I found the frames on page 201 interesting; the first frame includes speaking bubbles of rich people ironically claiming the poor are too well off, saying they get hand outs and should work harder. The second frame is the same but replaces all the "they's" with "we's", demonstrating the human fault of playing the victim, no matter where you are in a situation.
I've always wondered why the government increases taxes on middle and lower classes before the rich. I remember seeing a video in high school Econ class stating that today the upper 1% of America holds over 50% of the money. Why wouldn't we increase taxes on the rich by even half a percent? That half percent would go so much farther than the money gained from taxing the poor. Upper class workers often respond to this idea with "I worked hard for my money", alluding to the idea that no one else works hard for their money. I assume that the undocumented farmer, the underpaid factory worker, and fast food chain employee work hard for the money they earn; unfortunately the scale still is not balanced.
I often debated this idea in high school and noticed the same people that claim they work hard for their money are the upper/middle class students who don't recognize their privilege. I like to think of it as studying for a test in a class. Some students study for hours and hours before a test and get a C and some students don't study at all and get an A. Event though the first kind of student did more work, the material did not resonate with them as easily as the second kind of student. How easy you get a topic represents privilege. Many people from the upper class did not get there from the lower class; some do, but most do not. The people that go to Harvard can afford Harvard, the people that go to community college can afford community college. Only one of these kinds of people get to work at places like Wall Street. Hard work only goes so far, many times privilege takes care of the rest.
I'm not claiming people don't deserve the money they make and I'm not rich-hating. I guess the main idea behind my ranting post is that the playing field is not even for everyone, and this idea is made clear on page 201 of Economix. Yes, Capitalism is not supposed to create an even playing field, but there are better ways of getting money from the people of America than creating a bigger and bigger gap in wealth.
I feel the same about everything you've mentioned. First of all, I can relate to the student who studies for hours and days and still gets a C on an exam, while someone who procrastinates and pulls an all nighter can get a better grade than me. I also have thought about the same thing about the one percenters and how I think they should pay more in taxes. My family is comfortably middle class, however I find it ridiculous how much taxes the lower/middle classes have to pay and the upper class/one percenters think it would be unfair if they paid more in taxes. It just frustrates me that the upper class, although they do work hard for their money like the rest of us, think that giving up more of their money toward taxes is unfair, yet the little bit of money the lower/middle class makes must give from the little (compared to the upper class) they make in the year to taxes. I may have my idea of what goes into taxes skewed because I'm ignorant to taxes and how much is actually taken from the classes, but from what I've noticed, it would be more fair to the lower/middle class if the upper class paid more in taxes.
ReplyDeleteI totally agree. I have seen so many arguments for and against taxing the rich rather than the poor but i have never fully understood taxing the lower/middle class over the upper class. The 1% can surely afford higher taxes, right? I just don't get it. Another good point is that hard work only gets you so far. Maybe the ones making millions got really lucky in getting to the position that they are in (being that they make up only 1%). But there are plenty of people who work hard and still aren't quite where they want to be. So, how is it fair to tax those people more? The assumption that the 1% are far more hard working than their lower class counterparts shouldn't mean they owe less.
ReplyDeleteHello! I liked the content you discussed in your blog post! Additionally, we should also think about how higher paying jobs often require a background of education, which in the United States is far from accessible. Much of the United States is uneducated. Moreover, in education, we use a standardized system that does prove to not work for all people, leaving many people in the dark to suffer. Standardized testing does not efficiently test students on material and understanding but rather how fast they can complete the tests with the knowledge they have acquired. Students focus on the material but the emphasis of getting used to "testing" is much more important to do well on standardized tests. Standardized testing is also very limited, often times not offering partial points, rewarding students for what they do understand, which may be very discouraging. Many people also have test anxiety which may contribute to their overall score, which determines whether they know the material or not, which does not accurately reflect the students knowledge and ability.
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