[Mick]

Hah. That column was written by a rich (estimated net worth of $3 million) old white lady (Peggy Noonan) who was a speechwriter for Reagan and who married the chief economist of the Chamber of Commerce. Remind me of her qualifications to speak about the downtrodden everyman vis-a-vis the elite class she has been part of for 40 years? 

Such a millenial thing to say.  The Pulitzer-price winning "rich old white lady" for whom your post drips contempt, grew up in a large, poor Irish Catholic family with seven kids.  Her father was a merchant seaman, then furniture salesman.  So yeah, she knows a bit about the downtrodden.  And 69 year old professionals with a $3 mms. net worth aren't all that unique. 

The point here is that she's writing against type.  Not sure how you failed to grasp that.  Of all people, Noonan should be writing in favor of SiP.  The fact that she understands what it is doing to the American underclass speaks volumes about the depth of the devastation.

And what galls me so much about these kinds of arguments is that the vast majority of the working poor are people of color: "Among the 10.6 million U.S. low-income families with an employed adult in 2013, racial/ethnic minorities constitute 58 percent, despite only making up 40 percent of all working families nationwide." They are also disproportionately the ones who have been the victims of COVID-19. 

You make a very good point.  The rich old white lady is taking the position that would support the working poor, as she once was herself.  Glad to see you accept it.

Meanwhile, almost every armed protestor I've seen occupying the capital building in Michigan is a white person, many driving large expensive trucks. I don't get the sense that they are on the brink of homelessness - rather, it's the infringement on their entitlement to operate a motor boat or have a low income worker polish their nails or landscape their yard that is bringing them to the edge. 

Those people are desperate for their jobs and small businesses.  You're framing it as if they're protesting against a lack of luxury.  That isn't remotely the case.  They are people who largely live check to check in a place where the economy is not great.  And because they drive a truck, you want to position them as rich?

This in no ways discounts the tremendous economic dislocation that has taken place

Of course it does.  Everything you've written discounts the economic dislocation.

but it says a lot that the Wall Street Journal has suddenly decided to take up the ostensible cause of the working poor that has been utterly ruined by the policies they've spent decades advocating for.

You clearly have no idea of the purpose of the WSJ. They are in favor of whatever advances the American economy, at all levels, from the CEO on down to the janitor.  They always have been.  They advocate policies that advance the cause of the American economy, period.  They understand the fragility of the 40% of Americans who can't handle an unexpected $400 expense, and they realize that our approach to COVID-19 means absolute and total disaster for them.

[Mick]

Hah. That column was written by a rich (estimated net worth of $3 million) old white lady (Peggy Noonan) who was a speechwriter for Reagan and who married the chief economist of the Chamber of Commerce. Remind me of her qualifications to speak about the downtrodden everyman vis-a-vis the elite class she has been part of for 40 years? 

Such a millenial thing to say.  The Pulitzer-price winning "rich old white lady" for whom your post drips contempt, grew up in a large, poor Irish Catholic family with seven kids.  Her father was a merchant seaman, then furniture salesman.  So yeah, she knows a bit about the downtrodden.  And 69 year old professionals with a $3 mms. net worth aren't all that unique. 

The point here is that she's writing against type.  Not sure how you failed to grasp that.  Of all people, Noonan should be writing in favor of SiP.  The fact that she understands what it is doing to the American underclass speaks volumes about the depth of the devastation.

And what galls me so much about these kinds of arguments is that the vast majority of the working poor are people of color: "Among the 10.6 million U.S. low-income families with an employed adult in 2013, racial/ethnic minorities constitute 58 percent, despite only making up 40 percent of all working families nationwide." They are also disproportionately the ones who have been the victims of COVID-19. 

You make a very good point.  The rich old white lady is taking the position that would support the working poor, as she once was herself.  Glad to see you accept it.

Meanwhile, almost every armed protestor I've seen occupying the capital building in Michigan is a white person, many driving large expensive trucks. I don't get the sense that they are on the brink of homelessness - rather, it's the infringement on their entitlement to operate a motor boat or have a low income worker polish their nails or landscape their yard that is bringing them to the edge. 

Those people are desperate for their jobs and small businesses.  You're framing it as if they're protesting against a lack of luxury.  That isn't remotely the case.  They are people who largely live check to check in a place where the economy is not great.  And because they drive a truck, you want to position them as rich?

This in no ways discounts the tremendous economic dislocation that has taken place

Of course it does.  Everything you've written discounts the economic dislocation.

but it says a lot that the Wall Street Journal has suddenly decided to take up the ostensible cause of the working poor that has been utterly ruined by the policies they've spent decades advocating for.

You clearly have no idea of the purpose of the WSJ. They are in favor of whatever advances the American economy, at all levels, from the CEO on down to the janitor.  They always have been.  They advocate policies that advance the cause of the American economy, period.  They understand the fragility of the 40% of Americans who can't handle an unexpected $400 expense, and they realize that our approach to COVID-19 means absolute and total disaster for them.