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Wealth inequality will destroy America. (lemmy.today)
submitted 1 month ago by to c/workreform@lemmy.world
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This cartoon from The Seattle Times illustrates how America's economic pizza is actually sliced per capita, highlighting the massive disparity between the Top 1%, the merely wealthy, the upper middle class, and the lower 50%.

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[–] 15 points 1 month ago (4 children)

remember - there is no such thing as stratification within the working class. there is no “upper middle class” - it’s all just propaganda to get us distracted by a better house, greener lawn, culdesac, suit wearing folks…

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  • [–] 15 points 1 month ago (3 children)

    There is an "upper middle class."

    If you point to the average doctor or lawyer, and tell poor people "those guys are working class, same as you," half of them are going to tell you to get bent. Cause when they see them with their mcmansions that somebody else cleans, and their giant lawns that somebody else mows, and driving their mercedes and corvettes, the average poor person is not going to believe you when you tell them they're the same class.

    Maybe if everyone was educated and enlightened you could pull that off, but expecting all or even most people to be like that is idealistic and naïve at best. Perhaps even callous and out-of-touch.

    The grain of truth is that we are indeed all "working class," and that class conflict is should be about working class versus owner class; and that the owner class actively pits upper-middle class against middle- and lower-class, and middle-class against lower class.

    But telling everyone "there's no such thing as/no distinction between upper-middle, middle, and lower classes" is not the remedy. You need to remind them that even though there is stratification within the working class, we're all on the same team and need to work together.

    Telling them otherwise comes off as gaslighting and is not going to convince the majority of working class people, because it directly contradicts the evidence of their eyes and ears.

    And besides, upper-middle class people will hear that and think "so you want to reduce me to poverty just to level the playing field!", middle-class people will think "so you want to eliminate the middle class and make us all poor?," and lower-class people will think "so you're erasing my struggles and pretending I have it just as easy as the middle- and upper-middle classes?"

    Denying the reality isn't helpful. That's like using "colorblindness" as an argument against racism. We need to acknowledge our differences in order to accept them. Pretending there's no difference will never work, and only advantages the owner-class attempting to maintain the status quo.

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  • [–] 9 points 1 month ago

    could not agree with you more.

    I am one of those people that has had circumstances improve. I grew up in a trailer that honestly should have been condemned rather than allowed to have someone live in it. I've gotten used to sleep for dinner when I was younger having my only good food be the fact that one of my friends mom's was our lunch lady and she took pity on me pretty regularly.

    over the last 15 or 20 years I've somehow worked my way into a good paying job and when I read your first paragraph it was a little bit of a wake up for me since a lot of those things apply now.

    I would say the main difference that I have between now and then is that I have more control over my life personally, if I were to lose my job I could probably find another one and even if I couldn't I could sell my house and be okay for a while. homelessness is not right around the corner like it was when I was a kid and we got evicted three or four times.

    The real difference between classes though is not that I can afford my electricity bill every month or make sure that my kids have probably too many toys, as far as I'm concerned the primary difference is whether you have control of how other people live their lives.

    The owner class has propaganda machines, owns government officials, can collaborate with each other to ensure that wages are suppressed and to ensure that the right people make the right business calls and make a bunch of money at the rest of our expense.

    it's insane to me that the life that I have used to be common in America and I feel so lucky and grateful that I have it at all today. all I have is a house a job two cars and two kids and a cat I guess.

    that should not be too much to ask for for the regular person. everyone should get to have that kind of stability in their life.

    I vote and believe the way I do not because I think it will drastically change my own life but because I think that others deserve what I have, it should not be extraordinary for people to be able to survive on one job and build a family if that's what they want to do.

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  • [–] 2 points 1 month ago

    half of them are going to tell you to get bent.

    I don’t disagree, I just think that this response is a function of a lack of class consciousness and is really an exercise for you, to teach your audience, that “sells labor and limited lifespan” means working class. (eliding the details here…)

    In short: it’s audience specific. My reply here was meant for the audience here. I might not say it the same way to my neighbor, or a friend, etc.

    i guess i don’t disagree that in the interest of time and energy we do consider there to be multiple middle classes, etc, but i consider it harmful to our unification as one working class.

    Except for cops. Remember: they’re not working class, just trash class.

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