Where is America Headed?

[_moksha]

From the article To My Fellow Plutocrats: You Can Cure Trumpism.

It is this winner-take-all economy, and the indefensible and obvious injustice it represents, that creates the justifiable anger that threatens our civility, our national cohesion and our democracy itself.

http://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2017/07/18/to-my-fellow-plutocrats-you-can-cure-trumpism-215347

The author believes this is the way to forestall the inevitable pitchforks and preserve the Plutocrat way of life.

[_Some Schmo]

Excellent article. I've been saying this kind of stuff for a while now.

It's incredible to me how many people think raising wages is a job killer. If people have more money to spend, they buy more stuff. If people buy more stuff, we need more people to service those customers. This isn't rocket science.

But no, Americans have been brainwashed to believe we should value CEOs and stockholders more than the workers actually producing the goods.

Unfortunately, the plutocrats likely won't get the message until it's too late. I think Civil War II is just around the corner.

[_The CCC]

I don't foresee a Civil War. I do foresee a rapid decline into Neo-feudalism.

[_subgenius]

I don't foresee a Civil War. I do foresee a rapid decline into Neo-feudalism.

neo-feudalism? pray tell since feudalism is best known for its unequal rights and legal protections for common people and for nobility...what insight you must have...how do you portend that such a system will emerge?....should I break out my copy of Dune?

[_The CCC]

It wouldn't hurt. But I'd recommend Animal Farm more. Our so called commitment to Civil Rights maybe be a Kilometer wide but it is a millimeter deep.

Neo-feudalism.
SEE https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neo-feudalism

[_cinepro]

Excellent article. I've been saying this kind of stuff for a while now.

It's incredible to me how many people think raising wages is a job killer. If people have more money to spend, they buy more stuff. If people buy more stuff, we need more people to service those customers. This isn't rocket science.

You find it incredible how many people think that if you raise the price of something, demand goes down?

Frankly, I'm disappointed more people don't understand that.

I wish there weren't any poor people, and I actually support the idea of helping out those with the least to make sure they have food to eat, a roof over their heads, and access to a good education and health care.

But I think the minimum wage is the absolute worst way to try and provide that help. I recognize the noble sentiments behind such endeavors, and if the nobility of intentions were directly correlated to the success of an economic program then it would no doubt work wonderfully. But the good intentions don't change the actual (logical and predictable) effects. I would only support the minimum wage if I were trying to take jobs away from the poorest people and reduce competition in the job market for more "desirable" workers.

[_Maksutov]

Liberals are lousy at economics, conservatives at science. Liberals think there is a magic wand that can turn the USA into a really big Denmark. It would be like using surgery to turn a sperm whale into a really big walrus.

But the conservatives have faith in a magic book, a sky fairy, and an invisible hand of the market that rights all wrongs and lifts all boats and somehow has delivered us into the hands of a demagogue who endorses the lunatic Alex Jones and is now claimed to be the "evangelicals' dream president".

http://www.patheos.com/blogs/kimberlyst ... erlystover

So as we're headed deeper into the lala lands of extremism, courtesy of social media and cynical party machines, it seems America will be entertained by nothing less than the tragicomedy of its own demise.

[_The CCC]

Excellent article. I've been saying this kind of stuff for a while now.

It's incredible to me how many people think raising wages is a job killer. If people have more money to spend, they buy more stuff. If people buy more stuff, we need more people to service those customers. This isn't rocket science.

You find it incredible how many people think that if you raise the price of something, demand goes down?

Frankly, I'm disappointed more people don't understand that.

I wish there weren't any poor people, and I actually support the idea of helping out those with the least to make sure they have food to eat, a roof over their heads, and access to a good education and health care.

But I think the minimum wage is the absolute worst way to try and provide that help. I recognize the noble sentiments behind such endeavors, and if the nobility of intentions were directly correlated to the success of an economic program then it would no doubt work wonderfully. But the good intentions don't change the actual (logical and predictable) effects. I would only support the minimum wage if I were trying to take jobs away from the poorest people and reduce competition in the job market for more "desirable" workers.

This isn't rocket science. Henry Ford was a Son of a Bitch in many ways. He didn't invent the automobile, or the assembly line. What he did do is pay his employees enough to afford his cars. He made himself extremely rich in the process.
SEE https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CKCvf8E7V1g

[_moksha]

....should I break out my copy of Dune?

Do you think between you, Bach and Majax that an adequate defense of the Harkonens could be mounted?

[_MeDotOrg]

....should I break out my copy of Dune?

Do you think between you, Bach and Majax that an adequate defense of the Harkonens could be mounted?

Baron Von Harkonen Trump? Remember, the Baron's first name is Vladimir...