“The rentier economy is characterized by low growth and therefore less material prosperity for everyone, but more guaranteed relative position for those on top. And people, it turns out, really like relative position.” @sjshancoxli https://www.liberalcurrents.com/the-plutocrat-populist-axis/
@LesterB99 the rich do pretty well independent of rates, high asset prices when rates are low, high cash flows when they are high. but the asset poor have to actually pay those high cash flows, they are the net payers, so find high interest rates more burdensome.
high interest rates are just taxes the poor pay to the rich.
what if prime is the new blue checkmark?
Jeff Bezos is frightened of Donald Trump.
I have been debunked. You are hearing voices.
i’m being frequently notified that some application i can’t identity is generating funny-sounding notifications. i love to stay informed.
@carolannie yes. nothing good can happen, nothing bad can happen, is quite the failure of imagination.
some people vote for Trump because they think he can overthrow the “deep state”. but i bet at least as many do so because they think he can’t, so whatever bullshit he spouts he can’t do much harm, and they want to protest just that situation.
(i think they are badly wrong about the putative impotence of elected Presidents. but these people are lost in a shrug of cynicism, our flawed democracy is not a democracy at all, no better than any autocracy you might name.)
"Jeff Bezos just forced the Democrats to see that economic power is political power." @matthewstoller https://www.thebignewsletter.com/p/monopoly-round-up-jeff-bezos-and
there are important distinctions between very bad and much, much worse.
@akkartik this too shall pass. it may maim and torture and murder us while it does, we may not live to see its passing. but the question is the rate of impermanence, not the fact. we can do our best, futile or not, to hurry things in a good direction, and to protect ourselves while things fucking suck.
people who own the media are capable of manufacturing vibes of despondency about the candidate they disfavor.
fuck them. even though they are unfuckable. everyday miracles.
“after all, if there is no god, there are billion dollar valuations.” https://mastodon.social/@blogdiva/113377194084638747
@hp i bet you’ve been badgered!
You’ve earned a new badge.
@louis Yes. I never respond to solicitations at all, for example. When I donate, I go to ActBlue or Oath and search the candidate. I don’t want to reward their manipulative communications.
I’d rather we lived in a democracy where financial donations were not an important element of participation, would advocate fervently for complete and compulsory public finance. But in the meantime, I do feel some obligation to contribute.
@louis fair enough, from a certain perspective.
but in general i’d say giving/spending money and being a mark need not be equivalent. it would be possible for political campaigns and organizations to form a longer-term, ultimately more lucrative relationships with me if they actually invested, not just or primarily financially, in a relationship.