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The Real Class War

americanaffairsjournal.org

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71–80 of 634 posts

Re: The Real Class War

#71

Post by maxerickson »

TomMckenny wrote: post #52

It makes sense that the top 10% to 2% become more active as blame and anger are re-routed toward them. For example, many people think the "elite" are the educated but not necessarily the wealthy. So for many, adjunct faculty are called "elites" while the Koch brothers are not. Likewise, discussions of wealth inequality are becoming conflated with income inequality. Yet the professional class has only marginal voting…

I wonder if the typical adjunct faculty is more or less 'educated' than someone with a masters in engineering from MIT.

Re: The Real Class War

#72

Post by maxerickson »

singularity2001 wrote: post #69

What is often forgotten is the hyperdeflation of technology. All your gadges would be worth many millions in pre 2000 dollars. Your car is probably better in many ways than a million dollar car from 1980.

The value attained by owning a car hasn't changed all that much.

They are clearly safer and more convenient, but cars in 1980 made it from A to B most of the time too.

Re: The Real Class War

#73

Post by UncleSlacky »

neonate wrote: post #29

I read it, though not closely, and am still unclear what is the "real class war". The educated-but-alienated professional elite against the oligarchs? I'm just guessing. Also, he kind of loses it in the final paragraphs, which weakened my impression of the rest.

It reminds me of the saying that most "revolutions" tend to involve the aristocracy (the 0.1%) and the bourgeoisie (the top 10%), the French revolution is a classic example of this.

The status of the remainder of the population never really changes as a result.

Re: The Real Class War

#74

Post by C1sc0cat »

larnmar wrote: post #15
_bxg1 wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There's radical energy there, but here's the clincher: it will never turn into anything productive because the Republican propaganda machine has so effectively manipulated the working class into continuing to think that public services are their enemy . They will rant and holler about communism until the billionaires have milked them of their very last dollar, and then blame that on communism too. The very policies t…

If the working class turns to radicalism what makes you think it will be the kind of radicalism you agree with? It’s more likely to be the kind of radicalism you find terrifying.

This is more about the middle class professionals who where Eisenhower republicans or on nation torys (in UK terms) finally waking up and realising that their part has been taken over by entryists.

The reaction against the trinational working class who Trump and Boris have used, could be brutal as they are the ones who will be hurt, I bet like the foolish CP fellow travellers aka useful idiot.

Re: The Real Class War

#75

Post by vinceguidry »

kortilla wrote: post #30
roenxi wrote: post #24

What a fantastic article; this might be the high point for my 2019 Hacker News reading. What clarity of vision. It is remarkable reflecting after an article like that on the complete inability of the US political system to organise itself to reward work done rather than access to the super-elite social circles. I'd love to know if this Julius fellow has a take on what mechanisms the 0.1% are using to drive the growin…

> political system to organise itself to reward work done How do you decide which work is valuable and which work isn’t?

The harsh truth is that your largest effects will always be local. What you do for your immediate family and friends will always dwarf anything you can do for society.

To expect your day to day to serve a larger social purpose is to subordinate either your lifestyle or your cognitive integrity to something you’ll never be able to completely convince yourself isn’t a lie you’re telling yourself.

If you can put your kids through college well-adjusted, you’re already doing better than most on that front. Beyond that, maybe maintain a few open source libraries for awhile?

Re: The Real Class War

#76

Post by _carl_jung »

BuckRogers wrote: post #41
kortilla wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> political system to organise itself to reward work done How do you decide which work is valuable and which work isn’t?

> How do you decide which work is valuable and which work isn’t? By viewing the profits generated. As profits are nothing more than unpaid wages.

I invent (at the cost of $500) a programming tool that improves your output by 50%. This enables you to earn $5000 more per year than previously. You purchase that software for $1000, providing me a profit of $500.

Who's wages are unpaid?

Re: The Real Class War

#77

Post by dsfyu404ed »

kingkawn wrote: post #5

I disagree that the working class is not going to radicalize itself. They too are out here on the internet, talking to each other and culturally evolving at an unprecedented rate, like everyone else. For the first time they have the power to publish and think in public uncoupled from professional barrier. Better believe it’s being used, and that they will assert their awareness.

Agreed. The author is looking through slightly blue tinted glasses.

The "working class" put "their guy" in a certain colored house in the US and got together to tell the EU to screw off in the UK. They might not be using their political power for things we all agree with or you could argue they're all being duped but they certainly aren't powerless.

Furthermore, I think the author is over stating the homogeneity of white collar political professionals. Tech and academia are very homogeneously blue/left leaning (relatively speaking) but other industries less so.

The author seems to be very confident in his predictions of where politics will move over the next decade or two but I see some massive variables that are not controlled for. Things could go any which way.

Re: The Real Class War

#78

Post by s3cur3 »

fladrif wrote: post #45
kortilla wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> political system to organise itself to reward work done How do you decide which work is valuable and which work isn’t?

Not OP, but my personal belief is that all work is valuable, otherwise it wouldn't be desired. I don't think it's a good exercise to decide how much it is worth, except to say that work that requires X unit of time should provide at a minimum an amount of compensation that allows a person to obtain a standard of living above the poverty line.

> all work is valuable, otherwise it wouldn’t be desired.

Have you had such a good experience with managers that you

a) have never been assigned bullshit work that should have never been done, or

b) have never seen a manager invent work to make themselves seem important?

Re: The Real Class War

#79

Post by blfr »

BuckRogers wrote: post #50
kingkawn wrote: post #5

I disagree that the working class is not going to radicalize itself. They too are out here on the internet, talking to each other and culturally evolving at an unprecedented rate, like everyone else. For the first time they have the power to publish and think in public uncoupled from professional barrier. Better believe it’s being used, and that they will assert their awareness.

I think that's evident in the Bernie Sanders movement (and to a lesser extent, Warren). Folks like myself support him even though we're some sort of "upper middle class" or some form of middle-merchant class. Not owners, not truly capitalist/investment class, but solidly aligned with everyone else who also has to show up at 9AM daily to get their checks. This more affluent middle class of information workers are lead…

Folks like myself support him even though we're some sort of "upper middle class" or some form of middle-merchant class.

Why do you say "even though"? Sanders and Warren target upper middle class and people aspiring to it.

Re: The Real Class War

#80

Post by blfr »

kortilla wrote: post #38
larnmar wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sure, but once you’ve done that and you’re rich, what do you do then? For most billionaires the answer seems to be that you buy a moderately upgraded version of all the stuff you had when you were middle class, and then you sit around content to watch the numbers slowly increase. Do something interesting! It doesn’t have to be noble, it doesn’t have to be for the greater good, just do something ! Build a palace to ri…

> For most billionaires the answer seems to be that you buy a moderately upgraded version of all the stuff you had when you were middle class, I don’t think you know what billionaires live like. Either that or the middle class you refer to is something very different from the one in the states. A 150ft yacht that you fly to with your helicopter from an airport you landed at with your private plane isn’t really relata…

A 150ft yacht is exactly the upgraded version of a fishing boat from a 1950s driveway in a newly minted middle class neighbourhood.
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