Middle class

I was talking to someone and they said their high school teacher said that Marx didn't really account for the rise of the middle class. I've been reading about the Biedermeier art tradition that celebrates the rise of the middle class in Germany between 1815 and 1848. Das Kapital (1867–1883) is after that period, so I'm not sure if saying he wasn't aware of the middle class is accurate. 

But that got me thinking. If increased middle class is the antidote to socialist thinking, if you were really afraid of socialism, the way the right pretends to be, then you would work to expand the middle class, and not contract it. 

And yet the opposite has been done. So they're not really afraid of a socialist revolution in the voters of a democracy. Or they want to push it as far as they can, and only when it's really being voted for will they begin to accede to the technique for killing off revolutionary fervor. 

The way the middle class exploded after WW2 is through low tuition college, low loan rates for student loans. Class is money and education. I'm quite poor but I have 2 masters degrees. I have the ability to rebound. Affordable housing, good infrastructure, investment in public education. We're retreating in all those areas except Biden has passed that historic bill to improve infrastructure. The middle class is shrinking. 

If you're so all fired worried about socialism, then do things to expand and not contract the middle class.

Of course the don't tax me conservatives will say that that will raise taxes, and the objection to socialistic thinking is that it raises taxes. And the rich have too much power to allow them to be taxed more, too many lobbyists, secretive tax loopholes, and the best accountants. Trump is an example of that, paying virtually no taxes. I think it's pretty instructive that he was so adverse to revealing his taxes. It both proves he's not quite as rich as he seems, and how unpatriotic it is to not pay your taxes. He writes off almost a hundred grand on his hair anyway. Forget paying off his hookers with hush money, and all the sexual misconduct settlements. It's all a tax write off for him.

The right wing person who says republicans are more charitable miss the point. First off we shouldn't have a charity based society for survival. And it's not that purely charitable. Fine, taxes are taking people's money and people are against that, but hello you live in a society and it's in our best interest to do certain things. Opt out of society if you don't want to pay taxes. Go live somewhere else. There are plenty of tax free or low tax countries. You think government is shitty? Then expect it to do better. You think regular corporations don't do shitty things too? Because they do. I'm reading Elon Musk just suspended left wing accounts he just didn't like. That's fair behavior from the duplicitous and fake champion of free speech? The market is correcting him, though, he's destroyed the company he bought for 44 billion dollars. That kind of ineptitude isn't accidental, he wrecked up the place on purpose. 

Republicans always accuse democrats of not knowing enough about economics. Republicans could be accused of pretending they don't know how to chase away the desire to vote socialistically. 

The partisan caricature of what other party thinks of you isn't really accurate. You can be a socialist who wants to follow economic rules and just curb capitalism's excesses and injustices. I think justice can be for both conservative and progressive, anti-tax people and maximalist socialists. 

Speaking of justice, it looks like murdered Tyre Nichols is moving towards that: 

"A grand jury returned indictments on Thursday against the five officers — Tadarrius Bean, Demetrius Haley, Emmitt Martin III, Desmond Mills Jr. and Justin Smith — with charges that include kidnapping, official misconduct and official oppression, in addition to second-degree murder, prosecutors said. The officers, all of whom are Black, were fired last week." (New York Times) 

"The officers were booked into the Shelby County jail on Thursday., with bail amounts ranging between $250,000 and $350,000. As of Friday morning, all but one had posted bail and had been released." (op cit)

What is so weird about the case is that it's 5 black officers who murdered a black man. It can't be racism unless they're all self hating black men. Garden variety police brutality I guess. Racism might not be the only factor in police misconduct. Probably a power trip. 

Nichols did run away and fight being arrested. I'm not sure if I can even watch the video, it's probably too upsetting to me.

"Mr. Nichols’s mother, RowVaughn Wells, had to stop the video when she tried to watch it. His stepfather called it horrifying. Antonio Romanucci, a lawyer for the family, said the video showed Mr. Nichols being pummeled like a “human piñata. ‘What did I do?’ — that was his question,” Mr. Crump said of Mr. Nichols during a Monday news conference. “‘What did I do?’”" (op cit)

"At a vigil on Thursday night, Ms. Wells said, “If you’re here for me and Tyre, you’ll protest peacefully.”" (op cit)

Picture of Tyre Nichols holding his son.

Footnote: If you want to still follow his jet go to Mastodon: @elonjet@mastodon.social