Jul 30, 2023 02:34 AM
https://youtu.be/slV4JDtmQBQ
VIDEO EXCERPTS: In this period there was about five trillion dollars in market capitalization that grew out of Silicon Valley alone, and we created sort of a medieval cast. A wealthy cast of barons and lords [...] They had so much wealth they felt they were exempt from worries about taxation. [...] We have private jets, our kids go to prep school, my tax accountant finds a way to get out of painful, burdensome taxes.
[...] We did exactly what the Greeks and Romans and medieval of thinkers warned us about. We created a very, very wealthy elite that was not subject to the consequences of their own ideology. And whether out of virtue signaling and guilt, or whether out of contrived political necessity, they made a political alliance with the very poor of California.
And the poor said give us more entitlements, tax the middle class. Transfer that money to us. We need it.
And the wealthy [progressive capitalists] said: Yes, we will open the borders, we'll transfer money. But you have to vote for issues that we're in favor of, and we're in favor of them precisely because they don't affect us.
The erosion of the middle class is something that the ancient philosophers, and indeed our own founding fathers warned about. The erosion of the middle class leads to a society of two classes: wealthy and poor.
Oppressed and oppressor. A binary that's very unstable. And the best word I could use to term it would be medieval.
[...] Greece and Rome developed the idea of citizenship predicated on someone who is neither poor nor rich. They said that this was essential, because they lacked the pathologies of both.
But they brought enhancements of independence, both in the political and the economic spheres. If you had a grouchy outspoken citizen, and you had enough of them, then they would check the aggrandizement of power. And they would make better decisions.
And out of this tradition they would create capital, they would use their imagination. They would be turned loose to create wealth and continuity within defined borders. And then they would be able to pass on that achievement to their children, out of that independence...
From citizens to peasants: How California destroyed its middle class ... https://youtu.be/slV4JDtmQBQ
VIDEO EXCERPTS: In this period there was about five trillion dollars in market capitalization that grew out of Silicon Valley alone, and we created sort of a medieval cast. A wealthy cast of barons and lords [...] They had so much wealth they felt they were exempt from worries about taxation. [...] We have private jets, our kids go to prep school, my tax accountant finds a way to get out of painful, burdensome taxes.
[...] We did exactly what the Greeks and Romans and medieval of thinkers warned us about. We created a very, very wealthy elite that was not subject to the consequences of their own ideology. And whether out of virtue signaling and guilt, or whether out of contrived political necessity, they made a political alliance with the very poor of California.
And the poor said give us more entitlements, tax the middle class. Transfer that money to us. We need it.
And the wealthy [progressive capitalists] said: Yes, we will open the borders, we'll transfer money. But you have to vote for issues that we're in favor of, and we're in favor of them precisely because they don't affect us.
The erosion of the middle class is something that the ancient philosophers, and indeed our own founding fathers warned about. The erosion of the middle class leads to a society of two classes: wealthy and poor.
Oppressed and oppressor. A binary that's very unstable. And the best word I could use to term it would be medieval.
[...] Greece and Rome developed the idea of citizenship predicated on someone who is neither poor nor rich. They said that this was essential, because they lacked the pathologies of both.
But they brought enhancements of independence, both in the political and the economic spheres. If you had a grouchy outspoken citizen, and you had enough of them, then they would check the aggrandizement of power. And they would make better decisions.
And out of this tradition they would create capital, they would use their imagination. They would be turned loose to create wealth and continuity within defined borders. And then they would be able to pass on that achievement to their children, out of that independence...
From citizens to peasants: How California destroyed its middle class ... https://youtu.be/slV4JDtmQBQ