4 ms·

If anyone remembers who wrote it plz say: First people work hard and barely survive Second people work hard and have enough 3rd people just work and have eno

by 6510 7y ago

If anyone remembers who wrote it plz say: First people work hard and barely survive Second people work hard and have enough 3rd people just work and have enough 4th people barely work and have more than enough 5th Earning things is replaced with entitlements and some have to work hard to make it so. 6th the entitled class grows beyond support then everything caves in. And everything starts over again. In short: To find the end, look for the entitlements.

andrenth 7y ago
It’s been some time since I’ve read it but this could be from The Revolt of the Masses by José Ortega y Gasset.
gullyfur 7y ago
> In short: To find the end, look for the entitlements. Would UBI be considered the ultimate form of entitlements, or is there something past UBI?
- _curious_ 7y ago
  It's interesting to ponder what could be past UBI in terms of entitlements?
  - PeterStuer 7y ago
    Feeling entitled to maintain a parasitic wealth siphoning system so destrctive to a society supposedly justified by a vague 'trickle down' pinky promise that eventually has sucked out so much that you can't but give away some crumbs to let the people literally survive because none were 'trickeling' down from your silver spooned buffets?
- PeterStuer 7y ago
  UBI is the Hail Mary of neoliberale market capitalism. Anything to keep the pointless consumption fueled 'growth' monster from keeling over. The 'ultmate' entitlements can be found in the 'private' sector, where 'institutions too big to fail' can keep gambling and reap enormous profits, and the moment the odds turn feel entitled to not ask but demand bailouts by the public they have been fleecing all along, where 'entrepreneurs' feel not just entitled but expect adoration when their planet destroying externality dumping schemes 'make a profit' or even just get to suck at the tit of the VC ponzi scheme.
_curious_ 7y ago
Do you think there's a correlation between the top comment, about erosion of values and the entitlements you refer to? "My personal favorite is to look at the original values that were used to build the empire. If those values degrade and are not sufficiently replaced/reinforced, this is a sure sign your empire is in decline"
- 6510 7y ago
  It simplifies it, all empires are build on hard work rewarded proportionally. Something else struck me the other day.. Imagine a bar chart with the essential services on the left and entertainment on the right. We all know that the work needed to keep society going isn't paid so well. We also know that profit is huge in things no one needs. The new thing I noticed is that it works like that over the entire spectrum. The more we need something the smaller the investments. New hip things (that we've always done without) are flooded with money. Amazon is hip, the postal service is not. I think it works like this: After a hard reset society rebuilds from scratch. At this point the market is interested in stuff people need. We want that hip new broomstick and we want it now. Eventually the sector stabilizes. Broomsticks continue to be made but the excitement is over. Margins go down and the market moves its attention to the right of the bar chart. Meanwhile the essential industries become more and more efficient but less and less resilient. You could still call it "the original values of the empire" but I believe this public attention or market focus to be a more granular perspective. Entitlements could extend the chart beyond producing stuff no one needs. (at least they are still making something even if it is just video games) Since attention is something that can be controlled it becomes a puzzle that can be solved. We could plant enormous food-forests. They take 80 years to fully mature but I'm sure we can invent some futures market and some subsidies to make it into a truly hip thing.
  - _curious_ 7y ago
    Interesting thoughts, thanks for sharing.

by 6510 7y ago

andrenth 7y ago

It’s been some time since I’ve read it but this could be from The Revolt of the Masses by José Ortega y Gasset.

gullyfur 7y ago

> In short: To find the end, look for the entitlements. Would UBI be considered the ultimate form of entitlements, or is there something past UBI?

_curious_ 7y ago
It's interesting to ponder what could be past UBI in terms of entitlements?
- PeterStuer 7y ago
  Feeling entitled to maintain a parasitic wealth siphoning system so destrctive to a society supposedly justified by a vague 'trickle down' pinky promise that eventually has sucked out so much that you can't but give away some crumbs to let the people literally survive because none were 'trickeling' down from your silver spooned buffets?
PeterStuer 7y ago
UBI is the Hail Mary of neoliberale market capitalism. Anything to keep the pointless consumption fueled 'growth' monster from keeling over. The 'ultmate' entitlements can be found in the 'private' sector, where 'institutions too big to fail' can keep gambling and reap enormous profits, and the moment the odds turn feel entitled to not ask but demand bailouts by the public they have been fleecing all along, where 'entrepreneurs' feel not just entitled but expect adoration when their planet destroying externality dumping schemes 'make a profit' or even just get to suck at the tit of the VC ponzi scheme.

_curious_ 7y ago

Do you think there's a correlation between the top comment, about erosion of values and the entitlements you refer to? "My personal favorite is to look at the original values that were used to build the empire. If those values degrade and are not sufficiently replaced/reinforced, this is a sure sign your empire is in decline"

6510 7y ago
It simplifies it, all empires are build on hard work rewarded proportionally. Something else struck me the other day.. Imagine a bar chart with the essential services on the left and entertainment on the right. We all know that the work needed to keep society going isn't paid so well. We also know that profit is huge in things no one needs. The new thing I noticed is that it works like that over the entire spectrum. The more we need something the smaller the investments. New hip things (that we've always done without) are flooded with money. Amazon is hip, the postal service is not. I think it works like this: After a hard reset society rebuilds from scratch. At this point the market is interested in stuff people need. We want that hip new broomstick and we want it now. Eventually the sector stabilizes. Broomsticks continue to be made but the excitement is over. Margins go down and the market moves its attention to the right of the bar chart. Meanwhile the essential industries become more and more efficient but less and less resilient. You could still call it "the original values of the empire" but I believe this public attention or market focus to be a more granular perspective. Entitlements could extend the chart beyond producing stuff no one needs. (at least they are still making something even if it is just video games) Since attention is something that can be controlled it becomes a puzzle that can be solved. We could plant enormous food-forests. They take 80 years to fully mature but I'm sure we can invent some futures market and some subsidies to make it into a truly hip thing.
- _curious_ 7y ago
  Interesting thoughts, thanks for sharing.