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Thursday, September 23, 2010

Middle Class Markers

The Puppy Blender hits one out of the park.
One point that I haven’t blogged, but that is worth mentioning here: The government decides to try to increase the middle class by subsidizing things that middle class people have: If middle-class people go to college and own homes, then surely if more people go to college and own homes, we’ll have more middle-class people. But homeownership and college aren’t causes of middle-class status, they’re markers for possessing the kinds of traits — self-discipline, the ability to defer gratification, etc. — that let you enter, and stay, in the middle class. Subsidizing the markers doesn’t produce the traits; if anything, it undermines them.

4 comments:

  1. I am opening to the partnerships, but if there are questions about ownership, who will have to get the postings?

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  2. I don't know if you realized it but this post and the one above it are very much in the same vein in that we are confusing the symptoms/results with the real problem/trait.

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  3. Mister Deans, perhaps you would like to exchange the linkages with Fluzao?

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  4. Dean, in all seriousness, yes I did notice that.

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