That’s the question economics professor and Brookings Institution fellow Richard Reeves has set out to answer, and his findings are worrying: the top echelons of the US middle class – those earning over $120,000 – are separating from the rest of the US, and pulling up the drawbridge behind them.
The Guardian: The American dream? Top 20% pulling away from the rest, study finds
Economics professor Richard Reeves says the upper middle are ‘opportunity hoarding’ – and pulling up the drawbridge behind them.
The article is brutal but it shouldn't be surprising. It's not the filthy rich who are making all the noise about pushing tax on the rich higher but rather the upper 20%, identified as having incomes at $120K and above. They will come out with pitchforks and guns to defend it.
There's no absolution of the filthy rich since they work quietly in the dark with the Goldman Sachs / Washington circuit which is infested with it. Even so, the filthy rich after any tax change will still be filthy rich since tax goes against income and assets may be taxed elsewhere but that's not part of income tax.
The Rockhouse perception is the 20% are much more a'feared of that increase than the filthy rich and the reaction is pervasive in arming police like they're assault forces, etc. They aren't doing that directly but they're not protesting it either.
The Rockhouse sees a whole lot of human nature but little common sense. It's obvious that cutting the military back from its ludicrous excesses would give a fifty percent reduction in taxes for everyone but they don't do it.
As above, lots of human nature but not much common sense.
We don't have any particular moral judgment for those who are in or out of the 20%. It's natural to protect what you've got but to what extent that's valid is lost in the mist somewhere.
It's not surprising when Have Nots are pissed since that population hardly ever gets out of it. As to how many roads are closed to prevent escape, that one gets people livid and rightly but it's not the intention to provoke anyone since we need a whole lot more thought rather than wild-eyed reactions. That type of reaction is human nature and the thought not so much, it seems.
There's valid reason for outrage at the lowest class since we are America's Untouchables, commonly-known as The Poors ... but it's still the same thing. Gandhi banished Untouchability in India over seventy years ago and America might consider that as well.
We of the Untouchables aren't the ones screaming the most either since that will come in a few blogs like this one but mostly we're not heard at all and anything of that nature on Ithaka almost certainly will not be read.
The Guardian: The American dream? Top 20% pulling away from the rest, study finds
Economics professor Richard Reeves says the upper middle are ‘opportunity hoarding’ – and pulling up the drawbridge behind them.
The article is brutal but it shouldn't be surprising. It's not the filthy rich who are making all the noise about pushing tax on the rich higher but rather the upper 20%, identified as having incomes at $120K and above. They will come out with pitchforks and guns to defend it.
There's no absolution of the filthy rich since they work quietly in the dark with the Goldman Sachs / Washington circuit which is infested with it. Even so, the filthy rich after any tax change will still be filthy rich since tax goes against income and assets may be taxed elsewhere but that's not part of income tax.
The Rockhouse perception is the 20% are much more a'feared of that increase than the filthy rich and the reaction is pervasive in arming police like they're assault forces, etc. They aren't doing that directly but they're not protesting it either.
The Rockhouse sees a whole lot of human nature but little common sense. It's obvious that cutting the military back from its ludicrous excesses would give a fifty percent reduction in taxes for everyone but they don't do it.
As above, lots of human nature but not much common sense.
We don't have any particular moral judgment for those who are in or out of the 20%. It's natural to protect what you've got but to what extent that's valid is lost in the mist somewhere.
It's not surprising when Have Nots are pissed since that population hardly ever gets out of it. As to how many roads are closed to prevent escape, that one gets people livid and rightly but it's not the intention to provoke anyone since we need a whole lot more thought rather than wild-eyed reactions. That type of reaction is human nature and the thought not so much, it seems.
There's valid reason for outrage at the lowest class since we are America's Untouchables, commonly-known as The Poors ... but it's still the same thing. Gandhi banished Untouchability in India over seventy years ago and America might consider that as well.
We of the Untouchables aren't the ones screaming the most either since that will come in a few blogs like this one but mostly we're not heard at all and anything of that nature on Ithaka almost certainly will not be read.
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