War would be great for most of those top 2,000, because they’re heavily invested in defence contractors. They care far less about elections than the cash cow a large war would be. (eta: ask any financial advisor – if you have the money, invest in defence contractors.)
Also, the really big dogs – like Musk, Thiel, etc – are so unfathomably rich, elections are just silly things the plebs do. Peter Thiel literally hand-selected J D Vance as Vice President, and Musk literally bought and created a whole new division of government with oversight powers over many established ones. They can buy top offices as high as the vice presidency, in broad daylight.
I don’t know how much more clear this can be.
If the rabble’s opinion becomes too inconvenient, they’ll stop asking. The economy is tanking regardless (eta which is another good reason to start a large war).
e: and, obviously, if we try turning our swords against them, they’d be stupid not to use those resources to redirect our swords at each other. Our only way out is to refuse to fight for them.
I don’t know, this is getting beyond my knowledge about how things work.
But if I would hazard a guess ( and I’m an engineer not an economist) I would think a lot of this new huge wealth is imaginary and not tied to real world power, it’s not land or control over people so much as prices of paper. So I think the oligarchs who own literally millions of lands have more say. This may come back to bite me.
I think for now the old rules still apply. Later as tech increases this may change
Yes, this new wealth is imaginary – and it’s vitally important we don’t recognise this.
Sorry for throwing a lot at you.
The bottom line is that the US is an oligarchy, and has just handed the keys to actual, real fascists. The ways we can oppose them have been radically reduced. The first step is to learn what’s happening and what it means.
I get it, you’re fine. It’s overwhelming. But the old rules do not apply, and that’s important to recognise.
e: we are heading over a very specific and predictable bridge, from which there are almost no off-ramps and which is beginning to collapse behind us.
But the old rules do not apply, and that’s important to recognise.
Maybe. People do not change that much; power structures change slower. For me it’s hard to tell what is happening.
The bottom line is that the US is an oligarchy, and has just handed the keys to actual, real fascists.
I don’t know if much has changed, my family is from the old Deep South, where blacks were not allowed in town after sundown or they were shot. Lots of what was common three generations ago would be front page news today.
That, and given how the average worker has suffered even today. These things we call fascism are not that impressive to me. Not yet.
War would be great for most of those top 2,000, because they’re heavily invested in defence contractors. They care far less about elections than the cash cow a large war would be. (eta: ask any financial advisor – if you have the money, invest in defence contractors.)
Also, the really big dogs – like Musk, Thiel, etc – are so unfathomably rich, elections are just silly things the plebs do. Peter Thiel literally hand-selected J D Vance as Vice President, and Musk literally bought and created a whole new division of government with oversight powers over many established ones. They can buy top offices as high as the vice presidency, in broad daylight.
I don’t know how much more clear this can be.
If the rabble’s opinion becomes too inconvenient, they’ll stop asking. The economy is tanking regardless (eta which is another good reason to start a large war).
e: and, obviously, if we try turning our swords against them, they’d be stupid not to use those resources to redirect our swords at each other. Our only way out is to refuse to fight for them.
I don’t know, this is getting beyond my knowledge about how things work.
But if I would hazard a guess ( and I’m an engineer not an economist) I would think a lot of this new huge wealth is imaginary and not tied to real world power, it’s not land or control over people so much as prices of paper. So I think the oligarchs who own literally millions of lands have more say. This may come back to bite me.
I think for now the old rules still apply. Later as tech increases this may change
Yes, this new wealth is imaginary – and it’s vitally important we don’t recognise this.
Sorry for throwing a lot at you.
The bottom line is that the US is an oligarchy, and has just handed the keys to actual, real fascists. The ways we can oppose them have been radically reduced. The first step is to learn what’s happening and what it means.
I get it, you’re fine. It’s overwhelming. But the old rules do not apply, and that’s important to recognise.
e: we are heading over a very specific and predictable bridge, from which there are almost no off-ramps and which is beginning to collapse behind us.
Maybe. People do not change that much; power structures change slower. For me it’s hard to tell what is happening.
I don’t know if much has changed, my family is from the old Deep South, where blacks were not allowed in town after sundown or they were shot. Lots of what was common three generations ago would be front page news today.
That, and given how the average worker has suffered even today. These things we call fascism are not that impressive to me. Not yet.