You're viewing a single thread.
The glee peasants are showing should make the 1% nervous
We are currently at a wealth disparity that outpaces the gap that precipitated the French Revolution and invention of the guillotine.
I’ve been thinking that ever since that dumb “submarine” sank at the Titanic. I don’t feel particularly sorry for the people who died (other than the kid who apparently didn’t want to be there in the first place), but the outright glee I saw a lot of people express online was surprising.
It seems like there was a largely unspoken agreement among the wealthiest in the West throughout the middle of the 20th century, particularly in the aftermath of the Depression, World War II, and the rise of communism, that they wouldn’t try to extract the absolute maximum of wealth from the workers and try to keep a stable, happy middle class and even lower class that had a relatively comfortable existence without feeling too at risk of losing everything. As you get to the end of that century and into this century, the wealthiest forgot why that policy existed, newcomers didn’t understand it, or they decided they wanted to see how much more extraction they could get away with thinking they’ll be able to reign in any unrest before it gets too bad; probably some combination of those and other factors. It’s a dangerous game to play, though, and it seems like explosive moments are closer than the wealthy powers realize.
Not that I think there’s any real organizing power behind the scenes, just that in the past a lot of people came to a collective understanding of a system that could bring a lot of financial stability to a lot of people.
It seems like there was a largely unspoken agreement among the wealthiest in the West throughout the middle of the 20th century, particularly in the aftermath of the Depression, World War II, and the rise of communism, that they wouldn’t try to extract the absolute maximum of wealth from the workers and try to keep a stable, happy middle class and even lower class that had a relatively comfortable existence without feeling too at risk of losing everything.
Actually, the richest people in America were terrified of FDR and the New Deal, and even attempted a fascist coup in order to overthrow him. Fun fact, George W. Bush's grandfather, Prescott Bush, was implicated in it!
Smedley Butler was a goddamn hero and should've been the next president
Well, at least he got to be played by Robert De Niro in a movie...sort of. That's something.
Buddy look at the tax code post great depression. There was no agreement the government said fuck you pay them.
As you get to the end of that century and into this century, the wealthiest forgot why that policy existed
The collapse of the Soviet Union removed the threat of an alternative and "proved" that capitalism was the superior ideology, pushing their confidence that they could do no wrong through the roof.
Not much formal organizing needs to happen, based on the way this particular CEO found out.
It seems like there was a largely unspoken agreement among the wealthiest in the West throughout the middle of the 20th century, particularly in the aftermath of the Depression, World War II, and the rise of communism, that they wouldn’t try to extract the absolute maximum of wealth from the workers and try to keep a stable
Thats because we stopped them, they always try as much as they are allowed to.
The deregulation of the 80s and 90s really screwed this country over.
Same with the UK and privatisation
In summary: Neoliberalism.
Neoliberals always surprise me, How do they think that more neoliberalism will fix problems caused by neoliberalism?
It's "rein in any unrest". I'm not pointing this out to be a grammar nazi, but because "reign in" is an interesting slip in the context of your post.
Oh, thanks; I’ll blame autocorrect and not paying enough attention
All good my friend! Was more just interesting given the context- my bets are on elites these days believing they can reign in any unrest, rather than being as interested in reining it in. Hubris and such.
Made a lot out of a very common error, just thought it was neat. :)
I fully agree. If I were a billionaire, I would be "let's get a team together and come up with a strategy" levels of nervous. See, the 1% has sort of dehumanized themselves, by creating this decades-long narrative that they're this untouchable caste almost on the level of Demigods, and the closer you get to God, the further you get from Human. Now that one has been shot and killed in broad daylight in the middle of NYC, and again with the idiots on the homemade submarine, that narrative is obviously untrue. When a dragon is slain, we don't mourn its death, we cheer the Dragonslayer. So, if I were in the 1%, I'd be very worried about appearing all too human, all too quickly.
Doomsday bunkers were an obsession back in the 2000s for billionaires. If you think about their ideas from that framework it puts some of their stupid inventions into perspective. The cybertruck is the vehicle Musk would want to be in during a riot against him if he isn't on Mars at the time.
Considering how fragile it is, its the vehicle i hope he's in in a riot against him
I saw whistlin disel's video on it, and it seemed to prevent people from getting to you despite being easy to damage the vehicle itself. I think it sucks too, but most cars don't use double pane shatterproof windows on the side. It seems like every window is similar glass to a standard windshield so it won't collapse.
