Memes (as in “creams”) are cultural ideas that are transmitted through media. Memes are the cultural analog of genes. We have numerous transmitters: social networking sites, television, blogs, and print media. Our focus on the rich and their separation from the rest of American society is a growing meme. Recent articles have raised the question of whether or not America is becoming two societies, the rich and everyone else:
- Are the American People Obsolete?
- Do the Rich Need the Rest of America?
- Do the Rich Even Need the Rest of America Anymore?
- Biggest Defaulters on Mortgages are the Rich
- Why is Income Disparity Widening?
- Soak the Rich, Lose the Rich
Voyeuristic focus on the rich has always been an American obsession. “Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous” obsessively peered into the lifestyles of wealthy athletes, entertainers and business people. The show ran for eleven years. The rich are now objects of scorn: hedge fund managers making money from the housing collapse; bankers, on the brink of bankruptcy, awarding themselves huge bonuses thanks to government loans and guarantees; and corporate executives receiving gigantic severance packages after corporate wrongdoing. See, e.g. Following the Hurd
We have moved beyond voyeurism and scorn. Our anger at the rich suggests economic and political upheaval.
The Rich Separate from Us
Michael Lind’s article in Salon, Are the American People Obsolete? appears to be the genesis of this meme:
Have the American people outlived their usefulness to the rich minority in the United States? A number of trends suggest that the answer may be yes.
In every industrial democracy since the end of World War II, there has been a social contract between the few and the many. In return for receiving a disproportionate amount of the gains from economic growth in a capitalist economy, the rich paid a disproportionate percentage of the taxes needed for public goods and a safety net for the majority. See Are the American People Obsolete?
We have always needed ordinary people as consumers and soldiers. But now globalization has undercut the first part of this bargain at the nation-state level. The middle classes in China and India are more intriguing customers than debt-ridden, unemployed Americans. They are also cheap and productive producers. For the second part, a volunteer professional military undercuts the bargain even further.
Lind points out the economic and political consequences of this new social contract:
If the American rich increasingly do not depend for their wealth on American workers and American consumers or for their safety on American soldiers or police officers, then it is hardly surprising that so many of them should be so hostile to paying taxes to support the infrastructure and the social programs that help the majority of the American people. The rich don’t need the rest anymore. See Are the American People Obsolete?
Bring Back the Robber Barons
Previously, we discussed the role of the nineteenth and twentieth century American entrepreneur in Bring Back the Robber Barons. Lind focuses on the same point:
As bad as they were, the robber barons depended on the continental U.S. market for their incomes. The financier J.P. Morgan was not so much an international banker as a kind of industrial capitalist, organizing American industrial corporations that depended on predominantly domestic markets. He didn’t make most of his money from investing in other countries. See Are the American People Obsolete?
The robber barons were integrated into American society, not living in privileged enclaves like Greenwich, Princeton or Palo Alto or foreign equivalents of London, Hong Kong or Singapore. Thus, it was natural for the robber barons to focus their philanthropy in America. Our new citizens of the world have a different mindset:
…philanthropists may be inclined to devote most of their charity to the desperate and destitute of other countries rather than to their fellow Americans. See Are the American People Obsolete?
Implications
Richistan, A Journey Through the New American Wealth Boom and the Lives of the New Rich, describes the rich becoming their own virtual country. The new rich feel no civic obligation or shared sense of sacrifice. They can default on mortgages and avoid military service for their children. We have written about a different time in America where even the scions of the rich and powerful felt obligated to join the war effort to defend the nation. See e.g. A Reputation as Good as Goldman Part II. Now we hear whining and threats: “if the Bush tax cuts are repealed we will leave the country.”
Unwittingly, the Obama Administration has enabled the petulance of the rich by supporting the banks and Wall Street to the detriment of Main Street. Faced with threats of emigration, it remains to be seen whether the Administration has the gumption to let the Bush tax cuts expire. Apparently, the rich are ready to depart the United States if marginal tax rates rise from 35% to 39.6%. We are not exactly talking about conscientious objectors to the Vietnam War fleeing to Canada.
We have learned much about the new rich, and it is not all to the good. Paraphrasing Sir Winston Churchill, we have already established their virtue; we are only haggling about their price.
loading...
Related posts:
- Bring Back the Robber Barons
- “Justice” for the Poor and a Pass for the Rich?
- This Dimon Doesn’t Have it Rough Enough
- One Year of Blogging
- Labor Day 2010
Tags: Bush Tax Cuts, Memes, Richistan, The Rich
