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Greed

Open Thread - 08-15-25 - Class Warfare as Policy

Federal politics in America has always been about class warfare. The Founding Fathers were, for the most part, rich land owners. In most states only white male land owners over 21 could vote. This persisted through the early 1800s, but by the 1820s was no longer common. North Carolina was the last state to remove the property requirement in 1856.

Senators were elected by the legislatures of their respective states until 1913 when the Seventeenth Amendment was ratified. This was another way that the wealthy retained power. After the ratification of the Seventeenth Amendment Senators were elected by the constituents of the states. This was a good step towards equity, but there were other ways to twist the system in favor of the monied class.

It was set up as a good old boy's club and pretty much remains that way to the present with the addition of some good old girls as well. Sure, some less than wealthy candidates occasionally get elected, but by and large, they don't remain that way for long. We've all seen how some elected officials come into office with a modicum of wealth and within a few years have accumulated a rather large nest egg, much more than what their annual salary justifies. The longer they serve the larger the larder.

Open Thread - 12-01-23 - I Me Mine

Does your mind feel like a pin cushion, similar to being stuck like a voodoo doll by invisible forces intent on stealing your free will? Does it feel like every day there's a new assault on your sanity, a new way to divide yourself against yourself and against each other? Do you feel confused about what is right and what is wrong, like old sociological taboos are now acceptable and what was once unthinkable is now subliminally admissible? Do you feel like you're being led down a menacing alleyway in the dead of night, in the midst of an archetypal dream where you need to run from some danger yet your legs don't work no matter how hard you try. Do you feel intimidated about saying the wrong thing to the point where you don't even want to think those thoughts? Do you feel like you have three legs of which only one can go forward but two will then step back? Do you pine for the old world order of just a few short years ago, that was chaotic in and of itself but now seems idyllic and much more manageable compared to the mass confusion of this nascent new world order being thrust upon us?

Do you feel helpless and hopeless? Do you want it all to just stop? If so that is exactly the raison d'etre for the incessant and ubiquitous propaganda and gaslighting we've been bombarded with by the media for many years now. It's been ever present in our lives since birth but has recently been taken to a whole new level of full spectrum mind control.

Why? Why have the societal paradigms shifted so much in the near term and what may the consequences be in the long term?

confusion.jpg

Panama Papers, Tax Havens- not many US names because Americans have US states like Delaware

to stash their riches in, out of sight of the public.

The US's wealthy's names were underrepresented in the Panama Papers - leaked from a single firm that set up thousands of fake compnies - US people were suspiciously absent from the shell companies papers because even though hundreds of Europeans had set up these shell companies - to hide their incomes and assets, Americans went elsewhere..

Rule by the Rich

Damn, could it be more obvious? What is it with humans?

I've been railing against rule by the rich for some time now. That is THE problem, that and our pathetic political systems that allow them to rule us. Everyone knows it, everyone has always known it, most everyone anyway. It's everywhere with this global capitalist greedfest occurring right in front of our broke little eyes.

Clintonesque greed now infects Medicine's Bible

Despite the title, HRC has nothing to do with the subject matter of this post--but she serves as a damn good role model for what is now infecting medical literature. Twin themes here are a) money buys influence and b) there is no end of sell-outs. This article isn't sexy but it is important.