The bootstraps method of solving all the world's problems is so freaking obvious and simple, why don't more people do it?

Really, why not?

Let us posit that you are born to a third generation crack addict in a family of crack addicts? All one has to do is pull up thier bootstraps and viola, everything changes.

I've never met a person who made the bootstraps argument who didn't have thier head so far up thier bootstraps they could even recognize how much help they had gotten in life.

The very few individuals I've known who actually did come from low birth to pull themselves out were generally humble enough to recognize all the help they got along the way.

I think anybody who accomplishes anything--even if it is something as ordinary as getting a college education a job and a middle class lifestyle--that person is still getting a lot of help. Much of that help will come from the government regardless of how much one pats themselves on their own golden back.

The lack of humility is an ugly byproduct of prosperity.

FWIW: understanding how fortunate one is--that is, humility--is not an appology for sloth. Also, sloth is not the deadly sin that eats most of our tax dollars. That would be greed. For some reason, probably because we worship wealth no matter how it is gained, it is easy to demonize poverty while wealth has it's hands in all our pockets. I have my own hand in my own pocket. One of these days, I'm gonna find a dollar there.