Angry because they perceive themselves as becoming an oppressed minority. Angry that the "other minorities" are having all sorts of social benefits and manna from heaven showered on them. Most of them don't even seem to be aware of the dearth of social programs in this country. They just know that lazy non-white people are given free money, food, a place to live, and undue promotions at work.
Maybe in prison, folks. Not out here in the free world, though. If I ask them if they ever heard of the Welfare to Work Act, the extreme limitations it imposes on lifetime benefits and its other requirements, I get blank stares.
Even some folks right here don't believe it. They're sure that there must be some way to collect never-ending (and quite generous) welfare benefits, especially if you aren't white. Because, you know, there's a part of town that's just full of these people, who never work, watch 50" lcd TV's all day and eat lobster and filet mignon for dinner every night.
While it is true that there are several different public assistance programs other than AFDC, all of them have their limitations, and none of them are available unless you're in pretty dire straits. Also, none of them are going to allow you to live a life of comfort, much less luxury.
It's this attitude, more prevalent than I once thought, that is the biggest stumbling block to starting any new social programs in this country, especially any sort of universal health system. This same attitude sees "must treat" laws as de facto universal health coverage. Which, of course, are mostly taken advantage of by lazy non-white persons.
The other issue addressed was distrust of the college educated by the non-college educated. While the hordes of non-white people drowning out the white population meme resonates on the right, the invasion of MBA's is a popular meme on the left. The comments to my article were sometimes revealing of this:
The invasion of MBA's may have more influence on the economic collapse than you suggest. The MBA influence has put short term profit ahead of everything. The MBA's say the ONLY goal of a business is to make money; that it does not make any difference whether you are selling computer chips or potato chips.
Yeah, that's how business has worked since right around the invention of currency. It's also known as the "profit motive".
MBA programs produced the corporate raiders, who figured out that they could make money leveraging their assets, using borrowed money to buy out existing, productive companies and part them out, selling off the assets like common auto thieves. This lead to poison pill strategies and strategies of working on borrowed money, minimizing investment or R & D to prevent the company from becoming an attractive takeover target. These strategies have chopped our economy at the roots.
MBAs have a lot to answer for.
Well, see, a lot of people have a lot to answer for. The corporate raiding, mergers and acquisitions strategy started in earnest in the 1950's, with the rise of the early conglomerates like Litton and Textron, and came to a peak in the late 80's.
Today's conglomerates are mostly more closely related. Companies like 3M, Comcast, and Parker-Hannifin, who buy companies either in similar industries, or who provide similar functions in different industries.
And people with MBA's had little to do with it. Most of the people sitting in corner offices, the engineers of it all, never pursued a master's degree of any kind. Hint.
Here's where the education envy comes in again. The people who either stay in school or, more commonly, go back to school to get one, are largely people who are trying to get ahead by education rather than experience and ass-kissing. They're mostly pretty insecure, work in middle management, and are scared just as shitless as you are by the current economic situation.
The other attitude I see expressed is the odd notion that there's a class war going on between people making $2K/mo and people Who make $6K/mo.
Many of you cheered Bill Clinton on even when he destroyed welfare and repealed Glass-Steagall and signed NAFTA.Some still do.Never thought it would happen to you, did you, dear middle class?
No, most of them are, as noted above, completely unaware of the welfare reforms, which is why they think they're at a disadvantage relative to you. They're also as scared by and as and at, the other things you cite. Yeah, we were (and are) scared that it will happen to us.
I worry every year whether my business will make it to next year. Everyone in middle management is worried about the next downsizing, because they get their pink slips right after they've passed them out to the others.
Nothing to make you walk on pins and needles more than the realization that you have a few nice things, and are yet only a few paychecks away from living in your car.
So it goes. Insecurity peaks during economic times like these. The demographic fears are accelerated by the insecurity. The result being a lot of Angry White People.
"Working Class" and "Middle Class" people mad at each other for no good reason.
Not that there aren't Angry Minority People as well. There certainly are. But that's a different subject for a different day.
I'll close with a quote from Warren Buffet:
"If class warfare is being waged in America, my class is clearly winning."
--From his annual letter to Berkshire Hathaway shareholders, March 2004--
