Most of America's Super Rich Think THEY Make America Great
In their universe it's the size of a nations castles, not the size of it's slums that matters. It's the prestige of the ruling elite, not the character and industriousness of the people, by which they measure greatness. It has always been that way. Nothing has changed about the super wealthy - from the close of Europe's dark ages to the dawn of America's current one. They used to call themselves Nobility. Now they call themselves “Job Creators”, even if every dime that got them where they are today was originally inherited. Their ideology, once derived from “Divine Rule”, is now simply “Just Rewards” - a circular logic that says massive wealth is de facto evidence of superior personal attributes, which hence make the possessor worthy of his or her massive wealth.
Their attitude fundamentally still remains “Let them eat cake” toward everyone else. Only the window dressing has changed, the theatrics needed to harvest sufficient votes to keep their status secure. War is Peace, Hate is Love, all hail the Job Creators. Yes there are exceptions to the rule; fabulously wealthy decent and generous individuals who do not fit that template. In fact they too serve the rule, by muddying the picture to present a fig leaf of plausible deniability. Like the blanks that fill the chamber of one rifle in the firing squad – you can't say they all are killers, but the execution is assured.
And the most soft hearted of the lot, well they can busy themselves as patrons of the arts, reaping great honor as museum and galleries are named after them, as if only through their magnanimous gifts can a people truly have culture. The poor will always be with us they all say, while they shave benefits from America's bare bones medicaid safety net to cut billions from their taxes. They must have the example of our great wealth, they argue, to be inspired to want more from life.
And all of their self serving policies rest on sound economic principles, carefully designed by reverse engineering to prove the facts that they need established. Produced on demand by hired hands, men and women just like those employed by the tobacco industry in the sixties to de-link smoking from cancer. Kings never had trouble finding tax collectors to shake down peasants either. There is always money to be made by collaborating with the ruling class. Nothing has changed in the ruling class world view, it never does, it is only a matter of what we allow them to get away with.
Remember slavery? Remember seven day work weeks? Remember child labor? Remember company stores? Remember mass foreclosures? Remember migrant worker camps? Remember overseas sweat shops churning out products bearing the coolest logos? Remember pharmaceutical companies hiking price tags on life saving drugs by a thousand percent or more?
It is all the same mind set, take what you can get from the many because you deserve to have more. After all America can't afford “entitlements” for the poor and middle classes that ensure their basic survival. The only responsible choice is to “deincentivize” poverty by shrinking the safety net that lulls the masses into a false illusion of security. If we try to reduce poverty, or even attempt to make it survivable, there won't be the money needed to fuel the growth of personal fiefdoms, and empires owned by the elite. They are the people striving to make America great again, like it was in the days of the robber barons.
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