The Birth of the new America Aristocracy

Yes, he races sail boats.

My kid sailing when he was 12. image

You want me to pay higher taxes because of racing sail boats?

I’m trying real hard to be civil here.

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He sailed at his private high school and at his private college (which we had the pleasure of paying $260,000 for.)

None of your tax $$ were used for his education.

You could have given that money to the public education system.

I have given approx $10k a year for 28 years to my public school district and will keep giving for as long as I live and I’m only 60, so. Plus, they didn’t even have to educate my kid the last 11 years.

And if you had opted to have seven children, as some do, what sort of economic condition would you leave to each of them? You underrate yourself and the choices you have made in relation to your childs welfare. It is not just fortune in the sense of good luck.

Most people don’t have 7 children.

It starts with luck, though it doesn’t end there.

Anyone who has ever come across the story warning about the dangers of dihydrogen monixide, (a chemical used to clean garage floors) can tell you there are probably a lot of things (concepts) that sound alien and far away, but in fact are really simple.

As I posted earlier, only 40% of Americans enroll in college and only 30% finish. The US divorce rate being 50% means simply being a college graduate married to a college graduate likely puts your family in the top 15% . . . . and all you had to do was the stuff your mother and your teachers told you to do.

Back out a few percent for
those who majored in something impractical (like poetry or medieval studies,)
those who take on too much debt
those who become widowed or medically disabled,
and suddenly it is easy to see the much maligned top 10% isn’t some far off hereditary aristocracy with secret societies and secret handshakes.

For that reason among others I believe the article is false as are attempts to sow class envy in America.

Dihydrogen monoxide is water, a chemical used to clean garage floors.

Why does marriage bump them into the top 15%?

You blew $260,000 on private schooling?

Price we pay? No, I don’t think so.

Moral obligation? I don’t think so. I don’t see taxes as us being made to do anything. The only required for tax collection is for us to not interfere with the process.

I disagree.

Only 30% of America graduate college.
Half of all marriages end in divorce.
Ergo college gradates are 30%, still married college graduates are half that.

The 15% part of the thesis is reasonably strong.
Stay-married college grads are ~15% of the population.

The somewhat weakish part of my thought is that the 10% are (merely) those 15-percenters who avoided certain potholes such as useless degree, medical disability, too much debt, too much consumerism etc…

Where did you get those “stats” from? Divorce rates are not constant across all educational levels.

So this is analytically true?

Ok, name one thing that is.

He stole our Windows money, sure we didn’t invent it but part of the profits obviously belong to us.

Two incomes are better than one when it comes to how much money is coming in.

And yes, the US is absolutely a meritocracy, our schools do a pretty good job of identifying the smart people who go on to college and lucrative careers.