“…a charming stroll through the ruins of late capitalism that feels real and metaphorical at once.” - Review of the TV show Lodge 49: “Lodge 49 Nails the Sad Absurdity of Modern Life” by Matt Zoller Seitz/Vulture.com
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Politics and Economics
Of the 200 CEOs listed, five made more than $50 million, 17 made between $30-49 million, and 178 made between $14-$29 million….
…support for strong border controls does not imply traditional marriage values, just as support for universal health care does not imply hostility to large corporations. That certain political opinions tend to go together is mostly a product of American history - an artifact of our two-party system and the dynamics of coalition politics.
…over half of the households in the top 20% of net worth are not in the top 20% of income. That makes sense given that so much of their wealth is based on the value of their homes and businesses. Think of farmers classified as middle-class by their income and wealthy by the value of their land and equipment.
Studies on the effectiveness of driver safety messages found that messages that focused on “fear arousal” were more likely to be rejected, while those that focused on concrete, doable behaviors were more likely to be accepted.
So over half of young adults and seniors live in lower income households…
…remember that most households in the top 20% percent of income have at least two earners and the lower limit for the top quintile was $126,855 in 2017. That’s an average of $63,428/year per earner.
A few years back, sociologists Thomas Hirschl and Mark Rank reviewed 44 years of US household and individual income data and found …
…my TBI would provide $1000/month up to six years total (minimum one month at a time) for adults enrolled at least part-time in postsecondary training and education programs, from ESL classes to apprenticeships to graduate school. Among the benefits…5. A TBI would not be means-tested so recipients could work without reducing the benefit. Note that part-time work (20 hours or less a week) is associated with higher college GPA and completion rates. …
[Americans] “felt ashamed that ‘their’ country's history was being stained by cruelties, lies, and betrayals. So they went to work in protest—not merely as advocates of universal human rights, but as Americans who loved the common American project…
Doing the math, that means 15% of the American electorate are liberal Democrats and 17% are conservative Republicans. Yet liberals and conservatives are increasingly dominating their respective parties, meaning a lot of the poor electorate is being left out of the political equation. These marginalized Americans may vote for whatever party is closest to their views, but that doesn’t mean they’re happy with it. And it certainly doesn’t mean that they are “really” Democrats or Republicans, as if those two labels represented a natural division of humanity. As if all political inclinations were points along a line stretching from left to right, liberal to conservative. As if “moderate” was simply a middle range on the line, a weaker version of the end points. As if moderates were liberals and conservatives who simply lacked the courage of their true convictions.
Let’s think beyond the line. Thinking within a box would be progress.
There appears to be a consensus among social scientists that Americans are clueless as to the extent of inequality in the US. To illustrate: …
Question: What percent of American adults live in households in the Top 20 percentile of income at some point before they're 60 years old?
So how would this work out in the real world? Let’s take the case of an Amazon employee who receives food stamps, i.e., SNAP benefits. Here are SNAP’s gross income eligibility standards for Fiscal Year 2018: …
The poor are also much more likely than the rich to go to church every single week and thus be asked for money in a public setting every single week. Talk about social pressure…
…The authors conclude that the rich are less generous than the poor because they are less compassionate, less trusting, and less egalitarian.
Ditto the results of a 2017 study: not a single a luxury sedan or sports car was among the top choices of high-income Americans. And then there's the complication that half the luxury cars in the US are bought by individuals with incomes of less than $100,000 a year (per the research firm Kantar Media TGI).
"Sanders plans to introduce a bill in the Senate on Sept. 5 that would impose a 100% tax on government benefits received by workers at companies with 500 or more employees. For example, if an Amazon employee receives $300 in food stamps, Amazon would be taxed $300." Thousands of Amazon workers get food stamps. Bernie Sanders wants Amazon to pay for them by Abha Bhattarai, The Washington Post Aug 24, 2018
Ok! The total TBI budget would be $567 billion, including 5% administration costs and based on an assumption that in any given year about 45 million Americans would avail themselves of the benefit. Here's where the money would come from…
It's important to remember that labor market participation isn't just the result of collective choices about whether to work or not to work but also about how much to work, e.g., part-time/full-time, seasonal/temp/year-round. These collective decisions also impact labor productivity and the vitality of the economy as a whole (not to mention the tax base).