
A War on the Poor - d4vlx
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/11/01/opinion/krugman-a-war-on-the-poor.html?ref=paulkrugman&_r=0
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ExpiredLink
It's called class struggle. In the US the rich win the class struggle largely
because those in the middle (a.k.a. middle class) considers themselves not yet
rich rather than not yet poor.

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d4vlx
With the persistent difficulties the middle and lower class have faced since
the financial meltdown I wonder how long this will be the dominant mindset. It
seems strongest among the boomers and weakest among people under 35.

That fact that most Americans seem to put the welfare business and the rich
ahead of themselves is hard for me to get my head around.

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d4vlx
This might be too political but after seeing another article on basic income
I'm curious what other people on HN think about the politics and economic
ideas behind the politics.

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FD3SA
I'm the biggest proponent of basic income, but the US has serious divides
along racial and socioeconomic lines that I don't see being resolved in our
lifetimes. This will probably prevent any sort of basic income from being
implemented.

In any other modern, western democracy, basic income is a no-brainer. The
majority of the EU is already discussing exactly such a motion, and the safety
net of most developed European nations is unfathomable to Americans.

In conclusion, there's no point in waiting a century in hopes that the USA's
crippling structural issues will be solved. Move onto greener pastures like
Germany, where you can have that future right now. In Germany, captains of
industry are lobbying for basic income as we speak [1].

1\.
[http://www.goethe.de/ges/pok/zdk/en4387190.htm](http://www.goethe.de/ges/pok/zdk/en4387190.htm)

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d4vlx
That is quite a pessimistic assessment but I have to say I agree with it. I
have been watching American politics closely for several years now and have
little hope that any significant solutions the the widening income/wealth gap
will come from there.

