Dumb letters to the PD Dept: "You guys have it WAAAAAY BETTER!!"

[HughBeaumont]

http://blog.cleveland.com/letters/2014/10/middle_class_lives_better_than.html

Liberal economist Paul Krugman is chief spokesman for the "income inequality" crowd. In his column "Ostentation, your ship has come in thanks to changed economic times" (Forum, Sept. 28), he presses his theme that the super-rich have fattened up at the expense of the middle class. But he disproves his own thesis by harking back to the 1950's, when, he says, because of higher taxes, tycoons had more modest lifestyles than today's nabobs.

The fact is the middle class lives infinitely better today than in the 50's, even though that was a decade of unprecedented prosperity. I was there. If my father, who died in 1959, could come back, he would be astounded by our houses - mile after mile of homes that only rich people would have dreamed of then; our cars - an SUV and sedan in most garages; our restaurants; our vacations, summer cottages, winter homes and RVs; our clothing - one child's clothes would fill all the closets in our old house; our school-age children walking around with smart phones and so on.

Krugman highlights yachts. Have you seen a yacht in any of the Lake Erie marinas? I haven't, but thousands of pleasure craft. What plutocrats own those? What about golf courses?

Sure, he could give you statistics that incomes have stagnated, but what would you expect when the labor force has increased by the entry of so many women?
If our way of life is threatened, it is not because of income inequality, but because the next generation may think they have a constitutional right to start the day with a $4 cup of coffee.

John Duffy,

Avon Lake

And from my city, no less. Classic.

It's like he's living in an imagined world where the American middle/working/poor classes are just living SO high off the hog and economic opportunity is in abundance and job security has never been better and we're with the jet set in Dubai and . ... luxuries like cellphones for kids abound . . .. because reasons.

His sentence about yachts and golf courses .. . . . . yeah, anyone got a google map to that point?

. .. . Of course, if you read the comments, I responded in kind.

[JHB]

1. "at least no one worth speaking of"

Far back in the mists of ancient time, in the great and glorious days of the former Galactic Empire, life was wild, rich and largely tax free.

Mighty starships plied their way between exotic suns, seeking adventure and reward amongst the furthest reaches of Galactic space. In those days spirits were brave, the stakes were high, men were real men, women were real women, and small furry creatures from Alpha Centauri were real small furry creatures from Alpha Centauri. And all dared to brave unknown terrors, to do mighty deeds, to boldly split infinitives that no man had split before - and thus was the Empire forged. Many men of course became extremely rich, but this was perfectly natural and nothing to be ashamed of because no one was really poor - at least no one worth speaking of.

-- Excerpt from The Hitch Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams

[unblock]

2. this is just the old "you're not really poor if you have a t.v." argument.

[jwirr]

3. I am not sure what is being said in the OP but I lived in the 50s. There are great differences in

the way we live now and the way we lived back then. One of the differences is houses. If you drive around your community you will no doubt see homes built in the early 50s that are much smaller than the average home today. That is not because families were smaller but because of the cost of building and maintaining. And most people in the lower middle class were still renting instead of buying.

As to cars. Most families back then had one sedan. That is because there was usually one bread winner in the household and they did not need two.

As to recreation we did not eat out as much as we do today because since mom was usually at home she cooked. That was why taking mom out for her birthday was such a treat. If we went on a vacation it was usually to a rented cabin by a lake. No Disney Land for us. And he is correct - the rich were the ones who owned the lake cottage. And there were no RV parks that I can remember. Today I have a fit about all the clothes each child has. So much that they never even wear some of it. And each home had one tv, one phone and maybe a stereo. One the other hand it was not unusual for homes to have a piano. And back then the country clubs were for the rich and that is where the golf was. Today many of us play golf.

I don't know if that makes life today better or worse. I know that life is harder. Families need two bread winners who work longer hours and still cannot make it. There is a price to be paid for all the things we have today.

[MisterP]

4. the only people who are assured so often about how much better they have it are North Koreans

[CaliforniaPeggy]

5. An enthusiastic K&R!