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> Some of the rise in billionaire spending can be explained by growth in the number of billionaires — but not much. The number of U.S. billionaires rose 85 perc
by exceptione 8mo ago
> Some of the rise in billionaire spending can be explained by growth in the number of billionaires — but not much. The number of U.S. billionaires rose 85 percent between 2010 and 2023, from 404 to 748. But billionaires’ share of political contributions rose by 1700 percent.
> In short, we are in the midst of an unprecedented power grab by America’s oligarchs. This power grab is arguably the most important fact about contemporary U.S. politics. In many ways MAGA is just a symptom.
> What lies behind this power grab? An extraordinary concentration of wealth at the very top. (..)
> That said, even billionaires care about more than their own personal wealth. Unfortunately, their non-monetary goals are often worse than their greed.
Ouch.. Carpet bombing with truth, not sure if legal.
It is refreshing to read a piece with a broad perspective that solely focuses on real issues, instead of keeping the layman in the dark with both-sidisms or "let us poke your emotional brain with political distractions". Puts corporate media like the NYT to shame; they could have saved millions on ho-hum opinion pieces if they wanted to.
Share this piece with your network, if you wonder what role you can play. Bottom up is the only way, the top is either clobbered with private interests or still having no other thought then "I believed we could be a bit corrupt, just pushing a bit but keeping it safe, no?"
- dzhiurgis 8mo agoOn one side we have people who know how to build, using their wealth to build more. On other side we have people who distribute someone else's wealth. The only status quo I see is that both go hand in hand.
- conception 8mo agoThe people that “build wealth” definitely play by the rules and don’t use their outsized resources to tip things in their favor to build more.
- rbanffy 8mo ago> The people that “build wealth” definitely play by the rules Are you talking about the workers who actually do the job and build the things others pay money for? Because they have no other option than to play by the rules - if they don’t, they go to jail and won’t be able to buy a pardon.
- dzhiurgis 8mo ago99% of that wealth is not not build for them. You wanna look how much of that "paper wealth" is owned by founders.