We’re about 2 weeks into our annual fundraiser. We’ve raised about $8,955 out of a $14,500 goal from 69 people. This blog is free for everyone to read, and we’ve got about ten thousand visitors a month. Of those about 6K are regulars. 

The simplest truth of capitalism is that you get more of what you pay for. Money sends the message and resources required to do things. In most cases your power is tiny, one of millions, but this isn’t like that because the numbers and the need (to keep the blog and Ian running) are relatively small.

So if you value this blog, if it’s worth having around to you, please consider Subscribing or Donating.

There was a fair bit of good news during the election, but one vote which went very wrong was California’s vote on a one time wealth tax on billionaires, proposition. It failed 55% against, 45% for.

California’s a fairly “blue” state, but still, Americans won’t tax the rich.

And the simple truth is that nothing significant can be done to fix America as long as it’s an oligopoly: as long as the rich control government. There are some good signs, of course, billionaires spent a lot of money trying to stop the blue wave and failed. Millions were spent against progressive candidates like El-Sayed and failed.

But money is what gives oligarchs power: power to bribe, power to fund intellectuals and propagandists, power to control government for their own ends. As the famous Princeton oligarchy study detailed, the opinions of ordinary people have no effect on policy.

The bottom line is fairly simple: since elites don’t experience most of the shit parts of life in the US, they don’t care. Education sucks? So what, their kids go to private school. Healthcare sucks? So what, they can bypass the crap and get the best care. Security at airports and a crappy flight experince? They don’t go through the same security, since they fly on private jets.

Welfare keeps getting cut because they want the money for other priorities and they control most politicians. AI could steal everyone’s IP except a few groups with lawyers, same reason. Food prices don’t effect them, it could go up ten times, and it’d be a rounding error to the expenses.

In general, they certainly don’t want low prices, because high prices benefit them more than harm them. Cost of living? If you’re rich, it’s irrelevant.

The most fundamental rule of good societies is that people with power and wealth can’t be allowed to buy their way out of the experience of ordinary people. No private schools. No private jets. No private health care that is unaffordable to ordinary people. No wars that they or their children don’t fight in themselves.

As long as the rich have a lock on political power they will control the US and until a majority of people understand that and vote and act as if rich people are the enemy, life will keep getting worse. It’s that simple.