Yeah, we’re supposed to pay the rich people more, and then they will throw money at the poor people. Works good, except that it SO DOES NOT.
6 Likes
one thing overlooked to near exclusion . . .
while touting “European free university / college” - there is a hugely significant difference in USA.
in Europe one applies for university and if you’re academically qualified, you are accepted.
in USA, if you can pay, you can find a college that will accept you (near) regardless of your academic qualifications.
if free college were introduced in USA and students were accepted based on academic qualifications, there are not enough lawyers in the country to file all the lawsuits that would result.
having schooled, lived and worked overseas for extended periods, Europe is indeed different in many ways. not bad, not good, simply different - and once you get the hang of it, works perfectly well…
3 Likes
And pay off your student debt well into retirement 
3 Likes
Thank you for taking the time to think and write about that. I do appreciate the insight about how folks from outside of the US view me.
Just to clarify, is what you are describing what you think of as “culture”, as in one "monolithic culture "? I know we are already on shaky ground, and was wondering if we are still talking about “culture”.
1 Like
City and State colleges do exist at a vast discount to the private college system in the US.
Sorry to be thick, but I can’t see where I used the word “culture” as such. If you’re asking what I meant by cultural structures, I was thinking of all the institutions that pass on knowledge, practices, beliefs among other things. These are schools, museums, archives entertainment, arts, and so on. These are places that meaning is created and shared, and they ship that meeting according to the agendas of the context of these institutions.
It is absolutely not monolithic. Don’t know where I would have indicated that.
But I think you were hoping to talk about “culture” which is a sticky and complicated word despite the ways people use it so readily. It’s a number of things and we often hope context clues will aid interpretation, but ideally people who explain. It’s why I avoid it and aim for something more precise.
Then again, using this many words to already start the project of decoding indicates why saying “culture” and hoping for the best can be the preferred option.
ETA: And I see that I may have misanswered. Sorry.
3 Likes
“We” are paying the rich people?
In tax breaks for “job creators” and that sort of thing.
1 Like
Even if one removes all tax breaks, income inequality doesn’t arise from that.
The rich aren’t getting rich off tax breaks – they’re just keeping more of their wealth.
Tax breaks worsen the existing discrepancies, but usually in the middle more than at the extremes (as in, the “slightly” rich get disproportionately taxed vs the “very” rich, the “middle” class get taxed disproportionately vs the “upper middle” class, and so on down the income chain).
I tell people I know who probably haven’t paid income tax in years (because pvt equity & hedge fund shields) that they really shouldn’t opine on where tax $$ are going (eg: entitlements) because none of those tax $$ are theirs 
1 Like
I’m not talking solely about income inequality. I’m talking about this country still operating under the “trickle down” fallacy, even if we call it other things now. But we are getting too afar afield from the topic at hand.
4 Likes
Yeah, a tipping thread going off the rails . . . who’d have thunk it?
7 Likes
Understood. I can’t tell you how many times I have started, edited, and deleted responses.
When you wrote “I’ve been thinking about this”, I thought you were referring to @Madrid 's comment
“I too wonder what “European” culture as a monolithic means. Even “American” culture meaning US as single country varies so much from region to region, and even in my part of Massachusetts, two blocks from Boston, varies so much 10 miles away…”, who was referring to something similar.
I try so hard to resist, but can’t .
1 Like
It is a truth universally acknowledged that a thread originally designed to focus narrowly on tipping must quickly veer off into a thicket of other topics.
3 Likes
That’s bc very few topics exist in a void, unrelated to anything.
I don’t know that we’re that far off – the folks at the receiving end of gratuity culture are usually the ones with the worst marginal rate of benefit from tax structures and the like.
3 Likes
Yes! Indeed.
2 Likes
yeah, yeah…
I’m still thinking about hunterwali’s insight that tipping culture is part of our (USA) belief in philanthropy over structured benefits vs. other places structuring service workers’ pay and not relying on tipping for a living wage & benefits.
As the past few years in NYC have brought tip jars in places never before seen, I’ve been known to inquire as to why its now up to me & not the employer to pay those behind the cash register or taking something off a shelf, etc. What kind of society believes that adequate workers pay shouldnt be baked into the cost of business and instead be reliant on a customers benevolence?
6 Likes
From the article: After the layoffs, customers will need to use third-party delivery apps like DoorDash, GrubHub and UberEats for pizza and food deliveries.
Regardless of the reasons why they say they are laying off these employees, I wonder if at least part of the reason they are doing so is that they know that people have other options to get their pizzas delivered. Why mess with having employees when a third party can do it?
6 Likes
Good point. There’s a small chain of pub-type restaurants in my area with pretty good food. During Covid, they started offering delivery. They still offer delivery, but the few times I’ve ordered, the confirmation notes it will be delivered via Uber. I’m sure part of that is dining in is much better (they always have a good variety on tap) and so delivery has decreased, so it’s no longer necessary to employ drivers. It’s in PA, so no alcohol is delivered from restaurants and there has certainly been no minimum wage increase in years (decades?).
2 Likes
Maybe our Puritan origins have something to do with it? Americans average fewer vacation days than almost everywhere else.
1 Like
