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The Real Class War

americanaffairsjournal.org

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251–260 of 634 posts

Re: The Real Class War

#251

Post by danaris »

macintux wrote: post #140
giggles_giggles wrote: post #132

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> There's been growth; it's just all gone to the very wealthy in the West. Wrong. According to ourworldindata.org the world population in extreme poverty fell by half since 1990. I'm sure there are other sources to match this data as well. But that doesn't fit your narrative.

You misinterpreted the grammar. "In the West, it's just all gone to the very wealthy" is the intent. Not "All the growth in the world has gone to the wealthy in the West."

Yes, thank you; my phrasing was unclear.

Re: The Real Class War

#252

Post by Nasrudith »

triceratops wrote: post #224
AlexandrB wrote: post #146

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I really hope they don't. Western IP laws have become suffocating to innovation (life of author +70 years copyright, software patents), and need to be weakened. Perhaps if China is successful with weaker IP laws it will get some politicians off their ass on the issue.

How is theft of trade secrets going to undermine draconian copyright laws? Two wrongs don't make a right.

Trade secrets are even worse than draconian copyright laws arguably. The copyright at least calls for preservation. Trade secrets keep the knowledge from circulating and laws encouraging it do it more so if someone bypasses them for more competition.

Re: The Real Class War

#253

Post by anigbrowl »

frockington1 wrote: post #113
rustyboy wrote: post #100

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's a false dichotomy. There is no reason that you can't have the opportunity to be a billionaire, while making sure that no one goes homeless or dies from a preventable disease. People love to point to FANNG but the reality is America did this for the boomers, union membership was over 30% and we still had super wealthy people. CEO to average employee income was around 80:1, now it's closer to 250:1. When 3 peopl…

I agree that there can be more equitable distribution. I struggle with why seizing wealth through taxes is the current war drum being beat. I think the most productive means to making wealth would be stressing the importance of investing and compound growth as part of the high school curriculum. Note: That's where my idea ends right now, I don't have a viable implementation path

Nobody gets rich through starting out with few resources, working diligently, and investing/compounding their wages. It's possible to become financially independent that way if one is smart and lucky, but not rich. By 'financially independent' I mean you can stop working for other people without putting your survival at risk.

If you want to be rich you either need to start out with money (giving you bargaining power in every negotiated investment decision) or innovate in some way and bargain very aggressively and successfully. And that doesn't just mean bargaining with your competitors and members of the investment class, but doing the same with employees in your organization. One of the most reliable ways to do this is to suggest that you got rich through a mixture of hard work and fiscal prudence and then get them to sign away most of their negotiating power on a contract drafted for your benefit.

Re: The Real Class War

#254

Post by [deleted] »

dantheman wrote: post #196
_iyig wrote: post #157

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Maybe so, but nobody's happy about cheap lawn furniture, for example, when they can't afford homes, healthcare, or education.

Interesting that those three industries are the most heavily regulated and manipulated by the government.

[deleted]

Re: The Real Class War

#255

Post by anigbrowl »

frockington1 wrote: post #220
squiggleblaz wrote: post #167

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How can you invest when you have to decide whether to fix the car or eat? The rules aren't fair, they're made by the rich. Learning how to follow them won't make you richer because they're designed to increase the wealth at the top. Almost no-one advocates seizing wealth hrough tax. Merely work (income). Since the rich have wealth and the poor work (earn income)

Learning how to follow rules is exatly how to become rich. Entry level retail store now pays 15/hr. 60 hours at week equates to 48k/year. Hardly unfair

Either you're trolling or extremely naive. $48k/year ain't shit when a) you'll pay some of that back in taxes and b) in places where you can get $15/hour for retail you also need to shell out $30k/year just to have a small studio apartment.

Re: The Real Class War

#256

Post by tristor »

Miner49er wrote: post #242
tristor wrote: post #184

This article is interesting, partly due to the blatant political biases which are present but unrevealed, and partly due to the attempt to address those biases in closing segments. This line in particular was telling "the state—the only way to address the most important issues of the present". The author of this piece is a left-wing statist, and they interpret all of the data they reference through this lens. That do…

> The author of this piece is a left-wing statist How familiar are you with the author's work? I'm not familiar with it, but Wikipedia says they are a conservative and former Trump supporter. Most people seem to consider American Affairs a conservative journal, and the author is its editor.

Maybe I overstated my case, then. I am not familiar with the author beyond this piece. This piece, though, shows a very deep disdain for anyone who could be considered conservative and blatantly makes the case for statism. So, perhaps they are not left-wing, merely a statist.

I tend to think there are more than one way to skin a cat, and statism is not automatically the correct answer. Their direct statements disagree.

Re: The Real Class War

#257

Post by helen___keller »

tristor wrote: post #184

This article is interesting, partly due to the blatant political biases which are present but unrevealed, and partly due to the attempt to address those biases in closing segments. This line in particular was telling "the state—the only way to address the most important issues of the present". The author of this piece is a left-wing statist, and they interpret all of the data they reference through this lens. That do…

> The author of this piece is a left-wing statist, and they interpret all of the data they reference through this lens

A statist perhaps, but not left-wing.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Julius_Krein

Self described conservative nationalist.

Re: The Real Class War

#258

Post by viburnum »

tvanantwerp wrote: post #159

I've spent my career working in public policy circles, and this rings true to me. > At most, working-class voters can cast their ballots for an “un­acceptable” candidate, but they can exercise no influence on policy formation or agency personnel, much less on governance areas that have been transferred to technocratic bodies. > Unlike the work­ing class, the professional managerial class is still capable of, and re­q…

Gay people can get married in America, which was completely unthinkable a generation ago. 100% due to activists, many who risked their lives to make it happen.

Re: The Real Class War

#259

Post by raxxorrax »

nsporillo wrote: post #110
simonh wrote: post #105

This is all driven by globalisation, and don't get me wrong I'm a globalist, but this is just a fact. First manual labour in manufacturing was outsourced abroad, then higher tier tech jobs in software and product engineering. Now big firms from former third world countries are muscling in on markets at every level of the economy, creating competition at every level of business. You can't add hundreds of millions of C…

Average voter doesn't care about the merits of competitive advantage. Maybe if the Chinese actually opened their markets up to competition would we see true benefits in the west. The problem of course is preventing the majority of the wealth going straight to the top.

> Average voter doesn't care about the merits of competitive advantage

Sadly, neither do people who have the opportunity to get ahead without facing competition in the first place.

Re: The Real Class War

#260

Post by [deleted] »

Miner49er wrote: post #242
tristor wrote: post #184

This article is interesting, partly due to the blatant political biases which are present but unrevealed, and partly due to the attempt to address those biases in closing segments. This line in particular was telling "the state—the only way to address the most important issues of the present". The author of this piece is a left-wing statist, and they interpret all of the data they reference through this lens. That do…

> The author of this piece is a left-wing statist How familiar are you with the author's work? I'm not familiar with it, but Wikipedia says they are a conservative and former Trump supporter. Most people seem to consider American Affairs a conservative journal, and the author is its editor.

[deleted]
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