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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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I keep on searching for that heart of gold ...
Issue is if you are rational and look at the global economy it is clear we are on an unsustainable path. It sucks for me and most in the developed world. US is going to lose fiat reserve status. I think that has been planned for. And yes too many people and too few resources to sustain us as we are used to. Question is how to take back control and make a better system going forward. Right now for me, the only option is to work with my local community and prepare. Can we ever move beyond the craplicious governing system we have now? I don't know.
So how can we profit from this pitchfork thing?
Wow, I thought President Dicksuck had delivered the Free Shit Army a low inflation, miracle economy. Pitchforks? Fuck you.
This guy is a leftist, progressive, activist inciting class warfare, and 99% of you fell for it.
Most people fully realize this guy is a useful idiot cut from the same cloth as Soros.
However watching the 0.1% squirm a bit on a Friday afternoon isn't a bad thing.
Lastly, we're long overdue for a class war. The end goal of this class war is returning the power of issuing currency back to the people, which was originally intended by the constitution. Not that the average American cares about that "piece of paper".
Don't forget - it is the 0.01% who declared war. They think they are winning, and maybe for a while. Open your eyes. American Spring is on the way - it is only a question of how long it takes. Watch for food lines... that will be your clue to run for the exits.
Craig
Hanauer is a mental midget in terms of economics. He's said some really stupid things about economics elsewhere on the web, so yeah, he must be a Leftist.
Just in case that was sarcastic:
A quick little search will show you that he's a progressive. Even wrote a book and started an organization to advance progressive ideas.
He is obviously worried that mobs will be coming after him.
The fact that you label this guy as X and Y in order to attack him tells me lots. About you. If you think he is inciting class warfare what is your argument. If you think he is a propaganda tool where is your proof. I might agree with you in the end but am so tired ofprogressive/socialist memes and conservative/ tea party memes. Please!
When it walks like a duck and quacks like a duck, I label it a duck. I don't think he's inciting class warfare, I know it. The Left does this all the time. They make a fortune and then try to convince you that capitalism is bad and that rich people are bad.
The proof is all around you, Arkadaba. The world is divided between progressive and conservative ideas. That's reality. Nobody cares if you are tired of it.
You might agree with me in the end? What end? When we're being thrown into the ovens? Too late, friend. The world has ALWAYS been divided between statists and people who want freedom. RARELY has freedom won.
Half the world is living under abject tyranny, and you are TIRED of memes? You can't even pick a side, and you're TIRED???
JFC, we're in trouble.
Uhm... I kinda agree that the pitchforks might be coming.
But its not not because of the income inequality. You have China as a good example how poor and überwealthy can live side by side. The problem is that people dont have a job and they are not allowed to make their own jobs due to regulations that are there to protect the already established companies. This will become a bigger problem in china too soon considering how they are getting rid of the streetvendors and illegal small private businesses. In addition western people have become extremly lazy, and often choose a life sucking on the steady shrinking group of small taxpayers tits.
You fuckers are going to need something bigger than a pitchfork to make it through my security.
Dodge hemi? Ethylene glycol? Gasoline? Insecticide? Do you even know where your gardner/handyman picks up the day laborerers he brings into your house? I do...
sheikurbootie,
Best comment of the thread. 99% of these idiots have never seen a pitchfork, much less picked one up and used it for anything.
dear lazy useless muthafuka with PITCHFORK
hang the bankstas and pols high on lamp posts and set em afire.. then
eat shit and die
An EBT card a day keep the pitchforks away.
Not the tax slaves' pitchforks.
Well I guess it is a good thing his yacht accommodates his personal helo. Vrup Vrup Vrup.
It is this method of travel which will be the only one left but will also lead them to vulnerability (man-made drones). They will be isolated on an island they think will be home but will become their prison.
Its sad. There is now nowhere for the super rich to run that the newly poor can not find them. The next French revolution will end with the new poor* having Nukes.
After they take their governments back by force.
*Those of the upper middle classes loose most or all of what they thought they had. So these newly poor freak and take back what they think they are owed.
Pensions, healthcare and food become the property of those who believe they are owed it. The rich can fly away but these newly poor will track them to the ends of the earth and make them pay.
This time those upper middle classes are not so ignorant of travel.
Unlikely the rich can take much of their wealth with them when they leave. Whatever they own on paper or in digital currency is obsolete at that point anyway. Now, if you presume they take their gold on the learjets to the Marshall Islands.. it might be worth the trip.
There will be no frendly governments to go to this time. Money is by decree it ends with the overthrow of a government. Armys go to those who control the governments and governments always come full circle thus : Revolution.
From the poor to the rich back to the poor. Full circle over and over and over again. The rich have out did themselves this time by growing governments so large and powerful. lol All that power will flow right back to those newly poor.
The billionare and their children have no hope of survival this time.
Woe be those who stand in the way of the entitled bureacrate and what they think they are owed. All the old judges, lawyers, doctors and professors will come for those billionare's and will have their day.
The Poor will be hungry and foraging for scraps of food and enough gas for Molotovs. They won't be slinging around nukes.
Many of the new poor are highly educated people.
Factor that into your calc.
http://www.nationalreview.com/corner/381362/study-all-employment-growth-...
Study: All Employment Growth Since 2000 Went to Immigrants
By NRO Staff
June 26, 2014 7:22 PM
But there are so many Congressional bills for STEM Jobs, H1B1 VISAs, and Immigration Reform that I can't really read them all. What a Crime.
We have a Glut of STEM Professional Workers in the USA that lost jobs in many industries. And for Congress to stand up there and say we have a shortage of workers or that our workers are dumb or Lazy is Felonious. Of course we have used foreign workers for fruit for like 150 years in Central America and the Caribbean.
Everything is political in the USA. And our leaders just lie about it.
Bills
Sponsor
Charles “Chuck” Schumer
Senior Senator from New York
Party Democrat
Border Security, Economic Opportunity, and Immigration Modernization Act (S. 744)
Border Security, Economic Opportunity, and Immigratio...
A bill to provide for comprehensive immigration reform and for other purposes.
Cosponsors
Bennet, Michael [D-CO]
(joined Apr 17, 2013)
Durbin, Richard [D-IL]
(joined Apr 17, 2013)
Flake, Jeff [R-AZ]
(joined Apr 17, 2013)
Graham, Lindsey [R-SC]
(joined Apr 17, 2013)
McCain, John [R-AZ]
(joined Apr 17, 2013)
Menéndez, Robert “Bob” [D-NJ]
(joined Apr 17, 2013)
Rubio, Marco [R-FL]
(joined Apr 17, 2013)
Sponsor
Harry Reid
Senior Senator from Nevada
Party Democrat
Immigration Reform that Works for America’s Future Act (S. 1)
Immigration Reform that Works for America’s Future Act (...
A bill to reform America's broken immigration system.
Cosponsors
Richard Blumenthal, U.S. Senator for Connecticut
Boxer, Barbara [D-CA]
Brown, Sherrod [D-OH]
Coons, Chris [D-DE]
Durbin, Richard [D-IL]
Feinstein, Dianne [D-CA]
Gillibrand, Kirsten [D-NY]
Heinrich, Martin [D-NM]
Hirono, Mazie [D-HI]
Klobuchar, Amy [D-MN]
Leahy, Patrick [D-VT]
Levin, Carl [D-MI]
Menéndez, Robert “Bob” [D-NJ]
Schatz, Brian [D-HI]
Schumer, Charles “Chuck” [D-NY]
Sponsor
Darrell Issa
Representative for California's 49th congressional
Party Republican
STEM Visa Act of 2013 (H.R. 459)Immigrant visas for certain advanced STEM graduates
STEM Visa Act of 2013 (H.R. 459)
To amend the Immigration and Nationality Act to promote innovation, investment, and research in the United States, to eliminate the diversity immigrant program, an...
Sponsor
Bobby Rush
Representative for Illinois's 1st congressional district
Party Democrat
Expressing the necessity for the Members of the House of Representatives to use the term “undocumented” instead of the term “illegal” when referring to foreign nationals which are working in the United States without proper documentation. (H.Res. 155)
Growing inequality of the sort that's happening - directly due to criminal theft by banks aided and abetted by cohorts in government and the central bank - is exactly what gives way to socialism with wealth confiscation and permanent redistribution. Typically of the Stalin/Mao variety where the mega-rich are wiped out in a revolution. Once begun it cannot be rolled back as the number of beneficiaries rise to the point where they soon outnumber the rest.
So that's why Obama is flooding the country with illegals and handing out pitchforks!
Only the pitchforks he gives them are intended for the folk of European origin.
Tom Edison's Shaggy Dog
This guy has a pretty grounded & realistic view of the western world of today (& the financial abuses that have taken place)..... but what wasn't mentioned is that a lot of people already have their pitchforks (& equivalents) ready to go... Thus any trigger point could be the event that will drive the Joe Sixpacks into the "nice" neighborhoods for "payback". The cops will be way too busy dealing with the social disturbance from the low information voters on main street.... a lot of people, even those well off folks that never cheated a sole & ran their business in a model way, will be hurt.... if you look like you have (or had) money, you'll be a target. It will be a very bad time in America.....
AMEN! Take heed CRONY CAPITALISTS and your financiers....
Thus why the borders are wide open, bring in the serfs to replace the middle class.
I don't think you all have thought this through.
When these events happen, you get 6 weeks of real anarchy and chaos as power goes away, is realigned, and then the clampdown returns.
99% of the time you get totalitarianism or a variant after such an event.
Only a few times do you get The French Republic or similar.
Usually it ends up like The Hunger Games.
They don't think anything through. Emotion rules the day on ZH.
..and people such as them, and you, and I, often end up dead. It's not going to be good when things realign and the USA goes under...
Any Momment Now that Huey Long Speech in Congress will take place! " In a Matter of Moments the American People are going to Crashing through that door; and I've got to decide whether to die with you; or help them KILL YOU!!"
Sorry, I don't buy this.
The ultra rich have bought COUNTRIES where they are safe, and they are not going there with horses and wagons for christ sake!
Their net worth will take a hit, but what is that compered to be hungry?
The losers are as usual.
That's why it all comes down to pitchfork bearers wearing Army and Air Force uniforms.
When the U.S. military revolts, and it must to save itself from annihilation and restore the Republic, they can seal borders, pull plugs, flip switches, and pick up treasonous criminal traitors anywhere in the world.
The whole thing would be over in 72 hours.
Dream on, this not only about USA, chocking, I know, but the grip they have now with IT is much more menacing then ever.
My personal opinion is that the gubment dodged a bullet (literally and figuratively) at the Bundy Ranch.
Who is coming? The government apparatus is seizing as much private capital as possible in order to pay for their salaries and pensions. People with pitchforks? No. None of this guy's money will be distributed to any such person. It will all go to pay for the government which is acting purely in their own interest.
Checking the temperature Nick?
You can't change a Leppard's spots.
At some point people will realize there's no way to live with the parasites and they have to be destroyed completely....so you better hurry if you plan on keeping your slaves happy a while longer.
This guy does not know what a string, a nail gun or a liter of gasoline with soap are capable of doing.
Forget guillotine or firing squad.
He hit the analogy to bankruptcy, starts slowly and then fucks it.
hehe.
I have a big problem with every ass who says they are coming after the 1%'ers with pitch forks. First of all, you are going to be consumed with feeding yourself and your dependents. Then, you are going to have to find out the "bad" rich from the good ones - the ones that worked their entire life to get there.
Remember at least 1/2 of the millions they have has been confiscated by this government and redistributed. The people who have kept the free-shit army alive will be the ones people go after?
I say the free-shit army go after every fucker that makes less than 50k. Those are the ones competing for the 1/2 of the revenues this government squanders. Also eliminate 1/2 of your gov employees and you will have more for yourself.
+1. Class warfare is despicable. The left foments it constantly. The fact that so many fall for it is very disturbing.
The 0.01%ers may have to go and hide, but I doubt that many people will be going after them specifically. The rich simply don't have too much in the way of lootable assets to make it worthwhile. Most of their wealth is in real estate, businesses, and financial accounts. It is more likely the price of food will reach a breaking point, the poor will rise up, and Molotovs will fly. Cities will burn to the ground in an orgy of rape and murder. Sort of like the "Arab Spring". Anyone who can will have to run away, and the 0.01%ers will be able to get into their private planes or boats and go to NZ - if they can get gas.
Anyone torching in my hood is going to shot dead. I can't imagine somone getting too far with this being there's an estimated 300M guns in the USA.
It was a pretty good 4 page read.
The solution: end the fed
Rare forAmericans to pick up their pitchforks (Revolution for independence was about it actually.)
Not rare for Americans to pick up their stakes and leave though.
We have some dramatic wage growth in this country in places too...and unlike the Great Depression where the totality of wealth was located in. Manhattan and their was ZERO safety net...that is not true this time around.
We do have Social Security. We do have the VA. We do have NASA and the Interstate Highway system.
This isn't the first time "guns and butter" has failed...in many in fact this has not been the case. And so should there be a 19th Century style debt collapse upon us (which was all 2008 was btw) then that can lead to new opportunities. A house that you can occupy as it was just abandoned, a garden you can grow because the property was never cleared. A well to be dug because the City cut off your water. A solar panel to put up because the utility just cut off the juice.
To me the best story of how stupid these clowns running this dog and pony show are is the farmer who planted that hybrid seed but was found to be violating the Constitution no less for planting a seed to grow food.
Bwhahahahahahahaha. Pathetic. They should all do the human race a favor and resign for being stupid. "Copyright law will be upheld" while the NSA spies on everything?
It makes no sense and the American ELECTORATE rightly now simply ignores these people.
Sometimes a self-loathing Jew is refreshing.
Silly bitch, the 1% is in no danger.
That's what 1 billion hollow point rounds are for...
I have a hunch that some will have a load of short-lived fun draining their .44 Mag JHP ammo. At last.
That warehouse is going up in flames. Every town that has a warehouse near a police station will be robbed or burned to the ground within 2 weeks of the collapse of the dollar.
Very well could be, but then again...
...our Russian pals in Donbas would prefer the citizenry here follow their example, and "borrow" what they need from such warehouses, instead of torching them...
There will be no mercy, and no sorrow, and the people will celebrate the murders of the 'miscreants', and the statists will declare the end of 'evil capitalism' and the people will follow the ones that declare this.
The installation of a totalitarian police state will be as seamless as the merging of male and female Salmon in a stream during the spawning season.
It will be as COLD-BLOODED as a FISH is; and frought with battles and headstrong longings to stay alive.
The 'time of peace' that will follow will coerce those who are 'sitting on the fence' in to following the ONE who comes (who is, is yet to be, and is the eight part of the seventh kingdom), and the true TRIALS are yet to be experienced.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7-iRf9AWoyE
LONG LIVE THE ROCK WARS!
There are lies, damned lies and statistics.
-Mark Twain
Who's going to fire those rounds?
Soldiers whose family members are suffering because of 1%'s greed?
You place a lot of faith in orders given by authority.
Makes me think you're another filthy chinaman.
ISIS has the blueprint.
http://westernrifleshooters.wordpress.com/2012/09/11/what-i-saw-at-the-c...
Rich dude freaking out! Tv the drug of the nation and just enough will ensure the .1%'ers future....
The sky is falling!!! The sky is falling!!!
Hey Bubba, why don't you and your friends invest in American companies that will create jobs here. Manufacturing jobs. That's what you can do. No policy change needed.
my pitchfork is for the state, not rich people.
So rich people don't control the state?
Lobbying = Bribery.
You have a bank account? Then somebody is lobbying for you. You have insurance? Then somebody is lobbying for you. Etc., etc., etc., etc.
Don't assume you're so pure.
TrustButVerify:
I am aware of what you say, yet I minimize my interaction with the monoliths you mention.
My answer is that I deal with only one, minimally.
And I deal with that one only out of neccesity, after a decade of not doing so.
I can, and have, lived with neither, and I have proved it.
PS- My point is I can live with neither, if I am forced to (I've done so). Admittantly, it isn't easy.
PPS- All will have to do so (if they wish to avoid the mark of the beast, methinks.)
The above is only regarding your question of "purity", BTW.
Much more to add, to reply to the tone of your question.
Translation-
"My crony-capitalist Jewish friends and I are afraid we've controlled too much wealth through the modern day usurious central bank and regulatory capture schemes, and are afraid of being tossed out of another country."
Near zero interest rates are the antithesis of "usurious."
Some Jews are capitalists and some capitalists are Jews but most are neither.
the ability to create free money for your friends while other people's money dwindles in value is usurious.
Uber-Translation:
"Fed-Bucks are actually double ply toilet paper, what now?"
Translation-
Revelation 3:9: "I will make those who are of the synagogue of Satan, who claim to be Jews though they are not, but are liars--I will make them come and fall down at your feet and acknowledge that I have loved you."
I'd say this is a plausible scenario although the wrath, at least at first, will be on establishment politicians. I can see Americans going all DoI (Declaration of Independence) on them fairly quickly.
The demagogues will replace them, of course, then the government will steal you blind first.
As I'm sure you all are aware, a smart rich guy keeps a safe haven or two elsewhere, in other jurisdictions. We see the California real estate bubble as a symptom of that.
wonder if other than funding and getting other's to do the work...has he ever done any actual work. Just a venture capital prick pretending he is doing something other than being a good scammer!
The tone-deaf "I live a lifestyle that you schmucks can't even imagine" kinda negates his whole argument.
Kudos to Nick Hanauer...
in attempts to save the host, humility is pretty much the only thing left,
the lack thereof being what got us here.
Fuck...it's fuckin' way past fucking time to fuckin' motherfuck these fucking motherfuckers. What's the motherfucker gonna do, actually pay his fucking taxes and call that good? FUCK HIM and all these other even less fuckin' clueless motherfuckers. MOTHERFUCK THEM ALL.
Hanauer´s $15 an hour minimum wage is not an unrealistic idea if you combine it with raised import duties. Then even Hanauer’s family-owned pillow-making business would survive a $15 an hour minimum wage.
I have for long time suspected that the US may raise its import duties in order to create more domestic jobs in the US. For a country which is big enough and has sufficient domestic economies of scale, that´s a feasible strategy.
It is probably also true that too many poor people may cause problems for the rich in the US if the increasing number of poor people vote for candidates who are in favour of raised capital gains tax, death tax and maybe even wealth tax.
Furthermore, I suppose that Wal-Mart profits would be about the same if all competitors would have to pay the same wages and others would not be allowed to buy cheap imports either. Increased wages means that the consumers are able to pay for more expensive products.
An interesting question is how much purchasing power that would be lost due to more expensive goods and services caused by higher wages. It is possible that the net gain in number of jobs and purchasing power would be small. But if you add the jobs created by raised import duties you may get a considerable number of additional jobs in country which has a big trade deficit. Many jobs would probably be brought back the country with a large trade deficit. The question is whether that will be enough when even more people are replaced with computers and robots and the excessive labour supply continues.
"Any group that has been persecuted for 2000 years is doing something wrong." -- Henry Kissinger
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 ...next
This looks like it might be a 'hot topic'.
If you are looking for a rewarding career apply for the Department of Homeland Security, or one of the its other law enforcement agencies. We will need many honest, hard working Americans, or non-declared immigration status adults, to help support this great country. Apply today.
A little 'POWERSLAVE' music might be appropriate, I suppose.
Naw.
'OUT OF THE SILENT PLANET', I think.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WbSxzqA8QrA
Thank GOD for 'NINE-ELEVEN'!
Whithout IT, LIFE itself would be UNPOSSIBLE!
Brownshirt zombies are recruiting fools and children. Get even with your parents: Join the DHS, or its international affiliates (SPECTRE).
You are too stupid to live, recruiter. The day you reach for that retirement check, Your owners dispose you.
Li Ka-Shing Says Widening Inequality Keeping Him Awake at Night
sheeples, can't you hear, echoing?
Fuck You and the sword swallowing, colonizing douchebag pirates you are! England is fucked, and I short the "ponzi" pound!
Saudi petro $ rinse wash<> Bitchez!
I don't think you are expressing your real feelings.
Don't hold back, now.
Tell us all how you REALLY feel!
DAMN, do you STILL have holdings in the 'POUND' paper-backed bullshit? You'd best SELL EVERYTHING.
A little Queensryche seems to be in order. EMPIRE:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NSTct2FFamw
(1) The inequality based on inflated assets will pop soon enough. (2) Are you talking about the inequality in the US and Canada or the world over? If you're concerned abouot it in the US you could buy things actually made here. Even better start a company that manufacturers here. While you're at it use your very evident bully pulit to discuss education levels here in the US. Discuss drug use, overall physical fitness of the workforce, and people's useless addiction to being online or 'connected." (I don't know who you are. Maybe that's how you make/made so much of your money.) If you're talking about the world over talk about corruption. While you're at it talk about how well printing money out of thin air works.
(3) Give your money away, though one famous attempt at 'bread and circuses' didn't work for long.
Diên Biên Phú
Welcome to the Modern Day illusion of Democracy.
People sponsored by the rich, make false promises to the masses to get elected. Distribute national wealth amongst themselves and their sponsors (Industrialists) and when that is not enough borrow money from rest of the world and continue the distribution process. The borrowed money has to be paid back by taxing the masses keeping in mind that tax rules are made such that the politicians and their sponsors pay minimum or no taxes.
End of political tenure, rinse and repeat till the whole system breaks down and the world wealth is cornered by a minuscule of the population.
www.marketoracle.co.uk/Article40231.html
It is not in the interest of any elected politician to work for the benefit of the majority of the population. The bottom 98% of the population do not fund the election campaigns of the candidates nor do they provide them jobs with obscene salaries once they leave the positions of power like Timmy boy.
So why would the politicians waste their time working for the middle class and the poor from whom they do not derive any personal benefit? The only activity they do is pacify the majority of the population using false statistics and promises of a better future so that they do not lynch them and their sponsors while they are robbing the taxpayers.
He's right, I taught some kid today, his face lit up after he hit a 200 yard clay.
He's going to wonder why he's a write off, and bought and sold to lowlifes with bad accents.
His pops and his friends were friendly, until I shot their own guns better, then when we left they said Ill tell the wife I did your side.
I don't know how many times I have to say this, all this for a piece of ornate paper. Get a fuckin hobby. Or some pussy, or pussy as a hobby, shit I'm no critic. Just lay off the gas, I'm just one and there are a heavy number of stubborn types out there worst than myself. If you shut off bullets, they make their own, shut off guns, they will machine it all by themselves.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xvl30VuRruU&sns=em
Good luck all, and while you're at it throw some my way.
and one thing the 99.99%s have is guns. Lots and lots of guns. That's something else that has never happened in history. Ranged pitchforks.
There is this thing call the internet and on it you can send emails and instant messages. New Zealand is connected to this internet and the unwashed masses can send an email to ask kindly that the New Zealand 99.99% be waiting for any Gulf Stream V jets. Turn up the music "Nowhere to run to, Nowhere to hide"
Bunk! Never happen. Americans are too apathetic and ignorant. Just the way you zillionaires want them. So no -- there will be no pitchforks. Just whining and crying on the social networks by a lot of clones glued to their freaking iPods. Remember OP: Bread and Circuses. The average Joe on the street won't notice a thing. So bye bye America. Nice experiment. To bad its over.
Advice: Don't bother going Long Pitchforks.
The guns, knives ond Molotovs will come out when the price of food exceeds the SNAP crowd's ability to pay. Gas will be very expensive by then, so there will only be enough for Molotovs. The cities will burn.
When there is trouble in one house, the entire street will be shut down and then entire blocks, people being forced out of their homes. The fires will then begin and we will find ourselves at the mercy of FEMA if we don't have the cash to get to another dwelling. I shutter to think of this and the possibilities when considering the data mining. You rich brats really screwed your nation and your fellow countrymen by going along with this. Fine cigars and bourbon, cocaine and attractive sluts will be a mere memory by then.
July 4th is here. Guns are being fired all over my town in California. Music is blaring from houses, cars and people carrying boom boxes. Something is in the air.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k8zmkzshUvE
A song (Something's in the air)
The first cause of all the problems we have now is importation of cheap labor, and exportation of good jobs in manufacturing and technology. The cause of that is greed, of course. The middle class consisted of the mostly white founding stock of America. It is they who are bearing the brunt of this because they had the most to lose. The ladders of upward mobility have been dismantled. At the same time, Affirmative Action is giving preference for what is left of the jobs to those who can't do them very well due to their genetically inferior IQ levels. But even they used to have a way to get a leg up through manufacturing and service jobs.
So now, all native-born Americans, both black and white are bring replaced in the work force by Asians and Latins. Why? Because they are cheaper and obedient.
But then you ask, Gav, what about the housing crisis and economic implosion? Very simple. The meteoric rise in housing prices before 2007 was artificially created to mask the destuction of the middle class. It was based on a simple premise: Investing in housing is a great idea because prices will never drop, and the lower ionterest rates are a once in a lifetime opportunity to get in on it. The banks were also forced to give credit to credit unworthy minorities, and this exacerbated the situation.
Those who are more familiar with blacks and their violent behavior, stupidity and laziness will point out that Mexicans are better workers and tbe blacks brought this upon themselves. But I contend that welfare destroyed the black family, and contributed to the 85% rate of illegitimacy in the black community. There was a time in America when most black fathers were present in their childrens' lives, but now, the gubmint provides for the needs of the "poor" and disadvantaged. The jobs taken by Mexicans should be going to less intelligent native-born Americans, whatever their color, who would be willing to work if there were no other way to survive.
Finally, when the end came in 2008 to those particular housing shenanigans, it was only the banks who were rescued, when they should have been allowed to fail, and be replaced by new smaller banks. We would have survived that far better than what has been done thus far.
First world America has also been destroyed by the replacement of the native stock since the 1965 immigration bill.
Incidentally, should anyone respond to my comments by calling me a hateful racist, I would invite you to invest in a means of self-improvement, like suicide, as I could not care less about your opinion.
Pollutico, the best cultural Marxism you can get for free.
The 0.01% are always an insignificant presence at the ballot box and the current system is a democratic time bomb.
The 0.01% can sway the media output, but even the best PR needs a grain of truth behind it, 99% of the population are rapidly discovering the media output and reality are two different things, life is consistently getting worse for them.
Wall Street may control the Republicans and Democrats, but this just paves the way for new parties like the Tea Party.
In the UK, the mainstream parties (Conservatives, Liberals and Labour) all try and maintain the status quo and this has paved the way for a new party, UKIP.
New nationalist parties are springing up all over Europe and the worse the majority are treated, the more extreme these parties are, hence the neo-Nazi, Golden Dawn in Greece.
In the 1920s inequality was at similar levels today and the collapse after the first Wall Street Crash, paved the way for Fascism across Europe. The German people had been particularly hard done by and they democratically elected the Nazis. Desperate times call for desperate measures and extremism of all kinds beckons.
Democracy never favours the 0.01%, it favours the majority.
The strong grip the 0.01% hold over the nations powerful institutions ensure they never give up without a fight, unfortunately this just leads to extreme solutions when the majority eventually rise up.
Things are changing already, the more the elite try and maintain the status quo, the worse the eventual outcome will be. The Nazis were democratically elected in the 1930s and a neo-Nazi party is already a strong presence in Greece.
"May you live in interesting times" – a certainty, but also a Chinese curse.
One element of this discussion not covered so far. I expect that most of the neo-Marxists or anti-capitalists who seem to have set up a home here at ZH live in cities. Hanauer probably lives in a city, maybe with a second or third home in a gated enclave or colony of the wealthy. Cities in America once were marvels of wealth creation but those engines of enterprise has been shut down by federal, state, and local regulations. These regulations were created for many reasons- environmental, bureaucratic, progressive, cartelization (mentioned in comments), and anti-capitalist. There are many enterprises that once existed in cities which generated wealth and opportunity that could never be operated presently. Not only are new enterprises not started but the public sector grows while the private sector shrinks. The public sector in these cities consumes more and more of the community's wealth. The fastest growing trend is dependency. So American cities are slowly dying and many now don't create wealth but absorb wealth taken from other people living elsewhere. The biggest business in some of these cities is the drug trade (see The Wire). All U.S. cities exist along this continuum with Detroit and others one could name leading the way. Some cities are more healthy, for example Boston, but even there the cracks are showing. The vast bulk of Democrats live in cities. As cities slowly die the wealthy and entrepreneurs flee. Everything these cities consume comes from somewhere else - food, power, water, machines, consumer goods, medicine, building materials. I don't think this is a "sustainable" situation, to use a new Orwellian term. If cities can't pay for their own existence who is going to pay for them? How can the money necessary to support the continued existence of cities be found except by force and confiscation of wealth found elsewhere?
The twin evils of taxes and regulation are the reasons for wealth inequality.
When we call for "taxing the rich", don't we know that this automatically costs us jobs? Likewise, when we put in regulations for safety and working conditions and the "environment" we massacre jobs and wages!
The solution is to follow a deregulation regime that celebrates the champions of success. The solution is to stop taxing people.
Isn't it obvious?
So let us celebrate success!
Here is a model for how we can finally turn our cities into factories of wealth creation and reverse the course bringing wealth to the people all accross the land:
http://www.hrw.org/news/2011/12/06/mali-artisanal-mines-produce-gold-chi...
The rich, regardless how they got their money - rememeber some by lots of hard work some by where they were born, has paid for the free-shit army. They had no decision on how much was confiscated on them, If you make less than 50k go after a guv employee. They are your competiion for the free money coming from millionionares most hate here.
From today's New York Times Real Estate section, with regard to 157 57th Street, where apartments generally start at 30 million/unit.
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/06/29/realestate/manhattan-luxury-high-rise-...
“These apartments represent an excellent investment, a super hedge,” said George T. Constantin, the president and chief executive of Heritage Realty Services, which is based in New York. Mr. Constantin represents a Greek family who paid $30 million for a unit on the 59th floor. “Usually that $30 million would go into U.S. Treasuries, but these types of investments offer more yield and better appreciation, so it serves a purpose,” he said.
Thank you federal reserve....
I find these articles disturbing and some comments simply populist. Does anyone honestly think they will be cornering Dimon, Yellen, Gates etc with a pitchfork? And if the system has in fact collapsed do you think your major priority will be to seek out whoever you have a beef with?
The 0.01% are the ultimate preppers.
Don't worry about them and don't waste your time sharpening your pitchforks. If you want to be around the day after the system implodes just make sure you have an organized, decent and well connected community of friends and relatives and a pantry with enough essentials.
The new hobby will be the unspoken allegiance to "pay back." And some will make a full time job of it. These richer than stink pricks will be looking over their shoulder for the rest of their lives. Every strange sound coming from an engine, turbulence on a flight, stomachache after a meal and strange correspondence or encounter with a faceless stranger will be followed by "they are out to get me." It's called guilt. Guilty as charged. They fell for it. like an adolescent visiting the neighborhood slut's house, and willing to risk getting herpes for 5 minutes of pleasure.
Rarely.
However their drivers, maids, guards, cooks and other ancillary employees will all have to live and work and commute in a community.
They will have to shop for gas, go to the grocery store, put their kids in school, drive up to their much more modest homes, and so on.
They will also be prone to ideological capture as the servants of all oligarchs have over history.
"You work for Gates, up on the hill - don't you?"
Yep.
"Your money is no good here. Leave."
Gates' driver then goes outside and a dozen people are taking smartphone images of his ride, his plates, himself, and his kids in the back seat.
Perhaps one night his house is broken into and he and his family are bound and gagged. Suprisingly their 911 call gets dropped or the police simply don't get there in time.
I think if that happened once he would get the message.
As I live in one of these far flung, yet very stable and sparesly populated, places I can imagine billionaires would want to escape to, let me give you a piece of advice, buddy - if you think you can escape pitchforks in your home country, great, but I'll still have a real sharp pitch fork waiting for you here.
Tylers, ZH,
do you need support implementing a collapsable/expandable comment thread?
you know, like reddit.
That would be great, trader1.
Also, an upgrade so that replies could be easily found and responded too (without having to search through all the past comments) would be fantastic.
Read this yesterday. No comment. Today, hedge the pitchfork investment. I believe that the American public is done supporting this bowel movement US leader.
As long as the .01 percent eat pork chops or bacon or hardwood smoked ham, they can be included in the human race. They will be your standard shithead capable of breathing and thinking, you would hope.
Otherwise, phuckem.
If you don't want to eat pork products, you're better off committing suicide. Jews and Muslims can begin a mass genocidal suicide mission now. No burial, no funeral, no nothing. Let the buzzards eat them.
No clean up crews required
Beam me up.
What a great article.
Nick Hanauer nailed the fundamental problems: Trickle Down Economics and the political influence of the wealthy.
Most of you don't even get what I just said. I know. Too bad.
He could also have touched on the false logic of most of the Free Trade deals being struck these days. And he needs to address the issue of taxes and trade tariffs. And he could have spent more direct attention to the corrupting issue of campaign finance in the US politcal system.
Still, it was a good start.
If "demand-side" economics works, then why isn't Africa the richest continent on the planet?
I smell the scent of sincere ignorance here so let me answer you bluntly:
Nimby, you think that "need" equates to "demand". That is a rookie move. Need does not equate to demand. Demand is the ability to purchase and the willingness to do so.
The people are poor and have no ability to purchase. Africa has severe wealth inequality. it is driven by bad governance and corruption. That is the whole point. The USA has been drifting in that direction for four decades so we need to look closely at our destination which might as well be the 3rd world.
Here is what I mean. There is no large consumer base in Africa ouside of a few more Western areas like SA or big cities in Kenya or Nigeria. Yet Africa is a fantastically rich part of world with incredible natural resources. But because the vast wealth of that continent ends up in the hands of the few, they never really get a consumer culture going. The majority of people are living a hand to mouth existence. The wealthy elite greedily hold onto more than their fair share and when the peasantry starts to gain a economic foothold then the rulers take it away.
The African elite happily ship away the oil, the metals, the product of their few educational institutions.
The elite are happy to lord it over their populations and play the role of colonial masters in their own lands. Having the people so poor is what makes many of our richest elite feel real good.
Africa needs and FDR to bust some heads and get things moving for the common citizen. And the USA does too.
Too late.
Systemic crisis.
Road of no return.
Count only the social balance of power.
Fucked
When the IMF shows up, it is over. Want to right the wrongs, rich fuckers? Create an account, throw in 50% of your worth, everyone of you "new" billionaires, and pay off the debt to China. Otherwise, when the last lifeboat is destroyed, Americans will be the scapegoats of the world, and held accountable for the acts of The Federal Reserve. What taxes and bank bail ins don't ripe from your chest, inflation will. Return manufacturing back to your home country. Realize that the elimination of the middle class will set humanity on a course that will lead to a Primal Scream that never stops.
Guys don't let Top Gear derail the thread.. it's the oldest trick in the book.
Once upon a time...
A man and his wife owned a very special goose. Every day the goose would lay a golden egg, which made the couple very rich.
"Just think," said the man's wife, "If we could have all the golden eggs that are inside the goose, we could be richer much faster." "You're right," said her husband, "We wouldn't have to wait for the goose to lay her egg every day." So, the couple killed the goose and cut her open, only to find that she was just like every other goose. She had no golden eggs inside of her at all, and they had no more golden eggs.Another zillionaire plutocrat that cares about inequality not out of a sense of humanity, justice, or compassion, but only to save his own ass.
Even when they get it, they don't "get it."
We'll all be walking around, residents in FEMA camps, still muttering we should do something.
That is one of the reasons that poor kids are poor. They have i-phones.
Hey Tyler!
Did good old Nick pay you extra to keep his blog at the top?
I'll chip in to kick him over to page 3?
Did you get any good pics yet?
My impression is that Hanauer´s article is an example of that the inner circle of the 0.01 %, upper middle-class and lower upper-class neo-conservatives and their liberal equivalents are aware of the problem that an increased number of poor people may constitute an element of risk for the rich and perhaps also for those who now control the American society. But I´m not so sure that the multi-millionaires and billionaires who do not belong to the inner circle of the 0.01 %, old-style upper middle-class and lower upper-class conservatives and their liberal equivalents are aware of the problem. Perhaps there exceptions. An old-style, “pre-Scofield” social conservative like Pat Buchanan may be aware of the problem. But I doubt that a majority of the Tea Party supporters, libertarians and maybe even people like the Koch brothers are aware of the problem.
Spontaneously, I can think of four different strategies which those who rule America may choose in order to deal with the problem:
1. A modified Hanauer strategy which means that you in addition to increased minimum wage also raise import duties. I doubt Hanauers strategy is realistic unless you combine it with tariffs that protect domestic producers from cheap imports. I also think that Hanauer knows that although he claims that he is not very smart. An interesting question is how much additional inflation drastically increased minimum wages would cause and how much inflation could rise with near zero interest rates. I suspect that Hanauer´s strategy may cause problems for senior citizens who suffer when the real rate of interest is negative. Hanauer´s strategy would probably strengthen the current trend of low real interest rates which tend to prop up the stock market.
2. Scrap democracy and impose authoritarian rule. That will reduce the need for keeping the masses happy. Legalized, cheap drugs may facilitate authoritarian rule. I have heard that the reason why the masses were offered lots of almost free vodka in the Soviet Union was to keep people happy and make them less inclined to riot in case fear of the KGB would not be enough. This is probably not a very likely scenario although the militarization of the police with armoured vehicles and more SWAT teams and legalized marijuana could be interpreted as preparations for authoritarian rule as a last resort.
3. The pragmatic, wait and see, strategy. To me, that seems as the most likely strategy. Increase minimum wage somewhat. Perhaps make the open borders slightly less open (Hillary Clinton has indicated something like that). Create a customs union with the EU and raise tariffs somewhat for Chinese exporters. Reduce democracy somewhat. Slow down the expansion of high-speed Internet. See to that competition for existing TV networks does not increase too much and too fast by enabling new contenders to broadcast uninterrupted TV over the Internet. Make sure that it will be too expensive for most people to download uninterrupted broadcasts over the Internet from broadcasters who don´t have pockets that are deep enough. It seems as if new laws that will allow companies with deep pockets buy priority on the Internet for their streaming services so that other bitstreams, but not their own, will be interrupted are in pipeline in the US. The expansion of the American fiber optic network on the residential network level also seems to have been slower in the US than in many other countries, like South Korea.
4. Encourage a revolution similar to the French revolution. Not a very likely strategy but probably not the same threat to the inner circle as Hanauer seems to say. Scenario: Make multi-millionaires and billionaires who are not a part of the inner circle, and have not already donated most of their wealth to charity, scapegoats. Let the government confiscate their wealth. Distribute their wealth to the poor and to the inner circle (both the French revolution and the Russian revolution made some people very rich, although it took almost 80 years before the loot was distributed to a new group of upper-class people, the oligarchs, in Russia). Perhaps they will not have to distribute anything to the poor. That was not necessary neither in France nor in Russia. But if the poor would get some of the confiscated wealth, I guess they would be happy and praise the inner circle and their less affluent allies among neo-conservatives and their liberal equivalents. It would make them popular. I also doubt that the inner circle needs confiscated wealth in order to consolidate their power. The composition of the group ultra rich people seems to have changed quite drastically since the 1920s. My impression is also that this trend has accelerated over the past 30 years and that many new big fortunes made in computer and Internet related businesses are examples of that.
"Most economic fallacies derive from the tendency to assume that there is a fixed pie, that one party can gain only at the expense of another" Milton Friedman
This simple truth, sadly, is lost on so many.
I see the wealth distribution statistic ".01%" or simply the "1%" very differently. To me it means far too many do not produce or innovate. It should be 3-5% at least. Of course there are systemic road blocks thrown up by a corrupt Washington but still despite that it is still possible to create and innovate.
I think the long list of systemic social, economic issues facing this country is missing one big item and that's so many think they are entitled to what others produce. Straight forward envy and greed. While many of you, myself included, are bitching and moaning about what someone else has we don't realize we are actually part of the problem.
http://c7.nrostatic.com/sites/default/files/CIS%20Report%20On%20Employme...
"Job Americans Don’t Do? As we have seen in Table 2, immigrants made gains across the labor market. Looking at broad occupations as shown in that table makes clear that there are tens of millions of natives employed in the occupational cat- egories where immigrants have found jobs in the last 14 years. Thus, part of the reason immigration is likely to adversely impact the employment of some natives is that, contrary to the assertion of some, immigrants often do the same jobs. In an earlier report we examined all 472 civilian detailed occupations as defined by the Department of Commerce. We found only six were majority immigrant (legal and illegal). These six occupations account for 1 percent of the total U.S. workforce. Many jobs often thought to be overwhelmingly immigrant are in fact majority native-born. For example, 51 percent of maids and housekeepers are U.S.-born, as are 63 percent of butchers and meat processors. It is also the case that 64 percent of grounds maintenance workers are U.S.-born, as are 66 percent of construction laborers and 73 percent of janitors.23 It is simply not the case that there are jobs that Americans do not do. "
It is simply not the case that there are jobs that Americans do not do.
I agree. But it has nothing to do with my point.
700th
"This is a theoretical exercise to show how We The People can change the world with a real budget in the hands of people who care.
For this to happen, We The People would have to start our own company..."
The 40 Point Plan
This one hour film released free online in July 2012 discusses the concept of NECA, the National Employment Corporation of America. It was made to generate discussion, and no, NECA doesn't use one dime of taxpayers money. Amazing! After what it "accomplished" in the first five years, imagine what the world would look like by the end of NECA's fifty year charter...
Perhaps Nick would like to be on the dream team of CEOs for NECA : )
" I feel the sense of possibilities, I feel the wrenching of realities, the focus is sharp in the city" Neil Peart
The people who control America are just interested in infinitely more fiat dollars, they don't give a damn about anyone or anything on this planet.
They just want to keep you fed and entertained and endlessly debating bullshit amongst yourselves.
And they have succeeded beyond the wildest dreams of anybody in history.
It is nearly impossible to verbalize what has taken place in the USA and other developed nations by the most educationed and informed people. How can one expect the general public to understand and "debate" it? But, we all know when we on the losing team. It's a feeling of defeat but it is not over yet.
They know they've been robbed in the scam called globalization and make no mistake, globalization is a scam.
Turning this world of ours, with our memories and the sweat that I know my great grandparents exerted putting an infrastructure into place in early 1900s, into theirs due to "sustainability" issues is not going to happen. There will be 200 million dead bodies to bury and this will be a holocaust they'll not be able to carry out without being hunted down like Nazi war criminals afterwards...
The Sleeping Giant, The Americans are awake, finally, and as I know them, their determination, sense of right and wrong and the realization there is no where to run and start over, and the love for their children, will turn this man's fears into reality, it is only a matter of when.
If you absolutely believe someone else controls your destiny you have already enslaved yourself.
The .01% have a plan, and it doesn't involve the 99.99%.
The author is obviously not part of the .01% or he would have known.
Greetings from Davos.
Wow, ZH has already started to bury this article! Less than an day later and it is on page two...
Damn, that was quick.
He is in a position to help others, he is in a position to actually make a difference. Like maybe channel 1% of his income to alternative energy or populating ideas of various groups advocating for a social and economical change.
But what he does - tell his rich friends that they need to stop blood sucking or they will get kicked in the nuts. His suggestion is to rebuild the middle class to have a buffer for their games. To have a group of people beeing OK with their practices of systematic plunder. Rest of the world should go to flame or die from starvation for all he and his friends care. Just "don't suck too much or the body may react" ...
in short - another parasite and nothing else!
As this great response to Nick highlights, any solution starts with term-limits - http://twistedlittlethings.com/tlt/2014/06/29/omg-first-there-was-piketty-and-now-this/.