"#Populism" isn't intrinsically left or right. The distinction between the two is often obscured by jargon, but there's a simple litmus test (courtesy of #StevenBrust): "ask what's more important: human rights, or property rights. If they say 'property rights are human rights,' they're on the right."
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This is essential for the creation, maintenance and expansion of #plutocracy. In a plutocracy, a small minority owns most of the property (we live in a plutocracy). By definition, plutocracy isn't popular, since it's a system that benefits a small minority at everyone else's expense. In its natural state, plutocracy is only popular with its winners, and not the vast majority of losers it creates.
Lifetime insurance paid for by the people and suplimented by the oligarchs or plutocracy, accountability, integrity fed by greed has been obvious in Scotus.
Pendulum swung a bit when Corporations made Convenience the selling point of their subscription services.
Balkanization, Sequestration for tax purposes (and to create artificial scarcity), Price hikes, and demeaning attempts to further squeeze money from basic consumers means Piracy has re-emerged -- judging by the popularity Indian and European torrent releases -- as more convenient.
Saudi Arabia: “new oil cuts show teamwork with Russia is strong”
They need to add Trump to that thank you
• facilitated the sale of America’s largest refinery in Port Arthur, TX to the Saudis
• got $2bn for our nations highest secrets
• $110bn arms deal on his first foreign trip
But he only intensified the sellout of US National interest that began more than 20 years ago, coincidentially with #Citizens UnitedVsFEC that enshrined American #plutocracy:
Justice Samuel Alito Took Luxury Fishing Vacation With GOP Billionaire Who Later Had Cases Before the Court
In the years after the undisclosed trip to #Alaska, #Republican megadonor Paul Singer’s hedge fund has repeatedly had business before the Supreme Court. #Alito has never recused himself.
@ProPublica
I recoil when reading ProPublica's Supreme Court exposés. It's like I'm reading the sordid details of sexual abuse encounters.
These Supreme Court justices have raped our constitution, rewarded their abettors (accomplices, perhaps?), bragged about their brutal savagery, revel in their megalomania, and decree that it's no big deal.
Listening to #MatthewCooke's American Origin Stories finally convinced me that all #US institutions were set up chiefly to protect the "landed gentry." #Billionaires are the new #aristocracy, and they are not benign. In a #feudal society, #fealty was rewarded by the feudal lord. Today, everyone is just a disposable "input factor."
We live in a virtually global #plutocracy.
This must be remedied.
Back to 70-90% income-tax...
Yes, but through #CitizensUnitedVsFEC*, quite the opposite has been happening for more than a decade and the #US are no a de-facto #plutocracy in all but name.
...become president and #PutinsPuppet, as I used to call #TFG in certain circumstances (e. g. #Ukraine), and if #Dems had not re-taken the #Senate--SMALL if's--the tipping point would have already been passed.
*The #PRC, like other authoritarian states, sees itself as a democracy.
@RadicalGraffiti
Yes, that is called #plutocracy
(from Ancient Greek πλοῦτος (ploûtos) 'wealth', and κράτος (krátos) 'power') or plutarchy is a society that is ruled or controlled by people of great wealth or income.)
"It’s increasingly looking like this may be one of the most hilariously inappropriate applications of AI that we’ve seen yet." I am riveted by the extensive documentation of how ChatGPT-powered Bing is now completely unhinged. @simon has chronicled it beautifully here: https://simonwillison.net/2023/Feb/15/bing/
...This said, I might also as well say that I see little chance for this happening, the globe being ruled by #oligarchs following the principal of #plutocracy and #capitalism (no, I am not a #Marxist;)) and #autocrats
Even a non-#superintelligence with access to the sensors of the #IoT will easily be aware of any threat to its existence and will find ways to circumvent the #LawsOfRobotics.
I think we should be talking about a Wealth Tax of some kind in the US. It's way past time, and it's a simple matter of fairness We can't wait around for politicians to figure this out on their own. We need to exert pressure on them, or vote them out.
In the news today:
The Guardian: ‘Tax us now’: ultra-rich call on governments to introduce wealth taxes