Soaked in Stories

We are soaked in stories. The story I was soaked in included tales of self-reliance. There is no inheritance. There are no parents to provide financial support beyond childhood. You must sort yourself out. The Government is there to support people who don’t have anything at a deeper level than just zero in the bank account. You don't "dip into poverty". Poverty is structural scarcity. 

Government is there to help people who have obstacles stopping them from helping themselves, and get out of the way of others. Although, that “self” reliance doesn’t adequately reflect the support I got in getting to a position to be self-reliant. 

In the UK, the Government is viewed more as a service. More like something you have paid for, so the government owes you. Even well-off people get extra back-up. The financial crutches and boosts for those around my left foot during Covid blew my Soutie mind relative to what was available to people who surrounded my right foot (I am stretched over both country shaped containers). The relationship with government is different. Everyone expects support. Even the wealthy expect extra financial firepower from their parents. 

History matters and that is effectively what capital is. Capital is built up Karma of the past. It is actions, consequences, and expectations. Built up through containers that have led us to where we are. Capital is what has been allowed to compound. 

The massive wealth accumulation that has happened in the last couple of hundred years since the Industrial Revolution has compounded. Although it doesn’t feel like it, if you look over a long enough time frame, we have improved our coordination and reduced our prejudice. There is less sexism, racism, homophobia, and general prejudice that prevents us from coordinating. 

One of the hardest parts of gathering knowledge is unlearning. New learning is easier than the barriers that exist at an unconscious level, which take a lot more work to unpack. Financial capital is just easier to count.