Reddit reviews Dream Hoarders: How the American Upper Middle Class Is Leaving Everyone Else in the Dust, Why That Is a Problem, and What to Do About It

I'm skeptical of populists of any stripe. I don't trust anyone who leads with " developers and corporate money are in charge at City Hall. " without providing any evidence. This is an easy yarn to spin, but if you're going to basically allege wide-spread corruption in local government, you should back it up with facts.

Other issues:

Proposes several new budget items without proposing how to pay for them. The only new proposed revenue source is a "mansion tax" on the top 1%. This is a seriously cynical way of appealing to Glebeites in the top 10% without actually threatening their livelihoods or doing anything to reduce inequality between the upper middle professional class and everyone else.

Supporting free public transit through his own ward without proposing a new tax increase to cover the losses. Users of other routes will end up subsidizing people who take the 6 and the 7.

His incoherent policy on housing supply. Menard both pledges to go out of his way to privilege the interests of "communities" over developers, to increase required inclusionary zoning, and to make housing more affordable. More money for public housing might alleviate poverty for those at the bottom in theory, but the city will still need to create the conditions for that housing to be built - it's likely going to be higher density and opposed by the same communities Menard plans to privilege. Furthermore, making it harder for developers to turn a profit makes it less likely they'll build new supply for those in the 30th percentile of income and above who will likely rent or buy on the private market. If an average person is finding themselves squeezed out of the housing market, they're more likely to try and take advantage of subsidized or public housing, thus pushing the truly poor out of the system and onto waiting lists. We need solutions for more affordable housing at all income levels, which Menard doesn't offer. Menard also advocates for stronger environmental standards in building construction, despite the fact this will likely increase the cost of owning/renting a home across the board. In his campaign video, Menard suggests it's "cynical" to suggest we can't pursue affordability and environmentally friendly homes, but this doesn't magically make the cost/environment trade-off disappear. Finally, Menard suggests charging higher fees to developper's outside the greenbelt. This fee increase will be passed on to prospective homebuyers, many of whom will have a greater incentive to move within the greenbelt. Unless there is a corresponding increase of housing supply inside the greenbelt, this will further push up demand and home prices.

Changing the rules to deprive TimberCreek of the ability to renovate their own properties and to provide better quality affordable housing. Again, his platform does not suggest he supports the creation of high quality affordable housing for the long-term.

Supporting the City's decision to force Immaculata high school to turn off their soccer field lights sooner without any legal authority to do so. Ottawa footy 7s invested in that field and now they can't even use it during standard operating hours because a few residents complained about noise.

Now that he's in office, maybe dealing with the constraints that come with governing will moderate his approach. We'll see. I look forward to the building of public housing in his ward near the mega-mansions on brown's inlet.

>We would not expect to see that pattern if people were voting for a living.

Unless the wealthy are voting for their living

This reminds me of another book that's similar called The Dream Hoarders. He puts the top 9.9% at the top 20%. But the principal is the same. There was an interview with the author on OnPoint and the anger it produced was incredible (by those at the top).

https://www.amazon.com/Dream-Hoarders-American-Leaving-Everyone/dp/081572912X

It's per household. And now that I think about it, it might be even lower. $112k. I'll have to double-check the book when I get home.

Either way, I don't know anyone who falls into that category that would consider themselves to be rich or even upper-middle class. So it's sort of weird thinking about it in those terms.

Here's a link: https://www.amazon.com/Dream-Hoarders-American-Leaving-Everyone/dp/081572912X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1520544380&sr=8-1&keywords=reeves+dream+hoarders

A new article in The Atlantic, which apparently borrows heavily from a new book by Richard V. Reeves, claims that the real problem is not the rich, but the upper middle class, defined as the 9.9%, meaning those members of the top ten per cent in wealth who are not members of the top 0.1%. Matthew Stewart, the author of the Atlantic piece, argues that the 9.9% constitute a new American aristocracy.


If poor people knew how rich the rich were, they would be rioting in the streets.......... Chris Rock

Take a look at the book Dream Hoarders

https://www.amazon.com/dp/081572912X/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_6tYPAb2EYP2P0