Except that the rich know who to bribe with campaign contributions.
Look at Ronald Reagan. As an actor, he was not a giant star. Plenty of folks got a higher salary. Reagan lucked into a job as spokesman for General Electric, at the time one of the biggest companies in the world. Reagan hung out with the big shots and introduced them to his Hollywood buddies; in return he got stock tips and investment opportunities that made him rich.
You’re middle class if you’re still working for your money. You’re rich when your money works for you.
A $5 million a year actor/athlete still has to work; they are also paying for their trainers, agents, dietitians, clothes etc. They are upper middle class.
A trust fund baby with an income of $1 million a year is the rich one. imho.
It makes shipping easier. Packing a bunch of different sized bottles into a single carton is a mess.
In a neighborhood, everyone knows your name. If Joe the Plumber and Fred the Butcher make a bet, everyone has heard it, and the loser has to pay up, or be scorned.
In a bar, the bartender or server holds the bets and pays off the winner, and expects a cut of the pie as a sevice fee/tip.
Dad had a stroke?
Fire fights is what the Right wants and is hoping for.
Quick history lesson. In 1960 US minimum wage was $1.00/hour and the cost of the average US home was $11,000.00 A couple of high school kids could get married on graduation day and be homeowners in a few years.
To quote the American humorist Kin Hubbard, ‘It ain’t no disgrace to be poor, but might as well be.’ It is in fact a crime for an American to be poor, even though America is a nation of poor. Every other nation has folk traditions of men who were poor but extremely wise and virtuous, and therefore more estimable than anyone with power and gold. No such tales are told by the American poor. They mock themselves and glorify their betters. The meanest eating or drinking establishment, owned by a man who is himself poor, is very likely to have a sign on its wall asking this cruel question: ‘if you’re so smart why ain’t you rich?’ There will also be an American flag no larger than a child’s hand glued to a lollipop stick and flying from the cash register.
Kurt Vonnegut, in "Slaughterhouse 5’
No one has more contempt for Trump supporters than Trump does.
Physical calendars are great. One good trick is to write all the important dates down the day you get it. Mom’s birthday; parent’s anniversary; any event that you want to be sure to remember.
Get these books. “Discover What You Are Best At.” Linda Gail. It’s a series of self tests to determine what skills you already have and then a list of all sorts of jobs that use those skills. If you can wake up on a rainy Monday and not hate yourself, you’ve solved most of your adult problems.
“The Joy Of Cooking.” Will teach you how to boil water, and then go on from there.
That’s a good story. My family moved into a big apartment complex when I was in 6th Grade. There was a big laundry room in the basement and somehow I became the Laundry Czar of my family. First good paying job I got I started having it done for me.
True story.
One of George W. Bush’s friends was telling a story about the future President. He was a recent college graduate and came to her house with a load of laundry, because he couldn’t figure out how to clean his own stuff.
People had encyclopedias and dictionaries in their homes. They read newspapers every day [and since there was a lot of competion between papers they made sure of their facts.]
imho people today are more likely to fall for nonsense because they look for confirmation instead of accuracy.
You’re recognizing the problems of today. Someone in the 1930’s Depression would feel something similar watching a movie set in the Jazz Age.
Not exactly the Lensmen, but a really good and underrated book.
https://bookshop.org/p/books/the-guns-above-robyn-bennis/c421005cea8a54ee?ean=9780765388773&next=t
Airships in the Napoleonic Era. The author does a great job of engineering the ships. Pretty much the only 'fictional" element is that they have access to unlimitied amounts of helium.
[off topic?]
There’s a science fiction series called The Lensmen by ‘Doc’ E.E. Smith. Big influence on Star Wars and other space operas. In one book a human is preparing to visit one of the most dangerous civilizations in the Galaxy. Super-special, quadruple strength armored suit he hopes will be strong enough to protect him.
The planet has a tech level equal to mid-20th Century Earth, but the natives are completely deaf. So none of the cars, trains, planes or other machinery has any noise dampening.
He survives, but it’s close…
https://bookshop.org/p/books/the-lensman-super-pack-e-e-doc-smith/20084689?ean=9781515460855&next=t
[obligatory George Carlin reference]
https://youtu.be/6MVABINRzN4