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This long and rambling article starts with an anecdote about the author's own merit and class ascendance, only to move on to point out that class mobility is wo

This long and rambling article starts with an anecdote about the author's own merit and class ascendance, only to move on to point out that class mobility is worse now than ever. It is written with no nod towards personal responsibility and instead argues that every outcome was predestined at birth (despite the author's humble brag to the contrary). I'm not sure what the thesis is, because as a person with a day job, I don't have time to read more than a half dozen paragraphs. It seems the author is motivated, at least to a degree, by guilt. I will say that I'm conflicted about passing privilege onto children. Should I be allowed to work hard to make money to give my kids a head start (tutors, for example)? It seems preposterous to say no, that I must treat my children as badly as the worst parent in the name of equality. OTOH maybe it's ok to institute a larger estate tax so that the next generation does have to contribute to society with all that knowledge we've collectively bestowed on them. It seems rather wasteful as a society to spend tons of resources educating funemployed/under-employed trust funders.

svantana 5y ago
> I must treat my children as badly as the worst parent in the name of equality This is close to the right-wing trope "the left wants everyone to be equally poor", when in reality it's more about gaining support for progressive policies such as free high-quality daycare, schools, health care for everybody. And realizing that it's super-expensive but still better for everyone in the long run. Beyond that, of course every parent should do their best to raise their kids right.
- zepto 5y ago
  > it's more about gaining support for progressive policies such as free high-quality daycare, schools, health care for everybody I haven’t heard the left talk much about these things for a long time. These days it’s about defunding the police, blaming billionaires and tech, gun control etc.
  - DangitBobby 5y ago
    Strange, I hear about them all the time. Aren't they literally trying to pass affordable daycare as part of an infrastructure bill as we speak [1]? Wasn't a significant portion of the progressive platform during the Democratic primaries (not to be confused with Biden's platform) Medicare for All and other such progressive healthcare reform? I'm curious who you are listening to, because it's not progressive leadership (or would-be leadership). 1. https://www.npr.org/2021/04/27/991061868/democrats-outline-care-infrastructure-plan-with-paid-leave-and-child-care https://www.npr.org/2021/04/27/991061868/democrats-outline-c...
    - zepto 5y ago
      I don’t know who ‘progressive leadership’ is, but these are all things that Biden and Harris have openly talked about along with others like Elizabeth Warren, with the exception perhaps of defunding the police, which definitely seems to have been a strong message from other progressives. The message you suggest would probably be a lot more palatable to people if it weren’t crowded out by this stuff.
      - DangitBobby 5y ago
        I'm not at all saying that the latter half (police defining, tech regulation, gun control) are not part of the platform. I'm merely pointing out that the other things ("progressive policies such as free high-quality daycare, schools, health care for everybody") are definitely part of the platform. Though the healthcare reform feels conspicuously absent from the current agenda.
        zepto 5y ago
        > Though the healthcare reform feels conspicuously absent from the current agenda. That leaves free daycare and some unspecified improvement to ‘schools’. I’m sure they are part of the platform and I’m sure they are trying to allocate money to some unspecified implementation, but those are pretty muted and low on the list it seems.
pmoriarty 5y ago
A heavy estate tax is a good idea. A wealth tax is even better, as there's no good reason to wait until the wealthy die to tax them based on their wealth.
imbnwa 5y ago
> This long and rambling article starts with an anecdote about the author's own merit and class ascendance, only to move on to point out that class mobility is worse now than ever. How is this a contradiction? His personal anecdote betrays the data around class mobility?
Workaccount2 5y ago
>no nod towards personal responsibility This argument always bother me when discussing things at macroscale, because it ignores that someone has to do that low wage job. I was just talking to a co-worker about this yesterday in the midst of a discussion about our new (more expensive and no better) heath plan. His argument was that if people don't want to work the lower paying jobs (where healthcare costs are crushing), they should have worked harder/schooled more/played less/whatever to get to a better position. The obvious problem though is that we would not have a functioning company (or economy) if everyone "worked harder". The lower payed workers are the reason that high payed workers can exist at all. So the idea of "work harder" is actually moot. At the extreme you end up with the whole population at the same level, and when everyone is rich, no one is rich. What are white collar workers if all the blue collar "worked harder" and became white collar? Useless, they are useless. Now if I take some liberty, usually people pushing this "worked harder" rhetoric are acutely aware of what I said above, and push it as a means to maintain the status quo, because making it easier to jump from blue to white collar threatens their value.

svantana 5y ago

> I must treat my children as badly as the worst parent in the name of equality This is close to the right-wing trope "the left wants everyone to be equally poor", when in reality it's more about gaining support for progressive policies such as free high-quality daycare, schools, health care for everybody. And realizing that it's super-expensive but still better for everyone in the long run. Beyond that, of course every parent should do their best to raise their kids right.

zepto 5y ago
> it's more about gaining support for progressive policies such as free high-quality daycare, schools, health care for everybody I haven’t heard the left talk much about these things for a long time. These days it’s about defunding the police, blaming billionaires and tech, gun control etc.
- DangitBobby 5y ago
  Strange, I hear about them all the time. Aren't they literally trying to pass affordable daycare as part of an infrastructure bill as we speak [1]? Wasn't a significant portion of the progressive platform during the Democratic primaries (not to be confused with Biden's platform) Medicare for All and other such progressive healthcare reform? I'm curious who you are listening to, because it's not progressive leadership (or would-be leadership). 1. https://www.npr.org/2021/04/27/991061868/democrats-outline-care-infrastructure-plan-with-paid-leave-and-child-care https://www.npr.org/2021/04/27/991061868/democrats-outline-c...
  - zepto 5y ago
    I don’t know who ‘progressive leadership’ is, but these are all things that Biden and Harris have openly talked about along with others like Elizabeth Warren, with the exception perhaps of defunding the police, which definitely seems to have been a strong message from other progressives. The message you suggest would probably be a lot more palatable to people if it weren’t crowded out by this stuff.
    - DangitBobby 5y ago
      I'm not at all saying that the latter half (police defining, tech regulation, gun control) are not part of the platform. I'm merely pointing out that the other things ("progressive policies such as free high-quality daycare, schools, health care for everybody") are definitely part of the platform. Though the healthcare reform feels conspicuously absent from the current agenda.
      - zepto 5y ago
        > Though the healthcare reform feels conspicuously absent from the current agenda. That leaves free daycare and some unspecified improvement to ‘schools’. I’m sure they are part of the platform and I’m sure they are trying to allocate money to some unspecified implementation, but those are pretty muted and low on the list it seems.

pmoriarty 5y ago

A heavy estate tax is a good idea. A wealth tax is even better, as there's no good reason to wait until the wealthy die to tax them based on their wealth.

imbnwa 5y ago

> This long and rambling article starts with an anecdote about the author's own merit and class ascendance, only to move on to point out that class mobility is worse now than ever. How is this a contradiction? His personal anecdote betrays the data around class mobility?

Workaccount2 5y ago

>no nod towards personal responsibility This argument always bother me when discussing things at macroscale, because it ignores that someone has to do that low wage job. I was just talking to a co-worker about this yesterday in the midst of a discussion about our new (more expensive and no better) heath plan. His argument was that if people don't want to work the lower paying jobs (where healthcare costs are crushing), they should have worked harder/schooled more/played less/whatever to get to a better position. The obvious problem though is that we would not have a functioning company (or economy) if everyone "worked harder". The lower payed workers are the reason that high payed workers can exist at all. So the idea of "work harder" is actually moot. At the extreme you end up with the whole population at the same level, and when everyone is rich, no one is rich. What are white collar workers if all the blue collar "worked harder" and became white collar? Useless, they are useless. Now if I take some liberty, usually people pushing this "worked harder" rhetoric are acutely aware of what I said above, and push it as a means to maintain the status quo, because making it easier to jump from blue to white collar threatens their value.