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  • I was looking through some of these threads last night, especially the health care thread and this one. I'm guessing many here have household incomes which put them in the top 15%, some in the top 5%. From this perspective, we spend a great deal of our time arguing about what the top 1% are doing to the bottom 30%. That may be the natural way of things in a representative democracy, but it just occurred to me that we are primarily passionate pundits. (Due respect and empathy to our brothers and sisters here whose personal situations are such that medical/insurance conditions have created intolerable hardships. Those exceptions should remind us how fortunate and blessed most of us are.)

    Some things are different, as when we talk about the environment, which will affect all of us eventually, or at least our kids and grandkids. Sometimes I think that debate winds up falling upon party lines, although I would love to see a psychological study done on the basis of immediate/delayed gratification personalities.

    I'm not saying we are like an all-white people panel discussing Bill Maher's use of the 'n' word, but maybe a little bit.
    If we extend unlimited tolerance even to those who are intolerant, if we are not prepared to defend a tolerant society against the onslaught of the intolerant, then the tolerant will be destroyed, and tolerance with them. - Karl Popper

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    • Originally posted by Redbirds Fan View Post
      I was looking through some of these threads last night, especially the health care thread and this one. I'm guessing many here have household incomes which put them in the top 15%, some in the top 5%. From this perspective, we spend a great deal of our time arguing about what the top 1% are doing to the bottom 30%. That may be the natural way of things in a representative democracy, but it just occurred to me that we are primarily passionate pundits. (Due respect and empathy to our brothers and sisters here whose personal situations are such that medical/insurance conditions have created intolerable hardships. Those exceptions should remind us how fortunate and blessed most of us are.)

      Some things are different, as when we talk about the environment, which will affect all of us eventually, or at least our kids and grandkids. Sometimes I think that debate winds up falling upon party lines, although I would love to see a psychological study done on the basis of immediate/delayed gratification personalities.

      I'm not saying we are like an all-white people panel discussing Bill Maher's use of the 'n' word, but maybe a little bit.
      Dude, get outta my head!
      I know in my heart that man is good. That what is right will always eventually triumph and there is purpose and worth to each and every life.

      Ronald Reagan

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      • Originally posted by Redbirds Fan View Post
        I'm not saying we are like an all-white people panel discussing Bill Maher's use of the 'n' word, but maybe a little bit.


        The rhetoric of “We are the 99 percent” has in fact been dangerously self-serving, allowing people with healthy six-figure incomes to convince themselves that they are somehow in the same economic boat as ordinary Americans, and that it is just the so-called super rich who are to blame for inequality.

        ...

        There’s a kind of class double-think going on here. On the one hand, upper-middle-class Americans believe they are operating in a meritocracy (a belief that allows them to feel entitled to their winnings); on the other hand, they constantly engage in antimeritocratic behavior in order to give their own children a leg up. To the extent that there is any ethical deliberation, it usually results in a justification along the lines of “Well, maybe it’s wrong, but everyone’s doing it.”

        ...

        Progressive policies, whether on zoning or school admissions or tax reform, all too often run into the wall of upper-middle-class opposition. Self-interest is natural enough. But the people who make up the American upper middle class don’t just want to keep their advantages; armed with their faith in a classless, meritocratic society, they think they deserve them. The strong whiff of entitlement coming from the top 20 percent has not been lost on everyone else.
        I'm not expecting to grow flowers in the desert...

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        • I'm not expecting to grow flowers in the desert...

          Comment


          • Originally posted by GwynnInTheHall View Post
            Trump is obvious, he's not subtle, real grifters you don't see coming until it's too late. I've met my share of en during my careers in the Gaming industry and to a different extent, show biz.
            You mean like everyone writes them off as a joke until the day after they are elected President? I mean, FFS... either the guy is well qualified to be president or he's a pretty decent con man. I know which side I'm falling on. Maybe if he was actually good at it he'd be the intergalactic emperor now? I guess we can set that as your standard.
            Last edited by heyelander; 06-11-2017, 05:15 PM.
            I'm not expecting to grow flowers in the desert...

            Comment


            • Originally posted by heyelander View Post
              This table doesn't provide much useful information, as it uses the "mean" for each population/income quintile. This makes it somewhat misleading.

              It only takes a household income of about $100,000 to get into the top fifth (20%). A household income of $188,000 will put you right at the top 5%. The income it lists as the 'mean' for the top five percent includes LeBron James, Bill Gates, etc. They bring up the average a bit.

              There is a tool on the NYT web site that will tell you what percentile you are in based upon your household income, both in the U.S. and regionally.
              If we extend unlimited tolerance even to those who are intolerant, if we are not prepared to defend a tolerant society against the onslaught of the intolerant, then the tolerant will be destroyed, and tolerance with them. - Karl Popper

              Comment


              • Originally posted by Redbirds Fan View Post
                This table doesn't provide much useful information, as it uses the "mean" for each population/income quintile. This makes it somewhat misleading.

                It only takes a household income of about $100,000 to get into the top fifth (20%). A household income of $188,000 will put you right at the top 5%. The income it lists as the 'mean' for the top five percent includes LeBron James, Bill Gates, etc. They bring up the average a bit.

                There is a tool on the NYT web site that will tell you what percentile you are in based upon your household income, both in the U.S. and regionally.
                Yea I read the article and while it makes some interesting points, much of his argument gets derailed because you can see his agenda by using 'mean' rather than 'median'.
                If DMT didn't exist we would have to invent it. There has to be a weirdest thing. Once we have the concept weird, there has to be a weirdest thing. And DMT is simply it.
                - Terence McKenna

                Bullshit is everywhere. - George Carlin (& Jon Stewart)

                How old would you be if you didn't know how old you are? - Satchel Paige

                Comment


                • Originally posted by Redbirds Fan View Post
                  This table doesn't provide much useful information, as it uses the "mean" for each population/income quintile. This makes it somewhat misleading.

                  It only takes a household income of about $100,000 to get into the top fifth (20%). A household income of $188,000 will put you right at the top 5%. The income it lists as the 'mean' for the top five percent includes LeBron James, Bill Gates, etc. They bring up the average a bit.

                  There is a tool on the NYT web site that will tell you what percentile you are in based upon your household income, both in the U.S. and regionally.
                  I assume the listed Upper Limit for one level is the floor for the next. So that puts the income to get into the top quintile as a little over 112k.
                  I'm not expecting to grow flowers in the desert...

                  Comment


                  • Originally posted by heyelander View Post
                    I assume the listed Upper Limit for one level is the floor for the next. So that puts the income to get into the top quintile as a little over 112k.
                    What page is that on ?
                    --------------------------------------
                    You know a girl in a hat is just so…vogue.

                    Comment


                    • Originally posted by Hi.I'm.Mandy View Post
                      What page is that on ?
                      27. Fourth Paragraph down.
                      I'm not expecting to grow flowers in the desert...

                      Comment


                      • Originally posted by Hi.I'm.Mandy View Post
                        What page is that on ?
                        and why would you care, Mandy? you said it was all about my blue eyes......
                        finished 10th in this 37th yr in 11-team-only NL 5x5
                        own picks 1, 2, 5, 6, 9 in April 2022 1st-rd farmhand draft
                        won in 2017 15 07 05 04 02 93 90 84

                        SP SGray 16, TWalker 10, AWood 10, Price 3, KH Kim 2, Corbin 10
                        RP Bednar 10, Bender 10, Graterol 2
                        C Stallings 2, Casali 1
                        1B Votto 10, 3B ERios 2, 1B Zimmerman 2, 2S Chisholm 5, 2B Hoerner 5, 2B Solano 2, 2B LGarcia 10, SS Gregorius 17
                        OF Cain 14, Bader 1, Daza 1

                        Comment


                        • Originally posted by heyelander View Post
                          You mean like everyone writes them off as a joke until the day after they are elected President? I mean, FFS... either the guy is well qualified to be president or he's a pretty decent con man. I know which side I'm falling on. Maybe if he was actually good at it he'd be the intergalactic emperor now? I guess we can set that as your standard.
                          He won without being either. Not saying he couldn;t con the really dumb or willingly ignorant, but anyone with half a brain could see through his charade, they still can and as for being fit for office..........

                          Trumps election happened for many reasons, a perfect storm of them, but being fit for the job and a good con aren't part of that equation.
                          If I whisper my wicked marching orders into the ether with no regard to where or how they may bear fruit, I am blameless should a broken spirit carry those orders out upon the innocent, for it was not my hand that took the action merely my lips which let slip their darkest wish. ~Daniel Devereaux 2011

                          Nothing in all the world is more dangerous than sincere ignorance and conscientious stupidity.
                          Martin Luther King, Jr.

                          Comment


                          • Originally posted by heyelander View Post
                            27. Fourth Paragraph down.
                            thank you for being helpful when someone asks for a little help.
                            "The Times found no pattern of sexual misconduct by Mr. Biden, beyond the hugs, kisses and touching that women previously said made them uncomfortable." -NY Times

                            "For a woman to come forward in the glaring lights of focus, nationally, you’ve got to start off with the presumption that at least the essence of what she’s talking about is real, whether or not she forgets facts" - Joe Biden

                            Comment


                            • Team Trump seems to be working hard now on two fronts:

                              1. Furiously spinning that our dear leader is not just a Great President, but in fact the Greatest President; and

                              2. Laying a propaganda foundation to support firing the Special Counsel.

                              The latter takes a particular skill set, since people like Newt who lauded the appointment of Bob Mueller are now trying to come up with excuses why it it is a terrible thing.

                              Shades of Nixon.
                              If we extend unlimited tolerance even to those who are intolerant, if we are not prepared to defend a tolerant society against the onslaught of the intolerant, then the tolerant will be destroyed, and tolerance with them. - Karl Popper

                              Comment


                              • authours ... who needs 'em ... (this was an exchange this am) ...

                                <blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Trump has blocked me from reading his tweets. I may have to kill myself.</p>&mdash; Stephen King (@StephenKing) <a href="https://twitter.com/StephenKing/status/874646427091251201">June 13, 2017</a></blockquote>
                                <script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

                                <blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">I still have access. I'll DM them to you. <a href="https://t.co/MhibEYDBTg">https://t.co/MhibEYDBTg</a></p>&mdash; J.K. Rowling (@jk_rowling) <a href="https://twitter.com/jk_rowling/status/874646794436739072">June 13, 2017</a></blockquote>
                                <script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
                                It certainly feels that way. But I'm distrustful of that feeling and am curious about evidence.

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