Fall River is working class, Newton Highlands is one of the most affluent towns in America. I'm sure the good congressman knows all this, it's where he lives, Newton that is. Understanding where people in Fall River are coming from is a way to understand how the Democratic Party has failed it's voters. Fall River is not Wyoming, but they voted for Trump.
Look at this quote, "we're the party that's going to build a thousand trade schools to give the next generation the skills necessary to build 5 million homes" I live in an extremely fast growing town. We went from a couple thousand to 38 thousand in a few years. The wheat fields sprout million dollar homes like mushrooms after a rain. No one building homes went to trade school. They are paid by the day not the hour, often without withholding or comp, and are for the most part illegal immigrants.
Congressman we don't need trade schools, telling us the equivalent of "learn to code" is offensive. What we do need are our jobs back. The very first day on the job a carpenter's helper is making more money for the contractor than he is costing in wages. By the end of the week a worker is grossing twice or three times what he costs.
Congressman we want jobs that pay a middle class wage. People are willing to work, and these jobs are not brain surgery, all we want is an income to support a family.
Rebuilding Trust is problematic because the movement needs to come from those leading and controlling all of our institutions, and those leading and controlling all of our institutions, with some exception, tend to be those responsible for eroding trust, and continue to enrich themselves in the system that foments a lack of trust.
I got in a spat with an old Republican friend that is wealthy from real estate and stock trading. He has TDS and hates Trump mostly because of tariffs and anti-globalism. Both of us are in the 1% income and wealth category/class. However, I worked my way up from nothing and then blue-collar work and then college-educated professional credentialed class, and he comes from upper class parents and a healthy inheritance. I also own two businesses... one that I built from scratch and that makes real products. I support Trump and think the post Bretton Woods Global Order is 40 years too old.
My friend has much and wants more and frankly does not care about the plight of the lower 80%. He is one of those "they should learn how to code" pushers. There are many of them. Some are Democrats, but many are Republicans or right-leaning moderates.
The other side of my friend's cohort involved in the decline of institutional trust are the non-money side of the Professional Managerial Class. They rely on soft government money, government jobs, NGO careers, academics, credentialled professionals and politicians. Most of these people are Democrats.
The problem is that rebuilding trust requires that their power, income and wealth making sandbox get diminished. But one thing we know about people that have the most, they also want more the most. They don't accept it. They would prefer chaos, conflict and harm to others if only to protect their power, income and wealth making system.
NAFTA was a mistake. China into the WTO was a much more massive mistake. We have screwed our people from economic opportunity while chasing the Gods of corporate profit maximization and corporate shareholder returns maximization. Meanwhile we have the 6th highest cost of living... good for the upper 10%... terrible for most everyone else.
This is the ubiquitous clash of civilization. The proletariat against the bourgeois. The upper-class elites against the working class. The Gilded Class against the working class. As Ayn Rand labeled the actors... the Looters and Moochers against the Producers. When in history do we see this clash ever being resolved without war?
One of the unappreciated virtues of Trump is that the most out-of-touch country club Republicans are all Democrats now. It's actually a topic that this substack might be able to pursue with objective data. My sense is that your comment points the way:
* Grew up upper-middle class and made money in finance or upper management: hates Trump, switched to Democrats
* Grew up working class and either started businesses or at least had to fight their way up the socioeconomic ladder: pro-Trump
More Fall River, less Newton HIghlands.
Fall River is working class, Newton Highlands is one of the most affluent towns in America. I'm sure the good congressman knows all this, it's where he lives, Newton that is. Understanding where people in Fall River are coming from is a way to understand how the Democratic Party has failed it's voters. Fall River is not Wyoming, but they voted for Trump.
Look at this quote, "we're the party that's going to build a thousand trade schools to give the next generation the skills necessary to build 5 million homes" I live in an extremely fast growing town. We went from a couple thousand to 38 thousand in a few years. The wheat fields sprout million dollar homes like mushrooms after a rain. No one building homes went to trade school. They are paid by the day not the hour, often without withholding or comp, and are for the most part illegal immigrants.
Congressman we don't need trade schools, telling us the equivalent of "learn to code" is offensive. What we do need are our jobs back. The very first day on the job a carpenter's helper is making more money for the contractor than he is costing in wages. By the end of the week a worker is grossing twice or three times what he costs.
Congressman we want jobs that pay a middle class wage. People are willing to work, and these jobs are not brain surgery, all we want is an income to support a family.
Great comment.
Rebuilding Trust is problematic because the movement needs to come from those leading and controlling all of our institutions, and those leading and controlling all of our institutions, with some exception, tend to be those responsible for eroding trust, and continue to enrich themselves in the system that foments a lack of trust.
I got in a spat with an old Republican friend that is wealthy from real estate and stock trading. He has TDS and hates Trump mostly because of tariffs and anti-globalism. Both of us are in the 1% income and wealth category/class. However, I worked my way up from nothing and then blue-collar work and then college-educated professional credentialed class, and he comes from upper class parents and a healthy inheritance. I also own two businesses... one that I built from scratch and that makes real products. I support Trump and think the post Bretton Woods Global Order is 40 years too old.
My friend has much and wants more and frankly does not care about the plight of the lower 80%. He is one of those "they should learn how to code" pushers. There are many of them. Some are Democrats, but many are Republicans or right-leaning moderates.
The other side of my friend's cohort involved in the decline of institutional trust are the non-money side of the Professional Managerial Class. They rely on soft government money, government jobs, NGO careers, academics, credentialled professionals and politicians. Most of these people are Democrats.
The problem is that rebuilding trust requires that their power, income and wealth making sandbox get diminished. But one thing we know about people that have the most, they also want more the most. They don't accept it. They would prefer chaos, conflict and harm to others if only to protect their power, income and wealth making system.
NAFTA was a mistake. China into the WTO was a much more massive mistake. We have screwed our people from economic opportunity while chasing the Gods of corporate profit maximization and corporate shareholder returns maximization. Meanwhile we have the 6th highest cost of living... good for the upper 10%... terrible for most everyone else.
This is the ubiquitous clash of civilization. The proletariat against the bourgeois. The upper-class elites against the working class. The Gilded Class against the working class. As Ayn Rand labeled the actors... the Looters and Moochers against the Producers. When in history do we see this clash ever being resolved without war?
One of the unappreciated virtues of Trump is that the most out-of-touch country club Republicans are all Democrats now. It's actually a topic that this substack might be able to pursue with objective data. My sense is that your comment points the way:
* Grew up upper-middle class and made money in finance or upper management: hates Trump, switched to Democrats
* Grew up working class and either started businesses or at least had to fight their way up the socioeconomic ladder: pro-Trump