re: F-U-C-K-ery Thread: Official OT Thread

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It always goes back up and will continue to do so as long as this country remains Capitalist and free. And if that ever comes to an end ... none of it will matter.

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The robber barons of the late 1800's were pure capitalist and they were not good for the long term success of the USA. China right now reminds me of this age in their current economy.

My elders were lifelong Republicans who weathered 2 World Wars and a Great Depression. One survived the Bataan Death March and some survived service in each of these great wars. They also lived through the Standard Oil monopoly and other such attempts to "control" by the few at the expense of the many. If they were alive today - impressive as they would be in their 120's and 130's today - they would not recognize the current Republican Party. To be fair, the current Democratic Party is far removed from where it was pre 1980. Capitalism only works beyond theory if it contains a human element that offsets the inherent human vices of greed and gluttony.

Since the 1980's (and the love of money)
We let Junk Bonds replace 2%-4% interest rates as normal and expected
We let American companies be bought by private equity and sold overseas
We let American jobs be outsourced to China and India
We let American factories get rebuilt in Asia and the non USA Americas
We let Protestant work ethic be replaced instant gratification media
We let local and regional ownership be replaced by global monopolies
We let quality control be replaced by cheap & disposable
We let savings be replaced by spending and easy credit
We let face to face service be replaced by electronic "no service"
We let kids sell their parents life work for 1 time cash
We let division supplant cooperation to distract the masses with fear & loathing

America worked for two simple reasons
#1 We had a vibrant middle class
#2 We were the only empire to (in history?) not embrace primogeniture

In the name of "Capitalism" all this is being eroded as we move forward to a monarchy based on the 1% of the 1% and fewer individuals and private equity control more and more with no human element to the US citizens they are displacing.

One side of my family were some of the first European settlers who came here because the were daughters or non primary sons and arrived with nothing to carve out a place in a wilderness where survival was usually in question. The other side of my family arrived in America via Ellis Island as their survival was in doubt from their European homelands in the late 1800's and early 1900's. They too carved out a place from hard work and multi generational wealth transfer (via family ties and history - not necessarily just $$$$ wealth - which is no longer of valued today).

TL : DR

Wage slavery in a modern age of corporate monarchies is just the end result of non Americans subduing America after ~200 years of independence by using terms for their personal control like Capitalism and Freedom.