Its about social equity and respect. I remember a story where a redneck in Appalachia made about as much money as a highly regarded doctor in Africa, but the redneck was definitely worse off: he had no respect from the community, his social contribution was very low, and very low self esteem, while the doctor got to eat with the president of their country, had connections abroad, and so on. The war against poverty isn't finished once survival needs are met, people want meaningful lives, to thrive in society also and not just survive.

I very much admire Europe (or at least Switzerland) where the upper class treats the working class with a lot more respect. Everyone is important, you don't treat the guy at the fast food rudely, even if you have much more money than them. Everyone's life seems meaningful and people are happy. Now, compare this with China where I now live, where very little respect is given from the middle class to lower-working class that cleans their houses, makes their food, drives them around...

Edit: I didn't mean to use redneck here as a pejorative, it just seemed to get the point across more quickly.

Semi-tangent. In 1989, I did the summer of backpacking across Europe thing. Just before the fall of the Berlin wall, so there was still soviet control of eastern/central Europe.

Anyway, I went to Budapest on that trip, and at the time it was common to be met at the train station by people offering a place to sleep in their homes for cheap. Me and some guys I was with at the moment took one of them up on the offer and went with him to his apartment, $15 a night for the three of us. It was a cramped little place, but in the city, so it was cool. We stayed up late talking to the guy, and found out he was a doctor.

Which was a huge shock to me. A doctor living in a tiny little place and letting tourists sleep on his couch for very little money. That (and the flagship department store in Budapest being nearly barren by US standards) convinced me that the West had gotten some things right, at least.

The guy did have a lot of books though, and asked me to send him some science fiction books once I got home. I mailed him a bunch of cyberpunk. Wonder what he made of that. Wish I'd kept up with him.

I was just in Budapest in June, arrived via train, and there were at least a dozen people offering room for rent. Don't know if any of them were doctors, but the economy has been struggling there. We stayed in a really, really nice hotel for about $100/night.

I guess using the word "redneck" did carry the point quickly, just a wrong point maybe.

Regarding respect: cannot compare it with Switzerland first-hand, but in my experience Americans tend to treat each other with a lot of respect, compared with many other part of the world. Including cross-class encounters.

Perhaps we are seeing different America's? As someone who started out lower middle class and is now upper, I really see a country that isn't that much better than china and is very class based. Now Europe...has many problems also (aristocrats abound), but the day to day etiquette that is expected goes a long way into promoting at least social equality, if not economic.

Ugh, there is a reason that you would be admonished for this argument and it's not because you are speaking some sort of uncomfortable truth. It's because this is sloppy, lazy thinking, and it has traditionally been used as a bludgeon to retard progress for the many in favor of the few.

If you are going to talk about how rich even the poorest American currently is so as to intimate that they shouldn't complain about their circumstances you have to answer one question: Why now? Why is this standard of living reasonable, and an improved one not? Why was it fair of them to make it this far, but any better would be unreasonable. The entirety of human history has been one long story of progress, and at every time I am sure there have been people arguing that everyone has it good enough and working to allow more people to have "more" is wrong. Why don't we just stop after the establishment of agriculture? Hey, now people don't have to risk their lives hunting. Why not stop after we create homes and settlements. Now we don't have to live in caves. Isn't that good enough for everyone? Why didn't we stop when we developed basic medicine? Why not after modern agriculture alleviated periodic famines?

Unless you can say why certain people deserve the standard of living they have right now, and why they also don't deserve a better standard, points like the one you are talking about are counter-productive, and usually used by people looking to keep more for themselves, and damn everyone else. To accept otherwise would mean accepting that there is no argument for the standard of living in your country to increase either, and I am pretty sure you wouldn't agree with that.

Indeed! America has much to pride itself on! After becoming the strongest economy in the world, and its technological and cultural leader, her poor may be content to know that they are much, much better off than those of Bangladesh and sub-saharan Africa. A great society indeed!