dctoedt

In the quest for political power, you can't spend what you don't have — and that could well be the foremost benefit of near-confiscatory taxation of the ultra-rich, much as we did in the 1950s and early 1960s. Perhaps then the drive for status might take forms other than the urge to pile up more and more wealth as a sign of one's superiority.

In school long ago, I learned to do multiplication and division using logarithm tables, and to compute square- and cube roots using pencil and paper. Haven't done any of those things since then.

> How many groups assimilated into WASP austerity or self-deprecation?

1. Austerity and self-deprecation are hardly unique to "WASP culture" (quote unquote). I imagine you know South Asians, Blacks, Hispanics, East Asians, etc., who engage in those practices to a greater or lesser extent.

2. Among those who do practice austerity and self-deprecation, the extent and degree of the practice can vary with time and circumstances.

3. There's a deeper problem: When it comes to understanding why we human animals behave the way we do, we're much like the alchemists of old. In astronmomical terms, behavioral scientists are still working to get to the equivalent of Ptolemy. They've got a ways to go to reach the level even of Copernicus or Kepler, let alone Hubble and LeMaître.

Historically, assimilation into American culture tends to happen over two to three generations.

• One pair of my grandparents were immigrants. Grandpa built a business but to the end of his life his English was tough to understand. Grandma hardly spoke English at all. They lived in a neighborhood surrounded by other immigrants from their home country.

• Their kids — my mom and her siblings — grew up speaking English at school and with each other (apart from when they switched to cut us kids out of the conversation) but not with their parents.

• Their many grandkids — my generation — grew up speaking only English. AFAIK, only one of us knows any of our grandparents' language at all (she took it in school IIRC).

• I also speak neither German nor Irish Gaelic, the languages of my immigrant ancestors on my dad's side of the family. And for practical purposes my own kids speak only English. (My grandkids aren't yet old enough to talk.)

I've repeatedly seen the same phenomenon here in Texas. Example: I have nephews whose great-grandparents on the other side of the family were Mexican immigrants. My nephews speak zero Spanish (AFAIK) and are as American as anyone.

I've read that this is a widespread phenomenon among immigrants from every country.

So: Patience — assimilation into American culture will happen.

> you're [sic] criticism overlooks the most important part.

I wasn't trying to present a balanced assessment of Anglo culture, which has clearly been a world leader in many, many respects. I was reacting to your seeming insistence — which appears to be getting more pronounced — that immigrants should embrace Anglo culture as superior to their own.

There are good- and bad elements in every culture. Cafeteria-style cultural mixing is how progress happens (modulo intellectual-property law).

I think you're underselling the value in that time and place of the "just plain folks" who immigrated here — such as your family and, in earlier generations, mine.

My immigrant ancestors were farmers, ordinary workers, and small-business people. Not one of them had much education. But in the main they had reasonable shares of motivation, family orientation, and work ethic. They had the gumption to leave their various countries and come here where opportunities were greater — just as you said was the case for "desis like [you]."

My people filled a need when they came to the U.S. at various times in the 19th and 20th centuries. I imagine your people did the same. Sure, in purely-economic terms they didn't make the near-term contributions that their descendants have. But life isn't a snapshot, it's a movie.

> we also are "choosing" to let people starve, die of cancer, etc.

It's debatable whether taking half of billionaires' wealth would materially advance the efforts in those areas.

What seems far less debatable is the political consequences of the accummulation of so much wealth — coupled with essentially zero legal restrictions on the use of that wealth in the quest for (governmental) power.

> It's amazing for people who couldn't build anything before, but now can.

(Raises hand.) I'm doing things with my online law-school course materials, in just a few minutes using Claude, that I never even considered doing before because I didn't want to take the time to improve my rudimentary JavaScript- and CSS skills. Instead of just a fairly-simple, single-page HTML document, Claude is helping me turn the materials into something genuinely useful for both my students and practitioners.

> something like "you know, I really don't think this is my thing."

Phrases I've heard:

- This isn't my favorite

- Um, not really my cup of tea

> the county (of which there are 254 in Texas)

Fun fact: Texas's counties range in population from ~5.1 million (Harris — Houston) to less than 500 (Loving, King, Kenedy [sic])

> I would LOVE to own a laundromat.

My (late) kid brother did that for a number of years. Big time sink and PITA.