> Their lifestyles aren't free. It's not about how they spend money, it's about how they "make" money. It's about their passive income. The economy is a machi

> Their lifestyles aren't free. It's not about how they spend money, it's about how they "make" money. It's about their passive income. The economy is a machine that squeezes workers: it pays as little as possible while extracting as much value as possible. The juice that results from the squeeze then gets distributed according to who owns the financial assets. One person's passive income is another person's obligation to pay up while receiving no actual work in return. The true excess of the rich is the juice from the squeeze -- getting paid for being rich -- not in the particulars of how they spend it. ----------- Ok, so that framing was hyper aggressive, more than I think is fair, because there is another side to this story: as a consumer, you get to put the squeeze on producers and make them compete, investment carries risk, consumer excess exists too, etc etc. You know the story, you've heard it a hundred times before. However, I'd wager you have heard the "how capitalism works for you" side at least 10x as often as the "how capitalism works against you" side, which should be suspicious, because both are true and both are highly relevant to your life. Also, if you felt that the paragraph above was hyper aggressive, you should also feel that the traditional narrative is hyper aggressive, because they are mirror copies of each other. This hints at the real issue which is that our policies and culture have been hijacked to aggressively favor capital at every turn. The inevitable result is "the wedge" graph, US economy expands 5x while 80% of people see a regression in wealth. The rising tide does not float all boats. Actually, it sinks most of them. Even the meager promises of the "rising tide" social contract have been broken. It's time to push back.