We’re even more exceptional than we knew
by digby
Here’s another fine example of just how exceptional the good old US of A really is. This chart is from Krugman’s blog where he explains that our allegedly “classless” society is not only easily divided by class economically but it’s also surprisingly more divided by class than other advanced countries in terms of policy preferences:
I don’t know about you but I find that rather shocking. I guess the American affluent are just bigger jerks than the affluent in other countries — which also explains something else. Krugman writes:
[T]he main point to understand here is that we now know what it means when people urge us to stop talking about class, or denounce class warfare: it is essentially a demand that lower-income Americans and those upper-income Americans who care about them shut up, and stop messing with the elite desire for smaller government.
I would guess that part of the problem is this insistence among the wealthy that they’re jes’ down home middle class workin’ folk like you and me. (Well, except for the fact that they have so much more money…) They don’t need all those government services so obviously they aren’t necessary.
And those who actually are middle class and support cuts in government spending? Well, those are the fine citizens who just want that spending cut for “those people”, the ones who don’t deserve it. Unlike them. That’s a centuries old American problem and there’s no excuse for it. But there’s also no excuse for our wealthy elites to be so damned selfish. They are literally the greediest people on earth.
.