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| -Land of the Free |
| The New Feudalism: Oligarchs & Peasants; Goodbye, Democracy / Hello Radicalism |
| 2019-11-27 |
| [American Affairs] America’s emergence in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries represented a dramatic break from the past. The United States came on the scene with only vestiges of the old European feudal order—mostly in the plantation economy of the Deep South. There was no hereditary nobility, no national church, and, thanks to George Washington’s modesty, no royal authority. At least among whites, there was also far less poverty in America, compared to Europe’s intense, intractable, multigenerational poverty. In contrast, as Jefferson noted in 1814, America had fewer “paupers,” and the bulk of the population was “fed abundantly, clothed above mere decency, to labor moderately and raise their families.” Yet in recent decades this country, along with many other liberal democracies, has begun to show signs of growing feudalization. This trend has been most pronounced in the economy, where income growth has skewed dramatically towards the ultrarich, creating a ruling financial and now tech oligarchy. This is a global phenomenon: starting in the 1970s, upward mobility for middle and working classes across all advanced economies began to stall, while the prospects for the upper classes rose dramatically. The fading prospects for the new generation are all too obvious. Once upon a time, when the boomers entered adulthood, they entered an ascendant middle class. According to a recent study by the St. Louis Fed, their successors, the millennials, are in danger of becoming a “lost generation” in terms of wealth accumulation. This generational shift will shape our future economic, political, and social order. About 90 percent of those born in 1940 grew up to experience higher incomes than their parents, according to researchers at the Equality of Opportunity Project. This proportion was only 50 percent among those born in the 1980s, and the chances of middle-class earners moving up to the top rungs of the earnings ladder has declined by approximately 20 percent since the early 1980s. Corporate CEOs used to boast of starting out in the mailroom. There will not be many of those stories in the future. |
| Posted by:Lex |
| #5 Because the custom of Absentee Landlords & Serfs™ has been such a success in the past that we seem to be wanting to try it again... |
| Posted by: magpie 2019-11-27 17:22 |
| #4 Personally been saying this a long time. Too much rent-seeking, not enough actual capitalism |
| Posted by: Bright Pebbles 2019-11-27 16:04 |
| #3 I think Kotkin's main point is that there have been deep structural changes to our economy and our culture that make it very unlikely that middle-class democracy will survive in this country. We have to change the structure of our economy: at a minimum this means we must - rein in the oligarchs and enforce the competition and labor laws; - end the grifting from the Obanas Bidens Clintons Gore and all the other shitty pols-on-the-make; - stop shipping manufacturing and other jobs to China and stop importing helots from Mex/Cent.America, and - provide well-paying trades and related vocational education for the 80% of our young people who can't hack advanced college work and should not be in 4-year college programs. |
| Posted by: Lex 2019-11-27 13:07 |
| #2 Closely run thing. If the antifa types are knocked out early, the "where's muh check" crowd will not pick up the slack, beyond unorganized rioting and looting. Choke off the Acela corridor WRT food and medicine and it's pretty much over. |
| Posted by: M. Murcek 2019-11-27 12:20 |
| #1 "If no middle class, no democracy." |
| Posted by: Lex 2019-11-27 10:27 |