[WS:] I am not denying they are struggling. However, they blame the usual scapegoats for their misfortunes - immigrants, minorities, foreigners, politicians other than those they voted for, government bureaucrats, liberal elites, environmentalists, greedy unions, and maybe a few greedy bankers. They do not blame the free market system, and they are certainly against wealth redistribution through public/social spending and progressive taxation.
In any case, I am flying to Budapest today and I will not be available to continue until Monday.
Wojtek
On Tue, Sep 13, 2011 at 10:08 AM, Maria Gilmore <indigo at ymail.com> wrote:
> On Tue, 13 Sep 2011 08:57:12 -0400, Wojtek S <wsoko52 at gmail.com> wrote:
>
>> [WS:] I am not sure FDR approach would work today. We have a very
>> different social environment. For one thing, the bulk of the working
>> class today consists of college educated professionals or
>> para-professionals
>
> Um, I don't think so. I saw some stats recently showing (maybe here) only
> around 25% of Americans have the piece of paper, which is no higher than it
> was 30 years ago. However, those people probably do actually vote more, so
> it would be fair to call them more of the electorate. The majority of US
> voters seldom vote, and the Republicans are passing laws to make it even
> tougher for low income and people of color to do so. They know this really
> helps them to carry the day.
>
> I'm not sure the average "middle class" American necessarily finds things so
> peachy keen right now, either. The only people not really struggling right
> now are those who are securely upper middle class and higher; I think those
> are the people WS is talking about, and they are definitely a minority. The
> great majority of us who *think* of ourselves as "middle class" are one or
> two income families with workers making relatively lousy wages, compared to
> the cost of living.
>
> Maria
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