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Re:The Tipping Point: Most Americans No Longer Are Middle Class by mtgx on Wednesday December 09, 2015 @07:52PM (#10708101)
Yet most Americans have no problem supporting either an asshole billionaire or someone who thinks it's "their turn to be president" and is supported by Wall Street billionaires (the same people responsible for the 2008 economic crash).

Most people don't seem to know what's good for them.

Re:The Tipping Point: Most Americans No Longer Are Middle Class by mikeash on Wednesday December 09, 2015 @09:13PM (#10708415)
Clinton is supported by about 50% of Democrats. Trump is supported by about 25% of Republicans. That doesn't add up to anywhere close to "most Americans."
Re:The Tipping Point: Most Americans No Longer Are Middle Class by jazzyk on Wednesday December 09, 2015 @09:57PM (#10708567)
Perhaps. But chances are that these two will become their parties' candidates and then most Americans _will_ have to choose between them.

The US has so many smart, hard working people, we deserve better.

Re:The Tipping Point: Most Americans No Longer Are Middle Class by mikeash on Wednesday December 09, 2015 @10:23PM (#10708665)
I really, really doubt that we'll be forced to choose between Clinton and Trump. Clinton, yes, but the Republicans aren't that insane.

In any case, saying that a broken system forces us to choose the lesser of two evils is quite different from saying that most Americans support one of these two candidates.

Re:The Tipping Point: Most Americans No Longer Are Middle Class by __44x0 on Wednesday December 09, 2015 @11:05PM (#10708809)
> yes, but the Republicans aren't that insane.

I wouldn't put it past them to choose Trump, but either way, the other leading contenders like Ben Carson or Ted Cruz are even more whacked-out. And god forbid the Bush dynasty would continue...

Of the Republican candidates, the only ones I find less crazy than Trump -- and to be clear, I more or less despise everyone I'm about to list -- are Carly Fiorina, Rand Paul, and perhaps Marco Rubio. Fiorina and Rubio because, maybe, they don't actually believe some of the panderous garbage that they say, and Paul because he occasionally expresses some anti-war sentiment (even if it's motivated by his desire to decrease federal spending).

Re:The Tipping Point: Most Americans No Longer Are Middle Class by jazzyk on Wednesday December 09, 2015 @11:28PM (#10708894)
I totally understood the difference, I was trying to say that it doesn't really matter. We need to fix the broken system, but I am not aware of any candidates having any workable ideas...
Re:The Tipping Point: Most Americans No Longer Are Middle Class by mikeash on Thursday December 10, 2015 @09:32AM (#10710737)
It matters in terms of what conclusions you can draw about the American people (the original comment up there was attempting to use widespread support for these candidates as evidence that Americans don't know what's good for them), and in terms of what's required to fix the problem. I agree that as far as the outcome goes it doesn't matter much.
Re:The Tipping Point: Most Americans No Longer Are Middle Class by ralfruns on Wednesday December 09, 2015 @08:00PM (#10708130)
People in the lower income bracket don't go to the polls in the same rate as the higher income bracket.

Upps forgot the source: http://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2015/01/income-gap-at...

Re:The Tipping Point: Most Americans No Longer Are Middle Class by daveguy on Wednesday December 09, 2015 @09:15PM (#10708423)
There should be a national "voting day" holiday. Not having one is the equivalent of a poll tax for hourly wage workers.
Re:The Tipping Point: Most Americans No Longer Are Middle Class by AnimalMuppet on Wednesday December 09, 2015 @09:33PM (#10708486)
In my area, polls are open from 9 AM (or maybe earlier - I'm not a morning person) to 9 PM. No matter what your shift, you should be able to find a time to get there without having to take off work.
Re:The Tipping Point: Most Americans No Longer Are Middle Class by rosege on Thursday December 10, 2015 @06:34PM (#10714445)
or have it on a saturday like lots of countries do
Re:The Tipping Point: Most Americans No Longer Are Middle Class by AnimalMuppet on Friday December 11, 2015 @12:13PM (#10718275)
People work on Saturday, too. Less, it's true, but still enough that you can't disenfranchise them.
Re:The Tipping Point: Most Americans No Longer Are Middle Class by gweinberg on Wednesday December 09, 2015 @09:53PM (#10708556)
Having one is the equivalent of a poll tax for the self-employed!
Re:The Tipping Point: Most Americans No Longer Are Middle Class by Retra on Wednesday December 09, 2015 @11:03PM (#10708804)
The self employed don't have to negotiate with anyone (from a disadvantaged position) to take a small time away from work.