Gap Psychology and President Trump

[Pinyin]

Oh look, this thread again.

 

[MusterX]

The puzzle to me is how they are so effective at getting support from the very working class they screw over. We know that the building of racial and class resentment is intentional and effective (throughout history even), but it surprises me that it still works. The most outrageously anti-working class person in America was able to convince tens of millions that he was actually the most pro-working class person.

I didn't find the election to be that way at all. More like, Hillary is so fucking bad, Americans would rather vote for Hitler than Hillary.

 

[Fawlty]

I didn't find the election to be that way at all. More like, Hillary is so fucking bad, Americans would rather vote for Hitler than Hillary.

That's not what won him the primary though.

 

[Gandhi]

That's not what won him the primary though.

Exactly, Trump threw away the dog whistle and straight up pulled the base from under the republican establishment’s feet.

 

[MusterX]

That's not what won him the primary though.

From my perspective it doesn't even matter. Republican, Democrat, I don't really care anymore. They are both overflowing with pond scum. You don't make it to Washington if you are a good person.

 

[DickSarp]

Did you ever see Cassidy in that old Eastwood movie The Eiger Sanction? Very different than his usual character portrayals. Great performance and film.

No I haven't, thanks for info. I'll check it out.

 

[DickSarp]

It was intended to be complicated. But yeah, I stand by the assertion that the man who risked it all deserves the payday when it happens.

yeah, workers risk nothing. It's only the asshole who writes a check and does none of the labor. Great. That's how the economic royalists roll and you seem to agree.

Until people like you understand that no man is an island, we're going to have these ridiculous capitalist results where very few live like kings by parasitically enriching themselves on the labor of others who are barely making ends meet.

They do the work. He sops up the gravy bc he wrote a check. Sounds great.

 

[Liquid Smoke]

yeah, workers risk nothing. It's only the asshole who writes a check and does none of the labor. Great. That's how the economic royalists roll and you seem to agree.

Until people like you understand that no man is an island, we're going to have these ridiculous capitalist results where very few live like kings by parasitically enriching themselves on the labor of others who are barely making ends meet.

They do the work. He sops up the gravy bc he wrote a check. Sounds great.

Workers risk nothing because they put no money down up front. They show up, do what they're told, and get a check whether the business has a good week or not. And then if the business fails (like 80-90% do), they walk away scott free and get another job somewhere else.

Compare this to the guy who just "writes the check" but had to put his life savings on the line to get started. He's responsible for everything. A guy who makes 10x what his workers do probably has 100's or 1000's of people working for him. And if his customers (the real boss) aren't happy, he loses his shirt.

You know why Bill Gates is rich? Do you know how many companies use his products? Virtually all of them. He's rich because his tools have created operational efficiencies in nearly every sector of society. You know why Jeff Bezos is rich? Because his company has driven the cost down to the commodity point on EVERYTHING.

Your post talks about "poverty" but the real topic is resentment. People may have everything they need to survive but you say they're "poor" because they have less than someone else and they don't like it. Maybe resentment is a fact of human nature, but I'm not going to celebrate it. You want a better life, find out your labor can create more value for others. You want a make billion dollars? Figure out how to create many, many billions of dollars in value for your customers. But if you'd rather just bitch and moan about the "capitalists", good I hope you choke on it.

 

[xcvbn]

All American Presidents exhibit strong symptoms of Gap Psychology, and all during my lifetime (since WWII) have had some measure of Decency — Roosevelt, Truman, Eisenhower, Kennedy, and Johnson were decent men. Nixon perhaps less so, but Ford, Carter, Reagan, Bush I, Clinton, Bush II, and Obama were fundamentally Decent.

This might be the biggest line of absolute horseshit I've ever read. The closest would have been Roosevelt but his motives weren't necessarily to help lower class people- just that their complete downfall would have preempted the ruling class'.

"Reagan, Bush I, Clinton, Bush II fundamentally decent" GTFO

We're at a time now when people try to rationalize terrible people like Nixon, Bush I&II, Clinton, Reagan, Truman, and Eisenhower as "decent" just so that they can slander Trump. As if Nixon or Clinton bad is nothing compared to Trump bad. They're all ruling elites who had everything in their lives handed to them and they used that power and wealth to punish those of lower social and economic standing. I do believe that Roosevelt was a decent person but I doubt very much that he lost sleep over poor American families.

 

[panamaican]

The puzzle to me is how they are so effective at getting support from the very working class they screw over. We know that the building of racial and class resentment is intentional and effective (throughout history even), but it surprises me that it still works. The most outrageously anti-working class person in America was able to convince tens of millions that he was actually the most pro-working class person.

It shouldn't surprise you, the support arises from the desire to distance themselves from the lowest rung of american society. That's completely consistent with Gap psychology. "These policies don't really help me but they hurt the people below me more thus preventing them from overtaking me."

 

[oldshadow]

yeah, workers risk nothing. It's only the asshole who writes a check and does none of the labor. Great. That's how the economic royalists roll and you seem to agree.

Until people like you understand that no man is an island, we're going to have these ridiculous capitalist results where very few live like kings by parasitically enriching themselves on the labor of others who are barely making ends meet.

They do the work. He sops up the gravy bc he wrote a check. Sounds great.

Writing the check is risk even if that's all a stock holders do.

But that's not what you are talking about, do you actually believe a person owning and running a bussness does nothing but write the check.

 

[unimackpass]

People want to oversimplify things as usual.

I've seen what's being described below on a local level in the fishing industry. A fish processing plant starts making profits and starts to invest in more equipment and hires more people partly because tax laws make it possible.
The gap is greater but the amount of people making more money increases and all those people spend more money in the community. Win win.
Before the investment increases 20 people were making 65,000, (random numbers) after 70 people were making that with the promise of moving up the latter faster.
If the government confiscated their profit, with out the possibility of reinvesting, the gap wouldn't have increased but no one would be climbing the latter (socialists would be happier though, and unmotivated people hanging out on sherdog).
If the government had gotten their hard earned profits it would have bin flushed down the toilet of inefficiency anyhow.

 

[unimackpass]

Writing the check is risk even if that's all a stock holders do.

But that's not what you are talking about, do you actually believe a person owning and running a bussness does nothing but write the check.

For sure this.

I've worked with people who have climbed the ladder and built their little empires from the ground up (literally, grew up in a log cabin with a dirt floor). I admire their work ethic and the jobs they have created have helped many people.
However, to climb that high requires a insane work ethic and I'm happy to find a spot on the ladder that fits my lifestyle choice.
People I know that are at the top of the heap have earned it and provided many jobs for others because the government couldn't confiscate their profits.

 

[Toastytoy]

The puzzle to me is how they are so effective at getting support from the very working class they screw over. We know that the building of racial and class resentment is intentional and effective (throughout history even), but it surprises me that it still works. The most outrageously anti-working class person in America was able to convince tens of millions that he was actually the most pro-working class person.

As someone who is broke and also usually voted R in national elections, how does the republican party screw me over?

 

[unimackpass]

It shouldn't surprise you, the support arises from the desire to distance themselves from the lowest rung of american society. That's completely consistent with Gap psychology. "These policies don't really help me but they hurt the people below me more thus preventing them from overtaking me."

I find this interesting, I don't know anyone that desires people below them stay at the bottom. Maybe all those altright people I've bin hearing about?
The more money people have to buy the goods people are selling the more profitable their going to be. Everyone wins.

 

[punkmother]

what is it called when its not the gap but the purchasing power of my dollar that i'm concerned about (in a psychological sense)? if i have $100.00 but everybody has $1,000.00, i may not be aware of the actual gap in wealth as much as i am the price of milk, butter, gas and a big mac. same thing? or is that different?

 

[AnGrYcRoW]

The author, Mitchell, was a lifelong republican until the cancers of Gingrich and Armey et al. turned the Republican party into the Neo-Nazi party.

The neo Nazi part is over the top but I agree with alot of this laying at Gingrich's feet

 

[panamaican]

I find this interesting, I don't know anyone that desires people below them stay at the bottom. Maybe all those altright people I've bin hearing about?
The more money people have to buy the goods people are selling the more profitable their going to be. Everyone wins.

Gap psychology isn't a new idea. I don't think it's the most technical term but it's pretty well documented in other ways.

It's not that people want those below them to stay at the bottom, it's that they don't want those below them to catch up to them. So, they'd be fine with those at the bottom rising so long as they also rise. But they wouldn't be fine if those at the bottom rose past them, even if they were also rising. Because at the end of the day, many people factor their social standing into their sense of self and see themselves as on an upward trajectory, even if it's not true. If those beneath them rise to their level or past them then it's an indication that they are not rising. For them, maintaining the social order is also a firm of psychological self-preservation.

Someone once put it more succinctly - Everyone wants you to do well, they just don't want you to do better than them.

 

[Higus]

From my perspective it doesn't even matter. Republican, Democrat, I don't really care anymore. They are both overflowing with pond scum. You don't make it to Washington if you are a good person.

"They both suck, so vote Republican!"

 

[MusterX]

"They both suck, so vote Republican!"

You can vote either way, but both sides are self serving and lie their asses off.