Thread by @ZhiZhuWeb

"Ownership of the real, core assets is where the region’s wealth comes from, and it doesn’t extend down the social hierarchy."

theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/…

"These elites’ wealth derives not from their salary—this is what separates them from even extremely prosperous members of the professional-managerial class, such as doctors and lawyers—but from their ownership of assets."
~@Patrick_Wyman

#WealthTax
theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/…

"Wherever these elites live ... through their political donations and positions within their localities and regions, they wield a great deal of political influence. They’re the local gentry of the United States."

theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/…

"I’ve come across many different gentries, each with its own ideas about its legitimacy, role in society, and relationship to those above and below on the social scale"
~@Patrick_Wyman

theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/…

"Gentry are, by definition, local elites.

The extent to which they wield power in their locality, and how they do so, is dependent on the structure of their regime."

theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/…

"The greater the level of social inequality, the more prominent the gentry class—the group that owns the resources—tends to become in economic and political life."

#WealthTax
theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/…

"The gentry residing in my hometown largely own land, the products of which form their primary source of wealth, and they sit atop the local hierarchy. But much of the United States isn’t as rural or as obviously hierarchical..."
~@Patrick_Wyman

theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/…

"An enormous number of organizations & institutions are dedicated to advancing the interests of this gentry class... Through these organizations & their intimate ties to local & state politics, the gentry class can ... wield significant power to shape society to its liking"

"Some people work their way into this property-holding gentry class ... But far more members of the gentry class are born into it. They inherit assets, whether those are car dealerships, apple orchards, or construction companies"

#WealthTax
#TaxTheRich
theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/…

"This is broadly true of gentry classes: They’re hereditary. Large amounts of property of any kind form a durable base for generational wealth, whatever specific shape it might take."

theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/…

"Equating wealth, especially generational wealth, with virtue and ability is a deeply American pathology.

This country loves to believe that people get what they deserve, despite the abundant evidence to the contrary."
~@Patrick_Wyman

#WealthTax #USA
theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/…

"The American gentry stands at the apex of the social order throughout huge swaths of the country.

It shapes our economic and political world thanks to its resources and comparatively large numbers,

yet it’s practically invisible to the popular eye."

theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/…