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Class Matters
I was going to make a post here, about how class matters in the US, at least as much or more than race. But the NY Times has already beaten me to it. As stolen from this post over on the Washington Monthly, and this article over at the NY Times, Richest are Leaving Even the Rich Far Behind. Which seems to be part of a series of articles. Which are probably better written and better researched than my vague impressions based on traveling, but I'll post them anyway.
Remember my post way back when about the justification of progressive taxation? The Washington Monthly post has a graph of actual tax rates in the US. It's not progressive. It's bell-shaped. Lowest rates at the bottom and the top. That's not right. It's a symptom of the Republicans' constant drive to make income from investment and inheritance untaxed.
At any rate, my thoughts on class, quickly. Class matters, at the title says. For all that libertarians and others try to deny it, it's true. Economic and Social class both have a major effect on how people live. At least as much, maybe more than race. Or it might just look that way since I'm a middle class liberal white guy. But I have more in common, culturally, with middle class folks if they're black, white, asian, hispanic, whatever, than I do with poor white people. Well, that's not completely true, because personally, I'm poor, just sponging off my parents. And most of my friends tend to be gamers, who tend to be moderately poor, because gamers tend to be more interested in interesting jobs and spend their money on games and interesting things, rather than saving and investing as much.
At any rate, there's wide gaps of culture and expectation and values between classes. And musical tastes, even. The poor in the US are more foreign to the rich than the rich from other countries, who hang out at the same metropolitan clubs and resorts with each other. Actually, that's one of the biggest differences, the ability to, and the expense of, travel. If you're poor, you're working all the time, and can barely travel. Middle class, you've got a car, you can drive, you've got vacation time, you can maybe fly somewhere or take a vacation, travel's a lot easier, but it requires planning and forethought. The rich can just jaunt anywhere they want, on a daily basis. And do.
Yeah, the NY Times's stuff is probably more insightful than mine. But it was an interesting overlap, since I was just about to post something on that.
Tags: Politics, Links, Economics, Mindscribbles, News
Remember my post way back when about the justification of progressive taxation? The Washington Monthly post has a graph of actual tax rates in the US. It's not progressive. It's bell-shaped. Lowest rates at the bottom and the top. That's not right. It's a symptom of the Republicans' constant drive to make income from investment and inheritance untaxed.
At any rate, my thoughts on class, quickly. Class matters, at the title says. For all that libertarians and others try to deny it, it's true. Economic and Social class both have a major effect on how people live. At least as much, maybe more than race. Or it might just look that way since I'm a middle class liberal white guy. But I have more in common, culturally, with middle class folks if they're black, white, asian, hispanic, whatever, than I do with poor white people. Well, that's not completely true, because personally, I'm poor, just sponging off my parents. And most of my friends tend to be gamers, who tend to be moderately poor, because gamers tend to be more interested in interesting jobs and spend their money on games and interesting things, rather than saving and investing as much.
At any rate, there's wide gaps of culture and expectation and values between classes. And musical tastes, even. The poor in the US are more foreign to the rich than the rich from other countries, who hang out at the same metropolitan clubs and resorts with each other. Actually, that's one of the biggest differences, the ability to, and the expense of, travel. If you're poor, you're working all the time, and can barely travel. Middle class, you've got a car, you can drive, you've got vacation time, you can maybe fly somewhere or take a vacation, travel's a lot easier, but it requires planning and forethought. The rich can just jaunt anywhere they want, on a daily basis. And do.
Yeah, the NY Times's stuff is probably more insightful than mine. But it was an interesting overlap, since I was just about to post something on that.
Tags: Politics, Links, Economics, Mindscribbles, News