Martin Gibson I can't tell if you ever mean anything seriously, or if you're ever going to decide which guitar you want, but I think you're partly right. Some people don't want to "move up." I probably don't agree with what else you might mean by it, though.

The semi-permeable class structure in the U.S. is complicated, and it probably is a factor that some people just don't identify with being in another class, and aren't motivated to strive for it.

    What would smart highly educated career-motivated people do I wonder if nobody would pick up their trash?

    What sort of crisis would ensue if interior designers quit? Would a whole class of people have to decide what they liked in their own homes?

My point is just that the fact that somebody could work toward a different class or level of pay doesn't excuse fair payment and decent respect for any job they do have. I think too often the possibility of mobility is used as an excuse for things being screwed up. Just move up, dummy. Don't worry about the fact that somebody has to do these low-status jobs. If I could find a doctor as good and thoughtful as that sales guy at radio shack I'd be happy. Instead, they seem like salespeople, he seemed concerned for my welfare. Odd.

The other side of the coin is people who do lousy work because society is unfair. Having to work with them is a living death.

My solution. Overpaid morons should be required by the IRS to demonstrate at least a dozen hundred-dollar tips each year to deserving service people and laborers. (Blue collar workers tip better than the wealthy.) Think how it would change society if superior efforts at basic jobs really were rewarded every now and then, whether anyone "moved up" or not.