The virus only affects rich people.

[Saltysquidoon]

https://www.cato.org/publications/co...re-people-poor
https://www.pewresearch.org/politics...-rich-or-poor/
https://www.concernusa.org/story/causes-of-poverty/

Nooooo. You can't just point out the mountains of evidence neo-liberal capitalism exists solely to enrich the established wealthy at the cost of the many. The party line is it's too complex to answer to protect the status quo for my oligarchical overlords (who offer me something to buy my loyalty... Right?)

[wunksta]

Nooooo. You can't just point out the mountains of evidence neo-liberal capitalism exists solely to enrich the established wealthy at the cost of the many. The party line is it's too complex to answer to protect the status quo for my oligarchical overlords (who offer me something to buy my loyalty... Right?)

There's a reason you don't read that much about the labor disputes in America.

Here's an alternative perspective
https://globalnews.ca/news/7224319/v...alize-poverty/

[Underverse]

Rich people are less affected by or have better tools to deal with most things. This is no different, and it's not special. Add it to the long list of perks for being rich.

I'm not sure it makes sense to blame them for that though. Especially in those cases where said rich person earned their wealth through hard work, education and a fundamental understanding of the economy we live in.

[Saltysquidoon]

I'm not sure it makes sense to blame them for that though. Especially in those cases where said rich person earned their wealth through hard work, education and a fundamental understanding of the economy we live in.

Can I have a small loan of a million dollars?

[Antiganon]

Just to avoid confusion, this statement is wrong. The stimulus check will not have an effect on your any tax returns nor does it increase your taxable income.

Given they haven't passed stimulus round 2 yet, you have no way of knowing.

This kind of stimulus has been done before, and in election years to boot - give a "stimulus" in the form of a tax advance, which becomes taxes due for that fiscal year. Then the family of 4 who got $3400 in stimulus checks, and expected a $400 tax refund when they file next year, finds out they actually owe the government $3000.

It's a great way to win an election when you don't give a shit about the people it impacts.

[Antiganon]

Yeah, but, like, come on... it’s only $7 and they’re reusable.

It doesn't matter.

Business requires it, business provides it.

Today it's cheap masks. Tomorrow it's more expensive respirators.

[unfilteredJW]

Yeah, but, like, come on... it’s only $7 and they’re reusable/washable.

Should I be providing my own gloves to work with food?

[Saltysquidoon]

Yeah, but, like, come on... it’s only $7 and they’re reusable/washable.

Come one steel-capped boots are only 50 bucks and they're reusable/washable. I mean you wouldn't want to do a communism by expecting a business to pay to protect employees it's putting in danger to generate profit.

[Belize]

Yeah, but, like, come on... it’s only $7 and they’re reusable/washable.

And a 3M hardhat is about 5$. The price isn't the point.

[Underverse]

Can I have a small loan of a million dollars?

And?

There's a lower parent to child income disparity in 1985 than there was in 1940. This is not surprising and most (but not all) of it is likely explained by GDP growth changes as the article mentions; as we become a wealthier nation, it's harder to make more than those who came before you. Although the gap is not fully explained by GDP differences, there are a lot of other variables that are not controlled and could prevent one from deriving the conclusion that the US has a massive mobility problem (which it like does have a mobility problem, but not as extreme as figures like the one you linked make it out to be). Work hours, employment and unemployment policy changes, work ethic, etc are all factors that need to be considered before we start to blame 'the system' for preventing people from moving up.

Here's an alternative perspective using more recent data (wikipedia):

How strong Intra-generational mobility is in the US is disputed.[37] Supporting relatively high levels of intragenerational mobility, Thomas A. Garrett[38] reported on a US Treasury study of income mobility from 1996 to 2005. This found "There was considerable income mobility of individuals in the U.S. economy during the 1996 through 2005 period as over half of taxpayers moved to a different income quintile over this period"; 80 percent of taxpayers had incomes in quintiles as high or higher in 2005 than they did in 1996, and 45 percent of taxpayers not in the highest income quintile moved up at least one quintile.[39] Fewer than half (between 40–43%) "of those in the top 1 percent in 1996 were still in the top 1 percent in 2005. Only about 25 percent of the individuals in the top 1/100th percent in 1996 remained in the top 1/100th percent in 2005." The study reassured Americans "the opportunity for upward mobility" in America despite their concern about the "long-term trend of increasing income inequality in the U.S. economy" After-tax income of the top 1% earners has grown by 176% percent from 1979 to 2007 while it grew only 9% for the lowest 20%.

Concentration of wealth, on the other hand, is a separate problem.

[Sorensen]

You should realise that it’s your country that’s so fucked up. The first world countries are doing a lot better. Here we work from home if possible (I’ve been doing it since March), we get paid unlimited sick leave, you get welfare if you lose your job, money if your company suffers, money for freelancers in trouble, etc. Sure some people still get into financial trouble, but a lot less so, as we take better care of eachother. And because we had a smart lockdown and keep our distance, we’ve been restarting the economy for a while now.

Vote smart next time and kick that looney toons guy out of the white house.

I know right? Isn't the USA great!

[Saltysquidoon]

There's a lower parent to child income disparity in 1985 than there was in 1940. This is not surprising and most (but not all) of it is likely explained by GDP growth changes as the article mentions; as we become a wealthier nation, it's harder to make more than those who came before you. Although the gap is not fully explained by GDP differences, there are a lot of other variables that are not controlled and could prevent one from deriving the conclusion that the US has a massive mobility problem (which it like does have a mobility problem, but not as extreme as figures like the one you linked make it out to be). Work hours, employment and unemployment policy changes, work ethic, etc are all factors that need to be considered before we start to blame 'the system' for preventing people from moving up.

Yeah no, I'm thinking we can start with the system first then we can start talking about 'Work Ethic', you don't honestly believe the embarrassing millionaire meme do you?

[Antiganon]

Seems more like the OP just complaining to complain, honestly.

I mean my wife works in a grocery store, where they initially offered $2/hour "thank you" raises to all staff who didn't leave. That raise ends Friday. Instead, they are moving to a capped $200 monthly bonus structure for store level management, no bonus for hourly workers, and undisclosed bonuses for upper management.

They were originally projected to profit $4 million YTD. They have profited $44 million YTD due to increased panic buying.

This is one of the few companies that did anything for their employees in the first place.

[Saltysquidoon]

Instead, they are moving to a capped $200 monthly bonus structure for store level management, no bonus for hourly workers, and undisclosed bonuses for upper management.

They were originally projected to profit $4 million YTD. They have profited $44 million YTD due to increased panic buying.

ThE wEaLtH wIlL tRiCkLe DoWn

[wunksta]

Sure, poor people just aren't working hard enough while rich are working 226% harder

https://www.cbpp.org/research/povert...ome-inequality

[Draco-Onis]

I'm not sure it makes sense to blame them for that though.

But they are to blame, in the US money equals speech and that gives the rich an insane amount of influence in crafting the rules and that was even before the supreme court made that legal. The reason we don't have strong unions, universal health care and other social safety nets that are standards is because they lobby against it. We are the wealthiest country in the world but our statistics are horrible when it comes to most beneficial aspects.

The rich wouldn't get blamed if they weren't actively working to make things worse for those below.

[wunksta]

But they are to blame, in the US money equals speech and that gives the rich an insane amount of influence in crafting the rules and that was even before the supreme court made that legal. The reason we don't have strong unions, universal health care and other social safety nets that are standards is because they lobby against it. We are the wealthiest country in the world but our statistics are horrible when it comes to most beneficial aspects.

The rich wouldn't get blamed if they weren't actively working to make things worse for those below.

[Gaexion Ramza Beoulve]

Just to avoid confusion, this statement is wrong. The stimulus check will not have an effect on your any tax returns nor does it increase your taxable income.

Incorrect.

[Daedius]

Of course it only affects the rich. When their work force isn't working those poor rich folk aren't making money!

[Underverse]

But they are to blame, in the US money equals speech and that gives the rich an insane amount of influence in crafting the rules and that was even before the supreme court made that legal. The reason we don't have strong unions, universal health care and other social safety nets that are standards is because they lobby against it. We are the wealthiest country in the world but our statistics are horrible when it comes to most beneficial aspects.

The rich wouldn't get blamed if they weren't actively working to make things worse for those below.

I haven't seen it I guess. I was born into a middle class family. After college I spent ~5 years just above median lower class income and have since worked my way up to upper-middle class income. My education, which I paid for myself through loans after going to a state school, is the principle reason that I have been able to find success.

Excluding the anti-intellectualism and a host of other cultural factors when considering mobility paints an incomplete picture. Safety nets are (necessary and useful) bandaid fixes for a broader set of factors.