage this type of thinking. Rather than thinking long-term, people want everything today. Right now!
Short-term thinking results in being undisciplined. Short-term thinking leads to being unable to set goals.
Start to think long-term. Set goals. Create a strategy. Apply the resources you have available to reach your goals.
Conformity
People are encouraged to conform to trends, the latest things, and whatever people are doing around them. It feels good to be part of the in-crowd. The problem is that the in-group constantly changes. In most cases, the crowd is wrong.
What is popular continues to change. What is fashionable today will not be in a year or a decade from now. The cost of always wanting to fit includes spending money, time, and energy to keep up with what is presented as being popular.
It is best to go your own way. It is best to practice self-responsibility. It is best to invest in yourself.
Related - The Power Of Not Fitting In
Normalization Of Debt
Debt is the foundation of the financial system. It runs on debt. The dollar is a debt-based currency. The dollar in your wallet or bank account just is an IOU. It is an IOU because it acknowledges the debt that must be paid.
There are more types of consumer debt. Americans owe an estimated $17.06 trillion in consumer debt. Today writes that Common types of debt include:
College loans
Car loans
Mortgages
Credit card debt
Medical debt
Debt can become addictive. Incharge defines debt addiction:
“Debt addiction is a too-real condition in which incurring debt is a means of avoiding real issues and challenges in people’s personal lives.”
Conditioning
People are conditioned from birth to always pick a side: politics, sports, news sources, current events, and entertainment. All of those things distract you from working on yourself. The system tells you that you must pick a side on any issues. This is known as the black-and-white fallacy.
A third choice or not being interested at all are not options. Pick a side!
One of the most significant lies young people are told is that their twenties are for exploring and experimenting. It is a time for attending college and graduate school. Young people are encouraged to sleep around, drink, and party.
Many young people waste their lives doing these things. They then wonder why they are unsuccessful.
People are then conditioned that they must wait until 65 to retire. They then buy into retirement and must work a job they may hate. People then count down the days to retirement.
People waste their youth. People obey their employers with the promise of retirement. Any ideas outside of retirement are viewed as impossible and crazy. They are being able to retire early. Or the idea of semi-retirement.
Respect People In Authority
People are taught from a young age to obey people in authority. It does not matter if they legitimately earned the title. If they have a fancy title or position, then obey without question!
People are raised to respect the government, the mainstream media, academia, political and corporate elites, big businesses, lobbyists, and central bankers without question. All seven of these work together to make it harder for the regular person to live and for small and medium businesses to survive.
Being obedient and thinking they care about people's interests before their own is childish. It is also a way for people to give up self-responsibility to people who they were taught to believe make critical decisions.
Respect Society’s Institutions
People are taught to respect society’s institutions. They are told the institutions are for their benefit. If the institutions were not there, society would be in chaos. There would be no solutions to problems.
People are starting to lose respect for society’s institutions. Gallup shows that the loss of faith in societal institutions continues. More people are beginning to recognize that many of the ones they were taught to believe merely serve themselves.
There never was a “greater good” or a “social contract.”
System Is Designed To Use You, Not For You To Use It
The secret is that the system is designed to use you, not for you to be able to use it. Parts of the complex system include the government, academia, big companies, the legal system, healthcare, big finance, and central banks. These all benefit from how the system is designed. It could be by having access to money or power.
There are multiple ways the system is meant to distract you and prevent you from investing in yourself. That is the one thing it does not want. Once you start to, you find ways to improve your life rather than chasing shiny objects and can begin to question certain things.
There are ways to benefit from the system. But to do that, you must first understand personal finance and have no debt. Learning how the legal and tax system works would be a good idea. It is designed intentionally to benefit the powerful and wealthy.
Solutions
Recognize the system and how it works. Stop living within and above your means. Start to live below your means.
Begin to find ways to increase your net worth. Work to find ways to be able to invest in financial assets:
Real estate
Land
Stock market
Business
Precious metals
Self-education is more valuable than any overpriced college degree. Discover your natural skills and interests. Find a solution and niche to fill. Find ways to make money from your skills.
Make it a goal to become financially literate. Set self-development and financial goals. Start to practice long-term thinking.
Secure Single’s Algorithm recommends:
The Danger Of Employees Asking Employers For Emergency Savings
The Shocking Truth About Hustle Culture And Currency Devaluation
Summary
Society’s system is designed to keep you poor, indebted, and always looking to other people for solutions. The great news is that you can work to escape parts of the system by practicing self-responsibility, investing in yourself, and learning personal finance.
Become A Secure Single.
Thank you for sharing!
How does the system keep people poor? Let us know in the comments below!
Views expressed in this article are the author's opinions and do not necessarily reflect the views of Secure Single. Nothing in this article is financial advice. Always speak to a financial professional before making any financial decisions. It is intended for informational and educational purposes only. James Bollen is the author of Thriving Solo: How to Flourish and Live Your Perfect Life (Without A Soulmate). The book is now available in paperback and for the Kindle on Amazon.
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You raise a lot of good, relevant points.
I agree, especially with your points on the education system not fostering critical thinking within students, and on the system in general strongly advocating a materialistic lifestyle, and to place our trust in various institutions, in particular the government and the corporations.