Middle Class

Both recent political conventions had a lot to say about the "middle class."  As I listened to the speeches, I realized I don't know what the term means.

I tried to develop my thinking in the course of a recent facebook exchange with a friend who called attention to an editorial by David Brooks. The friend challenged her friends to comment:

The article:

Thurston Howell Romney

www.nytimes.com

Did you hear about Mitt Romney’s comments from a fund-raiser a few weeks ago? They seemed to suggest that Romney doesn’t understand America.

• Facebook  Comments:
  
  RT: He's not a liberal, but he's a fan of President Obama. Hard to square those two. ... I do agree with Governor Romney that there is a dependent class... they work hard, they want better lives for their kids, all that is true. But they are becoming dependent on government more and more. And with that dependence comes control. ... As to President Obama, I believe his understanding of America is much less realistic than his opponent's.

  September 18 at 10:08am ·
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  KK: Do you buy Romney's number of the middle class being those who make ~250K?

  September 18 at 10:32am ·
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  RT: I must confess I'm not an expert on Romney's statements about what constitutes the middle class. There isn't an official definiition after all... Cf Obama's promises about never raising taxes on people earning under $250k a year (a promise he broke in April 2009). I understand if you may not want to give Romney credit for any intelligence... but let's be realistic. He has been governor of a state... he campaigns every day to real Americans... his campaign team no doubt makes sure he knows the price of a gallon of milk.

  September 18 at 10:37am · 
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  RT: I find most people think "rich" is some number, say 10% more than they make.

  September 18 at 10:41am
• DC: For what it's worth - 2% of American households have income above $250,000. Is that the middle?
• September 18 at 10:54am ·
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  RT: What would you call the middle class Mr. Cox?

  September 18 at 11:18am · 
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  David Cox That's a really good question, and I don't have a succinct answer.  I'm not sure that income is a useful dividing line. It is possible to divide the population into income by quintiles (20% units). Any household with income above 250K is way up in the top 10% of the top quintile. Working class doesn't work because of the historic association of that term with blue collar, factory workers, tradesmen and craftsmen. What is lacking is a term that collects people with common economic interests in the present world, namely everyone who works for salary or wages. It seems clear to me that wealthy individuals look down on anyone who lives on a paycheck. How about "Polloi?"

  September 18 at 12:05pm 
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  RT: I dispute the premise that "wealthy individuals look down..." If you were saying something like that about blacks or women or whatever, we would be calling you a racist, sexist, etc. And if you cannot define "middle class" then surely you don't quarrel with someone else's definition, whatever it might be, right ;-) ?

  September 18 at 4:06pm · 
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  David Cox Why must I define "middle class?" It isn't a term I use, because I'm not sure it has any clear or useful meaning. I know what "quintile" and "quartile" mean and am comfortable using them to convey information about income. "Class" itself is a word that also fails to convey precise meaning. It once meant something reasonably useful, though not precise. "Upper class" conveyed a set of attitudes, education and speech as well as a certain degree of wealth. "Lower class" also conveyed something about the people thought to be included. In some circles, it was a synonym for "trailer trash." "Middle Class" was presumably somewhere in between, ordinary people as it were. In my experience that set of terms never fit southern society very well. Oh, yes, people also spoke of "Southern Aristocrats." There was a certain manner of speaking - at least among the women. A kind of soft Southern drawl with genteel accents. They had been to finishing school and knew how to prepare tea. To be in this category when I was growing up in Mississippi usually meant that sometime in the distant past, an ancestor had owned a plantation. Southern aristocrats didn't come from business. Faulkner captured the distinction perfectly in his stories of the Compsons (aristocrats increasingly down on their luck) and the despised but up and coming Snopeses. Oh, yes, there were also "yeoman farmers." Those were the ones who had never had slaves. Out of all that melange, I fail to see the usefulness of "middle class" as a category. If you find it useful, by all means use it.
  
  As for "looking down on" that may not have precisely conveyed my point. I read postings from right wing sources talking about the "lucky duckies" who pay no income taxes. I watched the Republican convention. The message I keep hearing is one of disdain for people who work for salary or wages, rather than living on earnings from stocks and bonds. I don't think that is true of all wealthy people. I don't think it is only wealthy people who think along those lines. But it seems to me there exists a rentier class (bad word - how about "category") that does not esteem mechanics, plumbers, schoolteachers, engineers, or other folks who make and do stuff in the service of others. What to call them? I'm open to suggestions.

  September 18 at 7:17pm

Seventy Years Ago: Furthest Axis Advance

There can be any number of opinions as to the REAL turning points of World War II. In the Pacific, I choose the Doolittle raid as the event that changed Japanese prospects. The Battle of Midway is another candidate for turning point. But the failure of Japan to recapture Guadalcanal and consequent pullback in New Guinea made it clear to Japan that they were now on the defensive.

The November 1942 Allied invasion of North Africa (Operation Torch), preceded by German failure to control Malta, pointed to the end of German success in North Africa.

By Mid September the Soviet Union had stalled the German advance at Stalingrad, Moscow and Leningrad.

The Winter of 42-43 proved the high water mark of the Axis advance.

When Churchill announced to Parliament in November 1942 that it was perhaps the "end of the beginning" of World War II, it was an apt description.

Seventy Years Ago: Autumnal Equinox In The Pacific

As the days shortened and the nights lengthened to twelve hours plus, Japanese troop-carrying destroyers had more time to deliver reinforcements. Night concealed ships from Douglas Scout Bombers (SBD's). In daylight the SBD's were deadly to Japanese ships.

Public Officials

In the summer of 2011 I posted a comment intending to put public service into context. In this case, I was writing mostly about municipal elected officials. But the same thoughts apply to County offices as well as state and higher offices. The pay may be somewhat greater than that for town officials, but the principal is the same and I thought it worth repeating:

Tuesday, July 12, 2011

Let Us Now Praise Local Pols

I sometimes sit in the peanut gallery and aim (figurative) slings and arrows at local officials.

I have no personal interest in any controversies - I just want things done right. Yes, I have opinions about WHAT should be done to improve our town. My main focus, however, is HOW things are done. I try not to be influenced by personal feelings for or against individuals involved in the process.

This isn't personal - it's business. Public business.

There's another side to the story, though. We should admire all of our fellow citizens willing to step up to the plate and compete for approval of voters for the right to perform long hours of public service, steeped in controversy, often in the face of hostility, for no pay. Of all elected public officials in this land of ours, these are the ones we should most admire.

Let all incumbents know that we appreciate what they do.

For those who have already filed as candidates in November's election, I say thank you. For those still weighing whether to run for public office, I say "do it."

Seventy Years Ago: Stalingrad

While about 22,000 United States Marines were fighting the Japanese on Guadalcanal, with the future of the sea lines of communication to Australia at stake, far to the West a truly titanic struggle was taking place. The bulk of Germany's army had been thrown against the Soviet Union. There were three main German thrusts: against Leningrad in the North, against Moscow and against Stalingrad.

In all three cases, even as German forces were in the suburbs or in the case of Stalingrad, fighting street to street and house to house within the city, Soviet factories in the siege area continued to produce T-34 tanks that rolled off the factory floor directly into battle.

This is where the fate of Europe was to be decided.

The scale of the battle in Stalingrad was unbelievable. Here is a partial account.

Seventy Years Ago: Noumea Harbor

September 21, 1942: The troop ships carrying the 27th Air Depot Group to the South Pacific steamed around the point and entered the harbor of Noumea, New Caledonia.

The ships had left San Francisco on September first and crossed the equator ten days earlier, on September 11. The embarked Army Air Forces personnel outnumbered the sailors aboard, so the crossing-the-line ceremony was fairly perfunctory. Even so, King Neptune made his anticipated appearance on each ship.

Master Sergeant Cox, untroubled by motion sickness, whiled away the hours playing cards and rolling dice. It had been a profitable passage. When not involved in games of chance, he stood watch at the guns mounted on the weather deck, so he was in position to see what transpired.

As the ships headed into harbor, he saw buildings burning, fire fighters trying to control the flames. Other ships already at anchor blinked messages at the new arrivals with signal lights. Instead of easing into assigned amchorages, the new arrivals milled about and headed back out to sea.

"Jap air raid," the messages said. "Don't anchor here. They are coming back."

The formation headed back out to sea, looking for the Australian escort ship they had been promised. Sailors and soldiers crowded the rails searching for the ship. "There she is!" One soldier cried out. "Where?"

White caps made it hard to see. They were expecting a destroyer or, perhaps a cruiser. The soldier kept insisting he saw it.

The long Pacific rollers swept by from astern, lifting the troop ships. From the top of the swell, Sergeant Cox suddenly spotted something. It looked like a broomstick popping up out of the ocean and then disappearing below the horizon.

Finally the ship got closer to the "broomstick" and a small hull popped up above the horizon.

Their escort was an Australian patrol vessel. It looked no bigger than a harbor patrol boat. But it had a gun and that was their escort, protecting them from the enemy until arrival at Brisbane five days later.

Campaign Lowjinks In Pamlico County

There are some things that should be out of bounds in election campaigns. Threatening phone calls to a candidate's wife fit in that category.

I have spent my life in defense of democracy. I believe every citizen should vote. Every citizen should feel free to express political opinions. I wish those opinions related to the substance of political differences rather than "nyaah, nyaah I don't like you!" That's worse than childish.

Everyone in the county seems to know about a threatening phone call to a candidate's wife, reported yesterday in the Sun Journal.

In an unrelated Facebook entry, the former minister of the Oriental Methodist Church offered the following suggestions:

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Not bad advice.

Seventy Years Ago: Guadalcanal, September 18, 1942

7th Marines, 4,180 men, land on Guadalcanal bringing total to 22,500.These were the same marines escorted by USS Wasp which sank from fires started by Japanese submarine torpedoes and USS North Carolina, damaged in the same encounter. The transports reached Guadalcanal.

Here is a portion of one marine's story.