This is a very good, if disturbing, read.

[undead@masto.hackers.town]

@eclectech

I grew up in poverty, but my life occasionally crossed the paths of wealthy people or their retainers.

Nothing in this article surprised me. In fact, it seemed very normative for people with that level of income.

[naturemc@mastodon.online]

@eclectech A very good read. And what he describes, begins already long before you are super-rich - it's connected to power.
A lot of politicians have lost their connection to the people, lost keeping their feet on the ground. Top bosses of big corporations the same ...
It's a whole "culture" behind this in our society ...
Some thoughts about evil just came across: https://mastodon.online/@NatureMC/116437139445204393

[christo_459@mastodon.me.uk]

@eclectech
There should not be any billionaires

[macronaut@mas.to]

@eclectech this is a brilliantly written article and it is horrifying.

It is along the same lines as the book, “The Bill Gates Problem”; which also says this about Bill Gates “To be declared a genius at one thing is to begin to believe you are a genius at everything.”

[thad@brontosin.space]

@eclectech Noah Hawley? Oh man, next season of Fargo's gonna be something.

[moonshinebrigade@musicworld.social]

@eclectech disturbing indeed. #BarrysEconomics did a video on the same subject recently:

- YouTube

Auf YouTube findest du die angesagtesten Videos und Tracks. Außerdem kannst du eigene Inhalte hochladen und mit Freunden oder gleich der ganzen Welt teilen.

(www.youtube.com)

Makes you wonder how much longer this phenomena can take place. Their reality is a bubble, when will it burst?

Btw, our song "Old Blood" is inspired by the movie "There Will Be Blood": https://mirlo.space/moonshine-brigade/release/the-misery-stains/tracks/8787

[greenpete@sunny.garden]

@Christo_459
That is clearly true, yet they exsist.
Is this a failing of us, the common people, or of the human condition, of which we are all affected by?
And of course... what to do?
@eclectech

[boksy@c.im]

@eclectech

"The hubris of accomplishment — To be declared a genius at one thing is to begin to believe you are a genius at everything."

#FoodForThought

[ermo@fosstodon.org]

@eclectech I believe that the loss of connection and/or empathy that happens when you no longer share conditions with other people, along with then perpetually wanting more security for yourself at the expense of everyone else, is actually a well known psychological phenomenon.

I also believe that this is one of the main reasons why e.g. the Nordics are very careful about ensuring income redistribution via progressive taxation, because it leads to a more cohesive society overall.

[fazalmajid@social.vivaldi.net]

@eclectech sounds very much like William Randolph Hearst holding court at Hearst Castle in San Simeon. Any Hollwood actor or actress who declined would find their career prospects drastically curtailed.

[wesdym@mastodon.social]

@eclectech We must make this level of personal wealth impossible. By whatever means is necessary to achieve that. It's bad for everyone.

[superball@norcal.social]

@moonshinebrigade that’s very well done; thanks for sharing.

[shansterable@ohai.social]

@eclectech
The part of this Atlantic article that got me:
"Eight years later, Bezos and two of the world’s other richest men—Mark Zuckerberg and Elon Musk—have clearly left the world of consequences behind. They float in a sensory-deprivation tank the size of the planet, in which their actions are only ever judged by themselves."

Billionaires should not exist.

[bookhouse@mas.to]

@eclectech

“And, for an instant, she stared directly into those soft blue eyes and knew, with an instinctive mammalian certainty, that the exceedingly rich were no longer even remotely human.”

William Gibson, Count Zero. (1987)

[overtondoors@infosec.exchange]

@eclectech

"Eight years later, Bezos and two of the world’s other richest men—Mark Zuckerberg and Elon Musk—have clearly left the world of consequences behind. They float in a sensory-deprivation tank the size of the planet, in which their actions are only ever judged by themselves."

Yeah, I believe it.

[overtondoors@infosec.exchange]

@greenpete @Christo_459 @eclectech

In the US it's been the fruits of a century long campaign that began during the curtailment of excess following the last great depression. It was not by accident that we've gotten here. The heirs of the industrial revolution got their wings clipped and now their great grandchildren are in league with petrol-oligarchs to stomp every ember of democracy out.

My answer, in short, is to destroy every vestage of carbon energy infrastructure as quickly as possible. Ideally replacing it with renewables, though not necessarily if unavoidable. Heroine withdrawal in order to avoid dieing in our sleep.

[firlefanz@writing.exchange]

@eclectech

Absolutely disturbing.

This kind of wealth must be eliminated. They are a pox, worse than what the author experienced.

[clintruin@mastodon.social]

@BOOKHOUSE @eclectech
"I'm finished."

Daniel Plainsview

[marymaraskittenbakery@troet.cafe]

@Christo_459 @eclectech

[naturemc@mastodon.online]

@greenpete It's a fail of the system. Most of them come from countries where they had no or only ridiculous minimum amounts of taxes to pay!
It's politics: #TaxTheRich and we had enough money to solve most of the financial problems, a state can have. A question how a state lives solidarity, e.g. with health care for all.

@Christo_459 @eclectech