I don’t think religion has much to do with the Libertarian mindset; religion is a tool used to exploit people. It’s no coincidence that Charles Koch, James Buchanan and the founding Gang of Libertarianism turned to the writings of Lenin for solving the essential problem: How to get the masses to accept policies that adversely affect them.
I see a lot of people hypothesizing about “addiction” to power and money—but it goes beyond compulsion control. For people who have never dealt with a real-live sociopath, psychopath or malignant narcissist, it’s terribly hard to wrap your mind around the ruthlessness and lack of conscience. If this were about “compulsions/addiction,” there would be a place for feeling remorse, guilt and perhaps a desire to change. People like Koch, Trump, Leo, Ricketts, Murdoch, Crow, Mercers, Prince’s/deVoss’s, etc, etc (for more information, read Jane Mayer’s book on “Dark Money.”)—THERE IS NO REMORSE. How a person with conscience goes about problem-solving compared to someone who sees themselves above the law, above constraints of decency and without concern for the welfare of others ARE TWO, DIFFERENT PROCESSES.
This is not about addiction. It is about the essence of evil: A lack of conscience.
" How a person with conscience goes about problem-solving compared to someone who sees themselves above the law, above constraints of decency and without concern for the welfare of others ARE TWO, DIFFERENT PROCESSES.."
"It is about the essence of evil: A lack of conscience."
White so-called "supremacy" comes to this wee mind.
I have a background that includes psyc pathology and higher ed education. . . I didn’t come up with any of this by myself 🫢 It’s all in the literature…
You have a remarkable facility Rohn of turning a silk purse into a sow's ear, you need to do something about your race hatred and complex, but it seems that you are on Quixotic quest and have no need for allies, as you can achieve your goal by tilting at windmills.
I think you are right Dawna. An atheist can raise a psychopath also. Or even an agnostic! What religion does is disconnect reality and rational thinking. Some of these libertarians are very rational! They just lack a conscience. I was fortunate enough to have lived around people with borderline personality disorders. /S Without their input in my life, I could have been an accountant!
"Jesus, of course, was history’s most famous socialist: he and his disciples shared everything they owned via a common purse. When a rich man asked him how to get to heaven, Jesus told him to sell everything he owned and give the money to the poor."
Indeed, Mr. Hartmann the passage you reference is from the Book of Matthew (!9:21). Matthew 19:21 (New International Version) Jesus answered, “If you want to be perfect, go, sell your possessions and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.”
The rich and powerful young man said...
No
Can
Do.
Think about it. Subsequent to asking God how to enter heaven (and he sincerely, apparently, wanted to) and having his question answered, he found the answer so unacceptable that he, essentially chose to go to hell.
"All the believers were one in heart and mind. No one claimed that any of their possessions was their own, but they shared everything they had."--Acts 4:32-35 New International Version (NIV)
I don't believe Jesus said that! Jesus was a moderate, not an extremist! Jesus would not want no man to suffer! Of course Jesus opposed unlimited greed, but he didn't want anyone to go without food, shelter, medicine, clothes and a little spending money either! I think that is a lie that some right wingers put in the bible by editing it. Like, King James?
Chill, BeeJay, you know I feel you. I am just saying what y'all say happened with the Yellowhair'd, blue-eyed soul that died FOR ME on a cross that his homies nailed him to and came back from the dead. Then another white boy wrote it down. I mean, brother, brother, brother that is HIS-story (and likely yours). It is not mine.
Don't shoot the messenger; lest I end up like your boy Jesus.
Actually, Jesus was simply stating the fact that no Jew goes to Heaven when they die. They go to Sheol, not Heaven. So, I guess he was just shucking for the poor.
It was a Roman, maybe Piso, that wrote that interpolation.
Every manuscript which constitutes that forgery which the Cult of Roman had Jerome and Augustine translate into Latin, is a work of fiction, and the stupid goyim believe it is the word of some god.
It is a pacifist manifesto, designed to weaken the Roman state and co opted by the Roman patricians and ruling class, to keep the poor happy and content with their lot in life, because their reward come in the hereafter, just as in Islam,.
We know what the solution is, raising taxes on the wealthy and reversing Citizens United, but how do we do that now that the wealthiest few own and control the system? Is a nationwide general strike possible? I read that UAW is planning something like that on May first, 2028. The problem of a few greedy sociopaths taking over society was described in antiquity.
There is a particular psychology of "gold fever" or sometimes known as "oil on the brain" that some are more susceptible to than others, and seems to be somehow contaigious, but once it takes over it overrides normal and healthy thought process.
Look what happened to the characters in Treasure of Sierra Madre. They started out with a common goal and worked together to mine gold. But as they acquired more wealth they became suspicious of each other and eventually became so paranoid (especially Humphrey) that violence ensued. Money is indeed the root of all evil.
I've known a lot of wealthy people, though not billionaires. By and large they are fairly normal people who just want to live well. But there could well be a quantum jump in psychological issues when you hit the megarich brackets. I don't know if there is any research on this, but it seems like at this point one is reaching a hoarder mentality. Everything has to be grabbed and stuffed away, even if it is never seen or used again, because there is never enough. And that is indeed a sickness though the people who have it are treated far differently than the old lady in rags on the street putting old newspapers into her shopping cart.
In a way this sick need to acquire more and more stuff seems to be like the studies that show national incomes don't buy national happiness. Oh, for those countries where the GDP is under $10,000 yes, because then you reach a survival point. And around $75,000 folks find they have enough to live okay. But beyond that there is little or no correlation. Countries with very high incomes don’t have happier people than those with mid-range ones. And I suspect that mentally healthy individuals are just the same, which again doesn’t say much for those who are extremely wealthy.
And incidentally those who have suddenly come into a lot of money, or see others with it, may just ape the trappings without understanding what they mean. Trump's abominable taste in decorations is a good example of flaunting what he thinks is important. It's an 11-year old's idea of how a millionaire lives. One person said his gold plated interiors were in the style of, "Louis the Hotel." And that sounds about right.
I look at the comments and find that people are incredulous about “Badly Behaving Billionaires.” We do equate brains and class with wealth. I would recommend watching the series, “Billions” with Paul Giamatti, Damian Lewis, et al. It’s the quickest way to gain some insight into how movers & shakers operate . . .without much conscience. It’s disconcerting to see Damian Lewis portray a sociopath if you’re used to thinking of him as Major Richard Winters !🤣
Oh gosh yes, Patricia. There was Trump steak, wine, an airline, clothing accessories, bottled water, a magazine, vodka, cologne, a board game, and of course his phony university. And every one of these quickly failed. I think that it takes a pretty diseased ego to put your name everywhere. In fact this seems to be a characteristic of some real dictators like Trujillo in the 1950s Dominican Republic, Stalin, or Niyazov the last lunatic leader of Turkmenistan. These homicidal presidents for life all named cities (and much else) after themselves. I'm sure this insecure little man would be happy to do the same thing if he could.
It continues to amaze me that red states who lack the most basic needs continue to reject assistance from the federal government. But they will go to the ends of the earth to continue to elevate their suppressors, the wealthy.
There is a complicit agreement to not piss off the wealthiest by insisting they pay reasonable tax rates because they ‘shouldn’t have to?’ What? Why?
It’s time to put some measure of sense and equity back into the economic structure of our country.
The Maga Republicans have taken this Country back in every way since their evolution under Trump and the Fascists who put him in power. It’s time to turn things around and create an equitable society.
Or we will find ourselves in a more sinister fascism , where all of the working class freedoms are completely denied . It’s in the process. We need to stop it .
Most red states are run like plantations. The legislatures have been totally bought by either the oil companies, big agriculture, mining, or like in Mississippi, forestry. Where this happens, most of the money that gets extracted leaves the state. The companies control the economy, the wages, and the taxes. The people don't have much of a say. Most of them don't bother to vote.
Greed might not be the deadliest of the Seven Deadly Sins (that distinction is usually ascribed to hubris), but the greed of the morbidly rich is special because it enables them to satisfy their addictions to their own set of Deadly Sins.
For example, what would Trump be without his greed, hubris, wrath, envy, gluttony, sloth, and lust? Now that I think of it, I believe he is the only human in history who was (and is) so faithfully addicted to all Seven of the Deadly Sins at the same time. I'd call it a Full Trump. And that is what makes him the biggest asshole who’s ever lived.
The math is real simple. Money that doesn't go into workers pockets goes into executives pockets (those making the decisions) and shareholders pockets (often the executives making the decisions, too).
I have a fair amount of peripheral contact with some very wealthy people. Half of them have inherited the money, and as a few have said in an article I read, the money has always been the most important member of the family. Other have made several tens of millions or more, often by building and selling a company. They get to think of themselves as geniuses.
What happens is these people begin spending all of their time only with others with the same wealth. It isn’t really an addiction, it’s a bubble. They are agree to take their yachts to Majorca at the same time. Some play polo or race horses. Some have big ranches in Idaho or Montana, or islands off the coast of Georgia or Florida. Most of them have three or four homes, often in three different countries. Their money is protected from every government.
In many cases they aren’t mean people. But many are just totally unaware and uncaring. Although many of these people give lots of money to causes they believe in. Those cases range from feeding the hungry all over the world to building hospitals and museums, to guaranteeing white supremacy. They love to be thanked at big galas.
"They get to think of themselves as geniuses." IMO, that's an important observation. The sense that they earned/deserved their perks helps with disregarding empathy with the less fortunate.
Even those that make above 45k, 60k, 75k, 90k, over 100k, hang out with their same monetary class. A lot of them are government workers who haven't broke a sweat working in their lifetime also. A lot of healthcare providers are incompetent, yet they make over 100k a year also.....
A lot of them are government workers who have allowed you to get to work, not get ripped off, not get sick, keep you safe, make sure the banking system works, and do 1000s of things every day to keep the country running that you need but are never aware of.
Except the morbidly rich do not receive a taxable salary. They receive stock options and dividends and interest income. How do we ask them to share their wealth? They do not pay taxes but then "donate" their money to what they want to support. Good causes I am sure. But what we need is to repair our roads, fill the potholes, better schools to help educate our children, affordable housing, facilities to care for the mentally ill and those addicted to drugs, clean air and water and the list goes on.
Somehow, liberty in America has become equated with Laissez-faire free market capitalism. The irony is that capitalism is an economic theory. In the beginning of the 20th century, philosophers and academics in the west debated this and Laissez-fair capitalism lost. Hence socialized medicine in Europe, the new deal, labor laws, social security, etc. as Thom writes about so comprehensively, this turned with Reagan and has been downhill since. America is about money. That’s what we stand for, guns and money! Oh, and now taking away women’s rights…
My early career in securities and derivatives put me in frequent contact with powerful, successful people. And I worked directly for one such man for quite a while and got to know him and his family well. There was no joy in the man. Instead he was - - - how to put it - - - obsessed with winning, in markets. He had multiple marriages, his teenaged daughter died of a drug overdose, his first wife died from alcoholism. He was an addict, and his drug was acquiring ever more wealth. In time I came to feel sorry for him. When his time he would die without having really been alive.
That's the answer about some of the billionaires. It's the same old king-of-the-hill and who-has-the-biggest-dick contest that has been going on since money and or wealth was invented. So there is no surprise that they play their game on Wall Street and K Street.
They use every bit of our infrastructure. They often use and abuse our natural resources. Our military keeps them safe. So it's time for us to look at OUR scorecard. We don't have to let them continue to make the rules. So many people know now and they know how, thanks to the Thom Hartmanns of the world.
Make sure everyone in your orbit votes. Make some good trouble!
Here's a video that shows a lot about what goes on in the mind of one of the mega-wealthy. Note how he goes from smug, condescending arrogance to showing anger, contempt, indignation, and at the end ignorance of what she was talking about.
Behold, Kevin O'Leary, the Shark Tank star, talking in 2014 about how the world's 3.5 billion people should each dedicate their lives to work hard at becoming a billionaire!
If the world could implement Kevin's prescription for eliminating poverty by each person in poverty becoming even simply the poorest billionaire of the top 85 back in 2014*, what amount of wealth creation would be needed?
$20.65 million trillion! (3,500,000,000 people X $5,900,000,000 = $20,650,000,000,000,000,000).
THAT is where the clear and simple reality Obliterates this mega-wealthy's crackpot fantasy.
There is NOWHERE NEAR this kind of wealth here in existence or as potential. Consider in that according to US federal reserve wealth data**, today there's about $166 Trillion of wealth in the USA.
So to fill in that gap, how much wealth is missing in the USA, or in need of "wealth creation"?
$20.649 million trillion ( = $20.65 million trillion - $166 trillion). Or in other words, the current wealth is a stunningly insignificant amount compared to what's needed in Kevin's fantasy.
For Kevin to put this out as a remedy to world poverty is many things besides just plain nuts.
He shows a kind of pathology among the ultra wealthy that contributes to so very many people struggling to live.
I’ll go back to the question aimed at the working class enablers of these money addicts: “What’s the Matter With Kansas?”
What emotional and psychological lift do average GOP voters get from empowering people openly working against their own financial interests? Are they really so easily conned by ginned-up culture war nonsense?
Yes, they are easily conned predisposed authoritarian followers. I am the last survivor of a family that I gradually became aware were perpetual suckers for a really bizarre whole world-view basically according to Rush Limbaugh.
Yes Rodney, These poor souls that empower those that will enslave them, use and abuse them, have latent bias, bigotry, fear and needs, and all it takes to convince them that something and some else is the source of their fears, and uncertainty, their troubles, and are a threat is a loud mouthed demagogue like hate radio and Rupert Murdoch, and the benefactors are their users and abusers who escape notice because their tools are distracted.
I don’t think religion has much to do with the Libertarian mindset; religion is a tool used to exploit people. It’s no coincidence that Charles Koch, James Buchanan and the founding Gang of Libertarianism turned to the writings of Lenin for solving the essential problem: How to get the masses to accept policies that adversely affect them.
I see a lot of people hypothesizing about “addiction” to power and money—but it goes beyond compulsion control. For people who have never dealt with a real-live sociopath, psychopath or malignant narcissist, it’s terribly hard to wrap your mind around the ruthlessness and lack of conscience. If this were about “compulsions/addiction,” there would be a place for feeling remorse, guilt and perhaps a desire to change. People like Koch, Trump, Leo, Ricketts, Murdoch, Crow, Mercers, Prince’s/deVoss’s, etc, etc (for more information, read Jane Mayer’s book on “Dark Money.”)—THERE IS NO REMORSE. How a person with conscience goes about problem-solving compared to someone who sees themselves above the law, above constraints of decency and without concern for the welfare of others ARE TWO, DIFFERENT PROCESSES.
This is not about addiction. It is about the essence of evil: A lack of conscience.
" How a person with conscience goes about problem-solving compared to someone who sees themselves above the law, above constraints of decency and without concern for the welfare of others ARE TWO, DIFFERENT PROCESSES.."
"It is about the essence of evil: A lack of conscience."
White so-called "supremacy" comes to this wee mind.
OUTgoddamnedstanding!
I have a background that includes psyc pathology and higher ed education. . . I didn’t come up with any of this by myself 🫢 It’s all in the literature…
It matters not Dawna, Rohn has a problem, a huge chip on his shoulder. He is burdened by resentment and hatred of the white.
You have a remarkable facility Rohn of turning a silk purse into a sow's ear, you need to do something about your race hatred and complex, but it seems that you are on Quixotic quest and have no need for allies, as you can achieve your goal by tilting at windmills.
I think you are right Dawna. An atheist can raise a psychopath also. Or even an agnostic! What religion does is disconnect reality and rational thinking. Some of these libertarians are very rational! They just lack a conscience. I was fortunate enough to have lived around people with borderline personality disorders. /S Without their input in my life, I could have been an accountant!
"Jesus, of course, was history’s most famous socialist: he and his disciples shared everything they owned via a common purse. When a rich man asked him how to get to heaven, Jesus told him to sell everything he owned and give the money to the poor."
Indeed, Mr. Hartmann the passage you reference is from the Book of Matthew (!9:21). Matthew 19:21 (New International Version) Jesus answered, “If you want to be perfect, go, sell your possessions and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.”
The rich and powerful young man said...
No
Can
Do.
Think about it. Subsequent to asking God how to enter heaven (and he sincerely, apparently, wanted to) and having his question answered, he found the answer so unacceptable that he, essentially chose to go to hell.
And there you have it.
Also to the point is this passage:
"All the believers were one in heart and mind. No one claimed that any of their possessions was their own, but they shared everything they had."--Acts 4:32-35 New International Version (NIV)
I don't believe Jesus said that! Jesus was a moderate, not an extremist! Jesus would not want no man to suffer! Of course Jesus opposed unlimited greed, but he didn't want anyone to go without food, shelter, medicine, clothes and a little spending money either! I think that is a lie that some right wingers put in the bible by editing it. Like, King James?
LMAO!
Chill, BeeJay, you know I feel you. I am just saying what y'all say happened with the Yellowhair'd, blue-eyed soul that died FOR ME on a cross that his homies nailed him to and came back from the dead. Then another white boy wrote it down. I mean, brother, brother, brother that is HIS-story (and likely yours). It is not mine.
Don't shoot the messenger; lest I end up like your boy Jesus.
I'm an agnostic, a little of everything and a little of nothing!
I thought you looked familiar.
Poor Rohn,, still has that complex and chip on his shoulder. What a pity, what a shame.
Actually, Jesus was simply stating the fact that no Jew goes to Heaven when they die. They go to Sheol, not Heaven. So, I guess he was just shucking for the poor.
It was a Roman, maybe Piso, that wrote that interpolation.
Every manuscript which constitutes that forgery which the Cult of Roman had Jerome and Augustine translate into Latin, is a work of fiction, and the stupid goyim believe it is the word of some god.
It is a pacifist manifesto, designed to weaken the Roman state and co opted by the Roman patricians and ruling class, to keep the poor happy and content with their lot in life, because their reward come in the hereafter, just as in Islam,.
We know what the solution is, raising taxes on the wealthy and reversing Citizens United, but how do we do that now that the wealthiest few own and control the system? Is a nationwide general strike possible? I read that UAW is planning something like that on May first, 2028. The problem of a few greedy sociopaths taking over society was described in antiquity.
We can sweep. Register Democrats - save the world.
https://www.fieldteam6.org/
There is a particular psychology of "gold fever" or sometimes known as "oil on the brain" that some are more susceptible to than others, and seems to be somehow contaigious, but once it takes over it overrides normal and healthy thought process.
Look what happened to the characters in Treasure of Sierra Madre. They started out with a common goal and worked together to mine gold. But as they acquired more wealth they became suspicious of each other and eventually became so paranoid (especially Humphrey) that violence ensued. Money is indeed the root of all evil.
The more susceptible to addiction, had bad parents and religion in my opinion!
I've known a lot of wealthy people, though not billionaires. By and large they are fairly normal people who just want to live well. But there could well be a quantum jump in psychological issues when you hit the megarich brackets. I don't know if there is any research on this, but it seems like at this point one is reaching a hoarder mentality. Everything has to be grabbed and stuffed away, even if it is never seen or used again, because there is never enough. And that is indeed a sickness though the people who have it are treated far differently than the old lady in rags on the street putting old newspapers into her shopping cart.
In a way this sick need to acquire more and more stuff seems to be like the studies that show national incomes don't buy national happiness. Oh, for those countries where the GDP is under $10,000 yes, because then you reach a survival point. And around $75,000 folks find they have enough to live okay. But beyond that there is little or no correlation. Countries with very high incomes don’t have happier people than those with mid-range ones. And I suspect that mentally healthy individuals are just the same, which again doesn’t say much for those who are extremely wealthy.
And incidentally those who have suddenly come into a lot of money, or see others with it, may just ape the trappings without understanding what they mean. Trump's abominable taste in decorations is a good example of flaunting what he thinks is important. It's an 11-year old's idea of how a millionaire lives. One person said his gold plated interiors were in the style of, "Louis the Hotel." And that sounds about right.
I look at the comments and find that people are incredulous about “Badly Behaving Billionaires.” We do equate brains and class with wealth. I would recommend watching the series, “Billions” with Paul Giamatti, Damian Lewis, et al. It’s the quickest way to gain some insight into how movers & shakers operate . . .without much conscience. It’s disconcerting to see Damian Lewis portray a sociopath if you’re used to thinking of him as Major Richard Winters !🤣
Billions is a brilliant series. A superbly crafted exploration of the destructive consequences of all types of willful abuses of power.
I think of the tacky items trump has tried to market the gold sneakers. , anything he’s tried to market has been tack and or completely fake as is he.
Oh gosh yes, Patricia. There was Trump steak, wine, an airline, clothing accessories, bottled water, a magazine, vodka, cologne, a board game, and of course his phony university. And every one of these quickly failed. I think that it takes a pretty diseased ego to put your name everywhere. In fact this seems to be a characteristic of some real dictators like Trujillo in the 1950s Dominican Republic, Stalin, or Niyazov the last lunatic leader of Turkmenistan. These homicidal presidents for life all named cities (and much else) after themselves. I'm sure this insecure little man would be happy to do the same thing if he could.
It continues to amaze me that red states who lack the most basic needs continue to reject assistance from the federal government. But they will go to the ends of the earth to continue to elevate their suppressors, the wealthy.
There is a complicit agreement to not piss off the wealthiest by insisting they pay reasonable tax rates because they ‘shouldn’t have to?’ What? Why?
It’s time to put some measure of sense and equity back into the economic structure of our country.
The Maga Republicans have taken this Country back in every way since their evolution under Trump and the Fascists who put him in power. It’s time to turn things around and create an equitable society.
Or we will find ourselves in a more sinister fascism , where all of the working class freedoms are completely denied . It’s in the process. We need to stop it .
Most red states are run like plantations. The legislatures have been totally bought by either the oil companies, big agriculture, mining, or like in Mississippi, forestry. Where this happens, most of the money that gets extracted leaves the state. The companies control the economy, the wages, and the taxes. The people don't have much of a say. Most of them don't bother to vote.
On Big Ag, it’s well worth the time to watch Food, Inc. 2. Yes, most of the farm states have become very large plantations.
Sounds like the Stockholm syndrome!
Greed might not be the deadliest of the Seven Deadly Sins (that distinction is usually ascribed to hubris), but the greed of the morbidly rich is special because it enables them to satisfy their addictions to their own set of Deadly Sins.
For example, what would Trump be without his greed, hubris, wrath, envy, gluttony, sloth, and lust? Now that I think of it, I believe he is the only human in history who was (and is) so faithfully addicted to all Seven of the Deadly Sins at the same time. I'd call it a Full Trump. And that is what makes him the biggest asshole who’s ever lived.
You express It exactly. Trump’s real devotion is to the Seven Deadly
Sins, and this is lost on the self-described “Christians” who support him.
LOL....even if it is true and not really funny. A Full Trump---Thanks Dave!
In my imagination, I print this out and post it on the door of every church everywhere. Maybe I got a little DNA from Martin Luther.
M. Scott Peck: "People of the Lie," around 1982 (?) Scary.
The math is real simple. Money that doesn't go into workers pockets goes into executives pockets (those making the decisions) and shareholders pockets (often the executives making the decisions, too).
Or maybe to lobbyists to buy politicians from two parties or to hidden accounts in the Cayman Islands?
Many started out on third base, thought they hit a triple.
I have a fair amount of peripheral contact with some very wealthy people. Half of them have inherited the money, and as a few have said in an article I read, the money has always been the most important member of the family. Other have made several tens of millions or more, often by building and selling a company. They get to think of themselves as geniuses.
What happens is these people begin spending all of their time only with others with the same wealth. It isn’t really an addiction, it’s a bubble. They are agree to take their yachts to Majorca at the same time. Some play polo or race horses. Some have big ranches in Idaho or Montana, or islands off the coast of Georgia or Florida. Most of them have three or four homes, often in three different countries. Their money is protected from every government.
In many cases they aren’t mean people. But many are just totally unaware and uncaring. Although many of these people give lots of money to causes they believe in. Those cases range from feeding the hungry all over the world to building hospitals and museums, to guaranteeing white supremacy. They love to be thanked at big galas.
"They get to think of themselves as geniuses." IMO, that's an important observation. The sense that they earned/deserved their perks helps with disregarding empathy with the less fortunate.
Even those that make above 45k, 60k, 75k, 90k, over 100k, hang out with their same monetary class. A lot of them are government workers who haven't broke a sweat working in their lifetime also. A lot of healthcare providers are incompetent, yet they make over 100k a year also.....
A lot of them are government workers who have allowed you to get to work, not get ripped off, not get sick, keep you safe, make sure the banking system works, and do 1000s of things every day to keep the country running that you need but are never aware of.
Except the morbidly rich do not receive a taxable salary. They receive stock options and dividends and interest income. How do we ask them to share their wealth? They do not pay taxes but then "donate" their money to what they want to support. Good causes I am sure. But what we need is to repair our roads, fill the potholes, better schools to help educate our children, affordable housing, facilities to care for the mentally ill and those addicted to drugs, clean air and water and the list goes on.
Somehow, liberty in America has become equated with Laissez-faire free market capitalism. The irony is that capitalism is an economic theory. In the beginning of the 20th century, philosophers and academics in the west debated this and Laissez-fair capitalism lost. Hence socialized medicine in Europe, the new deal, labor laws, social security, etc. as Thom writes about so comprehensively, this turned with Reagan and has been downhill since. America is about money. That’s what we stand for, guns and money! Oh, and now taking away women’s rights…
My early career in securities and derivatives put me in frequent contact with powerful, successful people. And I worked directly for one such man for quite a while and got to know him and his family well. There was no joy in the man. Instead he was - - - how to put it - - - obsessed with winning, in markets. He had multiple marriages, his teenaged daughter died of a drug overdose, his first wife died from alcoholism. He was an addict, and his drug was acquiring ever more wealth. In time I came to feel sorry for him. When his time he would die without having really been alive.
They are keeping score!
That's the answer about some of the billionaires. It's the same old king-of-the-hill and who-has-the-biggest-dick contest that has been going on since money and or wealth was invented. So there is no surprise that they play their game on Wall Street and K Street.
They use every bit of our infrastructure. They often use and abuse our natural resources. Our military keeps them safe. So it's time for us to look at OUR scorecard. We don't have to let them continue to make the rules. So many people know now and they know how, thanks to the Thom Hartmanns of the world.
Make sure everyone in your orbit votes. Make some good trouble!
Here's a video that shows a lot about what goes on in the mind of one of the mega-wealthy. Note how he goes from smug, condescending arrogance to showing anger, contempt, indignation, and at the end ignorance of what she was talking about.
Behold, Kevin O'Leary, the Shark Tank star, talking in 2014 about how the world's 3.5 billion people should each dedicate their lives to work hard at becoming a billionaire!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AuqemytQ5QA
If the world could implement Kevin's prescription for eliminating poverty by each person in poverty becoming even simply the poorest billionaire of the top 85 back in 2014*, what amount of wealth creation would be needed?
$20.65 million trillion! (3,500,000,000 people X $5,900,000,000 = $20,650,000,000,000,000,000).
THAT is where the clear and simple reality Obliterates this mega-wealthy's crackpot fantasy.
There is NOWHERE NEAR this kind of wealth here in existence or as potential. Consider in that according to US federal reserve wealth data**, today there's about $166 Trillion of wealth in the USA.
So to fill in that gap, how much wealth is missing in the USA, or in need of "wealth creation"?
$20.649 million trillion ( = $20.65 million trillion - $166 trillion). Or in other words, the current wealth is a stunningly insignificant amount compared to what's needed in Kevin's fantasy.
For Kevin to put this out as a remedy to world poverty is many things besides just plain nuts.
He shows a kind of pathology among the ultra wealthy that contributes to so very many people struggling to live.
the References . .
*
https://www.forbes.com/sites/afontevecchia/2014/09/29/forbes-400-full-list-of-americas-richest-people/?sh=5291fc4a42e3
** https://www.federalreserve.gov/releases/z1/dataviz/dfa/distribute/chart/#quarter:136;series:Assets;demographic:networth;population:1,3,5,7,9;units:levels
I think Thom has discussed the fallacy of the weird old meme: "Pull yourself up by the bootstraps."
I’ll go back to the question aimed at the working class enablers of these money addicts: “What’s the Matter With Kansas?”
What emotional and psychological lift do average GOP voters get from empowering people openly working against their own financial interests? Are they really so easily conned by ginned-up culture war nonsense?
Yes, they are easily conned predisposed authoritarian followers. I am the last survivor of a family that I gradually became aware were perpetual suckers for a really bizarre whole world-view basically according to Rush Limbaugh.
Yes Rodney, These poor souls that empower those that will enslave them, use and abuse them, have latent bias, bigotry, fear and needs, and all it takes to convince them that something and some else is the source of their fears, and uncertainty, their troubles, and are a threat is a loud mouthed demagogue like hate radio and Rupert Murdoch, and the benefactors are their users and abusers who escape notice because their tools are distracted.
The family unit has stopped the evolution of the human race! Lunatics, idiots and psychopaths can't raise sane, intelligent caring offspring!