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When The Aristocracy Leaves The Commoners In The Dust, The Empire Is Doomed
Submitted by Charles Hugh-Smith of OfTwoMinds blog,
We all know the barriers between the commoners and the Elite rise higher every year, despite the claims of the corporate media and the Power Elite aristocracy.
Historian Peter Turchin identified "the degree of solidarity felt between the commons and aristocracy" as a key ingredient of the Republic of Rome's enormous success. Turchin calls this attribute of social structure vertical integration, a term that usually refers to a corporation owning its supply chain.
In Turchin's meaning, it refers to the sense of purpose and identity shared by the top, middle and bottom of the wealth/power pyramid. One measure of this vertical integration is the degree of equality/inequality between the commoners (shall we call this the lower 90% of American households by income?) and the Power Elite aristocracy (top .5%, or perhaps top .1%).
The vertical integration of the Roman Republic's social strata is striking. In his book War and Peace and War: The Rise and Fall of Empires, Turchin tells this anecdote:
"Roman historians of the later age stressed the modest way of life, even poverty of the leading citizens. For example, when Cincinnatus was summoned to be dictator, while working at the plow, he reportedly exclaimed, 'My land will not be sown this year and so we shall run the risk of not having enough to eat!'"
Can you conjure up the image of any presidential hopeful in a field actually working to grow food for his/her family?
Turchin goes on to say this vertical integration is a feature of all successful empires:
"(This) lack of glaring barriers between the aristocracy and the commons seems to be a general characteristic of successful imperial nations during their early phase."
Once the barriers between commoners and the Elite become impassable, the Empire is doomed. As noted in Following in Ancient Rome's Footsteps: Moral Decay, Rising Wealth Inequality (September 30, 2015), military service was a distinguishing feature of the Elites and landowning commoners of Rome.
Indeed, as noted in the above essay, Rome's aristocracy suffered higher rates of KIA (killed in action) than the commoners.
Can you conjure up the image of any presidential hopeful in a combat zone risking his/her life? Please don't make me laugh by saying "yes"... George Bush I was the last president to actually risk his life in theater, in combat.
By the end of the empire, the middle class of asset-owning commoners had been extinguished. Confiscatory taxes (ahem, ring any bells?) drove the middle class into serfdom.
Imagine this happening in present-day America: "The wealthy classes were also the first to volunteer extra taxes when they were needed."
Paging all presidential hopefuls--here's your chance to reclaim the glory of Republican Rome by volunteering to pay higher taxes. Hillary? The Donald? Anyone?
Accessibility is another measure of low barriers between the wealthy Elites and the commoners. A few corporate leaders are making an effort to be accessible to their employees. Tony Hsieh, CEO of Zappos, lives in a trailer that is often the site of meetings. Is this perfect vertical integration? No, but it's certainly a step in the right direction compared to wealthy elites buying and fortifying islands against anything but a drone/cruise missile strike.
This chart shows the number of households in each income category, broken into $5,000 segments. The last two bars to the right are those making $200,000+ annually, roughly 4% of households.
What this doesn't show is the preponderance of income/wealth in the top .1%:
We all know the barriers between the commoners and the Elite rise higher every year, despite the claims of the corporate media and the Power Elite aristocracy, which is naturally desperate to maintain the fantasy that they are "regular folks" despite their immense wealth.
The Power Elite aristocracy isn't dumb; they fully understand once the illusion of their shared purpose and identity with the commoners is shattered, their invulnerability is history.
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The China International Payment System (CIPS) officially began its operations on Thursday, a statement posted on the country’s State Council website has said.
Fan Yifei, deputy governor of the central bank, the People’s Bank of China, told a ceremony in Shanghai that the establishment of CIPS “will allow increasing efficiency of cross-border settlement in yuans and encourage the yuan’s use globally.”
http://tass.ru/en/economy/827143
My girlfriend is making $250K per year. HALF her income is taken away by TAXES. The other half is decimated by child support payments based on her GROSS income. She told me that she would have more money for herself if she was only making $80K per year! Something is wrong where a high income earner can barely scrape by. What is her plan? To start her own business (she's a high level mining executive) and OFFSHORE ALL HER COMPANIES to the Carribbean and earn income via DIVIDENDS which are only taxed at 25%.
O'Bama's FATCA, Obamacare Taxes and other taxes and regulations are meant to fleece the middle class workers to support the two extremes -- the FSA at the low end and the Elites at the top.
The Repugnicans with Boner at thier head have been almost useless. Time for them to be replaced from top to bottom.
https://www.facebook.com/IhateObamacare
flacon I wrote a paper on child support years ago. The best way out of poverty for the poor is divorce! You can double or triple your income by ditching the 1st hubby.
They key point here that CHS is missing is social capital. If feminists, coloreds, zionists or the ultra rich choose to constantly feed off of those who keep the system going and not contribute, then things fall apart. Its really quite simple. And this dearth of social capital is why in sub-saharan Africa there is little but Hobbs's brutal existance.
Fascist bimbo's using their vaginas to exploit the system is a clear case of eroding social capital.
Any time a commenter uses unfunny and unclever spellings of political leaders I always quit reading. Obummer, Democrap, Repugnicans, etc. So juvenile and retarded. So funny because it comes from both sides equally. It shows there is no difference nor shortage in stupidity in either party or "side" if you will. If you want your comment to be taken seriously just use their names, or back to Drudge and Huffinton and enjoy their comment sections. Zerohedge used to have some of the best comment sections around. Maybe that was before they sold out to ABC and the original Tyler's left. Either way sad.
after the Tyler's left, some of the commenter's started doing other thing's, too.
like using unfunny spelling's when they sign a post.
hug's,
misteryellen's
Hey Barry-- kiddo-- concern yourself with the quality of the comments' content, rather than the re-names. 'Obummer, Democrap, Repugnicans', etc. are all fine and give a quick clue as to how the person behind the comment feels about them.
And while you're at it, consider political cartoons. Similar idea, only in graphic form.
I see we have folks from the FSA here, downvoting you. Meh. Fuck 'em.
This article gets it right except for one thing: he missed a decimal point, in assigning blame. Your GF is a top 0.1%er. She's getting monkey hammered.
OTOH, the top 0.01% are reaping the benefits of her labor via their crony fascist relationship to government.
Yep. The government literally strip mines my small business, which has caused me to say heck with that I am NOT going to expand, I'm done innovating, and I am never going hire employees again. Why work my buttocks off only to have my reward taken from me by threat of force for re-distribution.
I'm small fry, barely in the 1%, but a million like-minded small business owners doing the same adds up to the economy tanking.
I'm with you, ambition and joy of ownership gone, long time ago.
Gee, its almost as if it were by design this tanking you speak of. Why, I bet "fundamental change" is a lot easier with a bereft and destitute majority. Now, if they could only figure out a way to disarm them all...
FORWARD SOVIET!
LOL!!! Right, because the yaun is so "stable"...
this is in fact global Weimar motherfuckers!
hedge accordingly!
Shhhh... You'll upset the optimists. Our new elite class knows that this time will be different since THEY are running the show, and after all the free shit army would never riot.....
You're speaking of the Useful Idiots. The apparatchiks. The hired hands to mind the Farm on behalf of the Owners. The International Money Power doesn't give a shit what happens to America, beyond its usefulness in breaking kneecaps and turning tricks.
I believe the Rockefellers have estates in over 80 countries. When the FSA riots, HRH John David the Vth won't be at the Kwik E Mart in Ferguson. People still think in terms of countries, when it's obvious that power now resides in Supranational Entities.
The New Elite is global, they rule from anywhere they want to be. And so long as their corporate matrix of control and ability to issue credit through banking scams is not impeded, they will continue to do so. They're not a landed aristocracy. They're not elected officials. They're not local. They won't be here when the shit goes down.
And thus, they have no stake in any nation's future whatsoever. When it's sucked dry, fucked out, and used up, they'll have the hired hands push it into a war with another broken debtor whore. And after your entire country has been laid to waste? They'll show up to lend you the credit to rebuild. Early investors reap the largest gains!! Fuckin goys, why do they never learn?
Weimar World is exactly right.
I wonder how much of aristocratic wealth is in paper form. A financial collapse may even the score a bit.
LOL. MOST OF IT.
besides real-estate, yeah most of it. To quote, I believe Harry Dent, "Homer Simpson" does not own stocks, bonds or other imaginary claims on "wealth". The ultra wealthy will have a 50% hair cut if the system isn't supported on our backs.
Bingo motherfuckers!!! We are "rich" and "wealthy" because we have and have had access to money printed out of thin air, as well as inside information!!!
Good to know, thank you for letting us know, please step in line for the guillotine and I promise all your problems will stop.
Next!!!
(methinks that they doth complain a bit too loudly!)
Wasn't that the point of Project Mayhem all along?
A lot but if you own a yacht, 5 mansions with enough land to start your own country and 50 cars, you have stuff to sell and you'll survive.
And if you own a company, you may have to cut down but if you handle it smartly, they can fully recover even after the biggest cash and have a way bigger chance.
Also, they devide their wealth over several nations worldwide. They have bugout bags but their bags have a shitload of cash and gold.
Do you know how you get rich?
By taking on a shitload of debt. If you're rich, mostly your debt is higher then you're value.
And you learn that every dollar can go into smoke. They know that way better then most people. If you see the employee cost, the overhead... of a company, you're talking big sums of money.
And they know that if their company would go bust, that they would lose it all. And for that, they've hired people to hide their wealth. To make sure they can start over if need be. And that is never on any books. Sometimes it's electronic, sometimes it's a painting or 20 books on the shelf that are worth 20 million dollars and that they can carry.
And how do they hide it in plain sight?
Museums!!!
They start a museum and hand up the art the "lend" to the museum. And the paper constructions are pretty awesome and complex but if need be they can sell those things and restart.
And as long as there's heat, they can leave it there and nobody can tough it.
And if you want to know more, just google the number of museums in you state. There's a lot more then you ever thought possilble. Most can only be visited 1 day a week or month and that's just for their own accountancy to make it a legit "museum".
The theme of this article will have a greater impact on our total society and wellbeing than any other event in the near future.
"The Power Elite aristocracy isn't dumb; they fully understand once the illusion of their shared purpose and identity with the commoners is shattered, their invulnerability is history."
Charles- methinks you subscribe to wishful thinking. Our new overlords are so far removed from the people that actually do things, that they will only know there is a problem when the wax on their wings melts as they fly too close to the sun.
Look at polls, people, in general, despise politicians and bankers. Only politicians and bankers think they are immune from consequences.
<< Only politicians and bankers think they are immune from consequences. >>
They are. They own the SEC, DOJ, and most other regulatory law enforcement bodies.
Since March 10th 2008 I am the power elite, and the new aristocracy, but the old aristocracy has not caught on yet, unfortunately.
The division of labor only works when all parties gain something.
When one party gets the idea that they are powerful enough to get everything, then cooperation doesn't pay.
So, I disagree. The Elites ARE IDIOTS.
Because they think they can get everything.
No they can't.
In trying to get everything they can make everything disappear - and not disappear into their living quarters. There's a substantial difference.
Because for someone to get something-for-nothing, someone else must get nothing-for-something. When that 'someone else' catches on, there will be no more 'somethings' available from them.
And anyone who thinks that labor-savings devices are labor-elimination devices needs to explain how it is that no other labor savings device has ever before had that effect, but only changed which labor is done.
Yes, in short, eventually, if you don't perform work that is of real fucking value, you don't eat.
gcjohns1971
True.
But I especially like hearing people tell me everything will be done with robots. Even the robot that builds robots is built by a human.
And having owned and operated many factories, I am staggered by the ignorance of those that are only book-learned. "life-time" bearings- that last their lifetime- which can be days or weeks. Vibration that jiggles out electrical connections. Everything requires maintainance and repairs. Fully automated factories have humans to problem solve their issues; or they don't run.
K
Good points, and I agree. The problem, as I see it, is that the increases in automation lead to two conequences.
1) productivity increases to the point that far more stuff is produced than we have gainfully employed consumers to puchase.
2) the type of jobs available in this new, high tech environment require a level of intelligence, aptitude and work ethic that is well above the average person.
Normally, this would sort itself out. The people without the skillset to thrive in this environment would be under-represented in subsequent generations, and, admittedly with a little lag, the overall level of competence would keep pace with the increased requirements of the society.
HOWEVER.
We have the 'progressive' WELFARE STATE. This is DESIGNED to subsidize the Lowest Common Denominator in reproducing at the highest rate. Those who push 'progressive' policies know damn well that anything which is subsidized increases. Thus, the subsidy of incompetence is designed to overrun society with said incompetence.
They're not stupid. They're evil.
So, we have a situation where the demands of the economy upon workers are rising, while the overall level of competence amongst the masses is decreasing. This, in turn, gives rise to the Free Shit Army. Thery merely represent the gap between the ability of the masses and the requirements of the economy.
For the globalist psychopaths, this is the desired outcome. A world of helpless, dependedt idiots, over which they can rule as self-imagined gods, and a society that crushes down any 'commoners' of above-average ability, thereby removing them from competition. Remember, psychopaths aren't the best and brightest, they're merely the most selfish and vicious.
- Smash the welfare state FIRST.
- Gut the government's ability to create and protect monopolies and cartels NEXT.
- Create trade policies with every nation on Earth which exactly mirror theirs with us, so far as actual outcome and effect. Close your markets to us? Good luck selling anything into ours.
- Bring our military home; close the bases all over the world that pour billions of our tax dollars into countries that vicitimze us with trade imbalances. Make the socialist utopias bear the cost of keeping their own damn shipping lanes free of pirates. Let them provide for their own defense. Quit subsidizing their "cradle to grave" at our expense.
And for those who say that countries like China and Russia will step into the vacuum we leave if we do this? Well, when Reagan made his famous "the bombing starts in 5 minutes" remark, into a mic he "didn't know was on"? PLEEEASE. He'd been a performer for years. He knew damn well what he was doing. We merely need to look at Moscow and Bejing, and let them know that we prefer a world where only the cockroaches are left, as opposed to a world run by either of them. They're bullies, and bullies never actually want a fight. Look at the US government right now. Do they want a fight? Hell no. They've been beating up on little countries that can't fight back. Putin rolls up into Syria, and the USSA craps itself.
Take the above steps, strengthen our country again, then look at the other bully countries, and promise them a fight they will not like, if they don't let the smaller countries sort themselves out.
Then, turn our attention to becoming, once again, a beacon in the world for the best and brightest to come and realize their wildest dreams.
"- Smash the welfare state FIRST."
Odd, no mention of corporate welfare..
Sorry, when the bow breaks this time, it will be a free-for-all.
Yes, corporate welfare was addressed in the second point. Regulation that picks winners and losers is only half of the crony fascist equasion. TBTF is the other half. The entire edifice of government being able to cozy up to business, in any way, has to be destroyed.
However, the corporate welfare isn't what's overrun our society with Kardashian watchers. That's actually a more pressing problem, just because of the sheer numbers involved.
You propose reform. Reforms is how we got here.
Forget all that, the only question is the year we choose as a base, and to repeal all laws passed after that date.
Wholesale by algorithm, if you allow any 'judgment' it will never happen.
1776 seems like a good year, Minimum hassle, a single law that repeals all laws since. Then wait 20 years to see what the problems actually are before we begin very cautiously activating our state again.
https://thinkpatriot.wordpress.com/2015/10/07/leboweski-enlightenment-5/
All this shit that's going on is caused by out of control government psychopaths that do not have a moral compas.
We don't need a government. Free markets are all about living a moral life where people are free to choose their lifestyle, employment, language, associates, who to buy from and sell to and anything else that does not coerce or otherwise threaten or commit violence on another person. Established authority is antithetical to a free market society.
The Market for Liberty
"This book is very radical in the true sense of that term: it gets to the root of the problem of government and provides a rethinking of the whole organization of society. They start at the beginning with the idea of the individual and his rights, work their way through exchange and the market, expose government as the great enemy of mankind, and then—and here is the great surprise—they offer a dramatic expansion of market logic into areas of security and defense provision.
Their discussion of this controversial topic is integrated into their libertarian theoretical apparatus. It deals with private arbitration agencies in managing with disputes and criminality, the role of insurers in providing profitable incentives for security, and private agencies in their capacity as protection services. It is for this reason that Hans Hoppe calls this book an "outstanding yet much neglected analysis of the operation of competing security producers."
When "income" and "wealth" becomes dependent upon FRAUD/PRINTING and that new "money" is only going to a realitive few, yes, you in fact have a "let the majority eat cake" monetary experiment!!!
I expect that the results of this experiment will be exactly the same as last time. Of course, now this is being done on a global scale!!!
hedge accordingly.
The article seems to equate paying higher taxes with higher virtue. TAXES? Are you kidding?
As Gibbon pointed out several times, the Roman elite VOLUNTARILY built public works for the benefit of all citizens, things like baths, bridges etc. They weren't taxed to build things, they built out of a sense of civic virtue. Roman elite were different from the elite of other societies in that sense. And this aspect of Roman eliteness gradually was killed off as Roman elites destroyed each other.
In any case, paying more taxes only encourages destruction by taxation.
And the wealth to build all of that, "without taxes," came from?
An empire's warm and fuzzy beginnings usually come to be by the conquest of some other group or groups. "Conquest" really means raping and pillaging. But, we don't want to have to look back that far into our less-than-perfect past as that wouldn't support our premise that there's a way that we can be "civil" all on its own (w/o raping and pillaging others).
People are still unable to SEE the BIG PICTURE: GROWTH always overruns capacity to feed it, at which point decay sets in; it is not, as Si John Glubb clearly revealed in his writing The Survival of Civilization, that ALL empires collapsed, and that it mattered not what kind of governing/religious structure or leader(s) was in place.
Income?...how passe....Assets are the measure of wealth. If my company value increases 50 fold....and I don't sell...did I pay any taxes or get "income"? The genius of the tax code is to not tax the very wealthy all that often....and when they do...it is at a lower rate...and don't forget deferred income and generation skilling scams
Liberté, égalité, fraternité
The graph is very interesting. However, there has to be an error in it. It makes no sense for ~0.25% of the population to make $190,000-$194,999 and then ~2% make $195,000-$199,999. I get that ~2% make >$200,000...that makes sense. There should just be one big candlestick at the end, not two. Of course, there could be this thing where a certain group makes exactly $199,999/yr. or at least that's all they claim for tax purposes.
Yes, clearly the statistics are screwed here unless there is an unaturally large cohort between 195k and 200k.
Cincinnatus at the plow (great stateman though he was) was merely engaging in political theater. The Romans were very sensitive to propaganda and the "media" of the day. He was a very wealthy man, and his affectation was no more geniune than Reagan clearing brush on the "ranch". The stratification of society had been solidified centuries before -- in fact before the beginning of the republic, hence the fixed Patrician and Plebian class, and the separation between Senate & Assembly. It was only later that free market conditions and commerce led to the blurring of lines between the wealthy and the commoners -- when wealth could be acquired in other ways than hereditary ownership large tracts of land bestowed by the government.
What's different between Cincinnatus' day and ours, is that he (like Reagan) still felt compelled to put on the semblance of being a "man of the people".
Or maybe more aptly, people (including academics) were once less likely to be fooled by political theater.
Lincoln, however humble his origins, was a lawyer, not a rail splitter. It was his opponents who tried to brand hiim a simpleton, and it was part of his genius to ham it up for the "folks" and it's been a characteristic of the Republican party ever since.
And still knew how to be a man of the people.
The %age of life experience overlap between our 0.1% and the average college-educated person is lower than ever, and also us with our poorest.
I think we need to eliminate toilets, go back to chamberpots, we have lost the common definition of humanity and can no longer communicate class to class.
https://thinkpatriot.wordpress.com/2015/10/07/leboweski-enlightenment-5/
The modern aristocracy is what Alvin Gouldner referred to as the new class. The new class has two strata, the intelligentsia who are the apparatchiks of the new class, lawyers, editors, doctors, etc... and the intellectuals, college professors, deans, writers, etc... The apparatchiks are trained by the intellectuals and so it is the intellectuals who decide the direction society will go. Today the new class has a monopoly on power, political, cultural and economic.
You interact with the new class every time you read a newspaper, get an attorney, buy stocks or go to college. What you think you know, what you do for work and what you are told looks good on you is decided by the new class.
Their monopoly on power and absolute self interest makes them a defacto oligarchy. Aristotle said there are three right forms of government and three wrong forms. The right forms are Monarchy, Aristocracy and Polity, the wrong forms are tyranny, oligarchy and democracy. The right forms are right, because they seek the betterment of all people, while the wrong forms only seek the betterment of themselves. He went on to say that a republic, a blending of the right forms, is the best government, but we no longer live in a republic when everything is controlled by an aristocracy, or in our case, an oligarchy.
As a class, it seeks it's own best interests while pushing the Frankfurt school's philosophy, as guided by the intellectuals. But it must appear to be looking for the betterment of all of society for just the reasons this article states... to maintain societal cohesion. How do we know they practice Thrasymachus' version of justice? By their policies, policies that move us from our founding principles, to a very different place, a dark place, where illegal immigration is seen as a good thing because we haven't been taking out historic role, the relentless driving down of wages, the overt destruction of the family, idolizing evil and demonising good, the removal of Christianity from the public square and replacing it with Islam and atheism, the double standard, the list goes on and on.
Look up the Frankfurt school of philosophy, and Gouldner's new class...
You could start by reading my articles at http://incapp.org/
Nice. Good info. Here's a link to a page on the Frankfurt School: http://www.schillerinstitute.org/fid_91-96/921_frankfurt.html
Ultra cool link, HopefulCynical, merci buckets.
Misplaced reply.
More artciles like this please. The out of control criminal cabal that is ultimately responsible for the destruction of the middle class, the destruction of our freedoms and the destruction of the environment, through their cynical abuse of their control of the right to issue money needs to be exposed as the first step in dethroning them. Keep up the good work Charles and lets get the rockefellers and Rothschilds exposed for the living crime against humanity that they are..
More artciles like this please. The out of control criminal cabal that is ultimately responsible for the destruction of the middle class, the destruction of our freedoms and the destruction of the environment, through their cynical abuse of their control of the right to issue money needs to be exposed as the first step in dethroning them. Keep up the good work Charles and lets get the rockefellers and Rothschilds exposed for the living crime against humanity that they are..
The elitists have always tried to simultaneously oppress and parasitically live off of the rest of humanity. This has evolved into a subtle war where the elitists are trying to continuously increase control. If they lose control, thewill probably kill us.
The people have NEVER fought back. When was the last time you head of an elitist being killed by someone who is not an elitist. It doesn't happen, but it could happen ... imagine security guards, maids, drivers and gardeners turning on their employers around the world. Imagine worker bees refusing to spy for the NSA, CIA and FBI. Imagine the military refusing to murder for their bosses who hide behind desks.