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The first plot is especially troubling. The last time the top 1% had as much as the bottom 90% was right on the eve of WWII. Now, an exclusively economic inter
by giansegato 5y ago
The first plot is especially troubling. The last time the top 1% had as much as the bottom 90% was right on the eve of WWII.
Now, an exclusively economic interpretation of history is certainly wrong, but one cannot refrain from thinking that this much inequality won't lead to social unrest at best, flat out war at worst
- amelius 5y agoAs long as the public has access to cheap entertainment like Netflix and social media, there will be no war. Panem et circenses.
- Y_Y 5y agoBread and circuses only protect against attack from within.
- orangepanda 5y agoExport it then. "My people are now buying your blue jeans and listening to your pop music"
- toyg 5y agoCulture victory imminent!
- i_am_proteus 5y agoThe USA is, metaphorically, a powerful exporter of both.
- yetihehe 5y agoYeah, but it looks like we will be out of "bread" soon (or "bread" too expensive to buy, which is the same). Netflix won't be enough without access to food.
- rcMgD2BwE72F 5y agoNetflix does not pay rents, food, gas, healthcare and the rest. Entertainment only distracts you from minor inconveniences.
- giantg2 5y agoSome people are content on SNAP, Medicaid, public housing, etc.
- yardie 5y agoAnd in most states, all 3 of those programs require they have some form of work, except those on disability.
- giantg2 5y agoI don't think that's completely true. Generally, housing and SNAP have work requirements for most people. Medicaid generally does not. There's a recent waiver process that allows states to implement a work requirement, but most states have not taken advantage of that. I have a relative that lived in free public housing, recieved SNAP, and is on Medicaid. I know they still get food from the food bank, but I'm not sure if they still get SNAP. They moved out of the free housing into an apartment (inheritance). They refuse to get a job.
- yardie 5y agoFood banks aren't means tested. I've seen plenty of BMWs pull up to one during the pandemic. Medicaid is extremely means tested. You can't own assets >$3000. Chances are your relative that inherited an apartment is no longer receiving Medicaid. And SNAP not only has a work requirement but there is retraining requirement as well. So somehow your relative managed to not get caught by 3 different gov't agencies?
- giantg2 5y agoI believe it was transferred in an indirect way, maybe a trust.
- michaelt 5y agoPeople don't only need Netflix and Facebook - they also need homes, medical care, and enough free time to make use of Netflix and Facebook.
- 1cvmask 5y agohttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bread_and_circuses https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bread_and_circuses António de Oliveira Salazar, the dictator of Portugal had a similar take on it. The triple Fs of Fado (music), Futbol (sports) and Fiesta (entertainment: Três F https://pt.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tr%C3%AAs_F https://pt.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tr%C3%AAs_F https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ant%C3%B3nio_de_Oliveira_Salazar https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ant%C3%B3nio_de_Oliveira_Salaz...
- throwaway59553 5y agoThe third F is for "Fátima" (Our Lady of Fátima). And besides the Football, it has nothing to do with Bread and Circus, as every people should cling to their Faith and customs. Edit: This is present in your own links you didn't bother reading, and you'd see those "Three Fs" wasn't any Regime motto, but post 25 April propaganda, the official one was "Deus, Pátria e Família" (God, Fatherland, Family).
- ClumsyPilot 5y agoYou are missing the bread part, as housing, education and healthcare become unaffordable
- rcMgD2BwE72F 5y agoThat is the main thesis of https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capital_in_the_Twenty-First_Century https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capital_in_the_Twenty-First_Ce.... IIRC, most societies don't tolerate such inequality and there are two options to reduce them greatly (besides taxes): - wars (in the end, massive destruction tends to make all _surviving_ men more equal) - and hyperinflation (the poor suffer but since most wealth is held by the rich, inflation affects them most).
- roenxi 5y agoHyperinflation doesn't directly hurt people who have wealth, the valuation of the wealth in cash terms is the part of the system going up. Hyperinflation directly hurts income earners and anyone who holds a significant part of their wealth in cash.
- pydry 5y agoIt hurts creditors more than anybody else. It certainly helps hit the reset button on aggregate debt levels.
- Sebb767 5y agoOnly in part. A lot of loan and mortgage contracts (at least in the EU) have provisions built in that allow banks to reject down payments over a specific limit, usually 5-10%. If push comes to shove, the state might even force you to mortage your home to finance itself after crisis [0]. It surely helps debtors a bit, but you can't just go to your bank with a single note and be done. [0] https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zwangshypothek#Geschichte https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zwangshypothek#Geschichte (unfortunately only in German)
- pydry 5y ago>have provisions built in that allow banks to reject down payments over a specific limit, usually 5-10%. That would mean instead of paying them a lump sum of equivalent-to-$100 to pay off your mortgage you end up paying an equivalent of, say $2 per month? I have heard of this sort of thing happening to some people when hyperinflation kicked in - effectively getting a free house/car/etc.
- easytiger 5y agoYou know that inequality in the USA had absolutely nothing to do with WWII right?
- christophilus 5y agoMonetary woes (and egregious war penalties) had a whole lot to do with the rise of fascism, though, so it’s not totally off-base.
- easytiger 5y agoReally? The guy just tried to equate particular wealth in the USA with Hitler's desire to establish the 3rd Reich. It's not on the same planet, let alone on base
- giansegato 5y agoYou know that the US had one of the largest stake in Germany's appalling debt before Hitler took power, right? Why do you think it took 10 years for the Nazis to go to power? Between '23 and '33 one thing happened: 1929. And yes: it happened in New York.
- easytiger 5y agoI think you'll find more than one thing happened. As it happens the Nazis rise to power is just about the most studied period of human history. Trying to generate some level of John Nash type synchronicity going from an invalid inference of similarity between wealth inequality in two separate periods of history to ww2 to impeding doom is absurd. Even more foolish to assert the great depression was so simply explained by inequality. That's obviously not the case.
- giansegato 5y agoNever once I said it's the _only_ reason this happened (obviously). But between "it's the only reason" and "it has nothing to do with it" there's a lot of ground to cover, don't ya think? I don't think it's far fetched to assert that the US and Germany in the 20s were extremely connected, financially speaking. How much this impacted the subsequent events can be debated. But believing in no impact at all is just intellectually dishonest. It's a plain fact that '29 and investment dry-up in Europe caused incredible hardship on Germans (and their voting preferences in the '33 elections).
- alfiedotwtf 5y agoWith no enforced minimum wage in America, and with planned "Company Towns" where employers like Amazon have employees rent company-owned houses, it's almost like America is On The Road To Serfdom.
- kazen44 5y agomore ilke a return to the gilded age. The question is if the violence of the last half of the 19th and first half of the 20th century will return aswell.