Speaking of pessimistic, glass is half empty views....

[CO. Hoosier]

Glad you finally checked your nonsense after having to re-post it to you. Maybe have a clerk check your posts first.

Nonsense? What I noted was legit—just the wrong link. This is why I wouldn’t take you seriously.

 

[mcmurtry66]

I used to know a court reporter who did his work with real shorthand. He went through gobs of books. Can’t imagine how anybody could ever read his old notes if transcripts had to be reviewed.

That's amazing. I cannot imagine. Now they talk into a darth vader mask and crank it right out.

 

[thezinfan1]

Nonsense? What I noted was legit—just the wrong link. This is why I wouldn’t take you seriously.

And yet you still haven't provided the link. Do opposing counsel have to pay you also, since you probably do their job for them?

 

[Thyrsis]

We need an educated workforce, our tremendous hatred of intellectualism needs quashed. We need to think in terms of improving America and not, "screw everyone else as long as I get mine".

Yes, but that horse has left the barn and I'm not sure how we address it. But you're right that it's true and needs to change.

That's not just a Trumpian thing. That's basically all Republicans and a majority of Democrats. We've essentially lost any value-based democracy and instead subscribe exclusively to empty tribalism, one-upmanship and mindless conventional (and wrong) conventional wisdom, we are wholly unable to distinguish efforts at political betterment from rank entertainment, we value popularity over substance, and we accept ineffectual rhetorical debate (and snark) as a goal in and of itself.

While deeply flawed, the ancient Greeks and Romans advanced humanity in ways never previously conceived. Then they got over their skis, the brutish know-nothings destroyed all that in a fit of pique, and we then faced a thousand years of darkness. That's basically what we're looking at now.

 

[hoot1]

If I understand your drift here, you are talking about income mobility. The same people are not forever trapped in the income level that the graphs portray. While the graphs portray the same or worsening divisions, the more important point is the movement of people in and out of those divisions. The top 1% a few years ago are not the same people now. Same for the lower levels. While I am no fan of widening income disparity, I think the more important policy questions involve barriers to mobility. Such as social conditions, education, geography, and more.

See.

CoH, my post was more about some individuals still having a great future in America while others face problems. One of the problems being born and raised in communities which simply don't have a good future in terms of providing jobs with decent incomes.

As to mobility, I really wasn't thinking in terms of Americans moving up and down the income ladder as are reflected by studies based on tax returns. The mobility closer to my thesis is labor mobility as in individuals moving from areas which offer few opportunities to places where incomes match skill levels or potential skill levels.

 

[Marvin the Martian]

If I understand your drift here, you are talking about income mobility. The same people are not forever trapped in the income level that the graphs portray. While the graphs portray the same or worsening divisions, the more important point is the movement of people in and out of those divisions. The top 1% a few years ago are not the same people now. Same for the lower levels. While I am no fan of widening income disparity, I think the more important policy questions involve barriers to mobility. Such as social conditions, education, geography, and more.

See.

At the same point we are #27 in the world in mobility. https://www.visualcapitalist.com/ranked-the-social-mobility-of-82-countries/ so we are not particularly good at moving up and down.

 

[CO. Hoosier]

At the same point we are #27 in the world in mobility. https://www.visualcapitalist.com/ranked-the-social-mobility-of-82-countries/ so we are not particularly good at moving up and down.

No doubt we have income mobility challenges, and I am not surprised we don't rank high. Yet when I look at the countries ahead of us, I see mostly countries that are exceedingly homogeneous in terms of social structure and ethnicity. That aiint us. If our diversity is factored in I wonder if we would show better.

I also don't understand the metrics they used and poking around on their webpage doesn't help any. For example, I don't know what "social protection" is. A better metric would be a measure of social function or disfunction. This would touch family stability and all the problems flowing from unstable family structure.

Finally, the metrics seem to focus on what a government can provide. The metrics look like all people would be an employee. While some of that is a valid measurement (e.g. education and health care) it ignores metrics focused on the ability of individuals to flourish as individuals. I'm thinking things entrepreneurship and individual property rights need to be factored into mobility.