ParticleGrl said:
For the first time in my news-watching lifetime, the subject of growing inequality is making headlines- personally I think that is a huge success. Protests aren't always about demands- sometimes getting an idea out there has its uses.
I think the largest group is just angry- in our lifetimes America went from a country of relatively high social mobility and moderate inequality to a country with relatively low social mobility and income inequality rivaling banana republics.
Oh wow, I could not disagree more here. For one, the issue of inequality. Inequality of outcome is a natural outcome of a free society. During periods of major wealth creation, you will often see a lot of very wealthy people created. But usually, this also results in huge increases in society's standard of living (because the way those people got very wealthy in the first place was by creating products and services that people wanted in large quantities). If a society tries to create an equality of outcome, then it will infringe on freedom.
But also, I would disagree that we have gone from high social mobility and moderate inequality to low social mobility and a level of income inequality rivaling banana republics. Far from it! The average American today is incredibly wealthy by both global and historical standards. I live in an inexpensive apartment, yet I sit at a computer attached to high-speed Internet, by cheap electric light, with instant access to all the great movies, works of music, books, etc...I have access to all sorts of fresh fruits and vegetables, meats, cheeses, etc...at the market, innumerable drinks and beverages, ranging from milkshakes to various fruit drinks to coffees, teas, etc...modern people have access to goodies that even billionaires (or their inflation-adjusted equivalents) did not have access to a decade or so ago. For example, look at some of the smartphones today. You can watch TV, access Youtube, surf the Internet, listen to music, read books, play videogames, DO ALL SORTS OF THINGS, etc...along with make phone calls. Look at toys. Kids today have access to toys and entertainment that when we were little were unheard of. When I was little, the Gameboy from Nintendo was a big, thick device with black-and-white graphics and cost $200. The state-of-the-art in videogames was the 8-bit Nintendo, then came Super Nintendo and SEGA Genesis, then eventually Sony's Playstation, Nintendo 64, and SEGA's Saturn. And so forth. Today, little kids have everything from computers with blazing speeds and flat LCD displays to high-speed Internet and all that comes with that (music, movies, videos, etc...), flat-screen TVs for some of them, and videogame systems that used to be considered a fantasy. In terms of toys, you can get remote-controlled toys these days that ten to twenty years ago used to be only hobby-grade. But the technology has advanced enough that what used to be hobby-grade and costs a bundle now is toy-grade. Kids have access to some incredibly advanced toys now.
Look at cars even! In the the 1980s and even the 1990s, having a television and phone in your car meant you were the big cheese. Today, even the cheapest cars have features that used to be options or luxuries, and today you can easily equip a car with the ability to watch movies or television, play games, surf the Internet, etc...(via tablet PC or smartphone), cellphones are commonplace, you can buy a GPS to guide you around or a backup camera for backing up, etc...
My point is that the standard of living continues to go up for the average person. It's just that, as a society, we are unequally wealthy. But that's a lot better then being in a society that is equally poverty-stricken. I would also disagree that social mobility has declined. How is this? There have been more opportunities to make wealth and get ahead then ever before over the past few decades.
As it became harder and harder to get ahead, the cost of a college education grew rapidly. My generation was forced to take out massive debt to go to our local in-state colleges and we graduated into the worst job market since the great depression. I read news stories about how my generation just "hasn't grown up"- how do you grow up if you can't find a decent paying job?
My understanding of it is that the reason the cost of a college education went up so much is because the government has been subsidizing it for decades. Just like with the housing market, where the government created Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac and various pieces of legislation to try and allow everyone to be able to buy a home, which resulted in some major adverse affects, government policy to try and make it where everyone can go to college has also had some major adverse effects. The government has continually over the years increased the subsidizing of college education, and the cost continues to go up far quicker than the rate of inflation. These colleges and universities have tons of money, billions. But they keep raising tuition. Another problem is that the flood of college graduates with bachelors degrees has over-supplied the market and thus negated the value of the degree, thus requiring many now to need to get a graduate degree in order to be worth something.
In terms of the criticism of our generation not having "grown up yet," well with someone such as yourself, you are an exception, but a LOT of young folks seem to have a real entitlement mindset. They go and major in subjects that are not in demand on the job market, and then think they should just be given a good-paying job right off the bat it seems.
Also, keep in mind that part of the reason the job market is so terrible right now is because the government took actions to try and make life easier for people. The government wanted everyone to own a home and it blew up on us with major economi ramifications because the financial sector took the easy money of the government and created outcomes way beyond what the government ever thought could happen. Same with college. Same with healthcare even (which is increasing in cost faster than inflation).
By the time my parents were my age, my father was making enough that my mother could quit to focus on raising the children. They had bought their first house, they owned reliable cars, and they had just had their second child. My father had a real career, with room for advancement if you were willing to work hard.
I'm more educated than my parents, I work longer hours than my parents ever worked at any time in their careers, and yet I haven't met the basics of adulthood. My job is not a career. I can't afford a house, I drive a car older than I am. Having a child would almost certainly make paying my undergrad loans impossible. Many of my friends are in the same situation. Its hard not to have some anger- the generation ahead of mine had things so much easier, and sits around telling my generation we just aren't working hard enough to advance.
I don't think they had things easier per se, just they didn't have to deal with the greatest recession since the Great Depression.
Surely, you can understand some of the anger? I think the protestors have recognized that the game is rigged, but perhaps they don't all agree on how.
What the protesters are calling for, to me, looks socialist, like they want to tear down the entire system. That's not a good view to have. Or, they want the government to get a lot more involved in society, without ever considering that some of the major areas where society is having problems (housing, education, healthcare), are areas where the government has tried to help for decades and made things worse.
