00:00Here now we have a significant upper-middle class that is rich in both ways.
00:06That class is very specific because, on one hand, it is rich capitalists, quote-unquote.
00:12They really defend private property.
00:16And secondly, these people, because they have high labor incomes and they went to fancy schools,
00:21they believe they deserve it.
00:22And that means that the meritocracy, protection of private property, large capitalism, and hardworking ethos is combined.
00:32And I would venture to say this is a new combination in the history of capitalism.
00:38I feel like I'm part of that class.
00:39I worked really hard.
00:40Don't you call it folksy elites, right?
00:44Yeah, they're folksy elites because they love to be folksy.
00:47Actually, it's an interesting thing.
00:48I mean, I think sociologically, if you look at the elite that you were seeing, Jane Austen and so on,
00:54they actually wanted to show their elite.
00:57What you find in the American elite is that they really want to show that they are not an elite.
01:02I say like, oh, I went to a public university, the University of Texas.
01:05It's just a state school, which happens to be one of the best schools of the nation and incredibly wealthy.
01:12But that is how I do that folksy elite move, by reminding me, I'm just a product of public education.
01:19And then, of course, they like to mention that they work hard, which is true.
01:22Actually, if you look at the number of hours of work in the U.S., it's actually increasing with wage
01:27per hour.
01:28So they do work a lot.
01:29So they work a lot.
01:31They study it quite a lot.
01:32They feel they deserve it.
01:34They have the capital incomes.
01:36And they transmit all these advantages to their children that they believe actually children deserve that.
01:41But the problem is that then actually does create in sort of an elite that has a self-perception that
01:48it deserves that.
01:49And that is, to some extent, really unpregnable elite because you cannot get rid of them because they have a
01:55hard capital income.
01:56Since the stock market goes down, they would actually have labor income.
01:59I love my children.
02:01They don't deserve it.
02:02They're very spoiled.
02:02They didn't do anything to deserve the lifestyle that they have.
02:07And so that's the one area.
02:10But you say that because you want to be foxy elite, you know?
02:11No, no, no.
02:14Actually, like, just, no, it bothers me a little bit because it's like they have all these privileges.
02:18No, no, it bothers all of us, but actually we still do it because you're not going to work against
02:22your kids.
02:22No, nobody does.
02:23So, I mean, this is a very good elite as the elites go.
02:29But it is an elite nevertheless.
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