Even younger respondents who have never lived in such a world voted in favor of giving it a whirl

Seventy-seven percent of middle-age Americans (35-54 years old) say they want to return to a time before society was “plugged in,” meaning a time before there was widespread internet and cell phone usage. As told by a new Harris Poll (via Fast Company), 63% of younger folks (18-34 years old) were also keen on returning to a pre-plugged-in world, despite that being a world they largely never had a chance to occupy.

  • argv_minus_one@beehaw.orgEnglish
    1·
    1 year ago

    Servers and service workers weren’t saving up and flying to Europe or South America back then.

    They still aren’t. They’re barely keeping roofs over their heads, let alone taking expensive vacations.

    And while poverty has increased and the middle class has shrunk, that isn’t necessarily because of income inequality.

    I can’t think of any other plausible explanation.

    • cykablyatbot@lemmy.fmhy.mlEnglish
      1·
      1 year ago

      I worked as a server and in coffee shops and yes, they most certainly are. Not all, but plenty. People generally fly to other countries much, much more than they used to. It’s not just the wealthy any more, at all.

      undefined> I can’t think of any other plausible explanation.

      Housing is scarce and much more expensive for starters. Middle class people like using housing as an investment and vote to keep housing scarce because of that. It’s not just the .1% that are voting for those policies.
      China has a whole lot more income inequality too but much less poverty and a much larger middle class than before. The world as a whole does. Those two dynamics are not that related. Income inequality can grow whether the middle class is growing or not and can grow or decline whether there are more people in poverty or less.