Alstein
3739
Higher hourly wage, extra week of vacation, additional holiday time, no more accounting tricks to force folks into working 39 hours a week instead of 40 and lose bonus pay
So it’s joining executive compensating inflation at last?
What the bible doesn’t tell you is that Jesus guy was completely irresponsible to the ability of food and wine producers to make a living.
I’m frankly not sure what the pope is arguing there. Is there some basis to think that going to smaller-scale/less-centralized production would reduce prices and make food more plentiful? Higher quality, more healthful, sure. But cheaper and/or more readily-available?
Well, monopolistic price gouging isn’t exactly a new economic concept. How, and to what extent, as always, varies, but even with light touches everywhere you can do a fair bit. He’s not even arguing for ending hunger here, surely there’s ways to run a world economy that don’t rely on throwing so much away.
Timex
3746
Are we currently experiencing monopolistic price gouging in the food market?
He’s not arguing for anything, or at least doing so with even a shred of support. This is the “let’s all get along”, “let there be peace”, “think of the children” territory. What exactly is he calling for? The companies should charge less?
Hell, if he called for more government food subsidies or something, that would at least make sense. This is just some vague finger-pointing without any reasonable chance of anyone knowing what he’s suggesting, much less having it happen.
His Holiness is arguing for following the bible, his devout follower (or close enough heretic) disagrees.
I have not, however, seen the video to see if it’s clearer (j/k, it’s just a comment on values which would be silly for me to argue for him).
I feel like the pope really screwed up by not linking to his 300 page whitepaper in the tweet.
Thrag
3750
I would guess he’s calling attention to some of the negatives of giant agricorps. Random article for example:
antlers
3752
I thought this was a pretty interesting read:
His thesis is that fear is driving the meritocratic professional/managerial class to spend tons of money on their children to make sure they qualify for the same top schools and jobs, essentially making them a hereditary aristocracy. Basically, making sure your kid has a nanny with a degree in developmental psychology is the modern equivalent of schooling your sons in armored combat in the Middle Ages.
Hahahaha. The 9.9% below the 0.1% are not upper-middle class. They fall straight into upper class by pretty much any measure. What kind of BS is that?
It’s a privileged upper class that of course is going to shield its privileges like it has always done. It’s not a new aristocracy. It’s the same old aristocracy doing different jobs because the world moves on. News at 11.
Ex-SWoo
3754
It depends on if you use the National metric or the state metric.
Top 10% of the US is ~$150k but the top 10% of California is closer to ~$300k. If you’re making $150k in a HCOL location your lifestyle is more comparable to those making far less in other locations.
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Top 10% is 203k+ in 2021. Per household.
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Middle class is normally defined as to up twice the median income (measure it as you will, city, state, country… although city is probably too small and distorts the picture, unless it’s a big city). You might want to use a non-standard definition, but then we are talking about subjective opinions, not economics.
- Even using the highest median income state (DC, at $93k, per household) being in the top 10% nationally brings you out of the metric (admittedly not by much)
- Income is spread within individual states too. While it’s true that a small percentage of that 9.9% might have an income that puts them close to a middle class lifestyle, it’s going to be a small percentage and it’s definitely not going to be true for most of that population.
- In that income bracket, salary ranges accelerate change. While at 91% you might be close to middle class income in some states, at the top 95% income you will not be, not by far, no matter what state you live in.
- Because of 4, you will have people under that top 10% national income that will have an upper class economy compared to their peers (for example, those making $150k in Mississippi). The border is fuzzy, but you can’t put it from 90% to 99,9% income.
In general the assertion the article makes that those at the top income decile are mostly upper-middle class is unsustainable and somewhat laughable if it wasn’t so telling of a general lack of understanding of how extreme income inequality has become.
Enidigm
3756
I mean this is just the example of what I’ve been saying about finance dominating all social development. All this stuff is really, at its root, about getting those jobs that are attracting the unlimited funds and profits of finance capital driven industries.
That 10% could just as easily turn into farmers or welders under the right circumstances and then instead of nannies you’d be hiring Ag biologists or tractor drivers to teach your kids. The big picture issue is that most people - even those criticizing it - don’t understand where this roof inequality comes from. The question isn’t what do we do about it but how are these industries so vastly over represented compared to the rest of the population.
All of what @Juan_Raigada said. Also:
The change in marginal utility of income as you move farther away from basic needs is massive. So (to make up some numbers) if you’re comfortable at $70k and you go to $100k, you aren’t like 20% more comfortable. You have $20k of money to do whatever the fuck you want. It’s a massive shift. The difference between staying a float and “fuck it, let’s put an addition on the house. Or take a cruise or some shit, who gives a fuck!”
But maybe that’s coming at it from the lower-middle-class perspective I’ve had my whole adult life. I’m sure people who expect to lease a new luxury SUV every 24 months and have weekly spa treatments and cleaning services and such have a different perspective that could easily be corrected by judicious use of a certain incredible machine.
