Pre posting edit. I seem to come late to these big discussions, start reading once they are 3,4,5 pages old then start to write a reply. Then I find I’ve jotted down way too much drivel trying to address several different things I’ve read. Sorry, but here comes another long post.
I don’t see the tax system as having anything to do with the day to day anger or resentment in society up until now. I do feel the tax cuts over the last 15 years, while personally benefiting me, have been a monumentally bad idea. The economy was working without them, and all they’ve really done is increase the deficit. I think it’s quite hard to argue that our economy would be that much different if we hadn’t had them, but the deficit sure is larger. I also don’t see $1,000 an hour lawyers as having much impact. The wealthy and uber wealthy have always had access to the very best legal representation. While it’s easy to point to gross injustice today, at least it get’s identified and reported on, even if ‘we’ can’t do much about it. Go back 100 years and not only was there still gross misconduct and injustice by the uber wealthy, they were far more protected by the ‘system’ than they are today. There are far more laws to protect workers from danger and direct poor treatment than back then. Do we want to go back to strike busters, employers evicting your family from company owned housing the day after you were killed due to no safety standards etc. etc.
I do see the artificially low minimum wage as hurting families and being one of the few backwards steps in society. Yes, 100 years ago there were no minimum wages, but the upside of some of the turmoil of the first half of the last century was that safeguards were put in place and (especially) working class families were more protected and stable in the work place. Then the post war years were a huge boon overall to the economy and standard of living for millions. No, it wasn’t’ perfect and it was a horrible time if you were a minority or a woman (thanks for holding down the fort and building industry during the war, now put your dress and heels back on and look after the kids like a good ornament). But the truth is that growth in wages and jobs did help those minorities as prejudice and discrimination was slowly whittled away both social and through laws over the next decades. The issue now is that we let large companies (Walmart being the poster child here) pay such low wages that a) families in these jobs need government assistance to survive and b) Because they pay so little, thus can charge so little, they drive the small guys out of business so there are fewer options for those on minimum wage to look elsewhere for a better deal.
Now if you’re young and only supporting yourself you can just about get by on minimum wage and have the option of moving to a different area for a better position. But for many, especially with families there are a lot of inhibitions to them moving out of area for a better deal. Equally bad is these artificially low wages mean the government (read you me and other tax payers) are effectively subsiding the profits of mega corps.
Then there’s the cost of education. Education seems to be the one industry that uses increases in technology to drive more cost rather than make efficiencies. We’ve spent the last 25 years trumpeting that everyone needs a four year degree, we’ve also spent the last 30+ years driving the cost of those degrees up and up ever higher. This means more debt for more people who then have a harder time paying it back. When people graduate with the equivalent of a small mortgage in student loans they can’t then afford a mortgage or car loan, further slowing investments that would help them, the economy and society as a whole grow. Add into that the (to my mind) criminal act of the loan industry lobbyists making student loan debt non dischargeable no matter what, even in bankruptcy to the point where you can have your social security check garnished, means millions will be saddled with crippling, or at least a significant debt that will never grow the economy. At least here there are signs the pendulum is starting to swing the other way. There are more and more articles, editorials and discussions about people not needing an expensive degree for many jobs. Collage enrollment seems to be slowing, stagnating or even dropping in different subjects/regions depending on where you look. I hope that has several knock ons. First a reduction in costs, second a reduction in debt and third a move to more job focused technical training for many.
Next up the big bad boogy man health care. This is the contentious one as it is such a polarizing topic for each side. But let’s stick to inarguable facts. The US has by far the most costly healthcare. The US rates low on quality of health care when compared to other first world developed nations. It’s beyond ridiculous that Medicare and medicate are legally prevented from negotiating drug prices. Liability laws and suits have driven a ridiculous number of unneeded tests into our system as docs feel they need to cover themselves for every unreasonable eventuality. Finally, health care costs are the single biggest thing that pushes families into bankruptcy, not credit card debt, not buying too much house, not even student loans (as bankruptcy doesn’t help) but health care. That is wrong wrong wrong. We can argue the way out of this for days. Obviously I’m a proponent of a single payer system, others believe in other methods, but it’s hard to argue the current system is a mess that puts millions of people under a lot of unnecessary stress.
Others have covered the media, but I agree. We’ve got to the point where it’s hard for people to find a fair balanced view. It’s been shown that even if someone goes goggling for a different perspective, based on past search history a Liberal and a Conservative will be offered different search results to the same queries. Those results pander to what your past Google (or whoever your search engine is) search history tells them you want to see.
I’m not sure people are actually more angry though. I think most people have a base level of happiness/anger/trust/mistrust etc. I think that as race, gender and orientation issues have improved for many, the direction of peoples dissatisfaction (for those so inclined) is now congregating around a smaller number of issues. 50 years ago you had people angry at war, angry at racial prejudice, angry at gender bias etc. While those things are still issues, they are far less of the issues they were. Now the growing social and economic inequality are the rallying point for the disenfranchised rather than several different movements.
I also think that there are exceptional people in every generation. I am lucky enough to know many incredibly wealthy people and families. Most of those are first generation wealthy who came from modest working class or middle class backgrounds. Exceptional people will always find their way to the top. I’ve asked many of them what the key to real success is (like 8 figure success) Every single one of them says the same thing. Bloody minded determination. They don’t claim to be the best or the brightest, they all claim not to give up no matter what. If they get knocked down, they get up and start again. I’ve also noticed that a lot of second generation money tend to be in the ‘maintenance’ camp. They work hard at keeping the prior generations wealth stable to pass on. Finally most third generation wealth I’ve personally witnessed seems to be a one way ticket down, spend spend spend. I’m sure this isn’t universal, but it’s what I see.
