Even though citizens of this nation like to insist that the United States is a classless society, we all know that the rich live apart from the rest of us and that they live differently.
hooks, bell (2012-10-02). Where We Stand: Class Matters (p. 70). Taylor and Francis. Kindle Edition.
This quote is probably the focal statement of her chapter on being rich. Our first warning that it isn’t well researched is the statement we all know. Something everyone knows usually isn’t true. She apparently hasn’t bothered doing the sort of research that Thomas J. Stanley, the author of The Millionaire Next Door, did, which shows that most millionaires live in “ordinary” homes and are first or second generation self-made individuals. They are people who live in and build their communities.
She again dredges her religious upbringing on wealth and poverty: Wealth is dangerous, it is hard for the rich to enter heaven, one cannot be rich without exploiting others. “On a more basic level we simply assumed the rich were the enemy of the people.” She writes the book to try and avoid a class war. But it seems to me that the sense of enmity keeps coming from her perspective of the wealthy. All those millionaires living next door creating jobs for employees and generating wealth for everyone are the enemy.
She is correct that the media trumpets the excessive consumption of the big spenders (which aren’t necessarily the truly wealthy) as an example of what being rich means, and what the goal of the American dream should be.
Hooks uses the word exploitation over and over again. I think this is another ad hominem attack, much like her use of fascist, greedy capitalism and patriarchal of anything she doesn’t like. Does she mean someone is being exploited if someone builds successful business that hires tens or hundreds of people that are able to buy homes and raise families on their salaries while the business provides goods that benefit many people. Perhaps this explanation of Capitalism and Entrepreneurship would be helpful to present a balancing counterpoint:
http://www.prageruniversity.com/Economics/Why-Capitalism-Works.html#.VNbjkp2jOSo
(Description of video: Cultural depictions of capitalism are almost all negative. There’s the Monopoly guy with the top hat and cigar. There’s Gordon Gekko saying, “Greed is good.” And, most recently, there’s the hedonism of the “Wolf of Wall Street.” The message is clear: capitalism is selfish. Socialism, or something like it, is selfless. In fact, the opposite is true. Renowned social critic George Gilder offers this startling insight: capitalism, at its core, is first an expression of altruism, that is, of giving. An entrepreneur can only succeed by satisfying a customer’s need. This is why capitalism, and only capitalism, can create the prosperity that all societies crave and why all other economic prescriptions are doomed to failure.)
Hooks, on the other hand, never gives up on her insistence that exploitation is the problem. Her conclusion to the chapter states:
Wealth built and maintained by the exploitation and oppression of others undermines a democratic vision of prosperity. When we recognize that abundance can be spread around, that more of our nation’s citizens should have access to material plenty that enables us all to live “a good life,” the rich will not need to live in constant fear and alien-ation.
hooks, bell (2012-10-02). Where We Stand: Class Matters (p. 79). Taylor and Francis. Kindle Edition.
She uses the euphemism “abundance can be spread around” to represent a sort of inverse Robin Hood scheme. Both her idea and Robin Hood took from the rich to give to the poor. In Robin Hood’s case, he was taking back money that the government had extorted from the poor. In Hooks plan, the government can take from the rich and give to the poor – less government overhead and employee salaries.
For a lot of people, being rich is what she describes. And there are many rich people who represent what she describes. But the greater number of the rich in America are invisible, propping up their communities with their thrift and energy. Hook was raised to believe these people are enemies. I cannot agree.
At The Rainbow 