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Michael Hermens's avatar

#5 elites are high IQ, but live in a bubble. If elites have IQ, they would know that the welfare system contributes to poverty. So either elites do not possess the IQ’s to see the impact of welfare on the poor, or understand they live in a bubble. Alternatively, perhaps elites really don’t care about the poor at all, but they are committed to virtue signaling.

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JorgXMcKie's avatar

Not enough of our elites now have had to spend any real leagth of time living with/near the lower economic classes. I grew up in rural poverty, where even the well-off didn't have a whole lot more than my family. I believe I understand the less intelligent, more impulsive, and less morally/future concerned than our elites.

But I taught in a Poli Sci department. of 30+ teaching colleagues over the years, perhaps 6 or so seemed to understand non-elites on any real level. They had plenty of stereotyped views about them though.

So, basically, I believe that too many policy-makers rely on their personal stereotypes rather than any fundamental knowledge of the people on whom they enforce their preferred policies. That goes a long way to explain the failures of homeless policy and crime policies for sure.

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