Inequality

Reader comment on: Two From Paul Ryan
in response to reader comment: Don't begrudge success

Submitted by Fast Eddie (United States), Nov 18, 2011 15:26

Christoper Jenck's incomparable book about the relative economic status of families, entitled simply "Inequality," demonstrated conslusively that the foremost factor in determining the economic status of a child when the child reaches adulthood is the occupation of the child's father. It seems to me that the U.S. is in the process of stratifying into winners and losers, with the winners coming from economically elevated stratifications and the losers coming from strata characterized by economic vulnerability and educational deficiency. The winners in Manhattan and other wealthy enclaves typically don't send their kids to public schools and for those who do, they spend an inordinate amount of money to live in an area served by a clearly superior public school. A child who lacks such a basic benfit as this is, usually, on an irreversible path to economic hardship, irrespective of how hard the child/young adult might struggle to overcome this disadvantage. There are exception, but they must be truly exceptional.

Except for those who benefit unfairly from affirmative action, a child/young adult who comes from an economically secure upper middle class professional family is far far far more likely to attend a very good secondary school and then move on to a classy college or university, and then on to grad or professional schooling and then on towards to same economic superiority enjoyed by his/her parents. These fortunate folk have come to dominate the political and economic landscape and, of course, to have their marriages documented in the Sunday New York Times, where Dr. and Mrs. So and So get to see a photo of their twenty- or thirty something physician or MBA or CPA offspring exchange vows with a similarly credentialed offspring of another Dr. and Mrs So and So.

Among other things, these lucky credentialed folk now can, and do, own and operate the federal govt via their presence in all the prestige jobs and their hefty contributions to candidates who, like themselves, benefit from and will assure the continuence of this skewed system of opportunity maldistribution. How wonderful it is that so few of them need to strain their brains with tough college curricula like physics, chemistry or engineering when they can major in history or poly sci and then glide into law school or biz school, knowing that the system is waiting to reward them with big bucks simply for being who they are.

Continuation of the Bush tax cuts for the wealthy are just another of a myriad of govt policies and programs that benefit the already-fortunate and it is therefore not at all surprising that so many politicans find rationales for their support, knowing that the already well-off recipients of this largess will reward their politican handmadens with a continuing flow of contributions. Of course, on the other side of the political aisle, the opponents of the tax cuts are themselves are equally guilty of supporting this skewed landscape, the only difference being that they have sold out to a different set of beneficiaries of the status quo, e.g., big labor, big green, big education. And, in what must be the crown jewel of political ownership, they have all sold out to Wall Street and the big banks.


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Title By Date
Don't begrudge success
[w/response] [240 words]
benNov 18, 2011 10:56
⇒ Inequality [533 words]Fast EddieNov 18, 2011 15:26

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