Isn't "the Shrinking Middle-class" Just A Form Of Polarization In Action?

[MetabolicTrash]

This is referring to U.S. politics in particular and the economy/society, but can apply anywhere else too.

I think it strongly correlates with division of two extremes -- those "who have enough" and those "who don't have enough," only more so with the "cap" on each "range."

It's like the extreme views of seeing the royal rulers and the peasants of older days -- few in top, most in bottom. Many people see and even acknowledge this (look at the "living paycheck to paycheck" in America for example, which most people do). It seems if you're not struggling to live you're either more poor or more comfortable/not having financial problems -- but the thing is that this middle/gray area seems to have weakened more, resulting in what appears to be a literal extreme of two "classes" of people -- well-off and barely afloat, if even. It seems you can marginalize the extreme more easily as "poor" or "rich" -- the idea of rich just has moved down since what it appears to be is that -- instead of more people being well-off and some fewer being really rich -- it's like more people now are borderline poor and the "ceiling" on richness just downsizes you could say. The more many peoples' wages go down and/or costs go up, the easier it might be to classify more as "rich" with smaller "minimums" to qualify as such by comparison, explaining some possible degree of polarizing financial classes and "shrinking" groups.

For example, if most people earned, say, $100K and some fewer "rich" made millions per year, the change now would be that you could argue most earn $40K and "rich" now means $100K and up (lower ceiling).

I know the term "rich" is also thrown around loosely and there's no perfectly agreed upon definition of it, but I think the point gets across on how most imagine the idea of financial abundance as compared to their working lifestyle that -- according to most -- keeps everyone "afloat" only while working 9-5 nonstop (lose your job = lose the roof over your head for a great many with no alternatives/failsafe).

For these reasons it's why I'd only vouch for a political candidate like Andrew Yang for U.S. president who would attempt to remedy this by creating more financial abundance and maybe shrinking the lowered ceiling on wealthy rather than having to continuously downsize everything to adapt to our subpar pay and system. I think it's a real financial issue when nearly 3/4th of the entire population seems to have to work endlessly with no breaks in order to barely get by (along with all of the stress this entails as a different story too).

I think the "shrinking middle-class" is just a code word for people working more & getting less overall -- i.e., only "shrinking" by way of separating the poorer/richer.

 

[Nebula]

It’s mostly supply and demand of labor and industry moving to the areas with the lowest paid workers and lowest regulations. A mobile global labor supply means wages in developed nations will fall.

 

[lampofred]

The middle class is going to continue to shrink. It's not accidental. Carroll Quigley's book Tragedy and Hope talks about this. Quigley was Bill Clinton's teacher and Bill Clinton said that that book was the most influential book he has read in his life, so it's not just conspiracy theory. The establishment thinks that middle class people are small-minded, egotistical, and neurotic, and that society was happier and stabler when it was more feudal and ordinary people were less involved in politics.

The only thing is that it's not some evil Satanic plot to enslave the world, they truly believe that eradicating the middle class will make everyone happier in the long-run.

 

[MetabolicTrash]

The middle class is going to continue to shrink. It's not accidental. Carroll Quigley's book Tragedy and Hope talks about this. Quigley was Bill Clinton's teacher and Bill Clinton said that that book was the most influential book he has read in his life, so it's not just conspiracy theory. The establishment thinks that middle class people are small-minded, egotistical, and neurotic, and that society was happier and stabler when it was more feudal and ordinary people were less involved in politics.

The only thing is that it's not some evil Satanic plot to enslave the world, they truly believe that eradicating the middle class will make everyone happier in the long-run.

Hm. I'm not sure I can agree with that exactly. The whole idea of something shrinking to me just conveys that there's a separation of aspects that actually cause said "shrinking" to ensue from some certain point of view or point of measure prior to some change. I don't believe it's some "evil force" at work exactly, but I'm not sure if the meaning behind "eradicating the middle class" will really have anything to do with peoples' happiness.

 

[lampofred]

Hm. I'm not sure I can agree with that exactly. The whole idea of something shrinking to me just conveys that there's a separation of aspects that actually cause said "shrinking" to ensue from some certain point of view or point of measure prior to some change. I don't believe it's some "evil force" at work exactly, but I'm not sure if the meaning behind "eradicating the middle class" will really have anything to do with peoples' happiness.

? It's not my opinion. It's literally in the book lol.

 

[kyle]

The net wealth of a nation wont increase if you simply increase the money supply. Yangs idea is economic ignorance.

We in fact already operate under an inflationary system which is in effect the same thing as giving everyone money. The result is higher prices if productivity remains the same.

Only increasing productivity increases wealth. The way to increase wealth for the average man is giving him ways to be productive.

For example, protecting the demand for his labor which can be achieved by limiting cheap labor. You can also invest in his ability to labor more effectively.

For example, education. The other is protecting industry.

Eg, the man that operates advanced machinery produces much more wealth. A tractor gets a lot more done than a shovel.

By exporting our industrial ability only benefitted the oligarchy. They get more profit by putting Americans out of work.

Its like all of our tractors go overseas and we are left with the shovels.

You can argue the Yang idea gives people money to then reinvest into productivity increasing venues like their education or say, the tools to start a business.

This seems unlikely though. Whenever money gets thrown at education it just raises the cost. There also seems to be steep diminishing returns. A degree is worth less now and costs more. Why?

And 1000 wont get you very far as for a business inestment. These days, millions of dollars are needed to invest in the tooling to be competitive at a meaningful level.

This is why if you take money away from large firms and give a little chunk to everyone, it makes the high capital investment harder.

They refer to this rather prejoratively trickle down economics, but the truth is, a large firm has much more leverage.

A factory can sustain a whole town because its productivity is magnitudes higher due to the concentration of capital - tech, knowledge and market share.

If Apple builds phones here it employs many more people than if the same people say, grew apple trees.

You might plant an apple orchard for 1000. You need to add many zeroes to that to build a computer.

This is why tarriffs are the only way to give us a relative advantage in the worldwide market. Force them to invest the capital here.

 

[kyle]

What Trump is fighting is the forces that made a situation where capital is siphoned into cheaper labor and regulatory markets, meanwhile mass immigration putting even downward pressure on labor here.

This only benefits the 2%.

Thats how on paper, like GDP, we seem richer but the avg person gets poorer.

I should also add, most schemes given in the 'trickle down economics' scheme do not help, as during the liberalization and tax cuts for the rich.

This is because, without changing investment incentives, it does become predatory.

 

[Homo Consumericus]

? It's not my opinion. It's literally in the book lol.

Might not be your opinion but what makes you think it's not hers? How do you know it is accurate?

Sounds like propaganda justifying restriction of freedom.

 

[lampofred]

Might not be your opinion but what makes you think it's not hers? How do you know it is accurate?

Sounds like propaganda justifying restriction of freedom.

I don't really understand what you are asking? Carroll Quigley was a male professor at Georgetown who taught Bill Clinton and the book I was talking about was referenced by Bill Clinton as "the most influential book he has ever read in his life" and in it, Quigley lays out all of the ruling class policies, that the elite think that middle class people are too small-minded to govern themselves and that feudalism leads to greater happiness for everyone in the long-run. This is not just a random guy proposing theories, he was someone who influenced ruling class policies.

And honestly I don't know if I disagree, as a middle class person who had a sheltered childhood, I admit that I am more small-minded and less able to handle pain than someone who grew up poor and had to struggle.

 

[Homo Consumericus]

I don't really understand what you are asking? Carroll Quigley was a male professor at Georgetown who taught Bill Clinton and the book I was talking about was referenced by Bill Clinton as "the most influential book he has ever read in his life" and in it, Quigley lays out all of the ruling class policies, that the elite think that middle class people are too small-minded to govern themselves and that feudalism leads to greater happiness for everyone in the long-run. This is not just a random guy proposing theories, he was someone who influenced ruling class policies.

And honestly I don't know if I disagree, as a middle class person who had a sheltered childhood, I admit that I am more small-minded and less able to handle pain than someone who grew up poor and had to struggle.

I guess the choice of words you used to explain Quigley's theory made it sound like Quigley was demonising the middle class to justify erosion of freedom through restriction of social mobility by the ruling class. I suppose I should acquire the book to read first hand.

 

[lampofred]

I guess the choice of words you used to explain Quigley's theory made it sound like Quigley was demonising the middle class to justify erosion of freedom through restriction of social mobility by the ruling class. I suppose I should acquire the book to read first hand.

That is what I was saying...

I guess I understand your question now, you were saying that him demonizing the middle class as bad people might just be an excuse for the elite to grab power?

Who knows. As time passes I think I am beginning to understand where the ruling class is coming from, even though I don't agree with them. Maybe it's early stages Stockholm Syndrome, or maybe it's that I'm realizing most people aren't really outright evil & are just trying their best to do what they think is right, which inevitably leads to clashes.

 

[Homo Consumericus]

That is what I was saying...

I guess I understand your question now, you were saying that him demonizing the middle class as bad people might just be an excuse for the elite to grab power?

Who knows. As time passes I think I am beginning to understand where the ruling class is coming from, even though I don't agree with them. Maybe it's early stages Stockholm Syndrome, or maybe it's that I'm realizing most people aren't really outright evil & are just trying their best to do what they think is right, which inevitably leads to clashes.

The middle class is no more desensitised to the plight of the working class than the ruling class is numb to the struggle of the middle class. In fact, considering the socio-economic distance between low and mid versus mid and high, the middle class is likely more aware of where they came from than those above them.

 

[postman]

That is what I was saying...

I guess I understand your question now, you were saying that him demonizing the middle class as bad people might just be an excuse for the elite to grab power?

Who knows. As time passes I think I am beginning to understand where the ruling class is coming from, even though I don't agree with them. Maybe it's early stages Stockholm Syndrome, or maybe it's that I'm realizing most people aren't really outright evil & are just trying their best to do what they think is right, which inevitably leads to clashes.

The masses are stupid and simple because the education system made them that way, that's the whole point of the education system. TPTB are also putting toxicants in the food, air, and water, and are purposfully giving people bad advice, giving them horrible treatments etc. humans are fallen mostly because it has been inflicted on them. TPTB are envious jealous hateful psychopaths, they ARE evil, continually lying, starting wars, murdering, poisoning and so forth. That is not to say that this is how it must be, that a ruling class must be like that, but the current ruling class is. Maybe they do want to build a better world, I don't know, I don't think so, but in either case the ends don't justify the means especially not if those ends are built upon hills of millions of corpses.

 

[tankasnowgod]

We in fact already operate under an inflationary system which is in effect the same thing as giving everyone money.

Actually, an inflationary system is the exact opposite- It steals money from most people, and concentrates it in the hands of people issuing the currency. Or, more accurately, steals value. The people who issue a dollar and spend it first get more in value from it than those spending it the 30th time or later.

For example, if you have $100 in a system of $1000, you have 1/10th the value. If suddenly $1000 more are injected into that economy, the purchasing power of your $100 is effectively cut in half.

 

[lampofred]

The masses are stupid and simple because the education system made them that way, that's the whole point of the education system. TPTB are also putting toxicants in the food, air, and water, and are purposfully giving people bad advice, giving them horrible treatments etc. humans are fallen mostly because it has been inflicted on them. TPTB are envious jealous hateful psychopaths, they ARE evil, continually lying, starting wars, murdering, poisoning and so forth. That is not to say that this is how it must be, that a ruling class must be like that, but the current ruling class is. Maybe they do want to build a better world, I don't know, I don't think so, but in either case the ends don't justify the means especially not if those ends are built upon hills of millions of corpses.

Yeah instead of building a better world by educating people in the right way, we are educated in exactly the wrong way and then anyone who doesn't fit the ruling class mold is exterminated via PUFA, glyphosate, iron, xenoestrogens, etc. (and that's only the stuff we know about, imagine what's out there that we don't know about). It's a "cut out the negative" instead of "build up the positive" approach and causes a lot of pain.

 

[Luann]

I agree with @postman that TPTB are evil, act evilly, know they are evil - they are the clear villain

Also that average people are not in on the plot except for being brainwashed or gullible, via public school, bad food, the frustrations of big government. Whereas it is popular now to see the average person as the villain because they are eating meat, driving a car, or saying / typing opinons that could be offensive...

@lampofred "Society is produced by our wants, and government by wickedness; the former promotes our happiness positively by uniting our affections, the latter negatively by restraining our vices." - P.J. O'rourke

 

[jacky]

must watch
The Myth of Extinction
Truthstream Media

 

[Homo Consumericus]

must watch
The Myth of Extinction
Truthstream Media

Spam alert.

 

[kyle]

If suddenly $1000 more are injected into that economy, the purchasing power of your $100 is effectively cut in half.

...right.

Everyone is getting the 1000, what would happen to prices?

Rent and food goes up about 1000. You're right back where you started.

 

[postman]

Spam alert.

Sounds pretty topical.