Good point again, Chad. However, that was NOT a point which I was attempting to make, OR to even imply. SURE there are a lot of "good" and "productive" citizens among the "lower classes" in the U.S. and abroad. Heck, the U.S. has one of the highest "Productivity Rates" in the world!

What I've been attempting to say all along in this thread here IS that all this malarkey about "They"(read: "that bad ol' government", or "those public school teachers" or "Hollyweird") have taken away the parent's responsibility to make sure that their kids are as "smart" and ESPECIALLY are as disciplined to become "smart"(that's those "values" you just made mention of) as they COULD be" IS, well, JUST malarkey AND a friggin' "COP OUT"!

Yep! Just like a good Single Malt Scotch, you might call me "an acquired taste" TOO.(among the many OTHER things you may care to call me, of course)