Okay.
We need to talk about America's failure during the pandemic, how the wealthy and powerful created an unfair, unstable, and unbelievably cruel economy, and how we're living in a second Gilded Age.
Here's what I learned writing AMERICAN RULE.
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penguinrandomhouse.com/books/611439/a…
We need to talk about America's failure during the pandemic, how the wealthy and powerful created an unfair, unstable, and unbelievably cruel economy, and how we're living in a second Gilded Age.
Here's what I learned writing AMERICAN RULE.
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penguinrandomhouse.com/books/611439/a…
Let's start by making something clear. The only reason we're discussing reopening and sacrificing thousands of lives is because the wealthy and powerful don't want to open the door to economic reform.
They're sacrificing our lives for their wealth.
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themuckrake.com/main/die-with-…
They're sacrificing our lives for their wealth.
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themuckrake.com/main/die-with-…
We are living in a modern version of the robber barons era wherein the wealthy and powerful control all aspects of society while Americans feel powerless and terrified.
This history is largely overlooked because it explains where we are and how we got here.
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This history is largely overlooked because it explains where we are and how we got here.
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We begin our story in the mid-19th century, when new technologies like telegraphs and railroads are bridging divides in America and crisscrossing the continent.
This infrastructure work was a massive project that fused private interests and government.
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This infrastructure work was a massive project that fused private interests and government.
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Predictably, the work of modernizing the country created a huge redistribution of wealth that lined the pockets of private citizens who controlled the construction and the infrastructure.
This created fiefdoms where exorbitantly wealthy individuals became more powerful.
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This created fiefdoms where exorbitantly wealthy individuals became more powerful.
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The process of creating infrastructure led to unbelievable corruption. Wealthy Americans bribed politicians and bought and sold representatives until the government itself grew unconcerned with the business of people as opposed to their "donors."
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If it sounds familiar, it should.
At the turn of the 20th century government became a means for corruption versus a representative body for the public.
It was bought and sold and helped create monopolies and bases of power and wealth.
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At the turn of the 20th century government became a means for corruption versus a representative body for the public.
It was bought and sold and helped create monopolies and bases of power and wealth.
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Because the business of industry was "vital" to the country, Americans were disposable.
Men, women, and children toiled in disgusting factories, were maimed and killed constantly, their lives miserable and full of exploitation.
All because the economy was the chief concern.
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Men, women, and children toiled in disgusting factories, were maimed and killed constantly, their lives miserable and full of exploitation.
All because the economy was the chief concern.
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As priority was given to the wealthy and powerful, as their fates were tied to the country's economy, the people were forced to live in poverty and squalor.
A normal everyday citizen was disposable. If they died, they died. If they suffered, they suffered.
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A normal everyday citizen was disposable. If they died, they died. If they suffered, they suffered.
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What happens in this country is that its pendulum shifts. We reach points where people have no power as it is owned by the wealthy.
In these periods, "normal" lives are brutal and disposable. Unfortunately, in the pandemic, we're seeing this more every single day.
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In these periods, "normal" lives are brutal and disposable. Unfortunately, in the pandemic, we're seeing this more every single day.
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The wealthy of this period were brutal dictators who worked their people to death and at the first sign of disruption would hire mercenaries to slaughter them.
The time period is full of these senseless tragedies, and you can see where this system leads.
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The time period is full of these senseless tragedies, and you can see where this system leads.
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What's more, because the government was in the pocket of the wealthy, it assisted in the oppression of the people.
Law enforcement and the military regularly partnered with the wealthy to protect their investments through slaughter, intimidation, and brute force.
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Law enforcement and the military regularly partnered with the wealthy to protect their investments through slaughter, intimidation, and brute force.
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But.
This system of top-down economics is inherently unstable. America has seen one economic meltdown after another because it has been wired to serve the needs of the wealthy and create a feeding frenzy of reckless profit.
It simply doesn't work.
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This system of top-down economics is inherently unstable. America has seen one economic meltdown after another because it has been wired to serve the needs of the wealthy and create a feeding frenzy of reckless profit.
It simply doesn't work.
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A top-down, economic system that serves the greedy needs of the wealthy inevitably leads to disasters that not only wipe out the market but leave normal Americans to suffer and starve.
It's happened with frightening regularity.
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It's happened with frightening regularity.
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A lot of us have now seen two economic meltdowns in our lives and have suffered because of them.
The truth is, this system is predictably unstable and we have been at the mercy of greed machine that sacrifices our lives for short bursts of excessive profit.
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The truth is, this system is predictably unstable and we have been at the mercy of greed machine that sacrifices our lives for short bursts of excessive profit.
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Following the Crash of 1929, Franklin Roosevelt attempted to add measures to the economy to prevent future instability, ensuring that the government could modulate it and possibly stem massive economic crises.
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This period saw the ascendance of John Maynard Keynes, a British economist whose theories would guide the post-crash market going forward.
It was a departure from the smash and go, anti-human policy that had led to so much suffering and turmoil.
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It was a departure from the smash and go, anti-human policy that had led to so much suffering and turmoil.
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Though the 1950's were not the paradise so many white supremacists claim, there was at least a period of economic stability. People could move into the middle class, especially white people, and the massive inequality of the past started to change.
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There was massive social issues and rampant racial and patriarchal inequality. There was a veneer of stability that could have become real had FDR's "Second Bill of Rights" been realized.
But for awhile, it seemed as if the Gilded Age might be a nightmare left in the past.
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But for awhile, it seemed as if the Gilded Age might be a nightmare left in the past.
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But FDR and Keynes were hated by the Right, who used xenophobic scaremongering to terrify the American people into continuing with their prejudice, racism, and to dismantle the work done in the post-crash world.
Again. You can see echoes of this in Trumpism now.
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Again. You can see echoes of this in Trumpism now.
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In our history now, we treat the Red Scare as if it was just a paranoid period, but it was actually a weaponized attack on FDR's New Dealers, LGBTQ Americans, and people of color.
The paranoia was used to dismantle gains made in post-crash America.
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The paranoia was used to dismantle gains made in post-crash America.
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The Keynesian consensus was pretty steady though until the 1970's, when Jimmy Carter's presidency was derailed by a worsening economy.
This was the opening that Republicans had been looking for since FDR's New Deal.
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This was the opening that Republicans had been looking for since FDR's New Deal.
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Capitalizing on stagflation and the oil crisis, Republicans attacked Carter relentlessly, and with that attack they began piecing together an alternative to FDR's policies and the economics that had staved off the constant collapses spurred on by top-down theories.
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Ronald Reagan was the pointman for this massive change. His promise to "Make America Great Again" was an attack on Carter, but also a promise to return America to a mythical point in its history.
Again. Echoes in Trumpism. You just can't escape them.
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Again. Echoes in Trumpism. You just can't escape them.
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Here's the thing though.
Reagan didn't know much about politics. He was completely uninterested in nuance. He didn't read his briefings, in fact, his staff had to turn them into cartoons and movies for him when he was president.
Reagan was a mascot. A figurehead.
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Reagan didn't know much about politics. He was completely uninterested in nuance. He didn't read his briefings, in fact, his staff had to turn them into cartoons and movies for him when he was president.
Reagan was a mascot. A figurehead.
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Reagan's lack of policy understanding and curiosity allowed others to jump in and shape his ideology for him.
Republicans obsessed with top-down economics created policies that Reagan didn't understand but sold to the people like the corporate salesman he'd been for GE.
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Republicans obsessed with top-down economics created policies that Reagan didn't understand but sold to the people like the corporate salesman he'd been for GE.
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Without understanding the policies, Reagan started championing the work of people like Milton Friedman, who were obsessed with reversing the course of our economy and dismantling Keynes' policies that had staved off inequality and constant meltdowns.
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Even George H.W. Bush, Reagan's V.P., called these policies "Voodoo Economics" in the primaries.
It was obvious to EVERYONE that "trickle-down economics" were a total fraud and nonsense. But they were great for redistribution of wealth from the bottom up.
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It was obvious to EVERYONE that "trickle-down economics" were a total fraud and nonsense. But they were great for redistribution of wealth from the bottom up.
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H.W. Bush, we should note, had no problems with pushing this type of redistribution once he came aboard the Reagan Administration.
The GOP was firmly behind Trickle-Down at this point and were obsessed with unleashing the market and once again serving the wealthy only.
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The GOP was firmly behind Trickle-Down at this point and were obsessed with unleashing the market and once again serving the wealthy only.
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Reagan's lack of curiosity and understanding of nuance opened the door for organizations like the Heritage Foundation and other think-tanks to supply an ideology.
At this point, Reagan became a mascot, a president who worked very little and just put on a show for cameras.
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At this point, Reagan became a mascot, a president who worked very little and just put on a show for cameras.
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The Heritage Foundation even gave the Reagan Administration a manual on how to run the government so they didn't have to worry about it. They pushed a new Cold War and a dismantling of FDR's achievements.
Ironically, they gave a similar manual to the Trump Administration.
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Ironically, they gave a similar manual to the Trump Administration.
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What we got was Trickle-Down Economics, which "corrected" the measures taken in post-crash America and again created an unstable, unfair, inhuman economy that redistributed wealth to the wealthiest Americans while lessening the worth of regular citizens.
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Reagan became an icon based on his administration's mythmaking that turned him into a metaphor for "mythical America."
He redistributed wealth, stripped social programs, and created a ticking time bomb of an economy that would constantly derail and lead to suffering.
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He redistributed wealth, stripped social programs, and created a ticking time bomb of an economy that would constantly derail and lead to suffering.
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In post-Reagan America, we again have a small group of powerful elites who are consolidating wealth and power and own our politicians more by the day.
We have modern robber barons whose wealth multiplies as we all get left behind and our lives become disposable.
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We have modern robber barons whose wealth multiplies as we all get left behind and our lives become disposable.
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Like the unspooling of telegraph wire and the construction of railroads, modern infrastructure like information networks and social media have created private fiefdoms where their heads gain more and more power while their wealth explodes.
The old monopolies have returned.
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The old monopolies have returned.
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We now live in a world where Americans are being evicted and forced back to work in life-threatening conditions during a pandemic while a select few hoard so much money that they fund their own space programs and immortality-research institutes.
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Meanwhile, just as it was during the Gilded Age, politicians including the president grow more and more incompetent and buffoonish.
They're owned by the wealthy and are there simply to make sure that the economy hums along as long as it possibly can.
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They're owned by the wealthy and are there simply to make sure that the economy hums along as long as it possibly can.
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With Trump, he has no interest in fighting the pandemic or saving lives. His main concern is making the economy work for the rich and powerful, even if that means sacrificing thousands and thousands of lives.
Like the Gilded Age workers, we are disposable.
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Like the Gilded Age workers, we are disposable.
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There's no actual discussion of fighting the pandemic because that would mean pausing the redistribution of wealth from the bottom-up.
There's no talk of government assisting people because bodies like the GOP represent the wealthy and powerful. They're bought and sold.
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There's no talk of government assisting people because bodies like the GOP represent the wealthy and powerful. They're bought and sold.
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On so many of these threads, I leave off without a solution and stick with providing information.
Here's the good news though. America is like a pendulum, and when Americans realize they have power, things begin to change.
This is how the robber barons were reined in.
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Here's the good news though. America is like a pendulum, and when Americans realize they have power, things begin to change.
This is how the robber barons were reined in.
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When Americans unite for mass action and remember they have power, the balance shifts.
The weapon people like Trump and the GOP wield is the illusion of powerlessness. The spectacle they provide is meant to teach us we cannot affect change and we must endure it.
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The weapon people like Trump and the GOP wield is the illusion of powerlessness. The spectacle they provide is meant to teach us we cannot affect change and we must endure it.
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The American story tells us that when Americans unite and assert their sovereignty and power, they win.
The pendulum shifts. And once the illusion of powerlessness lifts, massive and lasting change is possible.
This is a cycle we have seen play out for generations.
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The pendulum shifts. And once the illusion of powerlessness lifts, massive and lasting change is possible.
This is a cycle we have seen play out for generations.
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A warning.
When the powerful in America feel power slipping, they resort to violence, oppression, and naked brutality.
That's where we're at right now. It's led to slaughter and senseless tragedy. The pendulum is swinging, and what we're watching is the reaction.
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When the powerful in America feel power slipping, they resort to violence, oppression, and naked brutality.
That's where we're at right now. It's led to slaughter and senseless tragedy. The pendulum is swinging, and what we're watching is the reaction.
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Right now, Trumpism is the weaponized rejection of change. It is a defense mechanism of white, patriarchal supremacy and the guard-dog of the wealthy and powerful maintaining dominance.
The deaths in the street, the blatantly racist appeals, it is part of the change.
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The deaths in the street, the blatantly racist appeals, it is part of the change.
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We have to learn history though, and when we learn real history we see that these cycles are part of our society. The real history is hidden when the powerful take control.
When we learn it and act on it, we can realize a better country.
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When we learn it and act on it, we can realize a better country.
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The reason we're failing in this pandemic, the reason we're all suffering, is because of the illusion of powerlessness
We have worth. It is sheer madness that we're being sacrificed to a generational pandemic to guard an unstable, inhuman economy.
Fight it.
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We have worth. It is sheer madness that we're being sacrificed to a generational pandemic to guard an unstable, inhuman economy.
Fight it.
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