4 ms·

I'm ambivalent about this article. While I agree that the hidden power of mega-philanthropists is unsettling, the hidden players of our "public" government are

by jnbiche 11y ago

I'm ambivalent about this article. While I agree that the hidden power of mega-philanthropists is unsettling, the hidden players of our "public" government are orders of magnitude more powerful. Frankly, differentiating between the "public" and "private" when discussing the ills of the %1 is pointless [1]. People at this level of society move in and out of the top levels of corporations and government all the time. They socialize together, intermarry, and share family bonds. Only together have big business and big government created this massive feedback loop that promotes inequality and loss of freedom for the common man. It pains me to see my "right" and "left" leaning friends blame one side of the coin while completing ignoring the damage wrought by the flip side. 1. To be clear, the top 0.01% is what the article is really referring to, since the top %1 includes people like successful everyday doctors and lawyers. Perhaps a small cadre of powerful bureaucrats at this income level could be reasonably included in the top tier group the article refers to, but for the most part, these are people who are wealthy and influential in their local communities, but decidedly not actors at the level the article describes.

xshift 11y ago
That's just the bizarre socialism we have in the US, where the all-powerful government is allowed to choose which corporations get contracts, and favorable legislation sets up a system where bribe-taking government workers are at the top, and corporations with strong "lobby" (bribery) powers form the second tier.
Retric 11y ago
Most doctors don't qualify into the top 1%. Make 422,000$ / per year in the US? Your in the 99% ;)
- jnbiche 11y ago
  Which is why I used the term "successful" ... lawyer or doctor. But perhaps I should have added, "specialist doctor". But regardless of whether a successful doctor is in the top 1% or the top 1.2% is beside the point I am making. All these people are at a different tier of society than the societal elite this article describes. The only chance a doctor has of making it to that tier of society is too become a successful entrepreneur or politician. Practicing as a successful doctor isn't enough (even though practicing medicine may be far more useful to society).
laotzu 11y ago
>It pains me to see my "right" and "left" leaning friends blame one side of the coin while completing ignoring the damage wrought by the flip side. George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, John Adams, and many others explicitly warned about this. >The alternate domination of one faction over another, sharpened by the spirit of revenge, natural to party dissension, which in different ages and countries has perpetrated the most horrid enormities, is itself a frightful despotism. But this leads at length to a more formal and permanent despotism. The disorders and miseries which result gradually incline the minds of men to seek security and repose in the absolute power of an individual; and sooner or later the chief of some prevailing faction, more able or more fortunate than his competitors, turns this disposition to the purposes of his own elevation, on the ruins of public liberty. Without looking forward to an extremity of this kind (which nevertheless ought not to be entirely out of sight), the common and continual mischiefs of the spirit of party are sufficient to make it the interest and duty of a wise people to discourage and restrain it. -George Washington, Farewell Address It's the age old strategy of divide et impera. It couldn't work if the masses weren't arguing futilely among themselves: >Now, what does all of this mean in this great period of history? It means that we've got to stay together. We've got to stay together and maintain unity. You know, whenever Pharaoh wanted to prolong the period of slavery in Egypt, he had a favorite, favorite formula for doing it. What was that? He kept the slaves fighting among themselves. But whenever the slaves get together, something happens in Pharaoh's court, and he cannot hold the slaves in slavery. When the slaves get together, that's the beginning of getting out of slavery. Now let us maintain unity. -MLK, I've Been to the Mountaintop. Last speech given the night before assassination.
- cmdrfred 11y ago
  I consider myself a skeptic. To me JFK was killed by a lone gunman, we went to the moon, and 911 wasn't a inside job. Then I read I've Been to the Mountaintop and wonder if there wasn't some involvement, at some level, from the US government (or those who control it) in MLK's death. It is already proven they attempted to discredit him, did they simply take that one step further? Then I look at stuff like black lives matter. More white people were killed by police last year than black people. What did all the people murdered by police have in common? They were male, and they were poor. Are we sure this is a white/black problem and not a rich/poor one? Framing it in the black/white context seems to keep the for profit prisons humming along happily.

by jnbiche 11y ago

xshift 11y ago

That's just the bizarre socialism we have in the US, where the all-powerful government is allowed to choose which corporations get contracts, and favorable legislation sets up a system where bribe-taking government workers are at the top, and corporations with strong "lobby" (bribery) powers form the second tier.

Retric 11y ago

Most doctors don't qualify into the top 1%. Make 422,000$ / per year in the US? Your in the 99% ;)

jnbiche 11y ago
Which is why I used the term "successful" ... lawyer or doctor. But perhaps I should have added, "specialist doctor". But regardless of whether a successful doctor is in the top 1% or the top 1.2% is beside the point I am making. All these people are at a different tier of society than the societal elite this article describes. The only chance a doctor has of making it to that tier of society is too become a successful entrepreneur or politician. Practicing as a successful doctor isn't enough (even though practicing medicine may be far more useful to society).

laotzu 11y ago

>It pains me to see my "right" and "left" leaning friends blame one side of the coin while completing ignoring the damage wrought by the flip side. George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, John Adams, and many others explicitly warned about this. >The alternate domination of one faction over another, sharpened by the spirit of revenge, natural to party dissension, which in different ages and countries has perpetrated the most horrid enormities, is itself a frightful despotism. But this leads at length to a more formal and permanent despotism. The disorders and miseries which result gradually incline the minds of men to seek security and repose in the absolute power of an individual; and sooner or later the chief of some prevailing faction, more able or more fortunate than his competitors, turns this disposition to the purposes of his own elevation, on the ruins of public liberty. Without looking forward to an extremity of this kind (which nevertheless ought not to be entirely out of sight), the common and continual mischiefs of the spirit of party are sufficient to make it the interest and duty of a wise people to discourage and restrain it. -George Washington, Farewell Address It's the age old strategy of divide et impera. It couldn't work if the masses weren't arguing futilely among themselves: >Now, what does all of this mean in this great period of history? It means that we've got to stay together. We've got to stay together and maintain unity. You know, whenever Pharaoh wanted to prolong the period of slavery in Egypt, he had a favorite, favorite formula for doing it. What was that? He kept the slaves fighting among themselves. But whenever the slaves get together, something happens in Pharaoh's court, and he cannot hold the slaves in slavery. When the slaves get together, that's the beginning of getting out of slavery. Now let us maintain unity. -MLK, I've Been to the Mountaintop. Last speech given the night before assassination.

cmdrfred 11y ago
I consider myself a skeptic. To me JFK was killed by a lone gunman, we went to the moon, and 911 wasn't a inside job. Then I read I've Been to the Mountaintop and wonder if there wasn't some involvement, at some level, from the US government (or those who control it) in MLK's death. It is already proven they attempted to discredit him, did they simply take that one step further? Then I look at stuff like black lives matter. More white people were killed by police last year than black people. What did all the people murdered by police have in common? They were male, and they were poor. Are we sure this is a white/black problem and not a rich/poor one? Framing it in the black/white context seems to keep the for profit prisons humming along happily.