[Newfie]

KJ,

That’s the point you don’t see yourself as a 1%er, because your perspective is of your culture. When in fact you are certainally in that upper class when you take it from a WORLD perspective.

And I’ll bet a lot of the Wester upper crust pretty much feels the same as you, that they really aren’t the 1% and that they are somewhat struggling to retain their position, somewhat oppressed.

That’s why I don’t put much stock in blaming “them” because they is we, to the vast majority of the human population.

So either we need to drastically relook at ourselves as the 1% or rethink our assumptions about the 1%.

[vtsnowedin]

I can't imagine wanting to own and maintain more then one small house while retired. Each year you will be older and have less ability to do things for yourself and have to pay someone else to do things for you. You will eventually encounter someone that will prey on your declining mental and physical abilities.
Better to put things in the hands of your children that are in their prime even if you still think you are smarter then they are.

[Ibon]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('vtsnowedin', 'I') can't imagine wanting to own and maintain more then one small house while retired. Each year you will be older and have less ability to do things for yourself and have to pay someone else to do things for you. You will eventually encounter someone that will prey on your declining mental and physical abilities.
Better to put things in the hands of your children that are in their prime even if you still think you are smarter then they are.

[Cog]

Or a president who appeals to the instinctive American competitive spirit instead of the spirit of dependence. See how easy that was?

[Newfie]

Can we please leave out this boresome Trumpeting; pro and con? It completely derails the otherwise intelligent conversation.

BACK TO THE THREAD.....

On the concept of having a single small house and it being sufficient, I find that appealing and yet we have more than that. Surely our total investment is less than many small houses (excepting our investment property) but still being spread out is an issue.

Partly it’s that I’m feeling a bit grumpy if late, I need a break, a vacation from retirement. I’ve been too damn busy and am stressed out.

We are finally back on the water and that helping, but. Is I’ve got some stupid insurance issue. So I’m definitely not feeling 1%ish.

[Ibon]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Newfie', '
')
Partly it’s that I’m feeling a bit grumpy if late, I need a break, a vacation from retirement. I’ve been too damn busy and am stressed out.

[Newfie]

I’m working on an idea or concept here.

Reading Churchill’s History of English Speaking Proples I’m reminded how crowded our history is with bloody warfare. It is was iften occasioined by a change in upper power. King dies, there is a dispute over the New king, factions take sides , war ensues. Not always or only but too frequently.

It is generally the Providence if the rich to set these conflicts into action, or to negotiate a peaceful transition. Frequently these battles in England involved some tens of thousands of combatants in a land of about 3 millions. Think about that for a second, Philly has about 5 million. Imagine a war in Philadelphia involving 20,000 - 30,000 armed combatants with individual battles having 5,000 or so dead. Yeah the rich arranged the wars, but the common folk were all to eager to engage and shed blood.

The role of the 1% in our modern society is to assure continuity of control and bloodless transitions. Our current death rates to warfare are tiny by comparison.

Yes they abuse the common rabble and could rule more humanely. But without some overlordship we devolve into warfare.

[KaiserJeep]

There are also the unspoken parts of history, omitted because they do not fit the narrative of a benevolent government which acts for the people.

The USA - which I have referred to as "my beloved country" on more than one occasion, has much of this. For example, the parts of Prohibition you never heard about. When the import or manufacture of beers, wines, and distilled spirits were banned by the 18th Amendment, ethanol was still manufactured for industrial use, and soon this pure industrial alcohol was being mixed into fruit juices, carbonated water, and various syrups - the great American cocktail was born. To prevent the diversion of industrial alcohol into mixed alcoholic drinks the government "denatured" ethanol by adding poisonous methyl alcohol, aka wood alcohol. At least 10,000 Americans died, and 3-4 times that many were paralyzed and blinded by drinking these denatured spirits. Not only did the US government deny any responsibility, it blamed the drinkers, while keeping the problem a secret while the total dead and disabled numbers grew.

But the story does not end there. When the speakeasies hired chemists to filter out almost all the wood alcohol and make the ethanol relatively safe to drink, the government responded by doubling the amounts of poisonous alcohol added to the grain spirits, making the filtered product dangerous again. The result was that the number of Americans killed and disabled by denatured spirits in 1920 to 1933 was at least 10 million, with some estimates as high as 14 million. By comparison, the number of Americans killed and disabled in WW1 was slightly over 1 million.

If Prohibition is not enough to chill your teeth, we could talk about the genocide of those "other" Americans, the natives who owned the place before Columbus showed up. We could also discuss the institution of black slavery, the most favorite and jealously guarded practice of the early Democratic Party.

Still, on the spectrum of Good and Bad, the US is quite Good, as are most Scandinavian countries, and I'd have to say that all the 40-odd attempts at Marxism are somewhere on the side of Bad, and many were outright evil.

[vox_mundi]

Lower Class Wiser About Interpersonal Conflict Than Middle Class

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'N')ew research from the University of Waterloo finds that lower class populations are wiser than their middle-class counterparts in their ability to reason about interpersonal matters.

The study measures wisdom as the ability to be open-minded, intellectually humble and integrate different perspectives on the issue people reflect on.

In comparing social classes and their associated wisdom, the study reveals that more affluent regions and individuals, as well as situations reflecting higher social standing are linked with diminished ability to reason wisely.

"This is not surprising when we consider our cultural emphasis on intelligence such as IQ, competency to accomplish tasks independently and the focus on self as opposed to the considerations of others, in the reach for success," said Igor Grossmann, associate professor of psychology who led the Waterloo research. "As we continue to focus as a society on independence and entitlement among the middle class, we are also inadvertently eroding wisdom and reasoning in favour of a more self-centered population."

[vtsnowedin]

That is not surprising.
The upper classes are set in their ways and thinking because it has been working for them for generations. "If it ain't broke don't fix it" comes to mind. The lower class individual on the other hand can see no progress based on their parents or Grand parents prescriptions so are free to try something new without having to abandon a proven strategy.

[jedrider]

It is interesting how people rail against 'welfare moms' and some liberals rail against the wealthy grabbing for more of that green stuff every which way they can, including tax reform.

Two sides of the same coin! Human nature.

The point of government is to control the injurious aspects of human nature and allow better aspects to be expressed.

However, civilization is going to go through an eye of a needle, maybe in our live times, or soon afterwards.

We are allowed to feel a lot of disgust, but we should spread it around.

[jedrider]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('ibon', '
')If I am feeling this way what about the filthy rich?