4 ms·

Hey, look -- the 0.1% are seeing tax proposals on their radar that might actually land on them for once. Quick, to the propaganda cannons! Deflect those taxes,

Hey, look -- the 0.1% are seeing tax proposals on their radar that might actually land on them for once. Quick, to the propaganda cannons! Deflect those taxes, make sure they land on the upper middle class instead, like the last 10 times this happened!

ChuckMcM 5y ago
It is hard not to be this cynical but I was thinking the same thing.
buildbot 5y ago
This 100%. I expect we will see a lot more of these articles
- rootusrootus 5y ago
  There's been a noticeable boost just in the last 24 hours. The super wealthy are remarkably adept at getting the masses to advocate on their behalf. E.g. Musk has already marshaled his sizable army.
elefanten 5y ago
More prosaic explanation: this "philosopher" (AKA dude with philosophy degree who was a management consultant for 20 years) is on a press tour for his new book. edit: Not that I disagree about the existence of the dynamic you point to.
- jjoonathan 5y ago
  I'm not entirely convinced that these are two different mechanisms. Think tanks, economists, political commentators, and politicians all experience strong selective pressure to promote opinions that people with influential money find agreeable. In turn, people with influential money tend to find agreeable opinions to be exactly those that deflect their taxes (or disadvantage labor, or look away from the externalities on which they have built their fortune, etc).
  - elefanten 5y ago
    Fair. Agree completely. But you do still have a wild mix of ambitions, commitments and incentives even among the wealthy/influential that frequently put them at odds with each other. Eg- Omidyar is backing the leaker vs. Zuckerberg -- billionaire contra billionaire. And there's definitely a class of super wealthy who are "class traitors" in the sense that they advocate against super wealth. (You could certainly doubt and debate whether they just support those messages or whether they also support good faith action to that end).
  - medvezhenok 5y ago
    Yup, Chomsky had the same observation: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1nBx-37c3c8 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1nBx-37c3c8
joe_the_user 5y ago
Yeah, the article references a philosopher (Matthew Stewart) [1] who was previously a management consultant and who seems to write primarily on sociological/economic issues. It's not clear what insight or authority he has in these matters and the claims ("The New Aristocracy") are vague and subjective. As others have said, this has been as the middle class for a long time (the original concept of the middle class, not the American concept of everyone who owns a house). And the middle class has been both insecure and sort-of privileged since forever. But you can call 9.9% "very well off" just because the 90% have been sheared so completely (and the 90% get sheared by 9.9% at the direction of the 0.1%, to go back to your point). https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matthew_Stewart_(philosopher) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matthew_Stewart_(philosopher)
fleddr 5y ago
Might I suggest the formula of guilt tripping (you just got lucky, it's not merit) and a pinch of racial tension so that resistance makes you look like a fascist? Oh wait, looks to be already done.

ChuckMcM 5y ago

It is hard not to be this cynical but I was thinking the same thing.

buildbot 5y ago

This 100%. I expect we will see a lot more of these articles

rootusrootus 5y ago
There's been a noticeable boost just in the last 24 hours. The super wealthy are remarkably adept at getting the masses to advocate on their behalf. E.g. Musk has already marshaled his sizable army.

elefanten 5y ago

More prosaic explanation: this "philosopher" (AKA dude with philosophy degree who was a management consultant for 20 years) is on a press tour for his new book. edit: Not that I disagree about the existence of the dynamic you point to.

jjoonathan 5y ago
I'm not entirely convinced that these are two different mechanisms. Think tanks, economists, political commentators, and politicians all experience strong selective pressure to promote opinions that people with influential money find agreeable. In turn, people with influential money tend to find agreeable opinions to be exactly those that deflect their taxes (or disadvantage labor, or look away from the externalities on which they have built their fortune, etc).
- elefanten 5y ago
  Fair. Agree completely. But you do still have a wild mix of ambitions, commitments and incentives even among the wealthy/influential that frequently put them at odds with each other. Eg- Omidyar is backing the leaker vs. Zuckerberg -- billionaire contra billionaire. And there's definitely a class of super wealthy who are "class traitors" in the sense that they advocate against super wealth. (You could certainly doubt and debate whether they just support those messages or whether they also support good faith action to that end).
- medvezhenok 5y ago
  Yup, Chomsky had the same observation: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1nBx-37c3c8 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1nBx-37c3c8

joe_the_user 5y ago

Yeah, the article references a philosopher (Matthew Stewart) [1] who was previously a management consultant and who seems to write primarily on sociological/economic issues. It's not clear what insight or authority he has in these matters and the claims ("The New Aristocracy") are vague and subjective. As others have said, this has been as the middle class for a long time (the original concept of the middle class, not the American concept of everyone who owns a house). And the middle class has been both insecure and sort-of privileged since forever. But you can call 9.9% "very well off" just because the 90% have been sheared so completely (and the 90% get sheared by 9.9% at the direction of the 0.1%, to go back to your point). https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matthew_Stewart_(philosopher) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matthew_Stewart_(philosopher)

fleddr 5y ago

Might I suggest the formula of guilt tripping (you just got lucky, it's not merit) and a pinch of racial tension so that resistance makes you look like a fascist? Oh wait, looks to be already done.