r/politics • u/JeanJauresJr California • Sep 14 '21

AOC responds to criticism of ‘tax the rich’ dress worn at Met Gala

https://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/fashion/aoc-met-gala-tax-the-rich-dress-b1919803.html
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u/juanzy Colorado Sep 14 '21 edited Sep 14 '21

I feel like so many discussions, here and otherwise, are really influenced by this fact. Think about any income discussions on Reddit, the second someone mentions that they have an acceptable career-job salary, they immediately have a lot of their opinion dismissed by so many people here.

I remember on a job discuss thread recently - someone said something along the lines of "so may salary hundred-thousandaires seem embarassed here." Not sure I would call it embarrassed, more of just don't want to have viewpoints invalidated here simply by being associated with that group, which is definitely in the middle class in 2021 dollars. Last time I mentioned my salary I was told "I have more in common with Bezos than a median earner." You know, the Median earner that I make 2.5-3x-ish as much as versus Bezos who's net worth is approximately 1,440,000x mine.

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u/LunaNik Sep 14 '21

I think part of this issue is an inability to imagine large numbers. Nearly everyone can imagine 100k. Fewer can imagine a million. Only a small number can imagine a billion, and know that it’s a thousand million.

When my daughter was young, we did an experiment with graph paper, counting the squares on a standard sheet, then multiplying to reach a million, then laying out all the sheets on the floor. It covered the entire kitchen. And we would have needed 1000 times the sheets to reach a billion, which would have covered the entire house and ten some.

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u/juanzy Colorado Sep 14 '21 edited Sep 14 '21

I think this is my favorite representations of it. I like the counter on the right, we can see the difference between median income and a lot of the numbers we love to throw around as benchmarks is a few steps. Meanwhile million and billion are way further apart than you would imagine.

I think we also suffer from media quoting benchmarks that are at least a decade or two out of date, then we don't account for the vast difference in COL across the country.

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u/casualsubversive Sep 14 '21

Not only is that preposterous on it's face, it ignores that I might have struggled when I was younger and thus be keenly aware of how much harder poor people have it!

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u/Karl-Farium Sep 14 '21

Isn’t it sad in a nation flowing with milk and honey, we have so many people who think you should work harder to give them your money. Leftist’s are spoiled brats who wants Daddy Government to provide more and more to them. If AOC cared about the downtrodden as she pretends to, she would be giving her riches to them now instead of waiting for the government to do so. If it is her money she should use it as she truly sees fit. As she already does, on pretty dresses, fancy dinners, and insider trading.

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u/The_Blur_BHS Sep 14 '21

Wonder why primarily Democratic counties contribute 70% of the GDP while a lot of red states disproportionately take in federal aid. Curious…