Hmmm..interesting...

[Peter_Puget]

Something I read today:

 

The liberal concern about inequality is not widely shared in the United States. Three scholars from Harvard and the London School of Economics recently analyzed attitudes toward inequality in Europe and here. In Europe, surveys have found that inequality of wealth makes two groups unhappy: rich leftists and the poor. By contrast, only rich leftists are troubled by inequality in the United States. The three professors argue that the poor in the U.S. are not concerned about inequality of wealth because they expect to rise up the income ladder whereas Europeans feel stuck in their assigned status in society. Americans do not resent the rich; Americans want and expect to be like them thanks to social mobility. The American Dream lives on except for wealthy progressives."

[j_b]

http://www.thenation.com/doc.mhtml?i=20040105&s=krugman

 

The Death of Horatio Alger

by Paul Krugman

 

The other day I found myself reading a leftist rag that made outrageous claims about America. It said that we are becoming a society in which the poor tend to stay poor, no matter how hard they work; in which sons are much more likely to inherit the socioeconomic status of their father than they were a generation ago.

 

The name of the leftist rag? Business Week, which published an article titled "Waking Up From the American Dream." The article summarizes recent research showing that social mobility in the United States (which was never as high as legend had it) has declined considerably over the past few decades. If you put that research together with other research that shows a drastic increase in income and wealth inequality, you reach an uncomfortable conclusion: America looks more and more like a class-ridden society.

 

[...]

[Jopa]

Something I read today:

 

The liberal concern about inequality is not widely shared in the United States. Three scholars from Harvard and the London School of Economics recently analyzed attitudes toward inequality in Europe and here. In Europe, surveys have found that inequality of wealth makes two groups unhappy: rich leftists and the poor. By contrast, only rich leftists are troubled by inequality in the United States. The three professors argue that the poor in the U.S. are not concerned about inequality of wealth because they expect to rise up the income ladder whereas Europeans feel stuck in their assigned status in society. Americans do not resent the rich; Americans want and expect to be like them thanks to social mobility. The American Dream lives on except for wealthy progressives."

 

Yes, it is interesting. It illustrates how easy it is to deceive Americans generation after generation.

[Jim]

Something I read today:

 

The liberal concern about inequality is not widely shared in the United States. Three scholars from Harvard and the London School of Economics recently analyzed attitudes toward inequality in Europe and here. In Europe, surveys have found that inequality of wealth makes two groups unhappy: rich leftists and the poor. By contrast, only rich leftists are troubled by inequality in the United States. The three professors argue that the poor in the U.S. are not concerned about inequality of wealth because they expect to rise up the income ladder whereas Europeans feel stuck in their assigned status in society. Americans do not resent the rich; Americans want and expect to be like them thanks to social mobility. The American Dream lives on except for wealthy progressives."

 

Like the Rush fan club newsletter? Do you ever come up with an orginal thought to troll with or just rummage through your mail for this crap?

[Greg_W]

Something I read today:

 

The liberal concern about inequality is not widely shared in the United States. Three scholars from Harvard and the London School of Economics recently analyzed attitudes toward inequality in Europe and here. In Europe, surveys have found that inequality of wealth makes two groups unhappy: rich leftists and the poor. By contrast, only rich leftists are troubled by inequality in the United States. The three professors argue that the poor in the U.S. are not concerned about inequality of wealth because they expect to rise up the income ladder whereas Europeans feel stuck in their assigned status in society. Americans do not resent the rich; Americans want and expect to be like them thanks to social mobility. The American Dream lives on except for wealthy progressives."

 

Like the Rush fan club newsletter? Do you ever come up with an orginal thought to troll with or just rummage through your mail for this crap?

 

Nice way of addressing the issue, Jim. I like how, since you cannot refute it, you slam it.

[Jim]

Something I read today:

 

The liberal concern about inequality is not widely shared in the United States. Three scholars from Harvard and the London School of Economics recently analyzed attitudes toward inequality in Europe and here. In Europe, surveys have found that inequality of wealth makes two groups unhappy: rich leftists and the poor. By contrast, only rich leftists are troubled by inequality in the United States. The three professors argue that the poor in the U.S. are not concerned about inequality of wealth because they expect to rise up the income ladder whereas Europeans feel stuck in their assigned status in society. Americans do not resent the rich; Americans want and expect to be like them thanks to social mobility. The American Dream lives on except for wealthy progressives."

 

Like the Rush fan club newsletter? Do you ever come up with an orginal thought to troll with or just rummage through your mail for this crap?

 

Nice way of addressing the issue, Jim. I like how, since you cannot refute it, you slam it.

 

Nothing to refute - just looks like an opinion to me.

[catbirdseat]

What made America different from Europe with regard to social mobility was all the free land we had at one time. If you weren't happy with your economic situation, you could just "strike out West", and maybe your luck would change. That period is long past. The quick fortunes are not as easily made. We are becoming much more like Europe.

[Peter_Puget]

Wow! Great responses. They pretty much break down into two distinct classes:

 

1 – One class (J-B, Jopa and CBS) pretty much claims that the people of America are fools. This class of responders has somehow risen above the deception!

 

2 – The other (Jim) attacks the messenger (By the way I have never listen to the Rush Limbough Radio show ever!)

 

These two classes reveal something very deep in the psyche of the “American Liberal” – a contempt for the common man (this contempt can get pretty close to ultimately hating democracy itself ) and the left’s determination to devolve political discourse into personal attacks.

 

PP

[dberdinka]

So Peter, let me get this straight. Whether you agree with him or not, CBS claims that the "American Dream" was possible due to exploitable resources, in his arguement excess land.

 

How does that relate to calling the "common man" (whatever the hell that is, we're all pretty common around here) a fool?

 

Next you imply that he therefore must "hate democracy"! Thats a pretty damn emotionally charged statement. Based on the national dialog lately CBS must clearly be in the same category as "freedom haters", "thugs and assasins", ..were was I?...

 

Oh I remember....Talk about turning a political discourse into a personal attack!

[Peter_Puget]

Darrin -

 

The American common man is a fool because he/she naively believes in the potential for upward mobility which (CBS asserts) no longer exists at least in relation to the believed potential. His argument as to the reasons for the dimished potential is of no consequence. What is important is that the common man doesn't see it.

 

I never imply he must hate democracy. Here is what I said: "this contempt can get pretty close to ultimately hating democracy itself " I stand by this. Whether or not it applies specifically to CBS I don't know. I was not implying that he felt that way. I was stating flat out that some on the left do feel that way.

 

The rest of your post is silliness to be sure.

 

PP

[j_b]

things don't change: there is no lie or spin that is too outrageous for neocon shills. we all know where they stand on the subject of democracy: remember, they lie to us for our own good. moreover, we also know who cares for the little guy and it for sure isn't conservatives.

[Peter_Puget]

J_B you do a pretty good imitation of Jim!

 

PP