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"To My Fellow Filthy Rich Americans: Wake Up, People. The Pitchforks Are Coming"
Excerpted from Nick Hanauer's OpEd in Politico (read more here),
Memo: From Nick Hanauer
To: My Fellow Zillionaires
You probably don’t know me, but like you I am one of those .01%ers, a proud and unapologetic capitalist. I have founded, co-founded and funded more than 30 companies across a range of industries—from itsy-bitsy ones like the night club I started in my 20s to giant ones like Amazon.com, for which I was the first nonfamily investor.
I tell you all this to demonstrate that in many ways I’m no different from you. Like you, I have a broad perspective on business and capitalism. And also like you, I have been rewarded obscenely for my success, with a life that the other 99.99 percent of Americans can’t even imagine.
...
But let’s speak frankly to each other. I’m not the smartest guy you’ve ever met, or the hardest-working. I was a mediocre student. I’m not technical at all—I can’t write a word of code. What sets me apart, I think, is a tolerance for risk and an intuition about what will happen in the future. Seeing where things are headed is the essence of entrepreneurship. And what do I see in our future now?
I see pitchforks.
At the same time that people like you and me are thriving beyond the dreams of any plutocrats in history, the rest of the country—the 99.99 percent—is lagging far behind. The divide between the haves and have-nots is getting worse really, really fast. In 1980, the top 1 percent controlled about 8 percent of U.S. national income. The bottom 50 percent shared about 18 percent. Today the top 1 percent share about 20 percent; the bottom 50 percent, just 12 percent.
But the problem isn’t that we have inequality. Some inequality is intrinsic to any high-functioning capitalist economy. The problem is that inequality is at historically high levels and getting worse every day. Our country is rapidly becoming less a capitalist society and more a feudal society. Unless our policies change dramatically, the middle class will disappear, and we will be back to late 18th-century France. Before the revolution.
And so I have a message for my fellow filthy rich, for all of us who live in our gated bubble worlds: Wake up, people. It won’t last.
If we don’t do something to fix the glaring inequities in this economy, the pitchforks are going to come for us. No society can sustain this kind of rising inequality. In fact, there is no example in human history where wealth accumulated like this and the pitchforks didn’t eventually come out. You show me a highly unequal society, and I will show you a police state. Or an uprising. There are no counterexamples. None. It’s not if, it’s when.
Many of us think we’re special because “this is America.” We think we’re immune to the same forces that started the Arab Spring—or the French and Russian revolutions, for that matter. I know you fellow .01%ers tend to dismiss this kind of argument; I’ve had many of you tell me to my face I’m completely bonkers. And yes, I know there are many of you who are convinced that because you saw a poor kid with an iPhone that one time, inequality is a fiction.
Here’s what I say to you: You’re living in a dream world. What everyone wants to believe is that when things reach a tipping point and go from being merely crappy for the masses to dangerous and socially destabilizing, that we’re somehow going to know about that shift ahead of time. Any student of history knows that’s not the way it happens. Revolutions, like bankruptcies, come gradually, and then suddenly. One day, somebody sets himself on fire, then thousands of people are in the streets, and before you know it, the country is burning. And then there’s no time for us to get to the airport and jump on our Gulfstream Vs and fly to New Zealand. That’s the way it always happens. If inequality keeps rising as it has been, eventually it will happen. We will not be able to predict when, and it will be terrible—for everybody. But especially for us.
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You speak good english for a chinaman.
I think I misinterpreted what you meant, if so, I deserve that.
The progressives want to tell us they are the "true" moderates and Tea party types are crazy nut jobs. Anyone professing JFK doctrine needs to be imprisoned in their view. It is amazing how they can change or even reverse positions overnight and nothing is said by the media. They are a bunch of lying fucks who will say anything to create further chaos. Obama can be against gay marriage and then two years later be for it...and condemn anyone who isn't as a homophobic idiot from the stone age. But not a word of question from the media.
We are so fucked.
Any chance to change the direction of this mudslide to hell is in the hands of the media.
We are so fucked.
I talk to people when I can about these issues, people who I believe share similar perspectives, and they have no idea what is and has been happening. I see the fear and denial in their eyes as I speak. They have been successfully isolated and insulated by the media.
We are so fucked.
"There must be some way out of here," Said the joker to the thief . . . .
Can't wait! Hopefully I can run off with a Rembrandt or something too :D
Jesus answered, "If you want to be perfect, go, sell your possessions and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven."
Until this guy does the same, no one is going to listen to him.
Jesus answered, "If you want to be perfect, go, sell your possessions and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven.
..and in the next sentence after the rejection of that advice he said "let the dead bury the dead"..
gotta keep these things in context if you want to understand the real message- he was just talking about natural man's willingness to put decisions off- he wasn't saying anyone accumulates treasures in heaven with works of the flesh.
..pretty serious waters we are entering- better read up.
so jesus was a zombie?
deep waters indeed....
I think the parable of the talents was slipped in by the money changers.
If you don't make a return on investment, you go to hell?
That sounds like a banker talking, not Jesus.
No, it is a parable. If God gave you a talent you should take it and improve on it so that the kingdom receives the maximum benefit.
No, God will take it from you and give it to someone more worthy.
God doesn't have time to waste on losers?
Time is money!
the parable of talents is all about making money ....
just seems so weird from the other stuff jesus preached....
double post
People with both money and trying to follow Jesus will try to bring in context. What about giving the shirt off your back or anything else someone asks of you. To be a true Christian if you are walking down the street and a beggar comes and asks you for the content of your bank account you are supposed to oblige. Don't believe me? Read the bible. This is one reason I quit being a Christian. I couldn't do it myself and no one in any congregation I was ever in including the pastor, deacons or elders could either. The biggest thing is that all of the leaders would blow that stuff off and talk about context. If they were on the level, they would admit their failings and not bring up bullshit about context.
They wanted to hang on to their wealth, but feel good about themselves for a few hours every week. Many were probably typical dicks in the business world come Monday.
...and the guy he was talking to shuffled his feet, and said 'uhh yeah, that sounds great Jesus! Uhh, is there any OTHER way I might follow you? Maybe I could make a donation to the local leper colony or something?....."
I was driving on the West Side of Manhattan this spring. A large billboard on an upscale storage facility building said quite simply: "The French Aristocracy didn't see it coming either". I was quite surprised.
We need kind, beneficent kings.
Some of you are just not handling your transition to serfdom very gracefully. Man up.
LOL - damn straight! But in fairness, lack of education may be part of the problem - maybe some instructive posters and videos would help.
Ignorance is strength, baby!
Yes, there are those who are defined by their anger at those who have done well and they are mad at the "wealthy". The Bible calls this envy and it is a sin.
In my opinion what makes people really mad right now is not so much the wealth inequality, but the crony-capitalism and the corruption that pervades our society. Name your poison, the Fed, the US Government, local corrupt politicians, etc.
You want to fix this? It starts with you and your local representatives on school boards and city councils, not doing their job, wasting you money, corruption, incompetence, selfishness. The issue is not so much wealth inequality, but the literal abuse of citizens by our political leaders. SEIU etal has declared war on the people.
All these issues can be fixed but are not likely to be. Do not look for a political savior, they are entirely too invested in the status quo. Jefferson was correct about watering the tree of liberty with the blood of patriots and tyrants. It seems nothing less than a revival will make it so.
The people will eventually “rebel”, but it will be entirely too late by then.
sschu
You're right......our problems can't be fixed at the voting booth.
And it's never too late. They'd like you to think that though. Granted 'never too late' could mean you've already been wiped out financially and socially but that doesn't mean you still can't kick ass and take names and turn things around.
My whole worry is exactly what the crazies will do to stop it all. That too can be overcome. Problem for them is I think anything that would 100% guarantee our demise will also be the end of their stupid asses. Will they be willing to go that far?
If I robbed a bank, and got away with it, have I "done well?"
If I won the lottery, have I "done well?"
Who determines (here on Earth) who has "done well" vs who has "gotten away with it" or "gotten lucky?"
Maybe the legal system gets the first one right, very occasionally, but other than that - it ain't me, babe.
You should go read that book you reference more thoroughly, I reckon.
I like to decide the majority of those questions with siding on the majorities belief, as long as it's a clear majority.
51% seems to be the common American figure.
LOL, no doubt.
My definition is min 70%. And that's pushing it.
Thanks for the advice. The Bible is very clear about how we are to deal with the authorities:
Romans 13 Everyone must submit to governing authorities. For all authority comes from God, and those in positions of authority have been placed there by God. 2 So anyone who rebels against authority is rebelling against what God has instituted, and they will be punished.The Christian response to corruption and incompetence in government can be debated, but there are forces at work beyond our comprehesion or control. NOTW.
sschu
Perhaps a strength of the Catholic Church (I'm reluctantly Catholic, BTW) is her acknowledgement of the necessity of context in understanding the Word of God.
Romans 13 is steeped in context.
But maybe you already knew that.
Context is valid, what is the context of Romans 13? Paul lived during the Roman empire, hard to imagine a more corrupt governing authority than Nero.
sschu
I don't have to imagine one
Romans 13 has been debated and argued for a long(!) time. One can pick one's argument from a variety of attractive (or not so attractive) options. For example, it has been argued that Paul was cautioning his readers to avoid involving themselves in tax revolts for their own selfish profit.
My own point (initially) was that individual passages from some holy book, when taken in isolation, often do not echo the "spirit" of the larger work.
Personally, I don't have a strong opinion on Paul's Epistle.
My own point (initially) was that individual passages from some holy book, when taken in isolation, often do not echo the "spirit" of the larger work.
Of course, good point. BTW, I am not trying to argue or be disagreeable, even if it appears so. This is a difficult topic and I am interested in learning other’s views.
Romans 13 in the context of the entire Bible is consistent. We are not of the world, it is Satan’s system and we best serve God and His purposes by minimizing our confrontation with this system.
That said, this is a very challenging passage as who wants to live in tyranny?
sschu
Hey, if you don't like what is in the bible you can always change it. I think wealthy bankers got the Lord's prayer changed in some demominations to take out the part about forgiving our debtors.
Agreed.
That said, this is a very challenging passage as who wants to live in tyranny?...
Paul himself was a half-breed, likely a .01% too. He claimed Roman citizenship while also boasting a highly regarded Jewish Gamaliel Pharisaical education. He pursued Christians under the authority of the as yet still standing Jerusalem temple leadership in order to physically punish them for their audacity in finding in Jesus the fulfillment of their previous 40 generations of divine covenantal promises and assurances.
He witnessed Christians joyously accepting the plundering of their persons and properties prior to his own Damascus experience and wrote this particular admonition now, having lived as a regenerated soul with the motivation of Christ, i.e. “who for the joy set before him, endured the cross, despising it’s shame”.
Whereas Romans 13 is tough reading, I find his early 9th chapter comments about his fellow Jews incapacity to enjoy this liberating aspect of transforming faith distressing enough to cause him to wish their ultimate punishment would befall him instead to be even harder to comprehend.
Jmo.
Thanks for the insight.
It is interesting that Paul, a Jew's Jew in so many ways, would be selected to spread the Gospel to the world. It speaks volumes about the transformative power of Christ.
We are in a study of Acts right now, Chapter 16, we just completed the story of being jailed in Philippi. Paul had numerous opportunitites to escape, from initially declaring his Roman citizenship, to running after the earthquake or escaping at the end of the affair.
He risked death multiple times, much for the salvation of the jailer. From where does this strength originate?
sschu
From where does this strength originate?...
All power, all wealth, all wisdom, all strength, all glory, all honor and all blessing belong to him who ascended. He bestows what's his to whoever he (s)elects.
Another thing, don't forget Paul spent 3 years in Arabia after his initial Damascus blindness, evidently being taught by Christ himself. A chosen vessel indeed.
(BTW, we're currently in chapter 22.)
I have never met a Catholic who read the bible. I am totally serious about this and not trying to be an ass or pick a fight. That is what the reformation was all about. Digging into it yourself and breaking free of the tyranny of the Church.
I have twice been neighbors of large Catholic families and spent time with them and their extended families. It is all fed to them. They cannot quote anything and their understanding is shallow. FYI, I no longer consider myself a Christian, but I did spend a couple years digging very deep into the New Testament go to a lot of study groups. There is some great stuff in there.
What did Gandhi say about Christians? He probably would have said something similar about Catholics, as well.
A contest to see who knows more on average about the bible among various Christian sects would be interesting. Has it been done? Bible Jeopardy?
I would love to see it controlled for socio-economic status, as well: "rich" Catholics vs "rich" Presbyterians, "poor" Southern Baptists vs "poor" Hutterites.
Could be a gas - a very American style of competition.
I would tune in to see that.
The Amish are very religious and they live in our society but separated. I can't help but help but think that they must feel we English are corrupt and unjust. Do they fight and resist or are they passive? I don't think that there is any "context" to Romans 13.
Peter for instance wanted to fight for Jesus in the garden, but he did not see the larger picture. Anyone who fights and resists injustice in our government may be rational and within his rights, but may not necessarily be following God's will.
I never could reconcile voluntarily serving and the military and being a Christian, but there are a lot of them in the service.
Anyone who fights and resists injustice in our government may be rational and within his rights, but may not necessarily be following God's will.
Agree, God's will and purpose prevails, as much as we would prefer our own desires to be fulfilled. That means at times our circumstances may not be especially ideal from a worldly perspective. This is what we are facing now in my opinion, God has other things in mind for us Americans than building our 401K and accumulating stuff.
sschu
"What God wants, God gets, God help us all."
It's very hard to reconcile free-will with a universe existing as an expression of hard physical laws, but we Catholics like the idea of free-will, accept the the foundations of science, and do our best to ignore the logical problems stemming therefrom.
Great lyric from a great song!
"Free will" requires a defintion as it means so much to so many.
Some things cannot be reconciled by our limted 3 dimensional plus time perspectives. Somehow these issues all fit together, but it is beyond our ability to discern and is probably not as we wish. :-) When the "free-will" discussion arises, I prefer to defer.
In the end, free-will or strict determinism or something in between, we are kind of along for the ride.
sschu
Au Contraire,
We can all agree that a highway robber is not a businessman and has not done well, can we not?
What about if he hires a contractor to do the actual robbing?
What about if he gives his contractor a public title, and lets people vote which of two prospective contractors he should hire?
Authoritarian government is indivisible from corrupt government. Authoritarian behavior enables and guarantees corruption by virtue of Lord Acton's Law.
Corrupt government requires authoritarianism, or people will ignore, reject, or overthrow it.
"You want to fix this? It starts with you and your local representatives on school boards and city councils, not doing their job, wasting you money, corruption, incompetence, selfishness. "
Believe me it is just as corrupt at the state/municipal level. What I just witnessed that gave me hope was the State School Super might just be given the Cantor treatment. She opened the first charter school here. Once in office that opportunity has been vanquished. She made it damn near impossible. This maggot "loaned" herself $1mm to her campaign. I'm sure she'll get paid back @ 18% interest, same as the beltway. This maggot is a dentist. Why would someone go to school, give up a career in dentistry for political office? Because they're a lousy dentist? More lucrative money opportunities/theft. How about both.
Same as it ever was.
Agree. The farther up you go, the bigger the corruption dollars, that is the only difference.
Start local and work up from there. Top down is never a good approach, bottom up is the only way to fix it.
But this requires due diligence, focus and stamina, something we lack right now.
sschu
If the fucking clowns get there way.............Pitchforks will be all that you have.
Fuck 'em all. Heads on goddamn platter with a fucking PBR.
Save the Children! We need the guns!
Thank god for internet. Even if it's shortly regulated...the word is out and this shit is going to escalate.
When you peasants get tired of killing each other for 3-day old roadkill, stop by my plantation, I'm in need of a few thousand field slaves.
I am a proud field Nego!
I like to think of myself as a house negro at the low end. I need to decide whether I join with the field negro, hide in the cellar, or fight for my master. I think I have pretty much written off the last option. Maybe I will flip a coin?
You must be a free black landowner yourself... like the approximately 5,000 that existed at the time of the outbreak of the Civil War **who lived in the Confederate States**.
Yes that's right, thousands of free black landowners in the South at the outbreak of the war.
The Civil War was a scam.
"so that we help the 99 percent and preempt the revolutionaries and crazies, the ones with the pitchforks—that will be the best thing possible for us rich folks, too. It’s not just that we’ll escape with our lives; it’s that we’ll most certainly get even richer."
No further comment.
Read more: http://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2014/06/the-pitchforks-are-coming-for-us-plutocrats-108014.html#ixzz35rgx2O2Q
on inflation from Tickerforum:
"Look, cut the **** ok? Fox Business along with the rest of the so-called "mainstream media" has bought into and refused to push back against Fed and Government policy of "2% inflation" being normal. Over 30 years that's a compounded rise in price that is a near-double (181% of the original level) -- and that's if the "objective" is achieved. In point of fact the "as realized" number is closer to 3%, which results in a price level of 243% of the original. "
http://market-ticker.org/akcs-www?singlepost=3358205
Theft. Pure and simple.
It is worse than that.
To achieve even 2% price inflation they must first absorb the natural deflation caused by inovation-enhanced productivity.
Think about it. Enhanced tools mean everything is cheaper to make by some percentage. That percentage of increased wealth must be absorbed by the Oligarchs via monetary inflation before the first tiniest tic of price inflation can happen.
To get 2% price inflation they've had to produce 5-6% monetary inflation either through the base money or through bank accounting inflation.
The Friday afternoon news dump hits a new low.
Nick "i'm filthy rich, and i know it" Hanauer!!!
Applause!!!!!!!
Also.......I'd like to validate this letter from so-called Nick because he sounds like a real oddball. Most likely it's true though i'm just saying it's nice to see someone talking sense that is part of the club.
Let's do the math.........millions of us online saying we're sharpening the pitchforks. Everyday.
One of a few thousand saying we're coming for them.
Sounds pretty concrete to me.
Total nonsense.
-Today people are more socially isolated than ever.
-Ricardos iron law of wages means there is lots of boot stomping to go before everyone is essentially working for food
-While you wait to get downsized the people who can't even work for food are placated with welfare, no pressure from them.
-Modern surveilance, heavy militirization, propaganda the rich worked hard for it, terrorists are coming will ensure the 0.01 can keep the loot.
So keep dreamin I reckon just do the best you can status quo will stay dominant. I mean look at this forum (including me) arm chair activists the reality life is pretty good.
Socially isolated point taken.
I live in the middle of nowhere. I literally can't see a neighbors house. Been here for decades.
People from the city move out here. I try to befriend them.........they want nothing to do with me or anyone else.
So when shtf.......I guess they are planning on protecting themselves and all their property by themselves.
It's a fucking joke.
Try calling one of them a neighbor and watch what happens, I literally heard this "You live 2 miles in that direction. We aren't neighbors".
Completely fucking stupid morons.
Sounds just like where I live, except for the distance between the houses
Why do so few understand that accelerating inequality is not like the weather?
Accelerating inequality does not happen due to unpredictable forces of nature, nor of probability. It happens because a large number of people persist in doing something very wrong for a very long time.
I hear so few name the problem. And if they touch on the fringes of it, they touch lightly and generally without explicitly naming causes.
So here is why it is happening:
- CENTRALIZED ECONOMIC PLANNING. There have been no examples of successful long term centralized economic planning. EVER. ANYWHERE. You have a much better chance in Russian Roulette, where after all you get five chances to succeed to every one failure. Promoters of centralized economic planning have thus far produced HUNDREDS of failures and ZERO SUCCESSES.
- CENTRALIZED POLICTICAL CONTROL: The Corruption everyone is beginning to notice is not due to a flaw that appeared unexpectedly in the system. IT IS THE SYSTEM. The most widespread official corruption is always legal, and always intended to be legal. It was the 'back door' that the creators of this system use to manipulate their puppets. The PURPOSE OF CENTRALIZATION is to centralize that back door to policy, so that few must be bribed rather than many.
- CARTELIZATION OF INDUSTRY: There is hardly an un-cartelized industry left in the United States. When I say "CARTEL" people think it is half a word with the other half being "DRUG". That is incorrect. A Cartel is a collection of companies in an industry which have common barriers to entry and a centralized pricing regime to ensure higher revenue by means of restricting public choice. Cartels require organizers, enforcers to stop members from reacting to market stimuli in a way that breaks centralized pricing, and member companies. In the US the organizers are the biggest companies or professional associations. The enforcers are government regulators. And the member companies are the only organizations that get to stay in business.
REGRESSIVE REDISTRIBUTIONIST TAX POLICY: If you think your federal income tax is progressive, you are flat out wrong. It is regressive. The whole top end of society, who do not work for wages, do not pay on the wage scale at all. They pay capital gains, if that. They can also move their wealth into legalistic 'theroetical persons' like corportations and trusts. Doing so allows them to exercise wholly different accounting than you must live with. These two facts alone mean that a milllionaire or billionaire trust-fund baby certainly pays a lower percentage of taxes than you do, and might pay less total taxes than you do. (The trust, after all, may not be a US person at all.) FICA is a directly regressive tax. And increasing excise taxes are focused on consumer goods like gasoline, and/or the inputs to consumer goods. Rich people only spend a tiny portion of their income on subsistence - thus the regressiveness.
- EXPLICIT AND INTENTIONAL SUBSIDY TO MORAL HAZARD: Welfare Programs, Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid are all structured as Ponzi schemes - ergo as confidence schemes. What is the purpose of earning your confidence? The PURPOSE of these policies is to induce Moral Hazard in the morally weak in order to achieve a captive pool of support to assure the physical ability to dispossess the productive.
- SUPRESSION OF COMPETITION that could break the cartels through regressive regulation of small and innovative busineses.
The problem is not rising inequality. Inequality is only ONE OF MANY SYMPTOMS of the problem. The problem is abusive policies intended to deliver money, and power.
And ultimately no set of circumstances will bring general relief while the policies that create the symptoms remain.
The problem is that the buisness of the American Elite stopped being business and became Political Control for its own sake.
They want to make all the world into a replica of Old India complete with Castes and Maharajas.
You are quite right GC. Unfortunately this seems to always be the end result no matter what. Maybe it's simply human nature, but all systems always devolve into some type of central planning that eventually implodes. All societies collapse from within. The only question is; will we last 700 plus years like the Roman Empire, or do we collapse after 250. Reluctantly, I'm betting on the latter.
Two points:
1) The Roman Empire did not survive several centuries. ROME DID. The ROMAN EMPIRE did not. It began to decay from the moment Caesar declared himself emperor in 44 AD.
Arguably the last 'good' (if there is such a thing) Roman Emperor was Marcus Aurelius who died in 192 AD, slightly less than 250 years after the first Caesar.
2) And the Roman Empire had collapsed in all but name by Emperor Diocletian's time around 300 AD. Diocletian was a coin clipper, shaving the precious metal from taxed coins and minting them into new coins with less precious content.
I say that the Roman Empire had collapsed at this point because by Diocletian's reign the Army was majority non-Roman. It was manned by barbarians who owed their first loyalty to their tribal leaders. And whenever those barbarian leaders and Rome came into conflict, Rome tended to lose control (which means they were only nominally in control in the first place).
So... we are right on schedule.
Thank you for the historical clarification. Not my strong suit so I will defer to your expertise. Assuming you are correct, then I would argue that the American Empire started decaying 100 years ago with the creation of the FED, and that Nixon was the modern day Diocletian when he closed the gold window in 71. If so, then my hypothesis that our society will collapse into complete chaos by the end of the century (heck, probably by the end of the decade) still holds. Things never truly change, do they?
Yes, though it's never been clear to me why the Eastern Roman Empire, which continued until the mid 15th cent, is not factored into accounts of empire longetivity. Because it's often referred to as Byzantium, had a Greek tone, and because it was Christian from the start ? Certainly it did continue much of Roman culture, so again, why do histories of empire and of the Roman Empire typically ignore it?
The only way out is to end government subsidies that enslave farmers, and biotech firms/banks that enslave the people. Control your food/land and you will have power, and they know this. End the government controlled by oligarchs and build a democratic government ran by the people on the local level.
Empower the people by teaching them how to farm and garden and you'll see the revolution. I'm doing this, and it's extremely rewarding to see people actually sharing their food and taking pride in their labor.
build a democratic government ran by the people on the local level.
nationallibertyalliance.org
I see guillotines for the pols, crats, banksters and plutocrats responsible for the plunder and treason against the American people.
Make your Retribution lists.
In many, not so subtle ways, we are still fighting WWI. The empires have changed; the reserve currencies have changed; the borders have changed; nations have changed and just about everything else has changed.
What has not changed, are needs and human nature.
More civilized does not mean more civil.
To give you a clue, I give you three dates:
1850, Beginning of Great Depression In Britain
1856, world's first refinery opened at Ploiesti, Romania
1867, Das Capital
These three dots in time are directly connected, if you know history.
Also, The British Empire (starting in 1871) failed EXACTLY the same way America is failing today, and for EXACTLY the same reason.
In actually, WWI never became history: it was just the opening act.
A very important date in the history of the DC US and the American people: 23 December, 1913.
The date the American people were sold into slavery to the banksters and the same banksters took over control of the DC US.
Pitchforks? He's right, he's not the smartest blackard in the room. The pitchforks are insiginificant compared to the abuse of the massively centralized power. Communist or kleptocracy, military or legalese, when the banana republic confiscates all Nick's property they'll let Nick live the rest of his days as a pauper - if he behaves. There won't be anyone to help Nick, because nobody will care. Because when Nick could have done something to preserve the fabric of civilization, he did not. Nick can fly to New Zealand to wait out the melee, but when the republic dies the dam will burst and there will be nowhere left to hide. Could any punishment be worse than this? Please don't kill him. A long, long life on his knees is so much better.
Revolution Number Nine?
Nah! The common people got no spine!
Noses buried, in their Smart Phones,
brains are napping, in the Dead Zones.
Sucking on the government tit,
and numbed on 'dope' that comes with it.
Revolution takes some IQ,
without it they won't even try to.
ZH gives an education,
but misses most the population.
Vain to start up Number Nine,
they're all addicted to govt lying.
I'm glad your point of view is shared by the majority in your class.
Also, I don't think you should own a gun.
They are very dangerous things to have around.
You might hurt yourself.
This is a cultural problem.
It cannot be legislated or else you'll be called a Communist.
Stop worshiping these people and they will seek other pursuits.
They feed off your jealousy and envy.
Don't give it to them.
Just be a good person.
That doesn't cost anything.
Who the hell goes around calling themselves a Zillionaire?
A jerk does that.
if he can't say "federal reserv" - than he is not our man, it's simple
Yep, another useless idiot only addressing the symptoms, and not the disease itself.
The pitchforks aren't coming out any time soon. Someone once said here on ZH that generations that pissed away the freedom and equality they had by being shitty citizens will lay down like dogs, and not resist. It's only the generations that never had freedom or equality that will rise up.
That means my little 4 year old girl's generation is only the tip of that spear. We're decades away from this, so be expecting bread lines and an actual unemployment rate of 50% in 15-20 years.
Thanks to you i'm cracking my first beer of the day. Not exactly a good thing.
I'll join you :)
However I will be sipping on a moscow mule. Or maybe some Jameson on ice...
Yes, I'll go with the Jameson on ice...
Make sure she can speak mandarin fluently.
Like the legendary Kent Brocklyn.
I ditto just about everything said here.
Why is he just bringing this up now? Got religion all of a sudden?
Has he actually started and run the company with a vision or has he just invested.
more so does he have prec metal stashed in case this whole thing and his portfolios and dollar denominated assets don't disappear.
barf
I've met a lot of people like Nick ('I can't write a line of code') Haneur in my time. The technology sector is awash with them. What they do is capitalize on insider information. Period. They develop networks, frequently Tribally based, and ferret out the best ideas. Then they network with their financiers who'll divvy up the cash, often in a form where moral hazard is just a faint risk. They're actually parasitical.
Oh great some dick disguised as an entrepreneur but really some desk dick from the Fed or Obama's office is now saying its our fault.
Listen up asshole
I worked my ass off while the people around me smoked dope and fucked their brains out and never got ahead. Is that my fault? Not a chance.
I worked full time while going to nght school and university after that. Invested, invested, invested.
Like fuck am I gonna hand over anything to those video game, facebook loving zombies.
Not on your life.
Your thinly disguised plea for socialism is just another bait and switch to take more of our hard earned cash. In fact you are probably some dick from that commie Obama's office.
You will take nothing from me but the bullet I'll shoot you with if come anywhere near my shit....
It's about time we go postal on these lazy fucks anyway. Locked and fucking loaded
In fact let's just euthanize them all and get on with manifest destiny
clear?
Reads like a guilty piece of shit liberal.
ZIRP helped kill the job creators. Inflation killed the job creators. Falling wages killed the job creators.
Everyone assumes that the evil big corps are the engines of the economy. They're wrong.
Every giant multi-national at one time was just another local business. These are the job creators. Look around your town. The hardware store, tire store, the donut shop, the barber etc. these are the guys who hire and create an economy.
If you live in the city, you'll have to look deeper because the chains are the only ones who can afford the high rents of densely populated areas but if you get off the main thoroughfares you'll see the legacy businesses handed down or sold to a new generation from the neighborhood.
People who manage to save today are the future business owners of tomorrow and saving has fallen through the floor because of the above mentioned actions of the money-masters of the Fed.
The Fed is the master crime that make all other financial crimes possible.
Nothing more to say that would alter that one fact.
Pitchforks ? You should be so lucky.
To paraphrase Marsellus Wallce in Pulp Fiction....we going medieval on your ass... pipe wrench, pliers and blowtorch.
another nick hanauer piece
http://www.bloombergview.com/articles/2011-12-01/raise-taxes-on-the-rich...
Very few ( if any ) of the .1%ers got where they are based on some special skill or intelligence. Never works that way. Never did.
It's all who you know and where you came from. It is about old money and connections. Then kick in government corruption and graft and you have a centennial perfect storm of astronomical proportions all based on fossil fuels.
I suspect it will all change soon.
Broad brush Arby. I would say it is 50/50. Used to think it was 90/10 in favor of skill and competence. That is what nearly 50 years of living will do to the mind. Thinking no one with any wealth deserves it will make it easier for the proles to kill.
I also used to think the government was by the people and for the people with a few pockets of corruption. Now I think that there are a few pockets of good government. Those will be seen only at the local level.
FWIW, time and again (in the technology sector) I've seen the original technical geniuses, who developed everything and spent their money and their best years doing it, get edged out by wily and unscrupulous 'entrepreneurs' who moved in just at the right time - for them. There's a parasitical well-connected stratum of such people who get all the money and glory and do little of the work. And then lecture the rest of us on what we should have done and be doing.
By the way something similar operates in the music industry. David Geffen being a prime example.
It is all about opportunity. Most never have one beyond a job. Don't mistake me though: I am not begrudging or even remotely concerned. Just pointing out 100 years of wealth accumulation.
I have no need for such fiat wealth. It's not my thing
Take a few days and look at the family backgrounds of America's "zillionares" and they look sort of similar. Not all of course.
Shit, 97% of Middle America cannot even afford to send their "above average" child to college--let alone finance a business venture.
This is not 1959.
Its easy to fix: end the fed
97% of Middle America cannot even afford to send their "above average" child to college.
Not correct. The 'disadvantaged minorities' within that 97% will have no trouble getting their kids to college...and getting someone else to pay for it. And those kids won't have to be 'above average' either.
End the Fed? I am starting to think that we are well beyond the point of that doing any good.
I'm all for ending the Fed, but the idea that 97% can't send their kids to college is simply unture. In fact, I believe that too many kids in college is part of the problem. We don't neem more lawyers, accountants, MBA's, or liberal arts BS (bullshit) degrees. We need people that know how to DO real things. Build cabinets, farm (the average farmer in this country is over 60 years old), whatever. Usefull stuff, everything else is true BS.
They don't think so Arby.
They cannot see the social strata, the government corruption, graft, and cronyism.
It is invisible to them by virtue of its omnipresence in their vicinities.
Like air, you can't recognize it because you've never seen its absence.
They only know that they attracted investors and loans.
They only know that they started businesses, which then received contracts.
They only know that they were better able than competitors to deal with the foibles of government such that regulation hurt them less than their competitors.
They got investors through social contacts.
They got loans through the same.
They did work hard on their businesses, but the difference in those initial contracts came from cronies and graft - invisible to them.
They were able to better deal with the foibles of government by means of rent seeking and regulator preemption.
They are flowers who live in a carefully tended garden complete with fertilizer for them and weed-killer for their competitors, and believe themselves the best suited to survive and shape society for that reason.
But the truth is that the very defoliant they use to keep competitors at bay also kills the earthworms (labor, middle class, mid management) that they depend upon to survive.
So, there will be a collapse via the inherent ineptitude of central planning (the earthworms died, and the soil became infertile).
Or the worms will attack and kill them.
Or the worms will attack and die to insecticide.
But the result is the same in all three cases - the garden-tending regime will change or the garden will die.
And it can't be blamed on the worms.
Now, where did I leave my pitchfork? Hmmm, I know it's around here someplace. Damn! This happens every time my wife cleans up my office. I've just gotta find it before the revolution starts, I hate to let the other peasants down by showing up without my pitchfork. Dammit!
So what's your point? Things always go bad with Socialists in control.
OK, for starters carpet bomb K-Street, outlaw lobbying, jail lobbyists, imprison and/or execute fraudulent bankers and financiers, limit all Congressional terms to one - no re-elections, no time spent campaigning for re-election, the first couple of months of your term - you STUDY the Constitution, you balance the budget - no more deficit spending, close all 900+ overseas military bases, bring all troops home, the President cannot send troops anywhere without a vote of Congress, cut-out much of the Federal bureaucracy, no double-dipping pensions, etc. I think you get my point... I don't begrudge anyone who has honestly earned their money, no matter how huge the amount is...ALL I ASK FOR IS FOR THE GODDAMN GOVERNMENT TO STOP ROBBING ME OF MY MONEY [TAXES]. Let me keep most of my money and I will put it to work in my community, educate my children and provide for my retirement - KEEP YOUR GODDAMN HANDS OFF MY MONEY, you lousy, corrupt bunch of leeches.....
Sequester & Quarantine:
After we break up Oligopolies & Change the Rules of Incorporation to limit the perks, office overhead, administrative expenses, and executive compensation, If Non-Profits can be held to a high standard and the current rules of incorporation are wide open... we should make looting of US Corporations punishable. Decapitalizing US Corporations needs to be recognized as a possible threat to society.
Sequester Greedy Capitalist that Looted US Corporations with huge compensation & Perks, fancy offices, Leased Limos, Personal Jets, Company provided houses or apartments, sequester them from working in the industry again or becoming another corporate officer or board member.
& Quarantine the Real Criminals from both ever working in the Industry Again, becoming a Business Officer again and prevent them from writing a book to make money off of the profits (or at least seize the profits for charity), and force them to move off shore to live out there days in Exile, probably want to examine their wealth first and make sure there aren't any funds that should be seized for charity or restitution.
Do you recommend pitchforks with 4 tines or 5 ?
3 - 5's duct taped together
Don't get the barbed kind, you'll have to pull their bodies off by hand and it will slow you down.
Super rich dude says increasing inequality will end in chaos or a police state dictatorship.
Well, dude...got news for you...Obaba/DHS is already on it...2 billion rounds of dum-dum/hollow point, non-military legal ammo. Arming any and all Govt Agencies with armored cars and machine guns. And fomenting chaos so they can force a fascist socialist police state....Obaba is on the job.
And when chaos comes, who will the masses blame?
1930's Germany: "It's the Jews..."
Here and Now Obaba/Dems: "It's the Tea Party (non-Dem voters)..."
Any diff?
kill the furion, kill the riddick
You cannot be the most powerful and richest and get away with constant lying, massive theft, and mass murder it forever.
Bravo, Nick Hanauer has finished reading Piketty's Capital and paraphrasing what is essentially the message of the book from his perspective as a 0.1%'er. He also had a nice TEDx talk about this subject back in 2012 (which was actually NOT approved by TEDx):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bBx2Y5HhplI
Sorry, but that's a tad too late.
He offers no solutions! It's worthless!
I know many Marxists that would agree 100% with what he said. It's not the inequality, it's HOW to fix it. More government is not the solution. It's the cause!
True entrepreneur. He has a lock up of pitchforks to shift. Nothing like talking your book.
The inability of otherwise well-educated and rational people to grasp the difference free-market capitalism and a croney capitalism -- as evidenced by comments here -- is jaw dropping. It is a gap in understanding that the socialist statists have been nurturing and exploiting for more than a hundred years.
Yeah, incite the prols to hoist the free-market capitalists onto their pitchforks, even as behind the scenes you install your cronies at every extant bottleneck of finance and regulation. It has worked every time it's been tried, since 1789 by gawd.
Prepare to be ruled over yet again, dingleberries. You deserve it.
It's not that the bottom 99% are underpaid. The top 1% are overpaid. Hanauer's thinking is proof ... he's not very smart ... yet our system pays him enormously.He is correct. He's not valuable as an entrapreneur ... he just got lucky and didn't screw it up. After that he had a competitive advantage. We don't praise the winners of the lottery do we? A wildcat oil driller hits one well in 10. The successful ones make their hit on the first or second well ... then the next 9 or 10 dry holes don't wipe them out.
He notes that Ford paid his workers $5 per week so they could buy the cars they make. Did Ford lobby for a minimum wage? No. He just did it. Hanauer has a definite inside track to Jeff Bezos and Amazon.com. When he proposed that Amazon increase it's minimum wage to $15, why wasn't he able to sell the program? And if doubling the minimum wage is a good idea, quadrupling it should be an even better idea shouldn't it?
He's right about one thing: Trickle down is a scam. If you really wanted to stimulate the economy in an artificial way, "bubble up" is the way to go. We all know that some minority (usually members of an ancient tribe) have a way of getting money to float to them. Thus, put the money in at the bottom and let it float by a few of the 99% on the way.
I've just shown that two of his ideas are totally misguided. All that raising minimum wage does is create inflation (all boats rise with the tide). And inflation is government's favored form of taxation ... the citizens can't vote against it.
But what really has to be done is removal of the advantages the 1% take for themselves. Most of this is done through support of "big" government ... which they can control. It's support of "large" corporations ... which can afford to pay ridiculous money to the idiots that head them.
What is really needed is some way of keeping things from getting so big ... and doing it without laws and manipulation ... doing it with a natural process ... like competition in trading.
I guarantee this process begins with recognition that money is "a promise to complete a trade", and capital is not needed at all.
Think about it!
Todd Marshall
Plantersville, Tx.
Actually, money is a promise based on labor. There is no other real value.
Labor is just one item of trade. Other items are stored up labor (like a pile of wood you cut and split), a piece of real property (like a lot in a subdivision), a piece of stuff (like an ounce of gold), money, a promise to work 40hrs (like work for weekly pay).
First, know the steps of trade: 1) Negotiation, 2) Promise to trade, 3) Delivery.
In simple barter, steps 2 and 3 happen simultaneously on the spot. No money is required but money can be the actual item traded.
Money allows step 3 to happen over time and space. So money is obviously "a promise to complete a trade". Money (when certified) is created by traders in step 2 and extinguished by traders in step 3. In the meantime, these "certified" promises (ours our Federal Reserve Notes, Coin, and numbers in ledgers) can circulate as items of simple barter. The reason they can do this is they are welcomed and accepted by all traders in the trading sphere.
Note: As our government reveals itself to be a counterfeiter, our trading sphere (the dollar) is getting smaller while other trading spheres (e.g. the yuan) are expanding. This can be reversed by refusing to trade with our government ... history's worst dead-beat trader.
In the opening example, all the traded items are stuff ... the trades are simple barter. But the last example (promise to work 40 hours for pay) involves money.
I love the .01%. They do something besides big gulps and inturrnet. People of earth, revolt against your white, fat overlords!
Is there really a semi-automatic called a "pitchfork"?
As a fellow entrepreneur, what I see is an end to the great experiment called "the free education of the masses". It is a dismal failure that has only served to endow a false sense of entitlement to the edumacated believing tht that there really is such a thing as economic equality -despite all the epic failures of all the various 'isms.
The only right the masses have is "freedom from need". Instead, what most of the comments above reveal is a demand for "desire through want". The 1928 campaign slogan "A car in every driveway, a chicken in every pot and a roof over every head" has been replaced with "I am equally entitled to everything you have". The "pitchfork revolutions" did not result because the surfs lacked iphones and gucci purses, but the sentiments of 1928 that created the campaign slogan lead to the crash of 1929. The golden age of the roaring '20's came crashing down in a matter of days. It wasn't the rich that suffered in the 12 years or so that followed, it was predominantly the middle class (the poor were already screwed), the same group that wasn't happy in the age of plenty with what they had but demanded ever more, ever more. Cell phones? A right not a want. Cable TV? A right. Even air conditioning? A right that you're lucky to have and which a economic crash may take away.
You can name your AR10 anything you want.
The only real 'right' is survival of the fittest - eventually it comes for us all.
'Civilizations' temporarily skew the natural selection model but it always wins in the end.
Gravity is a bitch.
All right for the zillionaires. The question is what ARE they going to do, become Marxists? So we can all be Cuba or Venezuela together?
There's a very good reason for the rise in inequality. The U.S. has offshored its entire manufacturing sector and employed foreigners in other countries instead of Americans.
Of course, we're continually told that we have to retrain for the high-tech jobs of today and tomorrow. There's a catch to that refrain: U.S. companies trick our IT workers into training their foreign H1-B Visa replacements.
The following article from ComputerWorld.com describes that exact scenario:
This IT worker had to train an H-1B replacement
http://www.computerworld.com/s/article/9248996/This_IT_worker_had_to_tra...
I've personally retrained myself many times, and I've been screwed anyway.
@dot_bust
I would recommend you read Thomas Piketty's book/summary analysis Capital, it explains all the issues in US society. Basically, it comes down to r > g, or return on capital exceeds return on economic growth (i.e. wage increases). In other words, people with capital (stock, real estate, inheritance) will increasingly do better than people who depend on paychecks. What you describe is just a symptom of a much larger problem. If Piketty's predictions are correct, these issues will not change for another century unless a major tax increase on wealth will be installed, or a revolution breaks out.
Gee, I wonder what would have happened if we had refused to buy imported shit instead of drowning in it. I ask again,,,
Does anyone think our jobs would have been outsourced to foreign countries if we had not purchased those products?
Or is the answer socialism, where all the hard choices are made for us and we simply take what the imperial leaders tell us is best for us? Is that any different than what we are currently experiencing?
i work in banking in nyc. h1b visa is everywhere, thank you mr. gandhi. i don't understand. and, when they make management, they don't hire anybody else except cousins.
thank you all. it is a rare time. they do nothing, nothing gets done.
i was at a large bank. the head of the team realized that at least 80% of us were indians. (that's diversity?) he saw, he spoke, he did something - he dropped it to about 60%.
he was gone.
it's more than the cheap labor. there is something else going on - i do not understand it, i can't figure it out.
i suspect it might be the thought that we are 'buying' allies (bodies) in india if we go to war with china. i am not joking. there is clearly an agenda.
any thoughts appreciated.
Being an "American" will be deadly and the media is doing this. Some program to turn people against Americans has been underway for about a year or more. I have an idea or two but will keep them to myself but this should be addressed.
BTW, I am Canadian and just renewed a lifelong permanent visa. If any of you have been regulars on here for years, like me, you know I give them hell. And I go everywhere. It was necessary that I prepare to be returned to Canada (father was hired on special skills status after emergency event in which lives were lost in mining industry and father tried to help with his blaster's skills, but it became a recovery, not a rescue). But when I reached the office, I was not only treated with kindness and respect, I only had to wait 10 minutes. Strange days are ahead of us.
If buildings are burned to the ground, let them be CBS, NBC, CNN, and the rest of the fog horn crowd who are now filthy rich due to following orders.
Hanauer, how much gold ya got?
Not interested in the attempt to seek forgiveness. It is what it is. Can't reverse thousands of years of greed and corruption but you can emerge as an icon, a legend of sorts by way of channeling the wealth in establishing a strong society with sound money.
There are 5 or 6 or 7 billion people on the planet. The resources are finite. I'm sorry to say, not all can make it or at least their kids and grandkids won't make it. The population growth trajectory is not sustainable. Not enough food, water, land and so on. Not enough of everything.
Life has winners and losers.
Some are born rich, some made it themselves, some stole it and many have just enough to get by and even more don't have even enough for that.
That's the premise and status quo. It's always been like that. Attempts to change society or "engineer" a better world have resulted in even greater imbalances and corruption.
The challenge is to come up with something uniquely new, taking into account all the mistakes former societies and civilisations have made.
Inequality was at the same levels in the 1920s, so we have been here before.
We have had the Wall Street Crash (Part 2) in 2008 and massive amounts of QE have just delayed the day of reckoning.
Before 2008, un-limited credit and the illusion of wealth, created by housing bubbles, allowed people to carry on consuming as their wages stagnated.
QE and supply side solutions since 2008 have done nothing to cure the real problem, lack of demand, which just gets worse as inequality grows.
Our mainstream politicians all want to maintain the status quo and so new parties rise up, like UKIP, in the UK and the Tea Party in the US.
In France they have already swung to the Socialists and now to the Far Right in search of answers the main stream cannot provide.
The Far Right are gaining ground across Europe, with its most dangerous form evident with Golden Dawn in Greece.
We have had the 1920's and are moving into the 1930s with Nationalism and Fascism rising in Europe.
We re-created the 1920s and have already mapped out our future, we know what happens next and can see it has already started.
History rhymes, but doesn't repeat. We will have geopolitical events that make oil very expensive - these events are just getting rolling right now with ISIS and all. Gas is gonna hit $10 at some point. That is when the shit hits the fan.
The problem isn't that some people are rich, the problem is how they got rich. Today, almost everyone who is in the top 1% got there not because they are extraordinarily productive, but because they took advantage of the rigged system, and many of them even paid lobbyists to rig the system.
Be super productive? You deserve to be rich.
Be a predator or manipulator. You deserve to roast on a pitchfork.
Most were BORN into it.
Born into the Kosher Nostra ?
Just taking over the family business
We pay for our father's sins they say.
Convict Core for everybody else.
Walkure: The population growth trajectory is not sustainable. Not enough food, water, land and so on. Not enough of everything.
I'm so sick of hearing this. We live on a water planet. A hundred LFTR Molton Salt nuke / desal plants and we'd turn every desert into growable land.
All that is needed is vision and the desire to do it.
Desaliantion takes huge amounts of energy. You're suggesting nuclear power plants in proximity to the desalination plants.
Sure, how about right there on that fault line in So Cal where they're running low on water already.
Can't wait for your glossy brochure and pitch!
Wow, some bulletproof resaoning there.. Any other words concepts ideas you would like to attribute to others. He is right of course that reactor design if funded and allowed will be one of the saviours of mankind, hell it may even stop MMGW... sarc..
"I am certain that when we see the guys with pitchforks jumping the enclosed gate to my house, we will have time raise the minimum wage so they will be placated....." LOL
John Williams Video & a Chart
USAWatchdog Greg Hunter Interview with John Williams
http://usawatchdog.com/2014-crisis-in-dollar-will-trigger-inflation-john...
And a FRED Chart that shows Americans don't Fly as much any more
http://research.stlouisfed.org/fred2/series/DAITRX1A020NBEA
Make Sure to watch this TED talk by him
Absolutely GREAT
Published on May 17, 2012Here is the much-talked-about talk on inequality given by Nick Hanauer at TED University. We (TED) are posting it here to promote public discussion on an important issue. See this blog post from TED Curator Chris Anderson:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bBx2Y5HhplIPitchfork is so Luddite. I admire the visual, and in truth, a shit-covered pitchfork entering the thorasic cavity of a statist is too kind.
What he doesn't reailize is that no amount of security will keep him and his peers safe. The internet is a very good tool for information dissimination. Any yokel with a pistol, rifle or shotgun can take pot shots at their leisure at his security detail, his family, his airplane (gotta park it sometime right?), his car, his banker, his business partner, etc. And, that's just him. Include Warren Buffet, Ben Bernanke, Timmay Geithner, John Corzine, Jamie "cufflinks" Dimon, well, you get the picture. Nobody connected to these people would be safe if the shit truly went south for them. As the financial raping of the middle class progresses, and people become increasingly desperate, desperate people will lash out. Hell, the government already busted people for crowdsourcing a hit on Bernanke. The sentiment isn't diminishing, and they only caught the idiots dumb enough to self-identify.
I don't envy wealthy, self-made people. I despise corrupt psychopaths though. A mob will make no distinction between the two.
Nothing to worry about, Mr. Zillionaire and his banker, nothing could happen: https://www.google.com/#q=banker+shot+site:zerohedge.com
The wild mobs will be foraging for scraps of food and gasoline. Cannibalism will be endemic. They won't be in a position to hunt down many 0.01%ers. The main problem for the rich will be getting the fuel they need for their vehicles.
>Seeing where things are headed is the essence of entrepreneurship.
Get your pitchforks here! Torches and pitchforks of the utmost highest quality! Right here! Buy them now, they wont last long!
"We reminded them that if businesses paid workers a living wage rather than poverty wages, taxpayers wouldn’t have to make up the difference. And when we got done, 74 percent of likely Seattle voters in a recent poll agreed that a $15 minimum wage was a swell idea."
Read more: http://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2014/06/the-pitchforks-are-coming-for-us-plutocrats-108014_Page2.html#ixzz35s8bMBI0 That sounds fine, until one gets to the unintended consequences. At 15 dollars an hour, some businesses will close due to costs. Other businesses will cut the number of employees, as hotels near the Los Angeles airport say they will do if a similar ordinance goes through. Fast food restaurants will automate more functions, eliminating jobs. The CBO estimated the 500,000 jobs would be lost if the minimum wage was raised to 10.10 an hour.Your consequences result from playing one state against the other. That's why it would have to be national to work.
Globally, they are playing one country against the other. That's how US wages have been so depressed over the past 25 years or so. And, the same people play the currency game - one fiat against the other. Currency arbitrage is big business.
What is going wrong with that game today is that the world is so interconnected that all nations' currency is falling or rising at the same time. Very minor adjustments, but sufficient for HFT to suck off more and more capital.
When TSHTF, as we know it will, we had better be able to take care of ourselves, be it at the national state or local level... or household.
Craig
It won't work.
People just won't go to work.
If you tell someone to pay someone XX and lose money, they will stop working hard to make the business run.
You cannot make people work hard, or force banks to lend money.
If you disincentivise it, they will simply stop and work just barely enough to fund a simple lifestyle.
That was a great fucking article.
Smart guy. He knows history. And those who don't know history are condemned to repeat it.
Beans, Bullion, Bullets.
If your not already a gun owner. Now its time bitches.
Don't forget those "Pitchforks", hear they may be making a comeback!
oh boy this is great more claptrap about some pie in the sky change human nature. they depend on fear of gover ment to keep people down but the time will come when the government will tear them down like has happened before made bed you did in it you will lie