our society is not run by the rich 1% or even the top 10% of that 1%.
the power is not concentrated in the wealthy. it's concentrated in the politically connected. we've developed a serious oligarch class that's getting goodies the rest of us are not.
our society is not run by the rich 1% or even the top 10% of that 1%.
the power is not concentrated in the wealthy. it's concentrated in the politically connected. we've developed a serious oligarch class that's getting goodies the rest of us are not.
and i know enough of them to see the difference.
the endless claims that the middle class is dying and the "1%" need to "pay more" are just part of the canon they use to hide where the real privilege is.
spend some time with the politicians and media barons and it gets awfully glaring.
the people who run the country are not the guys dropping $20k a nite on hotel rooms and 3k on bottles on st barths. they're the ones in cheap suits in the corridors of the capitol aspiring to be the next big gun committee head or climbing the greasy pole at bureaucracies.
you think mark cuban has more power than tony fauci or some no one like walensky these days?
because it doesn't look like it.
wanna see most billionaires wet their pants? send the justice department. (musk is, admittedly, an outlier, (at least to the US govt) but look how fast zuck backed off politics and learned to get back in line and play ball.)
being rich ain't enough.
as government gets more powerful, privilege accrues to those in its orbit and being merely wealthy gets you less and less.
Amazingly to me, the large social-justice driven class is simultaneously envious and personally ambitious, yet seem to serve as foot soldiers for the war on stability and agency. Comfortable yet want and claim victim status.
our society is not run by the rich 1% or even the top 10% of that 1%.
the power is not concentrated in the wealthy. it's concentrated in the politically connected. we've developed a serious oligarch class that's getting goodies the rest of us are not.
and i know enough of them to see the difference.
the endless claims that the middle class is dying and the "1%" need to "pay more" are just part of the canon they use to hide where the real privilege is.
spend some time with the politicians and media barons and it gets awfully glaring.
the people who run the country are not the guys dropping $20k a nite on hotel rooms and 3k on bottles on st barths. they're the ones in cheap suits in the corridors of the capitol aspiring to be the next big gun committee head or climbing the greasy pole at bureaucracies.
you think mark cuban has more power than tony fauci or some no one like walensky these days?
because it doesn't look like it.
wanna see most billionaires wet their pants? send the justice department. (musk is, admittedly, an outlier, (at least to the US govt) but look how fast zuck backed off politics and learned to get back in line and play ball.)
being rich ain't enough.
as government gets more powerful, privilege accrues to those in its orbit and being merely wealthy gets you less and less.
Amazingly to me, the large social-justice driven class is simultaneously envious and personally ambitious, yet seem to serve as foot soldiers for the war on stability and agency. Comfortable yet want and claim victim status.