Monday, January 20, 2025

The Morbidly Rich: A New Name for an Old Problem

We need a new phrase to identify these oligarchs who are reaching out to seize control of our government, our economy, and our culture...

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At the founding of our republic, they were referred to as "speculators," "monied interests," or "aristocrats." In the years leading up to the Civil War they were called the "Cotton Lords" and "Plantation Aristocracy." The late 19th century labeled them "Robber Barons," and in the 1930s FDR condemned them as "Economic Royalists."

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"Since the Reagan Revolution, we've referred to them simply as "Billionaires," and increasingly the billionaire crowd that's most closely surrounded and embraced Trump are called "Tech Bros," a phrase they appear to embrace.

Tech, after all, is generally seen as a positive, and just last week Mark Zuckerberg called for more "masculine energy" in American business culture."

#1 | Posted by Corky at 2025-01-20 09:45 PM

Bullets care not how rich you are.

#2 | Posted by LegallyYourDead at 2025-01-20 10:10 PM

Yeah, see that's all Musk was doing today with his Sieg Heil at the Inauguration... just showing some 'masculine energy'.
.

#3 | Posted by Corky at 2025-01-20 10:18 PM

"He goes on to point out that the income inequality that comes from the growth of extreme wealth is "antidemocratic," because a few rich people can use their money to drown out the voices of millions of average citizens when it comes to determining public policy.

About two-thirds of Americans, according to a new Pew Poll, believe the mind-bogglingly rich have too much political influence.

Fully 83% of respondents identified the chasm between the top 0.1% (about 130,000 families who own 13.5% of the nation's wealth) and the bottom half of Americans (66 million people who only own about 2.5% of the nation's wealth) as "a problem."

No kidding.

#4 | Posted by Corky at 2025-01-20 11:09 PM

"As President Franklin D. Roosevelt warned:

"For too many of us the political equality we once had won was meaningless in the face of economic inequality. A small group had concentrated into their own hands an almost complete control over other people's property, other people's money, other people's labor " other people's lives.

For too many of us life was no longer free; liberty no longer real; men could no longer follow the pursuit of happiness."

from the link article

He was elected 4 times, btw. For you kids.

#5 | Posted by Corky at 2025-01-20 11:26 PM

He was elected 4 times, btw. For you kids.

Posted by Corky at 2025-01-20 11:26 PM | Reply

You're old enough to have voted for him the first time aren't you??

#6 | Posted by LauraMohr at 2025-01-20 11:31 PM

No. deary, my mother was born when he was first elected.

#7 | Posted by Corky at 2025-01-21 12:25 AM

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