Class Distinctions

[Inquartata]

To me, class can only be understood in the midieval, tenant farmer sense where there are several "classes" or castes of people. This does not exist in the USA (except for maybe the south) .

But it doesn't exist in Europe, either.

Perhaps you're confusing classes with estates, as in the three great medieval divisions: those who pray, those who fight and those who toil. These were not based on wealth or even status; nobles could move from the 2nd estate to the 1st or inhabit both at once, for instance.

[Zilverzmurfen]

...and then there are places like bogota, buenos aires, madrid, paris...all good places to be independent and free thinking too...

You forgot to add Sweden to that list.

[Svidrigailov]

I've never been to sweden, but have met very very nice swedes I hope to go one of these days..

[Inquartata]

One in particular? Hmmmm?

[foilz]

Swedes are beautiful, thoughtful people. Very deliberate. The Danes are beautiful, too. Very beautiful, very intuitive, and invariably, I'm glad to say, very sober. I know nothing about Norwegians. I assume they are practical, efficient, beautiful, hard-working people.

The Fins, in my experience, have been (i) nice, and (ii) argumentative.

Nevertheless, I love everyone I have ever met from the three? four? crown nations.

[Schiavona]

It may not exist yet. There were some "safeguards" to ensuring that a class strata that was impermeable to movement didn't establish itself. One of these, a fairly important one was the estate tax. Though it may seem like it "penalizes" someone for dying, thus the moniker "death tax", it's primary goal was to help mitigate the establishment of power and money through inheritances. That's being stripped soon.

The idea that the estate tax keeps rich families from passing wealth from generation to generation is false. Very few people know that if you spend enough money lobbying you can get personal exemptions written into the tax code. Suprise! The PBS show Frontline did a story a few years ago on the Gallo family (wine business). They spent $2 million on lobbying and saved $20 million in estate taxes. So, it really dosen't affect rich people.

My wife's Aunt died and left us some land, she was asset rich-money poor, we get to pony up $125,000 in taxes-twice our yearly income. Explain to me why we're paying this? Please?

[scrapinpeg]

Interesting bit on this topic from todays (right-leaning) OpinionJournal.com. I'm still as uncertain about classes as when I first posted, btw.

Scenes From the Class Struggle--II
Our item yesterday about Democrats' puzzlement over failing to win the votes of "working class" Americans prompted this interesting reply from reader Jonathan Kahnoski:
...
When the American intelligentsia bought the whole Marxist-Leninist vocabulary back in the 1920s and 1930s, they bought into the idea of social classes. Marxism-Leninism is a product of the European experience, with its long history of often rigid social classes (royalty, nobility, bourgeoisie, etc.). This vocabulary has had great appeal to Europeans, especially on the Continent. Today, Europeans claim their societies are more egalitarian than America's because of their social welfare programs, while completely overlooking how stationary their citizens are both geographically (what Frenchman will leave his birthplace to take a better job?) and socially (can a "working class" German aspire to a university education or obtain a bachelor's or master's later in life?).

The American experience has been quite different. From the colonial period on, the ideal of America was to free the individual from the artificial constraints of social class. In America, so the pitch went, every person was able to pursue his dreams, whatever they might be, without regard to family or place of birth. It is true that America's fulfillment of that dream has been imperfect, but not nearly as imperfect as the American intelligentsia would have us believe. Indeed, it might be that more Americans would strive and succeed if there was less talk about class barriers and more talk about freedom.

This is not to argue that every plumber mistakes his wrench for a scepter. The same working stiff who takes offense at being called "working class" is quite comfortable being called "blue collar." It is easy to understand why. A class is something you are born into, and trapped in--concepts completely antithetical to the American self-image. A collar, blue or white, is something a person chooses for himself--a concept congruent with the American ideal.

It is puzzling that so many American academics do not understand the great gulf between the European experience and the American experience. It is as if they say: Americans mostly are the descendants of white Europeans, therefore most Americans must think and feel and perceive themselves the same way Europeans do. The simplicity of this line of thought is tempting, but it demonstrates how little these otherwise highly educated and well-traveled people know about their fellow Americans. Perhaps they would feel more at home in Europe?

Thus, as you say, some janitors and secretaries and carpenters are insulted when they are referred to as "working class." However, perhaps most ignore the term because they don't associate themselves with "working class" or any other "class." They may agree they wear a white collar or a blue collar, practice a trade or a profession, but these they do by choice. They also will insist they are born-free, "jen-u-ine" Grade A, USDA Choice Americans and they don't know what class you are talking about. Bully for them!
...
To which we would add that most Americans probably consider themselves "middle class." But they do not understand this as a class per se, merely as a synonym for "normal."

Here's another way of looking at the whole question: One reason cries about "inequality" ring hollow in America is the radical egalitarianism that underlies our political culture. If all men are created equal, then differences in material wealth don't imply differences in the inherent worth or dignity of individuals. Thus there is no reason for differences in economic status to become a source of antagonism.

[Purple Fencer]

The idea that the estate tax keeps rich families from passing wealth from generation to generation is false. Very few people know that if you spend enough money lobbying you can get personal exemptions written into the tax code. Suprise! The PBS show Frontline did a story a few years ago on the Gallo family (wine business). They spent $2 million on lobbying and saved $20 million in estate taxes. So, it really dosen't affect rich people.

My wife's Aunt died and left us some land, she was asset rich-money poor, we get to pony up $125,000 in taxes-twice our yearly income. Explain to me why we're paying this? Please?

Note to self....talk to Dad about giving me my inheritance now...

[lochinvar]

Note to self....talk to Dad about giving me my inheritance now...

That may not help, depending on how close Dad is to pushing up daisies...The IRS used to have a category called "gifts made in anticipation of death." In short, any large sums of money or property given within 5 years of a person dying was considered to have been given specifically to escape the inheritance tax, and so those sums were considered taxable upon death.

I don't know if they still have that provision, but I'd check it out before getting Dad to write you a check now.