San Francisco has so more homeless people than middle class citizens. Maybe that's a bit far fetched but that's definitely the image Market Street projects when you decide to go out for a stroll in the evening. Surprisingly enough, the only thing that can outnumber the bums are the BMWs circulating on the street. It seems that the 7 million people living in the San Francisco Bay area have divided themselves into two clearly defined, wealth-measured classes: Losers and Winners.
Visiting my relatives, I didn't know what was more outrageous, the 3 fireplaces, the 3 cars or the 3 empty rooms in their house worth 7 digits. These people live in the suburbs, and aren't even considered "rich". Obviously, as a poor student who's net worth is about $4k I couldn't feel anything but inadequate.
Of course, the middle class does exist. Of course, I only paid attention to the extremes. Of course, I'm biased by my socialist tendencies. Truth is, I'd probably act the same way if I had so much disposable income. Despite my discontent with social inequalities and lack of justice, I did enjoy the city for its beautiful landscapes, views and attractions.
On my way back, I had an interesting conversation with a friend (this is what happens when the internet isn't free). She was in love with San Francisco and claimed that doctors, lawyers and other professionals whom have studied for a long time should get a better pay and should be better off than manual workers. She supported that by calling to the level of difficulty of the job and the number of years spent in education. I was outraged.
Let's just imagine a world where manual work is paid almost (if not totally) as well as the professions described above. The first result would be the good riddance of those who were in for the money. Next, more people would go into technical professions which would fill in the current lack of technicians (everyone wants a fancy university degree these days). Finally, snobs would slowly die out as people would realize all professions are needed.
Obviously, this looks like an utopia. Capitalism and the laws of supply and demand would never allow such an even distribution of wealth. Even our schooling system is built to encourage unevenness in pay. Teachers often tell us do this or that if you want to be successful, but they often forget success isn't only measured in dollars.
Visiting my relatives, I didn't know what was more outrageous, the 3 fireplaces, the 3 cars or the 3 empty rooms in their house worth 7 digits. These people live in the suburbs, and aren't even considered "rich". Obviously, as a poor student who's net worth is about $4k I couldn't feel anything but inadequate.
Of course, the middle class does exist. Of course, I only paid attention to the extremes. Of course, I'm biased by my socialist tendencies. Truth is, I'd probably act the same way if I had so much disposable income. Despite my discontent with social inequalities and lack of justice, I did enjoy the city for its beautiful landscapes, views and attractions.
On my way back, I had an interesting conversation with a friend (this is what happens when the internet isn't free). She was in love with San Francisco and claimed that doctors, lawyers and other professionals whom have studied for a long time should get a better pay and should be better off than manual workers. She supported that by calling to the level of difficulty of the job and the number of years spent in education. I was outraged.
Let's just imagine a world where manual work is paid almost (if not totally) as well as the professions described above. The first result would be the good riddance of those who were in for the money. Next, more people would go into technical professions which would fill in the current lack of technicians (everyone wants a fancy university degree these days). Finally, snobs would slowly die out as people would realize all professions are needed.
Obviously, this looks like an utopia. Capitalism and the laws of supply and demand would never allow such an even distribution of wealth. Even our schooling system is built to encourage unevenness in pay. Teachers often tell us do this or that if you want to be successful, but they often forget success isn't only measured in dollars.
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