In the 2020 presidential election cycle, more than $14bn went to federal candidates, party committees, and Super Pacs – double the $7bn doled out in the 2016 cycle. Total giving in 2024 is bound to be much higher.
That money is not supporting US democracy. If anything, that money is contributing to rising Trumpism and neofascism.
They largely control the nation’s resources. They can pay, the question is how many of our police and military forces are willing to sell their loyalty.
Given that 95% of U.S. law enforcement personnel are conservatives, I’m pretty sure the vast majority of them will be on board.
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We’re talking about the industrialists who oversee food, construction, and so forth. They control most of the wealth and wealth-generating resources.
There is a fatal flaw here though. The same people who own the wealth and resources are also incapable of producing them. They don’t have the knowledge of the necessary scientific principles or day to day operations.
They won’t be able to force it either. If you’re persecuting me and my people, I’m not going to earn you a penny. And if you try to compel me, I’ll sabotage the whole thing. And because they don’t actually know anything, they won’t even notice.
I used to work for one of big oil and gas corporations before coming to my senses, and the employees heavily skewed liberal. They were really interested in sustainability. The executives were not, beyond lip service. The educated workforce can bring these industrialists to their knees if they want to fuck around and find out. It’s about damn time white collar workers made our own unions too.
People are working under wage slavery now. I think they’ve already considered strategies for getting people to work for them. Starving people will consider options they wouldn’t accept otherwise.
I don’t think they’ll be able to starve out knowledge workers. It would be too tempting for other companies to poach that talent
Yeah, that free market bullshit never actually works like people think it should.
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Reich lists the billionaire donors who are hoping to become the new feudal lords in the new American empire. It’s not about states at that point. It’s about oligarchy.
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The dollar is based on confidence, like all money. That confidence is backed by the country’s ability to deliver. When they take over the government’s functions they can (if they choose) print their own script.
With the resources they command, money isn’t the problem.
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