tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33399132.post1685637733608487830..comments2024-03-04T08:09:21.453-08:00Comments on Richard's Real Estate and Urban Economics Blog: Stanley Fish and Chris Rock make the same pointRichard Greenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02161226214739034402noreply@blogger.comBlogger5125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33399132.post-87974021655962416332010-01-27T06:02:00.889-08:002010-01-27T06:02:00.889-08:00At the university Gates’s reception was in some wa...At the university Gates’s reception was in some ways no different. Doubts were expressed in letters written by senior professors about his scholarly credentials,Gates you have a good luck.<br /><br /><br /><a href="http://www.ghostpapers.com/" rel="nofollow">Term papers</a>Term Papershttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02145417264678061367noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33399132.post-80294900928776516912009-07-29T21:40:39.802-07:002009-07-29T21:40:39.802-07:00I don't think Rock is arguing he's underco...I don't think Rock is arguing he's undercompensated--not in the least. He's claiming the exact opposite: that he and his black peers in this extremely tony neighborhood are extraordinarily well-compensated, extraordinarily fortunate, extraordinarily successful representatives of their ethnic group, whereas the white people in the same neighborhood are your basic, garden-variety successful professionals. In the case of the dentist, he's probably in possession of inherited family wealth that has enabled him to walk into the ritzy neighborhood that Rock flew into. Now, maybe he won the lottery; maybe he was a very sharp investor. But...the empirical differences in assets among groups in the US favor the "I got here through studying hard and my parent's money" theory. <br /><br />This is an example, a humorous one, of the close connections between race and class, and the "being born on third base" phenomenon. As a white person from a deeply impoverished background, I recognize these same issues: I left undergraduate $20K in debt; my friends from middle-class families had college paid for. They graduated, and mom and dad gave them a car. I had to borrow to get a car for my first job. Their moms took them shopping for their first work wardrobe. I scoured Goodwill and used credit cards. When it came down to buying houses, their mom and dads had money to help there, too. My friends, sweet people all of them, had lavish weddings paid for parents, collected hundreds of dollars in gifts, and then cluelessly asked me why my husband and I eloped. (Because we had exactly $150 to pay for the judge and the marriage license and no more.) People don't walk the same path no matter how much privileged people want to make it all about their deservingness. I have athletes who lecture me at length about how they "earned" their scholarship. No doubt they worked very hard. But for every one of them, there's another kid who would really have loved to play sports and who had the talent...but who had to work after school to put money into their family. Whether or not society should be in the business of trying to even these inequalities out is one question, and a worthy one. Being blind to these inequalities, however, is just bad empiricism at a certain point. <br /><br />As to whether this dentist wants to get his feelings hurt and Chris Rock "looking down" on him, well, labor markets and compensation are not about equality. When the dentist can fill Staples Center at $150 a seat, then he'll get to command the economic rents that Rock and his peers command and they will be market equivalents. But right now, they are not, and while Americans do love faux-egalitarianism, especially around race, the real value of labor is in black and white on the payroll stub, even if the dentist provides a far more practical and essential role in society. Manny Ramirez makes more money than me (but not RIchard) for a reason. We're equal as voters and we should be equal under the law (we're not), but people like me and the dentist next door are only really special to our moms. As Rock says, hate the game, not the player.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33399132.post-3845688738412428532009-07-29T07:08:16.697-07:002009-07-29T07:08:16.697-07:00I agree that blacks in America have an significant...I agree that blacks in America have an significantly harder time than whites making it to the sort of position that Jay-Z and Chris Rock have attained. All the cards are stacked against them from birth, from struggling and crime ridden communities to poor schools to impoverished families. <br /><br />But Rock isn't talking about that. He's talking about the people who've already made it. He's not talking about the struggle to get there; he's claiming that once they get there they're treated like some "f**king dentist." I imagine that that dentist would be insulted to know his neighbor thinks he's beneath Rock's attainments. <br /><br />As hard as Rock and these others had to struggle to get where they are, and as much as they deserve all the success they've got, it seems odd to claim that that success hasn't brought the remuneration they believe they deserve. Who should decide that Rock deserves a better neighborhood than that "f**king dentist"?Judge Glockhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00766861729897111636noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33399132.post-84310762128680102232009-07-28T23:08:11.461-07:002009-07-28T23:08:11.461-07:00With regard to the Judge Glock comment:
Are you f...With regard to the Judge Glock comment:<br /><br />Are you f**king kidding me. The point is access. The point is that we still live a country where blacks have harder road to become dentists. He is not complaining that he makes too much, he is complaining that blacks have a harder time getting normal access to more common routes of high pay and wealth building. If you don't know how good the dentist is, don't make assumptions.<br /><br />He is not playing the victim card, and to claim so is to shows only the classic white male bias, and ignorance. Frankly, i see more white men claiming victimhood then anyone else.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33399132.post-18683401374131533092009-07-28T15:51:31.325-07:002009-07-28T15:51:31.325-07:00I love Chris Rock, but I'm not sure I follow h...I love Chris Rock, but I'm not sure I follow his point here. <br /><br />It's not like the other residents of this tony neighborhood are mere middle-class schlubs and these 4 black entertainers are paying through the nose for inferior housing. This dentist he's discussing probably has won awards and plaques for removing plague, he probably is in the top ranks of his field, at least he would have to be if this neighborhood is anywhere near as good as its residents would indicate. He's most likely there for the same reason the 4 entertainers are there, he's been paid on the open market for his skills and he is then purchasing a nice neighborhood with the fruits of his labor. <br /><br />It seems absurd for Rock to claim that he and Blige and Jay-zee are somehow vastly under-compensated relative to these other residents because they're black, and that these talents are forced to live a paired down existence because of racism or discrimination or some-such. To me it sounds like a desperate attempt to hold onto some since of victimhood. It's beneath Rock.Judge Glockhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00766861729897111636noreply@blogger.com