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A thread. We’re NOT all in this together. In Monday& #39;s edition of @nprfreshair Nelson Schwartz talks special privileges for the super-rich.
Missing from the discussion is that middle and upper class really don& #39;t know what it& #39;s like to run out of money and not even have food.
Missing from the discussion is that middle and upper class really don& #39;t know what it& #39;s like to run out of money and not even have food.
Not Stuck in Traffic: One example is how a venture capitalist wouldn’t even consider an inexpensive yet faster way to fly because for the past decade he’s gotten private helicopter rides to the airport. He has no ability to understand the need or problem being solved.
Lifesaving Healthcare: Another example is how concierge doctors are offering lifesaving solutions to medical problems that even a good-private-health insured person does not get, including the ability to get tested for COVID-19 even if the CDC guidelines are met.
The Best Seats: @NelsonSchwartz points out how pay-to-play K-12 sports and special sections at stadiums prevent sports from being the great equalizer that’s it’s supposed to be. What stood out to me however was post high school education.
The Ivy Leagues: Education doesn’t require physical-prowess like sports and it is pitched to us as the ultimate financial equalizer. This too has been class divided with elite college counseling costing up to $150 K before a student has ever stepped into university.
The Aspirational Life: Using the example of cruise ship dining options Schwartz explains how these divisions are carefully constructed to ensure that the psychological advantages of benign envy (motivational) are preserved and malignant envy (resentment) is not activated.
He concludes by mentioning that policy making and political donations from the wealthy — which caught my attention as a candidate for Congress — are impacted by this inability by the super-rich to understand how others live. Lack of empathy and sympathy are his words of choice.
Here’s what’s missing in The Big Business Of Inequality conversation. The majority of political donors are middle class. The majority of $2,800 political donors — which is the max an individual can give to a Federal candidate — are upper class. NOT the 1%. https://www.npr.org/2020/04/13/833306833/the-big-business-of-inequality">https://www.npr.org/2020/04/1...
The majority of candidates when first elected to Congress do not fall into the super-rich category. The problem is not just the inability of the super-rich to have empathy, but that middle/upper class don’t know what it’s like to be nearly destitute ALL the time.
The problem is that middle and upper class political candidates can be easily bought with slight motivation that leverages that benign envy. We& #39;re talking less than pennies on the dollar — just to stay elected — sometimes forever.
COVID-19 brings this to light. Most middle/upper class Americans with ‘white-collar’ jobs, still have them, are able to work-from-home or physically distance themselves. And most can pay rent/mortgage and afford groceries. At least as of this week.
Meanwhile Americans with low-paid service jobs have been renamed as ESSENTIAL, and been cheered on as HEROES! As if these labels cure the fact that they most have no PPE in a pandemic, are perpetually underpaid, have no healthcare, no benefits and no savings.
It’s the majority of us — that is everyone above the bottom 48% and below the top 1% that can still ASPIRE to go on a vacation and splurge on the luxuries even if once in a lifetime — that need to face the fact that millions of people have zero income and can& #39;t make rent.
If we the middle and upper class come together with the rest of us Americans we CAN solve our biggest problems. We don’t need the top 0.1% to bring policy change. We just need everyone who works for a living: http://votefordonna.com/why ">https://votefordonna.com/why"...
