5 ms·
That's part of it, sure. The other part of it in America is the successful suppression of any sort of labor movement and the success of efforts by the very rich
by Iftheshoefits 12y ago
That's part of it, sure. The other part of it in America is the successful suppression of any sort of labor movement and the success of efforts by the very rich to drive a wedge between the merely affluent and the middle and lower classes.
America has a real strong strain of the "I'm not poor, I'm merely a temporarily embarrassed millionaire" sentiment.
- jgmmo 12y agoOrganized labor getting everything they wanted is what led to basically all US auto companies going bankrupt.
- mikeash 12y agoThere are lots of situations where letting either side have free reign is bad, and the best is for both sides to be in healthy competition.
- michaelchisari 12y agoAmerican unions were always pussycats compared to German and Japanese unions, which didn't suffer near the same fate.
- Frondo 12y agoYou ought to read this: http://mediamatters.org/research/2014/03/05/myths-and-facts-unions-and-organized-labor/198343 http://mediamatters.org/research/2014/03/05/myths-and-facts-...
- cpncrunch 12y agoThey quote EPI and Brookings. EPI is 29% funded by unions, so not exactly neutral. The Brookings report concludes that price was one of the factors causing an erosion of market share, and presumably employee wages are a factor in that.
- tsotha 12y agoMediamatters? Seriously? Well, okay. Let me find an equally credible source: http://www.aei.org/publication/maybe-patriarchal-labor-unions-are-to-blame-for-rising-inequality/ http://www.aei.org/publication/maybe-patriarchal-labor-union...
- Iftheshoefits 12y agoThanks for illustrating my point.
- ryandrake 12y agoOld article [2003] but I bet still relevant today: 39% of Americans believed they are (19%), or will one day be (20%), among the top one percent. Until this "Don't squeeze the rich because, hey, I'll be rich one day" attitude changes, labor and equality movements will always be uphill battles. http://www.nytimes.com/2003/01/12/opinion/the-triumph-of-hope-over-self-interest.html http://www.nytimes.com/2003/01/12/opinion/the-triumph-of-hop...
- evanpw 12y agoIf you relax the constraint a bit and replace top 1% with top 5%, then almost 40% of Americans will make it at some point. And 12% of them will hit the top 1%. Source: http://www.nytimes.com/2014/04/20/opinion/sunday/from-rags-to-riches-to-rags.html http://www.nytimes.com/2014/04/20/opinion/sunday/from-rags-t...
- ryandrake 12y agoCool follow up link, however it distinguishes between the difficulty of reaching the 1%/5%/etc. for a single year vs. sustaining this state. I'd argue the concept of "being one of the 1%" implies being able to sustain this level for longer than a year.