Inspired by this article by Barbara Ehrenreich, and also her earlier book Bait And Switch which describes how life coaches train unemployed people to believe that the only thing standing between them and a brilliant new job is themselves. Not, y’know, the crap state of the economy, or the thousands of other equally brilliant unemployed people after the same job, or dodgy hiring and firing practices or any larger social forces like that. Just themselves. (And if they still don’t manage to get one, it’s their fault.)

It’s a beautiful thought, and one that I’ve been tempted by from time to time, the idea that your thoughts create your reality. (And they do, up to a point. Belief is a very powerful force.) It’s just odd how often a statement like that is followed by one like ‘…so the poor are just not wishing hard enough’, and odd how something that sounds pretty radical always seems to end up as an excuse for the way things are.