They laugh and joke about it but it is actually what is happening in the US. The upper elite want to maintain that power and control. but America wouldn't be what it is today without the American Dream. Equality as a whole will never happen in the United States that 1% will give the rest just enough to think they can achieve greatness but not enough to actually succeed.
It is funny to watch this two years after it was posted, because it is just as relevant today as it was then, and probably will be for a long time. The idea that there are no "have-nots", only "soon-to-haves", does not work without the assumption that growth (of economy, or "stuff to have") is limitless. Otherwise someone would have to give up what they have in favor of someone else, and that is not how capitalism works. But why do we buy into this idea that we can continue to have economic growth and increasing production/consumption forever? At some point (perhaps sooner rather than later) we will have exhausted our resources. It is like the paradox of sustainable development, you can have sustainability or you can have development, but the two have an oppositional relationship, so why do people keep thinking that we can have them both? - Malin Niklasson
I agree with Malin that this is still such a relevant issue in the discussion of class today. This makes me think about the current discussion around raising the minimum wage and the prominent wealth gap between the upper and lower class. I thought their comments on the pyramid scheme and false hope for the "soon to haves" is similar to this fight for higher minimum wage because it is that false hope of working hard can get you there that allows workers to passively accept low wages. It is a systemic issue that keeps the lower class poor and the upper class wealthy.
They laugh and joke about it but it is actually what is happening in the US. The upper elite want to maintain that power and control. but America wouldn't be what it is today without the American Dream. Equality as a whole will never happen in the United States that 1% will give the rest just enough to think they can achieve greatness but not enough to actually succeed.
ReplyDeleteRyan Rumph
It is funny to watch this two years after it was posted, because it is just as relevant today as it was then, and probably will be for a long time. The idea that there are no "have-nots", only "soon-to-haves", does not work without the assumption that growth (of economy, or "stuff to have") is limitless. Otherwise someone would have to give up what they have in favor of someone else, and that is not how capitalism works. But why do we buy into this idea that we can continue to have economic growth and increasing production/consumption forever? At some point (perhaps sooner rather than later) we will have exhausted our resources. It is like the paradox of sustainable development, you can have sustainability or you can have development, but the two have an oppositional relationship, so why do people keep thinking that we can have them both? - Malin Niklasson
ReplyDeleteI agree with Malin that this is still such a relevant issue in the discussion of class today. This makes me think about the current discussion around raising the minimum wage and the prominent wealth gap between the upper and lower class. I thought their comments on the pyramid scheme and false hope for the "soon to haves" is similar to this fight for higher minimum wage because it is that false hope of working hard can get you there that allows workers to passively accept low wages. It is a systemic issue that keeps the lower class poor and the upper class wealthy.
ReplyDelete