The Dumb States of America

[Hurlshort]

That article doesn't really establish what that 0.3% wealth that the bottom 40% share looks like. These aren't people living on the streets, they are people with food, clothing, shelter, cell phones, cars, TV's, and a bunch of other nice things. So excuse me for not weeping for the inequality of wealth in the US.

 

Wow, you actually believe this, don't you? Ignorance really IS bliss!

 

If I told you that 10% of the population in the US are not even food secure, would you believe me?

 

10% isn't 40% though, that is what I'm getting at. I totally accept that 10% are struggling to put food on the table, and that is unacceptable. But that article was misleading.

[Enoch]

"Wealth" probably isn't the best measure of the kind of things you're talking about. It tends to be more skewed to both extremes than income is, and less related to day-to-day well being. A family with a steady middle-class income might easily have negative wealth, if, like Hurlshot, they got hosed by the real estate crash and owe more on their house than it is presently worth.

 

Which isn't to say that the present situation isn't one to be alarmed at, at least a little bit. For a variety of reasons, Americans in general have never been comfortable with their politicians talking about class a whole lot. Poverty, homelessness, etc., thus tend to be problems that don't get addressed in proportion to their signficance. And the degree to which certain classes of near-oligarchic elites (primarily talking about the finance and insurance sector here) have been able to effectively plunder the rest of the economy and amass and protect enormous fortunes, all while believing that it is simply their right and duty to do so, is deeply troublesome. Decades of mis-aligned incentives within financial institutions, in the tax system, in corporate governance, and in financial regulation have led to mal-invested resources that hurt the overall well being and competitiveness of the nation.

 

The decade to come is going to be difficult. And prolonged experience with widespread hardship will eventually work its way into the realm of what is acceptable to discuss in mainstream politics. But politics is indeed slow-moving beast.

Edited August 24, 2012 by Enoch

[Hurlshort]

We have a lot of experts on the US here, but I wonder how many of you have really travelled across America and met these people below the poverty line?

 

I have.

[Gorgon]

You are going to have to have talked to at least a thousand for it to be statistically relevant.

[Hurlshort]

You are going to have to have talked to at least a thousand for it to be statistically relevant.

 

That is a pretty easy number to reach, just sitting in my classroom has exposed me to a few thousand people in different financial situations.

[Gorgon]

Well that, and you will have to have asked them all the same questions, and they would have to be a representative sample of Americans below the povery line.

[Wrath of Dagon]

Since a lot of people have more debts than they have assets, comparing wealth in this way is pretty meaningless as has been pointed out. The more meaningful question is what the standard of living is, and here I think the average American does quite well by world and even Western standards.

[Orogun01]

Since a lot of people have more debts than they have assets, comparing wealth in this way is pretty meaningless as has been pointed out. The more meaningful question is what the standard of living is, and here I think the average American does quite well by world and even Western standards.

We can do better.

 

Also, Capitalism is dead.