Open Thread - 4 June 2026 - Billionaires Are Getting Angry! GOOD!
Billionaires Are Getting Angry! GOOD!
Matt Stoller recently wrote a good article. It's in his 'Monopoly Roundup' from about a month ago and is entitled: The Rage of the Billionaires Is Coming (Note, you don't have to be a subscriber to read the main article, just to read the roundup news after the article).
What I thought was good about the article wasn't that the billionaires' rage is coming, of course it is. I thought it was good because Stoller talked about what is making the billionaires angry, and... what is making everyone else angry at the billionaires. Stoller starts with AI and the rage against it:
The public is extremely angry, and they are centering their anger on AI. Seven out of ten Americans oppose data centers being built nearby. It’s not hard to see why.
AI and tech CEOs seem almost proudly villainous. Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei routinely says that half of white collar jobs are going to disappear because of his technology. Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAI, noted that “AI will probably most likely lead to the end of the world, but in the meantime, there’ll be great companies.” And Alex Karp, CEO of Palantir, said during an earnings call that “This is a revolution. Some people can get their heads cut off.”
Voters are no longer brushing these comments off. They have experience with social media and enshittification, they don’t believe in the promise of the future. And even if they did, business leaders seem to luxuriate in explaining how terrible things will soon be for the little people. So they are starting to respond with frustration.
He moves on to talk about other ways the superrich do not understand how regular people think about or deal with the world, politics and so on. And he talks about why the superrich are becoming so angry with the regular people, and vice versa. I love his last few paragraphs:
One thing to understand is that the superrich are very good at selling their ideas. Most of them, after all, are salesmen. And they have all the money in the world to market. Since their vision isn’t appealing, they are going to do the next best thing, which is attack the people offering criticism, and argue that democracy itself is a fraud and can’t work. They will threaten to withdraw their wealth from different regions, they will call people stupid and ignorant, and they will use credible organs and validators on their payroll to do so.
If you’re not used to their level of anger, it can be surprising and scary. But over time, such threats diminish in power. Again saw this dynamic when Khan ran the FTC. The Wall Street Journal editorial page published an article criticizing her once every eleven days for her entire tenure. Policymakers generally get scared when a big newspaper attacks them, but it happened so often and in such constant bad faith that it became a joke and a point of pride. Other regulators began seeking to have the Wall Street Journal attack them.
And that’s how it’s going to happen as more populist political arguments emerge. It’s inevitable, Trump is wildly unpopular, and the superrich have tied themselves to him. As people start to fight about the post-Trump era, as Democrats organize some sort of governing agenda, with investigations and policies - even mild ones, they won’t even mean to antagonize the super rich. But just the idea that someone other than an oligarch gets to have a say in *anything* will prompt a level of backlash and rage that will seem scary, and then weird, and then just dumb.
Such is how an oligarchy ends, not with a bang, but with a bunch of whiny billionaires crying about taxes.
Something That's Good:
Recently activists on the left - and the right - managed to get 1,500 beagles freed from Ridglan Farms, in Wisconsin, which breeds the animals for 'scientific' experiments. The left, and the right, got together to free these poor dogs! That is awesome! Ridglan Farms is shutting down, now, with 500 more beagles to be rescued, and will be closed by 1 July 2026. YES!
This is a short film about the last rescue attempt, which was destroyed by local police, using tear gas, and more. Still, the attempt worked, as the end of the video shows. 1,500 beagles freed! Watching a couple of those precious dogs explore the world for the first time at the end of the film was so wonderful.
As an aside, I was so happy to read JtC's post about his health and recovery. So danged inspiring and so good to hear(read)!
Here's the open thread! What's up, whatcha doing? Reading? Thinking? Listening to? Got some good/bad/indifferent/funny/strange/cool news? Let's read/hear it! Remember, everything is interesting if you dive deep enough, so tell us about where you're diving!
Comments
Thursday! Yay!
Hope everyone is having a good day! It was really hot here Tuesday, well, hot for here. Now it's a little cold. Go figure! As usual, there's lots of outside work. Not as usual, we have a 'family' of chickens consisting of two hens, who both sat on the same nest at the same time, and five chicks which hatched in the last couple of days. Have never seen hens share mothering like that. We thought there weren't any viable eggs because of the way the hens were roosting, but... here we are! Hopefully the chicks are all female!
What's up with y'all? How you doing? Let us know!
If you're poor now, my friend, then you'll stay poor.
These days, only the rich get given more. -- Martial book 5:81, c. AD 100 or so
Nothing ever changes -- Sima, c. AD 2020 or so
Good morning Sima et.al
.
Fell into an info crack this AM via Al Jazeera (of all places).
It was 10 years ago yesterday Mohammed Ali died of complications
from Parkinson's syndrome. Best known as a champion boxer, he
also was a poet and an outspoken critic of the Viet Nam war. His refusal to
submit to the draft cost him several hard earned titles. A strong advocate of
Black Pride, his anti-establishment stance inspired a generation of resistance.
He converted to Islam faith and changed his name from Cassius Clay.
"They (VC) never called me [the N word], they never lynched me, they didn’t put no dogs on me,
they didn’t rob me of my nationality, rape and kill my mother and father…. Shoot them for what?
How can I shoot them poor people? Just take me to jail.”
Thanks for the OT!
Zionism is a social disease
Good Stuff about Ali
I vaguely remember those times, was too young to have much knowledge (as I have a lot now!
If you're poor now, my friend, then you'll stay poor.
These days, only the rich get given more. -- Martial book 5:81, c. AD 100 or so
Nothing ever changes -- Sima, c. AD 2020 or so
Half of white collar losing jobs is laughable
Plenty of low wage labor to go around, they can pick lettuce.
Those are the very people bitching about billionaires. The millionaires complain the billionaires have too much money.
There are 1,200,000 households in the 1%. They average a half million or better in income. The former DEI specialists in HR renamed to something else can find something else to do. Finance which is our biggest industry will lay off early and deep. They're too stupid to drive a concrete truck to build the data centers, maybe they can watch while eating baloney sandwiches they picked up at the food pantry, but I doubt it.
There's a feeling in the US, and it's not going to be mollified by tossing some billionaires on the fire.
Solution?
New rule -- nobody can have more than 10 million dollars worth of property.
Who needs more than that? For what?
Such an idea will put us at war with the uber rich. And? So what else is new.
I cried when I wrote this song. Sue me if I play too long.
That's a decent solution...
quite decent. And if one has over $10 million, what's over that is used to fund food, housing, etc, for the poor.
If you're poor now, my friend, then you'll stay poor.
These days, only the rich get given more. -- Martial book 5:81, c. AD 100 or so
Nothing ever changes -- Sima, c. AD 2020 or so
Good morning Sima, thanks for the OT.
Last night Joe posted part 2 of an interview between the judge and Larry. In it Larry divulged that he has a credible reputable Source well placed to have obtained the information that he conveyed to Larry. This information was that an appropriate person in Iran told an appropriate person in Pakistan to convey certain information to the US President. The information to be conveyed was that if Israel doesn't stop beating up on Lebanon and/or if the US increases its attacks on Iran then Iran will do three things:
First, Iran will cease all negotiations with the US; Second, Iran will pull out of the nuclear non-proliferation treaty, and Third Iran will detonate a nuclear device on the territory of Iran in order to demonstrate and prove that they have one. This then seems to be information to the effect that they do in fact have one which may have been responsible for the changes in the US behavior in the last few days. This is allegedly very new information, conveyed within the past week.
I tried to post and thought I did a problem I have with this interview which was that they discussed the bona fides of the conveyance of the information insofar as it is very very likely that said conversation took place but they did not at all address the issue of whether or not Iran might be bluffing. It seems that that post either got swallowed or got not posted even though written. So, for the record that still has not been addressed by anybody to the best of my knowledge and is an open question that is of some import and interest to all of us. Pepe, FWIW, appears to have received the same or similar informatin from the same source.
Ibviously, further information would be welcome.
be well abd have a good one.
That, in its essence, is fascism--ownership of government by an individual, by a group, or by any other controlling private power. -- Franklin D. Roosevelt --
Hi EL
My opinion about this, and that's all it is.
The Iranian nuclear threat is prospective in nature, and intended to deal with the present threat here, which is a nuclear armed Israel. Is there an alternative? Is the US ever going to "reel in" Israeli aggression and disregard for basic international law. I have characterized this as the US fail safe problem from the outset.
The potential for use of nuclear weapons has always been there. Are the government leaders just going to let this happen? I actually think, as I have heard others say, the current US administration doesn't have the expertise to resolve this situation even if they wanted to, which they apparently don't. How can the US do nothing in these circumstances?
I heard a few respected analysts say all the US has to do is cut off the Israeli logistics train. But is that really true? It could be a productive step, but not's let pretend it couldn't have a very dark side without a real ceasefire, accompanied by meaningful and substantial indications of good faith on the US/Israeli side. I don't know why people don't address this nuclear threat problem directly in real terms. Who is the real threat in this particular case?
It is not reassuring that there are nuclear war threats elsewhere, that are being completely ignored, such as in the Ukraine/NATO Russia conflict. It's hard to understand how the administration isn't doing anything to preclude such scenarios from evolving to their potentially disastrous conclusion. So again I conclude that the Iranians had no alternative but to make these threats, bluff or not. I wouldn't assume they were bluffing though, because the North Korean experience suggests a "practical solution" when one side won't negotiate in good faith. More extensive Iranian conventional attacks on Israel will only precipitate the very thing the parties on all sides should seek to avoid. Instead of acting like bad little boys, the actors need to act like statesmen.
I watched Hegseth's presentation at Shangri La last night. He's just not qualified for the job. I felt I was watching a hs sophomore. That isn't an ad hominem attack. It's a genuine concern about the ability of this administration and their direction.
己所不欲，勿施于人。
Such very good points...
Very good. And I love how you see Hegseth. I've seen him that way from the start, like he's a high school kid. But I dismissed my/our evaluation, because he has to be good/smart to get into his position, right?
If you're poor now, my friend, then you'll stay poor.
These days, only the rich get given more. -- Martial book 5:81, c. AD 100 or so
Nothing ever changes -- Sima, c. AD 2020 or so
Thanx Sima!
Enjoy reading about the billionaires. Particularly the tech billionaires. I remember when I needed something, I could read the yellow pages, call a few places, talk on the phone a bit about the terms, etc., and get er done. Life was so simple then. Now, if you try to find a service "on line," it seems you have to give up all your private information, and commit to things before you've even found out what you need to know. Gee, what does this mean? Should I get a lawyer before I agree to this? I'm sick of it. The AI intermediaries seem so manipulative and exploitative. Give your privacy and sign things before one even knows the other party's obligation and how much it costs. AI = Gotcha!
I listened to one young woman on her youtube channel say, that the president's ballroom is in fact, a data center. I suppose, most would consider that a "conspiracy theory." She provided some indicators that suggested it might be true. I thought, okay, Pal enter or whoever is going to bury a ten story underground structure on the white house grounds to complete the takeover. Seemed like she was doing some competent OSINT. They do seem to agree that we don't need any "democracy." The "bunker" will take care of it all.
Thanks for the OT Sima.
己所不欲，勿施于人。
I get nostalgic...
thinking about the yellow pages. It's nuts, but I'm so tired of 'just look it up on the internet' and then 'calling' to talk to AI about whatever it is, and waiting for 15 minutes to 3 or 4 hours on hold while 'AI' transfers you to a real person... Gah.
Trump's ballroom a data center? I wouldn't be surprised at all. His 'legacy'. Gah again!
If you're poor now, my friend, then you'll stay poor.
These days, only the rich get given more. -- Martial book 5:81, c. AD 100 or so
Nothing ever changes -- Sima, c. AD 2020 or so
The call between Iran and the Pakistan negotiator was
confirmed. Marco got s call an hour later, then informed Trump. Bluff or not, Pakistan firmly believes they have a nuke. The only way to prove Iran is bluffing is for the US and Israel to keep up with their attacks, and FAFO.
"We'll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false." ---- William Casey, CIA Director, 1981
Nukes, nukes...
So damned scary. And Trump doesn't give a f&ck, does he? Ahh well, we can have WWF at the White House to celebrate our 250th birthday, or something. Wonder how old Trump was when we were on birthday 1?
If you're poor now, my friend, then you'll stay poor.
These days, only the rich get given more. -- Martial book 5:81, c. AD 100 or so
Nothing ever changes -- Sima, c. AD 2020 or so
What I don't get
is I own a crappy house, needs a lot of work, or a tear down. Property values are rising, so my house is supposedly worth more, according to someones opinion. So, my property taxes go higher. I could borrow against the equity, but the banks don't see the same equity value.
Jeff Bezos claims a salary of $81,000, took the child tax exemption, plus others. His wealth comes from borrowing against the value of his stock. Why when his stocks value goes up why isn't he taxed like we are? All of us, our little assets go up, but I, and you, and you, and you are taxed, not him.
I know the answer, of course.
Also, why do we beat the student loan problem like a drum. The gov. seems to forgive business loans left and right, like during Covid. Why not forgive the interest on the loans and set the repayment to principle only?
Yeah, I know the answer to that one too.
Thanks for the OT.
If I decided to declare bankrupcy,
I could walk away from debt, with the exception of medical bills and school loans. What financially ruins most people? Guess.
"We'll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false." ---- William Casey, CIA Director, 1981
Yes, tax on the superwealthy should be like property tax...
What a great point. Also, I think school should be free, even at college level. All student loans should be forgiven, and the government should pay for the schooling. But, I'm insane.
If you're poor now, my friend, then you'll stay poor.
These days, only the rich get given more. -- Martial book 5:81, c. AD 100 or so
Nothing ever changes -- Sima, c. AD 2020 or so
We are led to believe that it is all the bovines fault.
One calf in south Texas
had screw worms. Someone, like Bill Gates, will push to kill all the cows in Texas. All my life, we de-wormed and ran our cattle through a trough for protection ticks and flies every year. Eat Gate's fake meat grown in a lab, and all the while, remember he is a eugenicist hoping to reduce the global population by 8 billion as cheaply as possible.
"We'll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false." ---- William Casey, CIA Director, 1981
Next week...
I'm gonna be writing about where vaccination comes from. All I'm gonna say now is, 'GO COWS'. And Gates can screw off, have disliked him since Microsoft started, or before.
If you're poor now, my friend, then you'll stay poor.
These days, only the rich get given more. -- Martial book 5:81, c. AD 100 or so
Nothing ever changes -- Sima, c. AD 2020 or so
My dad dug a
trough, lined it with cement. We ran the cows through it, and it was deep enough for them to drench in the liquid parasite meds approved my our Agriculture dept.
A cow with screw worms was treated, not killed.
Wtf happened?
One of my best dogs ever was a rescue, Butters, a beagle. ( The owner of the gas station came to me when I picked up the dog and said, plaease take him before he gets fun over. Later, I took him to the local vet and the vet knew the owner, said keep this dog as the owner will let him die horribly.)I can't believe how Fauci has not been sued for all his hideous lab experiments that tortured beagles to death. I read RFK Jrs. book and he had hideous photos, and wrote that the beagles tortures should be that issue that finally discredits Fauci and his work.
"We'll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false." ---- William Casey, CIA Director, 1981
Gotta agree with RFK, Jr about...
the beagles and Fauci. Fauci is so gross. Torturing dogs (and other animals) through experiments is one of the reasons why I stopped wearing makeup years ago. I used non-animal testing brands for a while, but then just stopped wearing makeup.
Your father had a good solution for drenching the cattle. I use a drench on the goats, but it's much easier (of course the goats are only like 45-60 lbs!), just a line of drench that goes along their backbone, or a dewormer that they ingest. Killing a cow or a goat for worms? What the h#ll??? How stupid is that?! I'm starting to think I really don't understand the world anymore. Maybe that's something all older people feel? I dunno.
If you're poor now, my friend, then you'll stay poor.
These days, only the rich get given more. -- Martial book 5:81, c. AD 100 or so
Nothing ever changes -- Sima, c. AD 2020 or so
Dang it!
It's the bovines fault? I never knew! Not the huge cities, the huge amount of cement and asphalt, all the oil, the plastic everywhere... no, it's the cows' fault. And probably the chickens', the horses', the goats', the sheep', the pigs' (can't forget the pigs), the fish...
If you're poor now, my friend, then you'll stay poor.
These days, only the rich get given more. -- Martial book 5:81, c. AD 100 or so
Nothing ever changes -- Sima, c. AD 2020 or so
Hey, sima!
I have found it impossible to do have a cordial difference of opinion with a millionaire without a lecture, if not a fight. I can only imagine what a billionaire would do in that circumstance.
Stoller's article was good.
I saw the beagle rescue attempt a few days ago, but it had a happy ending with the breeding facility shutting down.
Thanks for the OT, chica!
"We'll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false." ---- William Casey, CIA Director, 1981
Hey!
Thanks for stopping by! Obviously, I thought the Stoller article was good. It's weird, arguments with millionaires do suck, I can't imagine one with a billionaire. *gag*
I loved the freeing of the beagles. Loved it! Glad you did too
Have a great weekend!
If you're poor now, my friend, then you'll stay poor.
These days, only the rich get given more. -- Martial book 5:81, c. AD 100 or so
Nothing ever changes -- Sima, c. AD 2020 or so