Patterico's Pontifications

6/4/2015

Poll: More Americans Envious of Others Despite Their Own Improved Standard of Living

Filed under: General — Patterico @ 7:37 am



New York Times:

Americans are broadly concerned about inequality of wealth and income despite an economy that has improved by most measures, a sentiment that is already driving the 2016 presidential contest, according to a New York Times/CBS News poll.

The poll found that a strong majority say that wealth should be more evenly divided and that it is a problem that should be addressed urgently. Nearly six in 10 Americans said government should do more to reduce the gap between the rich and the poor, but they split sharply along partisan lines. Only one-third of Republicans supported a more active government role, versus eight in 10 of Democrats.

Polls and studies have also shown marked increases among Americans in wrath, greed, sloth, pride, lust, and gluttony.

52 Responses to “Poll: More Americans Envious of Others Despite Their Own Improved Standard of Living”

  1. Encouraging, isn’t it?

    Patterico (3cc0c1)

  2. Well, I guess the Left has succeeded in inciting class warfare. Now what?

    Patricia (5fc097)

  3. Democrats are truly Children of the State. When you hear that ginormous sucking sound, you’ll know from whence it comes.

    Colonel Haiku (2601c0)

  4. People need to quit believing their own eyes and trust the Truth Ministry:

    “All is well! ALL IS WELL!!!”

    DNF (208255)

  5. 80% of Democrats are envious of other peoples success? Aside from the why and what good does it do do one and the moral ethics* , be interested to know how the breakdown among the D’s who are on teh public dole and those who already get a Earned Income tax credits.

    yes, i realize that “moral ethics” no longer has a place among the D’s even though so many of them are Blacks who attend Church on a weekly basis.

    seeRpea (b2f97d)

  6. We are so screwed.

    JD (3b5483)

  7. the average failmerican is a filthy tatted-up short bus momo what’s all butthurt cause he’s already blown through his foodstamps for the month

    happyfeet (a037ad)

  8. *food stamps* i mean

    happyfeet (a037ad)

  9. If only these same people understood that it has been getting worse under this dem administration,
    not much different than giving someone a little bit of crack or heroin to expand your market base.

    MD in Philly (f9371b)

  10. Change!

    gbear (056e3e)

  11. I am the hoarder and wrecker your communist professors warned you about, Occupiers!

    Steve57 (6a0485)

  12. 9. If only these same people understood that it has been getting worse under this dem administration,
    not much different than giving someone a little bit of crack or heroin to expand your market base.

    MD in Philly (f9371b) — 6/4/2015 @ 9:55 am

    No, as the Obamunists destroy the country and centralize power over everything in Caracas-on-the-Potomac they will blame all the resulting problems on the few remaining vestiges of the free market.

    You know, the lackey running dogs of the international capitalists.

    And their deranged followers will believe them.

    Steve57 (6a0485)

  13. Patricia (5fc097) — 6/4/2015 @ 7:47 am

    2.Well, I guess the Left has succeeded in inciting class warfare. Now what?

    Well said.

    Walter Cronanty (f48cd5)

  14. Where I work management is hesitant to announce when they’ve promoted someone because they are concerned that other people might complain that they weren’t promoted as well.

    Envy really is a deadly sin.

    Pious Agnostic (7eb3b0)

  15. Polling results reported in the NY Times are automatically subject to doubt until independently verified by reputable news organizations.

    ropelight (789d53)

  16. I am with Mark Steyn. Until we change the culture, the Right has a tough road to hoe.

    But no doubt the #1 Basic to Leftism is ENVY of others. Quite pernicious but very real appeal to the worst in all of us.

    This is also why it is the only “thought” crime in the 10 Commandments. It was that important. All the other Commandments are demonstrable behavior. Think about that for awhile … Those old goats knew something all the Ph.Ds in Academia can’t figure out about the difference between behavior and feelings as it relates to moral code.

    #7 Would not say average but easily 30% of our population with another 22% saying it is A-OK to be a loser cuz we can’t “socailly shame” them.

    Permissive cultures always lose in the long, permissiveness and envious will end even worse. And that is what we are Permissive and Envious.

    Rodney King's Spirit (b31520)

  17. Wherever this country is, we let it get here. We let it come to this. We left a bunch of useless tools in office for uninterrupted decades because they tickled our ears with the right platitudes at the the right times. Comfort yourself that you were tickled with different platitudes, if you want, but the complicity is the same.

    Soooo, maybe we try to change that, as a first step?

    Leviticus (f9a067)

  18. We picked from the people willing to be in public office. I suspect we’ll see better candidates now that the quality of politicians has sunk so low. The demand is certainly there, and it’s likely the supply will follow.

    DRJ (e80d46)

  19. So, the NYT has polled to see how well their propaganda has been received and is pleased with the results.

    Kevin M (25bbee)

  20. So, the answer is to jack up capital gains taxes and taxes on the rich to 70% or so. Then complain about bad luck.

    Kevin M (25bbee)

  21. Well, unless the GOP candidate agrees exactly with everything I believe, I’m going to vote for the Dems to show those RINOs!

    Kevin M (25bbee)

  22. Articles reported in the NY Times are automatically subject to doubt until independently verified by reputable news organizations.

    FIFY

    Kevin M (25bbee)

  23. I am the hoarder and wrecker your communist professors warned you about, Occupiers!

    Because it takes hoarders and wreckers to disrupt the smoothly running efficiency of central planning.

    Kevin M (25bbee)

  24. What you mean “we,” Pinko.

    ropelight (789d53)

  25. Do people envy people that are clothed in trannywear?

    mg (31009b)

  26. Leviticus, your over-generalizations grow tiresome. But I won’t deal with them at the moment.

    Does anyone realize today is the 73rd anniversary of the Battle of Midway?

    By my calculation, 73 years ago these men of Torpedo 8 flying Devastators from the Hornet and the Avenger detachment from Midway were already dead.

    Lt. Commander John C. Waldron
    Lt. Raymond A. Moore
    Lt. James C. Owens, Jr.
    Lt.(jg) George M. Campbell
    Lt.(jg) John P. Gray
    Lt.(jg) Jeff D. Woodson
    Ens. William W. Abercrombie
    Ens. William W. Creamer
    Ens. Harold J. Ellison
    Ens. William R. Evans
    Ens. Henry R. Kenyon
    Ens. Ulvert M. Moore
    Ens. Grant W. Teats
    Robert B. Miles, Aviation Pilot 1c
    Horace F. Dobbs, Chief Radioman
    Amelio Maffei, Radioman 1
    Tom H. Pettry, Radioman 1
    Otway D. Creasy, Jr. Radioman 2
    Ross H. Bibb, Jr., Radioman 2
    Darwin L. Clark, Radioman 2
    Ronald J. Fisher, Radioman 2
    Hollis Martin, Radioman 2
    Bernerd P. Phelps Radioman 2
    Aswell L. Picou, Seaman 2
    Francis S. Polston, Seaman 2
    Max A. Calkins, Radioman 3
    George A. Field, Radioman 3
    Robert K. Huntington, Radioman 3
    William F. Sawhill, Radioman 3
    Pilots of VT-8’s Avenger detachment lost:
    Lt. Langdon K. Fieberling, Commanding
    Ensign O.J. Gaynier
    Ensign V.A. Lewis
    Ensign C. E. Brannon
    AMM1c D. D. Woodside

    Only Albert Earnest brought his plane back. He tried using his trim tabs to make ditching his plane more survivable, and discovered he could actually fly the plane with them. His .50 cal gunner AMM3 J.D. Manning was cut cut in half but his radioman/.30 cal gunner RM3 Harry Ferrier survived.

    http://valor.militarytimes.com/recipient.php?recipientid=19951

    Attention to citation.

    Navy Cross
    See more recipients of this award

    Awarded for actions during the World War II

    The President of the United States of America takes pleasure in presenting the Navy Cross to Ensign Albert Kyle Earnest, United States Naval Reserve, for extraordinary heroism in operations against the enemy while serving as Pilot of a carrier-based Navy Torpedo Plane of Torpedo Squadron EIGHT (VT-8), embarked from Naval Air Station Midway during the “Air Battle of Midway,” against enemy Japanese forces on 4 June 1942. In the first attack against an enemy carrier of the Japanese invasion fleet, Ensign Earnest pressed home his attack in the face of withering fire from enemy Japanese fighters and anti-aircraft forces. His loyal devotion to duty and his utter disregard for his own personal safety in attacking a superior enemy force were in keeping with the highest traditions of the United States Naval Service.
    General Orders: Bureau of Naval Personnel Information Bulletin No. 312 (March 1943)

    Action Date: June 4, 1942

    Service: Navy

    Rank: Ensign

    Battalion: Torpedo Squadron 8 (VT-8)

    Division: Naval Air Station, Midway

    Navy Cross
    See more recipients of this award

    Awarded for actions during the World War II

    The President of the United States of America takes pleasure in presenting a Gold Star in lieu of a Second Award of the Navy Cross to Ensign Albert Kyle Earnest, United States Naval Reserve, for extraordinary heroism in operations against the enemy while serving as Pilot of a carrier-based Navy Torpedo Plane of Torpedo Squadron EIGHT (VT-8), embarked from Naval Air Station Midway during the “Air Battle of Midway,” against enemy Japanese forces on 4 June 1942. Having completed an unsupported torpedo attack in the face of tremendous enemy fighter and anti-aircraft opposition, Ensign Earnest, himself wounded and his gunner dead, made his return flight in a plane riddled by machine gun bullets and cannon shell. With his compass and Bombay doors inoperative, one wheel of his landing gear unable to be extended and his elevator-control shot away, he was forced to fly by expert use of his elevator trimming tabs some 200 miles back to Midway where he negotiated a safe one-wheel landing. Fully aware of the inestimable importance of determining the combat efficiency of a heretofore unproven plane, Ensign Earnest doggedly persisted in spite of tremendous hazards and physical difficulties. His great courage and marked skill in handling his crippled plane were in keeping with the highest traditions of the United States Naval Service.
    General Orders: Bureau of Naval Personnel Information Bulletin No. 312 (March 1943)

    Action Date: June 4, 1942

    Service: Navy

    Rank: Ensign

    Company: Torpedo Squadron 8 (VT-8)

    I don’t know if anyone has figured out how Bert Earnest brought that plane back. It seems to have been sheer will. The man didn’t even know where exactly Midway was after launching in the dark and the confusion of battle. But he found it. Grumman engineers requested, and the Navy complied, to have the relic of what once was a TBF brought back to study it. They loaded it on a transport that was also transporting Marines no longer needed to reinforce Midway’s defenses. Those Marines normally slept on deck because it was cooler. One morning they woke up covered in blood because a rain squall had washed J.D. Mannings remains out of the turret during the night.

    Steve57 (6a0485)

  27. We hardly noticed the 150th anniversary of the end of the civil war, so I’m not surprised we forget Midway.

    Kevin M (25bbee)

  28. There are still Midway vets in existence.

    But we as a nation have abandoned the notion that there is such a thing of posterity. That a following generation owes a debt to a preceding one.

    I wish to buck this trend and speak of my debt.

    Steve57 (6a0485)

  29. * …that there is such a thing of as posterity.

    Steve57 (6a0485)

  30. when they come to redistribute my wealth, i hope they don’t mind that i will be sharing the bullets first.

    and who can complain? just look at how much money you get for copper & lead at the recycling center!

    😎

    redc1c4 (4db2c8)

  31. Steve, thanks for the head’s up.

    ropelight (789d53)

  32. improved standard of living? wages have stagnated for middle class and living standard for lower half has dropped. keep riding the titanic down!

    ss titanic (590c19)

  33. Yes, envy is so universal and insidious it’s been part of the human drama since the beginning. I always say that what is going on today is not a search for equality but a big sibling rivalry death match.

    Patricia (5fc097)

  34. But we as a nation have abandoned the notion that there is such a thing of posterity. That a following generation owes a debt to a preceding one.

    Begging your pardon, Steve57, but that would presuppose that we owe a debt to the Baby Boomers, though I suppose they took enough advances against the balance that they have been paid tenfold times.

    JVW (8278a3)

  35. I’m outraged by the disparity of income between white men and women of color.

    Oprah Winfrey makes a LOT more money than I do… WHY?

    No justice, no peace!

    malclave (4f3ec1)

  36. improved standard of living? wages have stagnated for middle class and living standard for lower half has dropped. keep riding the titanic down!

    Simply not true. What era would you prefer to have lived in, in which people supposedly lived better? Be specific. The 70s? The 50s? When?

    (If a time machine is invented I promise to try to work to send you back there.)

    Patterico (3cc0c1)

  37. Everyone has the same level of wealth when no one has wealth. Even if you evenly distribute wealth, it’ll start to separate again because you have givers and takers and people that make good decisions and people that make bad decisions.

    To argue for wealth equality is to argue against good and bad decisions. Just look at lottery winners that piss away their winnings in a few short years.

    Dejectedhead (4bfcf6)

  38. how many of you opened up the tab that actually had the poll results? I wonder about that because the poll questions do not center around wealth redistribution. What the poll focuses on is that people feel they don’t have the opportunity to get ahead unless they already have money. “to them that have shall be given even more”. they don’t have confidence in the future and they think, not that the rich have too much money but that the game is rigged in favor of the rich.even the respondents who had the highest income, 100,000 a year or more, felt that way. do they envy themselves? the only difference they had from most of the other respondents is that they did not want more taxes or government interference.

    kishnevi (91d5c6)

  39. Just look at lottery winners that piss away their winnings in a few short years.

    How do the rich get richer if most of them psis away their wealth?

    Michael Ejercito (d9a893)

  40. re #36: i know you didn’t address that to me but I have an answer to that.

    “downtown” Jerusalem , King Solomon on the throne, 1st Temple operational.

    seeRpea (b2f97d)

  41. how many of you opened up the tab that actually had the poll results? I wonder about that because the poll questions do not center around wealth redistribution. What the poll focuses on is that people feel they don’t have the opportunity to get ahead unless they already have money.

    With respect to your bolded section, kishnevi . . . are we looking at the same poll? Here are some questions from the poll I am looking at. After planting the redistributionist seeds with some questions about the richest getting ahead, we see questions such as:

    Should the government do more to reduce the gap between the rich and the poor in this country or is this something the government should not be doing?

    Do you favor or oppose raising taxes on people earning more than $1 million per year?

    What about this is not redistributionist?

    You seem in sympathy with the daft answers of the people answering the poll. What does it mean to “get ahead”? To improve one’s lot in life (which virtually everyone has done in this country as the years pass) or to “get ahead” of others (i.e. even if you are doing way better, do you feel that nagging ENVY of people who are doing even better?).

    Concern over “income inequality” is pig-ignorant. Oh, and very common.

    Patterico (3cc0c1)

  42. the game is rigged in favor of the rich

    What “game”? The government redistributionist game? Yes, that one is rigged in favor of the rich. The market? That “game” is “rigged” in favor of those who improve the lives of others.

    Guess which institution soft-headed morons turn to, when their envy gets the better of them? The market, which helps them out — or the government, which bends them over and does unmentionable things to them?

    If you guessed the government, you get the blue ribbon (and the lingering sore spot in your backside).

    Patterico (3cc0c1)

  43. I love the term “pig ignorant”.

    JD (3b5483)

  44. Living in a country where our success as a nation once allowed our youth to have no idea about the struggles of the past was once a pleasure. Now, a nightmare.

    Ag80 (eb6ffa)

  45. Polls and studies have also shown marked increases among Americans in wrath, greed, sloth, pride, lust, and gluttony.

    Sort of like the proverbial end times, when pride goeth before the fall, when great nations theoretically have a life span stretching not much beyond 200-plus years (eg, 1776 to today).

    The future of the US probably can be glimpsed in places like Mexico, Brazil or a decadent European society beholden to political correctness and, consequently, put through the grinder of things like Islamism.

    Mark (a11af2)

  46. Do you favor or oppose raising taxes on people earning more than $1 million per year?

    No one ever mentions that the tax rate foisted upon the wealthy, of and by itself, doesn’t mean a damn thing in terms of the tax burden among middle- and modest-income people. But that’s because the left is far more bothered by the rich not paying more in taxes than working stiffs paying too much in taxes.

    Mark (a11af2)

  47. 17, 18. While, thankfully, we are blessed here @ Rico’s with a number of exceptions to the rule, lawyers are grossly over-represented among those wiiling to serve as our betters and yet, in general, a particularly godless & mercenary class of jackhole.

    DNF (208255)

  48. 32.improved standard of living? wages have stagnated for middle class and living standard for lower half has dropped. keep riding the titanic down!

    If you believe that then Capt. Obama of the Titanic is at fault. Fortunately, a new captain is on the way and hopefully not some inadequate leftist of either party who have been using the same out of date charts for the last 70 years.

    39. Just look at lottery winners that piss away their winnings in a few short years.

    There’s a big difference between a lottery winner who got real lucky on a bad bet and a guy who works his butt off 20 hrs a day to become rich. Let me say, you could “distribute” $100,000 to every idiot in Detroit’s inner city and by the end of the year they’d be back to broke, albeit all driving new Lexus’. Being poor isn’t an act of lack of compassion, it’s a trail of bad decisions. The reason for poverty can be found in every liquor store in Chicago : booze, cigarettes, lottery tickets and the time to bother with them because one is not employed.

    Hoagie (b482c1)

  49. BTW, there’s no difference between they way these folks treat their “lottery winnings” and the way they treat the money they receive from government programs. They earned neither and treat both with complete abandon.

    Hoagie (b482c1)

  50. Two nights ago PBS had a program chronicling the Reagan Presidency. While there was a left tinge to the entire show, I paid particular attention to the use of a MIT economist and some others to mock the idea that lower tax RATES generated more tax REVENUE. We were duly informed that it never happened under Reagan when he lowered the top rate from 70% – it is a right wing lie. (I suspect the argument would sound different in a program gushing about JFK’s policies.) It reminded me of Obama saying that it didn’t matter that higher tax rates reduced tax revenues, raising rates was about equity.

    They went to inform us that the recession last decade was a DIRECT RESULT [their words not mine]of Reagan’s policies. And apparently Reagan invented the concept of a federal budget deficit and made national debt a cuddly thing. These comments were made specifically to absolve Czar Obama of his soon to be $10 trillion increase in the national debt. Forget Bush, it is Reagan’s fault.

    Say, when is the next national election? The left is dragging out all its inequality and common man hating Republican tropes for the long slog toward election day. Gonna be a long 18 months.

    in_awe (7c859a)

  51. I also think, Hoagie, that a big reason for obesity, especially in the lower classes, is that their food is largely free thanks to food stamps. If it’s free, you don’t value it, you don’t budget and cook healthy foods. You blow it on Twinkies or TV dinners and wait for the next payment.

    Patricia (5fc097)


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