Re:Why are Americans so angry?
by kafkaesq on Tuesday February 09, 2016 @02:34PM
(#11068054)
Isn't it a good thing that people see themselves as temporarily embarrassed millionaires?
No, because it implies that the only way to better your situation is not just to do well, but to get on top, and make a killing. That is, literally: to have access to wealth and security that is (greatly) disproportionate to what most other have.
Which (by definition) is unobtainable, for the vast majority. And which contributes to what we might call the "hollowing out of the middle." All structural factors (which others have cited as exacerbating factors to income equality in recent decades) aside -- the bottom line is that the middle class life not has not only come under pressure -- it just isn't valued as a goal, or a position to have in society.
How is that any different than seeing yourself as a temporarily embarrassed rock star, or astronaut, or breakthrough scientist, or famous artist, or successful entrepreneur?
Nothing wrong with wanting to achieve something great. If what interests you is the achievement in itself.
But if the only way out of poverty (or middle class stagnation) is to become a "rock star" of some form or another -- that suggests that something is very, very wrong with the incentive and reward structure in a society -- like ours -- that implicitly holds that value structure.
No, because it implies that the only way to better your situation is not just to do well, but to get on top, and make a killing. That is, literally: to have access to wealth and security that is (greatly) disproportionate to what most other have.
Which (by definition) is unobtainable, for the vast majority. And which contributes to what we might call the "hollowing out of the middle." All structural factors (which others have cited as exacerbating factors to income equality in recent decades) aside -- the bottom line is that the middle class life not has not only come under pressure -- it just isn't valued as a goal, or a position to have in society.
How is that any different than seeing yourself as a temporarily embarrassed rock star, or astronaut, or breakthrough scientist, or famous artist, or successful entrepreneur?
Nothing wrong with wanting to achieve something great. If what interests you is the achievement in itself.
But if the only way out of poverty (or middle class stagnation) is to become a "rock star" of some form or another -- that suggests that something is very, very wrong with the incentive and reward structure in a society -- like ours -- that implicitly holds that value structure.