Links: German right-wing loss; US flag redesigns; NYC eatery's $25/hour a good start

Links: German right-wing loss; US flag redesigns; NYC eatery's $25/hour a good start 

Viva, Jose! A national reform would be to federalize senior Medicaid as Medicare Part E, leaving caring for the non-retired poor to the state (to be delivered through the same providers as those who provide other services - under the employee policy).

In Germany, as elsewhere, all authoritarianism is local. These provinces add an interesting spin to the concept of "Red State."

All DeSteno proves is that there is such a thing as bad sociology, not that sociology has no role in analyzing religion and its culture aspects. The debate over whether Faith is an individual venture or a group phenomenon is important. When faith is a group thing, it becomes loyalty, which is the opposite of trust in God.

That debates about religion and the flag are related essentially prove this point out. The reason some want to redesign a flag which has become a symbol of international hegemony is lost on MSW. The irony of thirteen colonial stripes becoming the symbol of an American Navy that is always in the Sun is pregnant. 

Fearing Australian pro-lifers while calling oneself libertarian is a piece of real gymnastics. Whether opening the Churches is a good idea depends on vaccination rates, not theology.

Paying more does not change the authoritarian culture of capitalist restaurants. The owners needs to share the wealth and the power to get to the next step in 21st Century management.

Most people who advance beyond their race or class never claim to be beneficiaries of Affirmative Action. They have a point. That they are paid less than their high-class partners is also an interesting data point. In the U.S., class is more an issue than race. 

In the U.S., Class and race are not the same, but their interrelationship is an essential feature of society. Here, there is a myth that there is no class. Everyone likes to think that they are in the middle. A vibrant system of social insurance for the elderly allow that myth to persist. Class can be seen as familial, professional or economic. On all fronts, Trump has no class. He is an ignorant peasant with enough debt to be considered poor. 

In my studies of income in the U.S., I divide classes by piles of money. If Adjusted Gross Income is divided into equal piles, the Lower Class is anyone under $100,000 (80% of the population), the Middle Class is the next 16% and the Upper Class is the top 4%, who's AGI is over $250,000. 

The Upper Middle goes to $500,000, where the top 1% start. They are more a number than a class. From the top 1% to the top .01%, capital income is equal to salary income.  After $10 Million, any salary is a status symbol for celebrity athletes, CEOs and entertainers. 

The true measure of class is probably language. To be truly free, one must have the ability to expand the language, as well as being skilled in the common tongue. This has less to do with economics and more to do with prizing thinking over values. Such people scare the guardians of tradition and faith - as they should.