What the Rich Don't Want to Admit About the Poor

[applegrove]

What the Rich Don’t Want to Admit About the Poor

June 13, 2021

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/06/13/opinion/stimulus-unemployment-republicans-poverty.html

By Ezra Klein, Opinion Columnist

"SNIP.....


I’m not going to pretend that I know how to interpret the jobs and inflation data of the past few months. My view is that this is still an economy warped by the pandemic, and that the dynamics are so strange and so unstable that it will be some time before we know its true state. But the reaction to the early numbers and anecdotes has revealed something deeper and more constant in our politics.

The American economy runs on poverty, or at least the constant threat of it. Americans like their goods cheap and their services plentiful and the two of them, together, require a sprawling labor force willing to work tough jobs at crummy wages. On the right, the barest glimmer of worker power is treated as a policy emergency, and the whip of poverty, not the lure of higher wages, is the appropriate response.

.....

Reports that low-wage employers were having trouble filling open jobs sent Republican policymakers into a tizzy and led at least 25 Republican governors — and one Democratic governor — to announce plans to cut off expanded unemployment benefits early. Chipotle said that it would increase prices by about 4 percent to cover the cost of higher wages, prompting the National Republican Congressional Committee to issue a blistering response: “Democrats’ socialist stimulus bill caused a labor shortage, and now burrito lovers everywhere are footing the bill.” The Trumpist outlet The Federalist complained, “Restaurants have had to bribe current and prospective workers with fatter paychecks to lure them off their backsides and back to work.”

But it’s not just the right. The financial press, the cable news squawkers and even many on the center-left greet news of labor shortages and price increases with an alarm they rarely bring to the ongoing agonies of poverty or low-wage toil.


.....SNIP"

[underpants]

1. Do burrito lovers have a "safe word"?

Sorry couldn’t resist.

Great piece. I think people who can are starting to actually apply economics to themselves - what’s better for ME!?!?? Not in an ahole Ayn Rand way but in a life is short kind of way.

[applegrove]

2. I hope they are thinking. The GOP wants the USA to follow Mexico's

economy.

[Pinback]

3. "the whip of poverty, not the lure of higher wages"

Very well said. An economy that runs on poverty is like a beast that feeds on misery.

[Bernardo de La Paz]

11. Good catch. Yes, running on poverty is like eating your seed corn. And another:

When you make people small (poor), you find that with small people you can't accomplish great things. Pay people the decent wages they are due and they will raise families that include engineers, nurses, teachers, and yes, even MBAs. Which will greatly benefit the employers' children and grandchildren.

Running economy on poverty is a short run win, long term loss.

[Chainfire]

5. In order for there to be very rich people

there must be very poor people. There are just so many marbles in the economic bag. When the bag grows, so does the Rich's share, when the bag shrinks, the poor take the hit.

Republicans are fine with that system. What really pisses me off is that then the right wingers blame the poor for being poor and suggest that they are at the root of all of our problems. When they fight back for social or economic gain, they have the police in riot gear putting them back in their places and right wingers screaming about the broken glass.

Gross disparity of wealth have destroyed many societies. We have a gross disparity of wealth. The Republicans want a feudal society, and all of the right wing voters see themselves in the Lord's manner, surrounded by white knights and living off the labor of the serfs. The Rightwing propaganda has managed to convince workers that to have someone looking out for their interest is Socialism.

We need to return to the days of the powerful labor unions. I would rather have a crooked Jimmy Hoffa looking out for me than a crooked Mitch McConnell.

[Bernardo de La Paz]

12. Wrong, wrong on 2 counts. That's not reality, that's the Republican mindset.

In order for there to be very rich people there must be very poor people.

Wrong on two counts.

1) You can shave wealth and income away from the rich and the very rich without them really noticing (financially) and help the base a lot. Yes they will notice the number on the tax form, but will their lifestyle notice? Nope.

However, a small amount of money can make a big difference to a poor family.

Guaranteed basic income and housing can raise all the base to a certain level and the economy would benefit without very rich people becoming merely rich or the rich becoming merely well off.

2) Republicans are all about Zero Sum Games, a fixed pie, only so many marbles. What that means is that in the fighting for slices, people get hurt and shut out and part of the pie gets damaged. It becomes a Negative Sum Game.

Progressives, liberals, and most Democrats (including you?) are all about growing the pie, a Positive Sum Game, making it bigger so that all can participate and get a good sized slice. How? By being inclusive, respectful, cooperative. Yes, unions can help and now is not too soon for some resurgence of unions.

Which game are you playing?

[Chainfire]

16. No games

Right or wrong, it is simply the way that I see it. Yep, I am angry about that status quo.

There is no limit to the aspirations of the wealthy, there is no amount of wealth that will satisfy their greed. The system is rigged in their favor; elections and the power that comes from them are bought and sold through an absurd campaign finance system of cash for votes. The middle class is migrating down, the wealthy are getting wealthier and the working poor are desperate. The right has convinced their voters that that is the way it should be and that protecting workers is evil Socialism. My children, the kids of a tradesman, and a professional administrator have done their part to earn a the American dream. Both have college educations, both have full-time jobs, both are hard working, smart and thrifty, and yet they can not attain the lifestyle of their parents. They are not less productive then we were, they are just compensated less for their contributions. The majority of people are not making progress. If you think that is how things should be, that we are doing enough to return power and a fair portion of the pie to workers, then so be it. I don't.


I feel like the working people have been trickled down on for far too long. Since Reagan the people have been losing more and more of the American dream to the the tiny majority that control the vast proportion of the wealth and power. Many Americans work full time jobs and can not escape poverty on their wages. The people who build the real wealth through their productivity are not getting their share of the rewards.

Progressives pulled out an electoral victory, gaining a slim majority in the House, the Senate and we hold the Presidency, if we don't do something to restore some fairness while we have the (theoretical) power now, then when? Growing the pie doesn't help a damn bit if the working people are only getting the crumbs. We have been inclusive, respectful, cooperative with the right for too damn long. Cooperation with the right means accepting their terms or else. Whether we are willing to admit it or not, time is running out.

Change it or lose it.

[BadgerMom]

6. "But it's not just the right. The financial press, the cable news squawkers..."

This line struck me because I think the financial press (WSJ, Forbes) and cable news squawkers (CNBC’s Santelli) ARE speaking for the right. I have no idea who Klein means when he lumps in “the center left” with these guys. Point is, there are not enough Democratic voices being given air time. The powers that be can’t have truth spoken too effectively.

[uponit7771]

9. They are, and only CNBC has some even commentary but they right slips in there with their stupid

... assed non reality on macro economics.

Forbes is most objective in that they stay away from winger stupidity

[uponit7771]

7. K&R, "The American economy runs on poverty, ... "

[czarjak]

8. Remember, not rich? "Blame yourself". Hard to believe Herman's been gone almost a year.

[bucolic_frolic]

10. Low wages used as an incentive to crack the whip

so those at the top can have a life of leisure with nothing to do except figure out how to reduce their taxes.

[KT2000]

13. America runs on fear

Wealthy fear losing theirs, people afraid of losing their jobs and healthcare, afraid of rocking the boat, afraid of someone getting the best of them, and afraid they don't have enough weapons to protect themselves. Unregulated capitalism operates on fear.

[applegrove]

14. +100

[I_UndergroundPanther]

15. This👆

[Chainfire]

17. And the far right seeks scapegoats and build the fear through their media.

It is the source of their growing power.