From a social Democrat, of the Bill Clinton variety, but ally in the fight to save liberal democracy:
Yes, there is the contingent on the further left who hate on the billionaires and love the class warfare. They fail to see that rich people may be selfish, but so are all the other homo sapiens to an equivalent degree.
But there is a contingent of moderates, myself included, who are not envious of the wealthy but feel that a more equitable society makes for a better life for more people. Let the rich be rich but maybe not as much, so that the poor and middle can do some better.
In the post WW2 US from 1950-1980 we saw median income rise equally for all income groups as the US did very well. From 1980 to current the middle and poor and middle have done slightly better, society always improves over time, but the upper has done much much better and the inequality (Gini) is now at gilded age levels, and the US once very equal with high social mobility, now has low social mobility and more inequality than any of the other OECDs.
So it is not that I dislike rich people or do not credit them for hard work and intelligence, but I see a system in which one man can make as much as 100,000 people in a year and where, say take Musk, if he makes a standard 10% stock market return on his 800B, that makes 80 Billion a year, which is more than he could spend in 10,000 lifetimes. That is just not good for the social fabric. Studies show crime is less correlated with poverty (was low during the depression) than inequality (which does cause envy).
Now, I am an incrementalist, part of my conservatism, so not on the bandwagon to bleed the rich and have them all move to TX or Dubai, but I would like to see more of the increasing wealth of the country going to the middle by relatively less taxation, and more revenue from the upper and some attempt to balance budgets, by modest increases in the upper tax brackets, estate taxes, luxury taxes, taxing capital gains as income, taxing capital gains at death, raising the SS tax cap.
I would like to see us return to the 1950-80 scenario where all boats rise equally.
To say Thank You, Jay, not "Congratulations" for a year of earnest, erudite and exhilarating commentary. And all for less per month than a pint of soft pack ice cream.
Hey, at least they aren't selling a half pint of ice cream for $6.99.
I use Mirabile dictu all the time, but I usually use it ironically. I often wonder how many people get it.
But then, I use "Courage, mon ami! Le diable est mort" a hell of a lot more than probably anyone left on the planet. I read a lot of novels as a kid. No wonder I had trouble relating to my classmates. 😂
Speaking of the letter “M”….”What is mine is mine. What is yours is yours. So how can you say what is mine is yours!?”…Maimonides…What are you, a Mandamncommie!? To think coming of age in The Eighties and the height of the Cold War scare, We the People had a President that was on the right side of humanity…now to only have demagogic grifters on the left and on the right in the highest office of the greatest city and country on Gods Green Earth…God help U.S.! Or, can someone in the media please ask The Mayor and the POSPOTUS (forgive me Jay) to their comfortably smug faces “What is it like to look at a liar and a thief in your mirror!”
I always hated The Beatles song “I am the Walrus”, as hip John Bolton is because he is definitely anti bull shitte…on how fitting it is a liar and a thief lashes out on him because The Don knows what Big John says is true
The Don King Trump is not a racist for calling a black congressman and congresswoman (that is Jazzman, ironically) “low I.Q.”…but the crony capitalist pig Don King Trump is most definitely only one generation removed pure Rich white trash. Don’t be lie eve me…just ask The Don’s father…oh, wait, he is six thousand feet under, where his Devil Incarnate son belongs as well…rhymes with…forgive me Jesus, Renee “Fucking Bitch” Good and “domestic terrorist” Alex Pretti still cannot be reached for comment…and their real killer is still in the Bada Bing, I mean Oval Office. Did I say God HELP U.S.!
“‘Tik-Tok’…‘Who’s there?’…’Your A.I. Chi Com back to the future overlords and terminator x influencers!!! GOD HELP U.S.!!!
I am your unsolicited pen pal Jay…as I love getting your letters all the time…so I will leave you with some Spanglish…Gotta run on amigo…Thanks for taking my rant Onward and Upward. Peace through superior mental firepower
Regarding ice cream. The HD "pints"--ain't pints. They're 14 ounces,true pints are supposed to be 16 ounces. And if you really want to upset yourself, compare the original HD ingredient legend with
John Kenneth Galbraith described himself as a socialist.
He was a Kennedy Democrat, an exceedingly erudite, well-mannered gentleman, a diplomat and a celebrated author.
He was also wrong about almost everything, having to do with economics.
“Americans had built themselves a world of speculative pipe dreams. That world was inhabited, not by people who had to be convinced, but by people who sought excuses for believing.”
John Kenneth Galbraith
The tag “Socialist” seems to include anything the speaker decides he wants it to mean.
Dr. Galbraith came & went from the very humble beginnings on a farm in Southwestern Ontario, to the splendour of Kennedy Camelot, and the fame, social prominence& wealth that accompanied a successful author in the 50s, 60s and beyond.
In what other Country could this have happened? In what other Country does it occur with such frequency?
As Leonard Cohen might say, “my original astonishment remains.”
In what other country? Yes the US of the 50s was that country. Not the US of today. Social mobility in the US has fallen well below most of the other OECD countries including UK, France, Germany, Canada, Japan ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Global_Social_Mobility_Index )
This coincides with increasing inequality in income. All boats were rising equally from WW2 to 1980 but now most all of the increasing wealth in the US is going to the top and that parallels the loss of social mobility.
"“I am also allergic to the politics of envy.”
From a social Democrat, of the Bill Clinton variety, but ally in the fight to save liberal democracy:
Yes, there is the contingent on the further left who hate on the billionaires and love the class warfare. They fail to see that rich people may be selfish, but so are all the other homo sapiens to an equivalent degree.
But there is a contingent of moderates, myself included, who are not envious of the wealthy but feel that a more equitable society makes for a better life for more people. Let the rich be rich but maybe not as much, so that the poor and middle can do some better.
In the post WW2 US from 1950-1980 we saw median income rise equally for all income groups as the US did very well. From 1980 to current the middle and poor and middle have done slightly better, society always improves over time, but the upper has done much much better and the inequality (Gini) is now at gilded age levels, and the US once very equal with high social mobility, now has low social mobility and more inequality than any of the other OECDs.
So it is not that I dislike rich people or do not credit them for hard work and intelligence, but I see a system in which one man can make as much as 100,000 people in a year and where, say take Musk, if he makes a standard 10% stock market return on his 800B, that makes 80 Billion a year, which is more than he could spend in 10,000 lifetimes. That is just not good for the social fabric. Studies show crime is less correlated with poverty (was low during the depression) than inequality (which does cause envy).
Now, I am an incrementalist, part of my conservatism, so not on the bandwagon to bleed the rich and have them all move to TX or Dubai, but I would like to see more of the increasing wealth of the country going to the middle by relatively less taxation, and more revenue from the upper and some attempt to balance budgets, by modest increases in the upper tax brackets, estate taxes, luxury taxes, taxing capital gains as income, taxing capital gains at death, raising the SS tax cap.
I would like to see us return to the 1950-80 scenario where all boats rise equally.
What? Now I need a secret code to make a comment?
To say Thank You, Jay, not "Congratulations" for a year of earnest, erudite and exhilarating commentary. And all for less per month than a pint of soft pack ice cream.
God Bless.
Hey, at least they aren't selling a half pint of ice cream for $6.99.
I use Mirabile dictu all the time, but I usually use it ironically. I often wonder how many people get it.
But then, I use "Courage, mon ami! Le diable est mort" a hell of a lot more than probably anyone left on the planet. I read a lot of novels as a kid. No wonder I had trouble relating to my classmates. 😂
!
Speaking of the letter “M”….”What is mine is mine. What is yours is yours. So how can you say what is mine is yours!?”…Maimonides…What are you, a Mandamncommie!? To think coming of age in The Eighties and the height of the Cold War scare, We the People had a President that was on the right side of humanity…now to only have demagogic grifters on the left and on the right in the highest office of the greatest city and country on Gods Green Earth…God help U.S.! Or, can someone in the media please ask The Mayor and the POSPOTUS (forgive me Jay) to their comfortably smug faces “What is it like to look at a liar and a thief in your mirror!”
I always hated The Beatles song “I am the Walrus”, as hip John Bolton is because he is definitely anti bull shitte…on how fitting it is a liar and a thief lashes out on him because The Don knows what Big John says is true
The Don King Trump is not a racist for calling a black congressman and congresswoman (that is Jazzman, ironically) “low I.Q.”…but the crony capitalist pig Don King Trump is most definitely only one generation removed pure Rich white trash. Don’t be lie eve me…just ask The Don’s father…oh, wait, he is six thousand feet under, where his Devil Incarnate son belongs as well…rhymes with…forgive me Jesus, Renee “Fucking Bitch” Good and “domestic terrorist” Alex Pretti still cannot be reached for comment…and their real killer is still in the Bada Bing, I mean Oval Office. Did I say God HELP U.S.!
“‘Tik-Tok’…‘Who’s there?’…’Your A.I. Chi Com back to the future overlords and terminator x influencers!!! GOD HELP U.S.!!!
I am your unsolicited pen pal Jay…as I love getting your letters all the time…so I will leave you with some Spanglish…Gotta run on amigo…Thanks for taking my rant Onward and Upward. Peace through superior mental firepower
Regarding ice cream. The HD "pints"--ain't pints. They're 14 ounces,true pints are supposed to be 16 ounces. And if you really want to upset yourself, compare the original HD ingredient legend with
the current ingredient legend.
John Kenneth Galbraith described himself as a socialist.
He was a Kennedy Democrat, an exceedingly erudite, well-mannered gentleman, a diplomat and a celebrated author.
He was also wrong about almost everything, having to do with economics.
“Americans had built themselves a world of speculative pipe dreams. That world was inhabited, not by people who had to be convinced, but by people who sought excuses for believing.”
John Kenneth Galbraith
The tag “Socialist” seems to include anything the speaker decides he wants it to mean.
Dr. Galbraith came & went from the very humble beginnings on a farm in Southwestern Ontario, to the splendour of Kennedy Camelot, and the fame, social prominence& wealth that accompanied a successful author in the 50s, 60s and beyond.
In what other Country could this have happened? In what other Country does it occur with such frequency?
As Leonard Cohen might say, “my original astonishment remains.”
In what other country? Yes the US of the 50s was that country. Not the US of today. Social mobility in the US has fallen well below most of the other OECD countries including UK, France, Germany, Canada, Japan ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Global_Social_Mobility_Index )
This coincides with increasing inequality in income. All boats were rising equally from WW2 to 1980 but now most all of the increasing wealth in the US is going to the top and that parallels the loss of social mobility.
You want the American dream? Go to Europe.