Flaming Pie

[H2O Man]

"Poverty is a policy choice. Concentrated wealth is a policy choice. Inequality is a policy choice. None of it is natural or inevitable. Remember: we have the power to build a system that serves the many, not the powerful few.” – Robert Reich

“America has 925 billionaires as of this year. Collectively they have a record $6.9 trillion in wealth. The bottom 50% of Americans control $4.2 trillion in wealth. When 925 people control more wealth than half a country's population, we have a very serious problem.” – Robert Reich


I've read a bit today about NYC Mayor Zohran Mamdani saying, “I don't think we should have billionaires.” Some here agreed with him, while others did not. Call it speculation upon my part if you will, but I doubt that any of the 925 billionaires are DU community members. However, in case there are those hoping to become #926, please allow me to start by paraphrasing Malcolm X: I am not advocating killing all billionaires. I'm not even sure that would be possible, or a good thing if it is possible.

Instead, I focus on what I view as the current trend of high-tech feudalism in America today. It involves a type of economic warfare that does not simply target another country, in the classical sense of weakening an adversary's stability. Rather, it is a domestic feature of parasite capitalism. One that, as Robert Reich points out, allows 925 people to have more than 50% of this country's population.

I am not advocating for a utopian, classless society. No pie-in-the-sky, even if it is a flaming pie. Being equal does not demand being exactly the same. My daughter, her husband, and my granddaughter live in a European country that cares about its citizens' well-being. In particular, they have a focus on health care and education, two things that are being attacked by the economic parasites currently ruling our government. I'm not recommending that we dream the impossible dream, but rather, dream Dr. King's dream.

Also, I am not suggesting that billionaire status is a cut-off for parasites. I'm not sure that Don Jr. or Eric are actually billionaires, for example. But they are definitely a pair of parasites. Like the sex offender formerly known as Prince Andrew, they believe they are the royal class – no different than the royal shit stains of medieval Europe – where all of society is structured to benefit them financially.

Thus, I am encouraged when I see a Mamdani, a Reich, Sanders, or some of the new generation of Democrats focusing on this most important issues. Indeed, I do not think we can deal in a meaningful way with the other issues facing us, if we do not confront this.

[True Dough]

1. "I'm not sure that Don Jr. or Eric are actually billionaires"

Not on their own merit, no way! But with crypto in play, they could become billionaires via corrupt donations for favors from daddy.

What a despicable "administration".

[H2O Man]

3. Right.

Neither one has done an honest day's work in their lives. But Junior did have the meeting with the Russian intelligence individual in 2016, to promote his father's campaign.

[True Dough]

17. I'm not sure

who was first to call Jr. and Eric "Uday and Qusay," but I always thought that was quite fitting.

[Saoirse9]

2. I really admire Mamdani

I hope he’s successful in all areas and I agree with nearly everything he has said. We don’t need billionaires.

We need equitable distribution of wealth.

[SheilaAnn]

4. And we do need to tax them appropriately. n/t

[H2O Man]

6. Exactly!

That would not prevent them for being wealthy, and leading an opulent lifestyle. It would only require a change in the sequence of digits in their bank accounts, thus allowing the rest of society to have access to health care, housing, education, and a healthy diet.

[H2O Man]

5. Mamdani is

my type of public servant. Two days ago, on another internet site, a retired railroad worker I know posted a mixture of anger and ignorance regarding what he claimed was Mamdani's plan for a social program aimed at unemployed young men. One old friend corrected him, noting it was a progressive jobs program. I pointed out that the plan was similar to FDR's CCC and WPA. Programs such as Job Corps are not perfect, of course, but they are good for the majority of the people they serve, which in turn benefits society.

[Saoirse9]

11. That's what is missing

“good for the majority of the people they serve, which in turn benefits society.”

Nothing is being done right now that benefits the majority. Just the opposite. GOP are actively working to hurt the majority.

[Uncle Joe]

7. Here is a nice pie song for the pie lovers of D.U.

Thanks for the thread H20 Man

[erronis]

10. That was fun. Pretty sweet with quite a bit of tartness.

[H2O Man]

18. Thank you!

Happy New Year, Uncle Joe!

[Uncle Joe]

19. Happy New Year H2O Man!

[H2O Man]

21. My New Year's resolution

is to kick the shit out of the republican party, and make them pay for the era of the felon.

[Ol Janx Spirit]

8. The most disappointing thing--to me--is that everyone--including those 925 billionaires--would not...

...want a society that is just and serves everyone.

It is immoral to not believe that IMO.

And, they could not be billionaires without a lot of people of ordinary means doing the work for them.

The marginalized in society are marginalized because those with power choose for it to be that way. And that is not a new thing, but something that reaches far back in human history.

We have failed ourselves.

[H2O Man]

20. Right!

The history of social stratification is fascinating. Obviously, in the smaller groups of hunter-gatherers, there were differences based upon age, sex, and abilites. But it was when horticulture turned to agriculture that the size of the groups increased, they were able to settle in one place longer, and there became the accumulation of wealth (including for trade with other groups for needed resources). Thus there were different roles for individuals within the group, an important one being that a priesthood replaces shaman, meaning the role was not rooted in individual experience.

This stratification allowed for specific families to rule based upon heredity, rather than talent. The British "royal" family are, at least in my opinion, inbred poodles. I've never respected those who considered them something to be admired, including the disco princess. That mindset -- "Oh, aren't the royals fascinating!" -- is un-American We do not want royalty or billionaires who do not really do any work. I dare say an employee at McDonalds works harder in one day than the current president does in a week.

[paleotn]

9. Simply put, no group should ever have the resources to literally buy our democracy.

Inequality will never go away, nor should it. There should be reward for work and ingenuity. But not to the point where they can so easily exploit everyone else. It seems both sides in America have this strange, binary view on capitalism. One side wants to chuck it entirely, which is just as idiotic and no more based on human behavior than laissez faire capitalism. Strong, rational controls are what's needed, whether that be regulation, taxation or both.

Sweden produces more "unicorns", billion dollar tech companies, per capita than anywhere on earth. The Nordics are renowned for it. Sweden also has a lower corporate tax rate than the US, as do all the Nordics. But no American corporation actually pays the list price. The US rate is a political mirage. There's a mountain of tax loopholes that keep all US corporations from paying the stated rate. Not so much for most of our OEDC friends. Swedish corporate tax rev. is 41% of their GDP. While only 26% in the US.

Rational controls on our baser urges so everyone has a near equal say. Including the urge to take our government captive.

[calimary]

13. Most thought-provoking!

[H2O Man]

24. Very well said!

Thank you for this!

My daughter, son-in-law, and little granddaughter live in a country near Sweden. Their government reflects the citizens' desire to have put the well-being of people as their number one goal. My younger daughter wishes she had not come back after visiting them this summer. It's kind of the opposite of my paternal grandfather's sisters and aunts coming here when a foreign country was ruling in a manner that caused the Great Starvation, as it is properly known.

I think of equality in the context that, say, men and women are equal, but not exactly the same. People should have the same opportunities, and be paid a fair wage for their work. I favor expanding the idea of a job to include a stay-at-home parent of little children. Our current economic system has damaged both parenting and marriages/partnerships, and made it where single adults working for low wages too often require two jobs to make ends meet.

A few years ago, I remember Big George Foreman saying he was fortunate to grow up in America when it was in style to care about poverty. Then my son asked him to give a shout out to Job Corps, which had its funding threatened, and sure enough, George did! We need to have a national discussion on these things, and 2026 provides us with a perfect opportunity. This administration will continue to damage the country, of course, and the new House and Senate we elect will start on healing the nation as soon as they take office in a year from now. There aren't magic solutions, and so it will demand a coordinated effort that involves everyone from the grass roots to office in DC to put forth their best efforts.

[1WorldHope]

12. There needs to be a twelve step program for the filthy rich to help them understand that they have a problem.

We need treatment programs for greed. We need laws that protect society from the their problems.

[H2O Man]

25. Great idea!

Maybe add a thirteenth step for, if necessary, there is a jobs program for uncured greedy individuals. A few months of working on a farm mighty be good for them. Working in community gardens or soup kitchens, too.

[markie]

14. "Property monopolized

or in the possession of a few is a curse to mankind" John Adams thought....

"We have no Constitution which functions in the absence of a moral people" "Nip the shoots of arbitrary power in the bud, is the only maxim which can ever preserve the liberties of any people. When the people give way, their deceivers, betrayers and destroyers press upon them so fast that there is no resisting afterwards. The nature of the encroachments is to, grow every day more encroaching; like a cancer, it eats faster and faster every hour."

[H2O Man]

26. Very good!

It is a cancer. I think that toxic industrial wastes that are poured into the land, water, and air do not pose a risk to human health. It does severe damage to other living organisms. It goes against the Original Instructions provided to the first prophet of the Haudenosaunee, known as Willow, circa 2,000 bc. Maybe that's what I write my next essay on.

[Martin Eden]

15. Extreme wealth disparity by itself is bad enough...

But that kind of wealth translates into power, which corrupts. Billionaires purchase politicians and media, writing financial legislation for themselves and propaganda convincing voters to blame "others" for their misfortune.

And that kind of corruption runs through more than the hearts and minds of the billionaires themselves; it runs through the heart and soul of America like a cancerous boil that must be excised.

While our democracy lasts, we hold the lance and must use it effectively.

[H2O Man]

27. Exactly.

We are in a tough position. On one hand, it's a repeat of a feauture that most empires experience just before total decay. A sociopath and his merry band of anti-social personality disordered band are able to achieve power. But the playing field today has different technologies than ever before. And it involves the billionaire/corporate party, smaller than independents, Democrats, or republicans, but with much more influence on our politics. Not all of these are Americans. Most are fine with the felon-in-chief.

On the other hand, the felon & friends are finding themselves in increasingly difficult positions. So things will get worse in some ways in upcoming months. But we have the tools to contest it.

[Martin Eden]

28. The technologies worry me. Billionaire techbros have sided with The Felon

Not because they like him, but because he makes them even richer and they might ultimately gain real power in an authoritarian state which depends on AI & deep fakes to control an expanding media sphere that displaces honest journalism with a manufactured reality that will shrink the resistance and pacify the masses.

What was the REAL goal of DOGE? It didn't save the government much money, if any at all. But it did wreck government agencies which were an institutional barrier to executive power. Perhaps more importantly, Musk’s hackers siezed data bases which had been protected and siloed, obtaining personal data on nearly all Americans. That kind of information wielded by tech billionaires allied with a fascist regime provides an edge that historical empires did not have.

The point at which an Orwellian dystopia can be prevented might be close at hand. The Felon is demented and incompetent, but the powers behind him are not.

I hope I'm overstating this frightening scenario, and the free world has enough resilience to overcome this 21st century authoritarianism. If the future is still in our hands, we better not let it slip away.

[JHB]

16. This is simply getting back to the New Deal principles that worked

Being the result of political deals and compromises made in the 1930s and 40s, by the 70s it had gotten creaky and needed some updating. What it did NOT need, but what we unfortunately got, was dismantling. Shooting Money skyward--as much as possible, as fast as possible, as high as possible--was made the highest virtue in the land.

The New Deal didn't prevent money from going up to the top, but it did bottleneck the flow. There's an old rule of prioritization in business: Speed, cost, quality. Pick two, because getting those will cost you the third.

The New Deal framework, with support for workers, regulation, and those top-heavy tax rates (including the system of deductions to lower your effective rate) imposed a "pick two" rule on "as much as possible, as fast as possible, as high as possible". Postwar prosperity was widespread because wealth had a chance to circulate through the economy before going up the chimney.

[malaise]

22. K & R

Go Mamdani

[Kid Berwyn]

23. 7/8 of ALL WEALTH in Human History created since 1981.

Pruneface Ronnie Reagan's budget guru David Stockman must've added up all the GDP and estimated the stuff from the middle ages. Whatever. His real point is that most of THAT has ended up in the pockets of the greedhead plutocrats' pockets.



In 1985, the top five percent of the households – the wealthiest five percent – had net worth of $8 trillion – which is a lot. Today, after serial bubble after serial bubble, the top five per cent have net worth of $40 trillion. The top five per cent have gained more wealth than the whole human race had created prior to 1980.” -- David Stockman, Ronald Reagan's budget director

http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=7009217n&tag=related;photovideo

"In 1985, the top five percent of the households, wealthiest five percent, had net worth of $8 trillion, which is a lot. Today, after serial bubble after serial bubble, the top five percent have net worth of $40 trillion," he explained. "The top five percent have gained more wealth than the whole human race had created prior to 1980." -- David Stockman

SOURCE: http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2010/10/28/60minutes/main6999906_page4.shtml

And to think there are more than a million kids in America who might go to bed hungry every night if they had a home.