Let's be clear on who the "elite" is

[pecksniff]

It is not the federal bureaucracy, and it is not just anybody with a college education. It is the plutocracy, the owners of the means of production.

 

[Rightguide]

It is not the federal bureaucracy, and it is not just anybody with a college education. It is the plutocracy, the owners of the means of production.

It's those who wield both economic and political power, along with those who manage it, and apply or inflict it on their behalf.

 

[rae121452]

It's those who wield both economic and political power, along with those who manage it, and apply or inflict it on their behalf.

you mean like (t-word)'s tax bill?

 

[BoyNextDoor]

Name names

 

[pecksniff]

Name names

The names to watch for are Koch and Scaife.

 

[CornusKousa]

It is not the federal bureaucracy,

No, they are merely the weapons of authority.

They are the boot on M'aricas throat.

It is the plutocracy,

There is no plutocracy. Oprah, Billy G. and ol' Jeffe Bezos don't get together with Dr. Dre and set policy in this country.

the owners of the means of production.

Are people just like me...contractors and property owners.

We have the skills, we have the tools, we have the resources.

They have no more power than you or I.

And we are no plutocracy.

 

[Rightguide]

The names to watch for are Koch and Scaife.

Koch is number 27 on the list of billionaires and Richard Scaife is dead.

 

[pecksniff]

Koch is number 27 on the list of billionaires and Richard Scaife is dead.

He left three foundations, two of which fund conservative causes.

 

[pecksniff]

Are people just like me...contractors and property owners.

We have the skills, we have the tools, we have the resources.

You're small businesses, you don't matter.

 

[CornusKousa]

He left three foundations, two of which fund conservative causes.

Good

 

[jaF0]

None of the above answers is fully correct or on point. The world population in general doesn't even know who the 'elites' are. We know names like Gates, Bezos, DeVos and Kardasitrash, but there are many, many others above them. They may or may not be on public lists, but they are powerful and 'elite' none the less.

 

[pecksniff]

None of the above answers is fully correct or on point. The world population in general doesn't even know who the 'elites' are. We know names like Gates, Bezos, DeVos and Kardasitrash, but there are many, many others above them. They may or may not be on public lists, but they are powerful and 'elite' none the less.

In his 1992 book Class: A Guide Through the American Status System, Paul Fussell defined them as the "out-of-sight rich." The ones who live in houses not visible from the road, sometimes on private islands.

 

[pecksniff]

They are the boot on M'aricas throat.

Federal bureaucracy ain't that.

 

[Bud_Spencer]

I think there are two elites, one that rose by out-performing its competition in producing things people wanted, and another that suckles at the shabby teat of State power and licks its hand. Most of our elite are in the latter camp.

 

[pecksniff]

I think there are two elites, one that rose by out-performing its competition in producing things people wanted, and another that suckles at the shabby teat of State power and licks its hand. Most of our elite are in the latter camp.

Most of the elite are in neither camp. They were simply born rich, and the state licks their hands.

 

[CornusKousa]

Federal bureaucracy ain't that.

Gets used that way to great effect.

So yea, it is in the real world.... maybe not in an ultra-radical leftist whackadoodle fantasy it's not, but in the real world it is.

Most of the elite are in neither camp. They were simply born rich, and the state licks their hands.

Another leftist fantasy.

 

[pecksniff]

Gets used that way to great effect.

So yea, it is in the real world.... maybe not in an ultra-radical leftist whackadoodle fantasy it's not, but in the real world it is.

Whose neck are they on? Not mine. Not yours, I daresay. Unless you have some reason to be scared of the ATF, in which case you deserve whatever you get.

Another leftist fantasy.

It is a fact that most of the rich were born rich.