[erlich]

Everyone in charge are already extremely wealthy. They have zero skin in the game. J. Powell, 50MM. Yellen, 20MM. There is no ability for them to empathize with a regular taxpayer. Whatever happens their lifestyle will not be impacted one bit.

You have to ask: what drives someone in this position.

And this is a question that only the 200k ultra high net individuals (30mm+) in the world can answer.

I think people stop chasing material possessions and start chasing prestige and power. These people don’t interact with the average joe much so they don’t really care about their opinion, unless you are a populist like Trump for eg. They care about their family friends and peers. So I think it creates a broey kind of culture where you want your peers to be happy with the job you are doing. If you are in finance you want the bankers to be happy. Your political party to be happy etc.

I think it becomes more about making and keeping friends. This stage for life without need for material possessions is all about people and relationships and power.

You just have to imagine yourself with infinite wealth but no friends. You would quickly run out of things to spend it on, and you would just want people to love and respect you.

[shagymoe]

All good points. Let's remove the power to control money from these people.

[nebula8804]

Great idea! As someone who spent time volunteering for Bernie Sanders campaign, I'll wait here while you go do that: Good luck!

[shagymoe]

I was right there with you. We're collectively too stupid or too easily manipulated to enact the change we need.

[andrei_says_]

We’re manipulated yes but it’s not that easy. The propaganda machine is big, incessant and expensive. Saying this not so much as a consolation but as a reminder to take the manipulation very seriously.

Millions of us think in sound bites provided by propaganda.

Our universities teach flawed unsustainable economic theory as reality.

Our politicians are at the forefront of the science of dividing voters into two equal parts attacking each other and voting on non-essential issues.

Please see the work of George Lakoff on framing - it is crucial.

[vipvipv]

THis is true, for a lot - not All, of us :)

I've been part of campaigns where the leader actually had the brains to act right. Power, sometimes, can be tricky to handle. BUt NOtfor ALL.

There are times, when those in power, acting with not so complete picture of this situation - or the information, are prone to look stupid with hindsight. NOT the case with all, but a minority of leaders!

[nebula8804]

Gen-Z are absolute rockstars. I like to think that part of the surprise win for Dems in 2022 was boomers passing away (possibly accelerated due to anti-vax COVID deaths) and Gen-Z really coming out in the hopes of some sort of college loan relief.

Hopefully down the road the millennials and gen-z become a large enough collective that they finally push out the garbage...although the establishment wont go down without a massive fight.

[lr1970]

> Gen-Z really coming out in the hopes of some sort of college loan relief.

Do Gen-Z have enough brains to understand that any sensible college loan relief must be accompanied by stringent control how colleges raise tuition? As it stands now loan relief is an invitation to the universities to keep raising tuition without limits.

[techdragon]

And the big wildcard for me will be the currently unanswered question of how easy will it be to use new technologies like ChatGPT, various image and voice generation tools/models, to create content that manipulates them directly or indirectly towards or away from things as desired by the current (and future) powerful and wealthy people who don’t want to lose their power or wealth.

Humans being social animals makes me worried that its going to be a fighting retreat by those aware of the manipulation against these technologies being used to manipulate.

[bacchusracine]

>As someone who spent time volunteering for Bernie Sanders campaign

How do you feel about his three houses?

The truth is people with the money don't want to change things and those with the power stop caring as much once they too get more.

[nebula8804]

Lets take a look at these three homes.

1. 221 Van Patten Parkway, Burlington Vermont: purchased for ? in 1981 currently valued ~$405k

2. 311 4th St NE, Washington, D.C.: purchased for ~$490k in 07 valued at ~$736k

3. 310 Stone Gate Lane, North Hero, Vermont: purchased for ~575k in 2016

I'd like to think that a senator that is 81 years old could have done much better given this is the bulk of his worth. In fact many developers here working for FAANG will probably exceed how he turned out if they haven't already.

[reducesuffering]

All US senators and reps should have a residence in their home territory and DC (they need to understand their constituents' area and they need to be in DC a lot). Bernie's is a 1 bedroom in DC, so those two are a given imo and nothing to be concerned about. His third is a $575k rural lake house; probably a country retreat from being in the cities of Burlington and DC all the time. So while getting a little extravagant for the average American, it's certainly not very unusual for many people in the US to have a modest rural retreat "cabin." I've seen many blue collar families in that circumstance, even in California. And I say this as someone who wouldn't vote for Bernie.

[frumper]

I don't have an issue with his rural retreat, but calling Burlington a city isn't exactly conveying how quaint of a town it really is. It feels like a town I'd visit when I want to get out of my also not big city.

[ManlyBread]

Good idea, what's your plan?