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Hypothesis: Events like this are the modern moral equivalent of the giant, gaudy, gilt-encrusted palaces of the 17th century. Economic disparity has reached a
by munificent 7y ago
Hypothesis: Events like this are the modern moral equivalent of the giant, gaudy, gilt-encrusted palaces of the 17th century.
Economic disparity has reached a point where those at the top end literally have more money than they know what to do with and are increasingly spending it on stupider and stupider things out of some perceived need to do something.
- gmartell 7y agoI like your hypothesis but fear the reality is less benign. To me it seems most ('those at the top' as you put it) do what they do in an attempt to obtain ever more money and power - never satisfied with how much they already possess.
- p1esk 7y agoSo nothing has changed in this regard since 17th century, right?
- raincom 7y agoThanks to surveillance and collusion between politicians and the elite, now the elite is more protected than ever.
- p1esk 7y agoWas the elite less protected in 17th century?
- SwiftyBug 7y agoThey ended up having their heads cut off, so, yes.
- p1esk 7y agoAccording to [1] there have been more revolutions in the last 10 years than in the entire 17th century. [1] https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_revolutions_and_rebellions https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_revolutions_and_rebe...
- MFLoon 7y agoInteresting observation, but a) events of the last 10 years are documented at an exponentially higher rate and resolution than events of the 17th century, and b) this list has lots of events which hardly raise to the level of the large scale revolutions of the 17th century, aaand c) none of these events are taking place in global centers of wealth and power. Today's elites are without a doubt more protected than the denizens of Versailles precisely because their power and wealth operate on a global scale.
- p1esk 7y agoRe global centers - is it because elites are better protected, or because there are fewer people willing to die on barricades? Vast majority of Americans have a decent life today (eg not starving, not being exploited and treated like slaves by the elites), unlike the vast majority of population in the 17th century in Europe.
- MFLoon 7y agoI mean, both. But there are plenty of self proclaimed radicals in America who claim they'd be willing to die on the barricades, but a) there's no central set of barricades upon which to die, even in the global "centers" and b) the ones that do exist are way too well protected. Remember Occupy Wall St? That was essentially an attempt to besiege (albeit non-violently) the financial power centers, but it was easily swatted away by local municipalities armed to the teeth with military grade crowd control tools.
- p1esk 7y ago
- stickfigure 7y agoEvents like this are the modern moral equivalent of the giant, gaudy, gilt-encrusted palaces of the 17th century. I think this vastly overstates it. Versailles cost some significant fraction of France's GDP - possibly as much as 25% in some years. WeWork's $10B is a mere drop in the US' $20T GDP.
- p1esk 7y agoNot to mention Versailles was built with taxpayers money.
- gwbas1c 7y agoIt's not as straightforward with VC money. VCs have to answer to investors. (Hopefully someone more knowledgable can chime in,) but I always thought VC was a mix of government, private, and institutional funds?
- munificent 7y agoI think there's an argument that taxpayers are indirectly funding all of this. If you assume that the government needs $X to perform its function then when tax rates are cut for corporations and those wealthy enough to game the system, its everyone else whose taxes pay the shortfall. The reason there is so much money floating around the top end is specifically because they've figured out how to foist their tax burden onto others.
- rchaud 7y agoWeWork is just one part of it, however. Uber is another Ponzi scheme, living on underpriced rides and multi-billion losses for as long as their bond rating holds up.
- dclowd9901 7y agoAnd what's their profit exit? The ever-innovative and dubious "forcing people to watch fucking ads while they ride around."
- 7y ago
- deleted 7y ago[deleted]