[benreesman]

I didn’t mean that I was personally going to broker some compromise.

I meant that in my small way I’m part of a larger conversation.

There are a lot of people bright enough to have been at the top of their field who for one reason or another are opposed to the status quo.

I’m just one of a lot of people who are every bit as sophisticated as anyone on Jane’s Prop desk and yet still under its boot.

[JumpCrisscross]

> a lot of people bright enough to have been at the top of their field who for one reason or another are opposed to the status quo

Sure. They should do more. My point is “watch out, you’ll wind up headless” is more self soothing than a threat. If America flips over, the billionaires will be fine. Maybe a couple unlucky or stupid millionaires will lose their coin or lives. Most will, at worst, preserve their wealth; more likely, they’ll get more wealthy and powerful.

> Jane’s Prop desk and yet still under its boot

Nobody at Jane Street is wealthy enough to be politically relevant outside its founders. (Unless they’re trading from a very small town, and you’re in it.)

[benreesman]

I admire your candor and persistence but I think I’m just wired a bit differently.

I agree that the present oligarch class is every bit as powerful in relative terms as any before them. They also have the advantage of modern technology: ubiquitous domestic surveillance and militarized police are clearly not designed to prevent petty crime.

And the last thing I want to see is chaos and bloodshed. But I do want working people to regain some level of bargaining power, and with an elite as insular and vulgar as this one, that probably means a credible threat at least in abstract.

Extreme military power has failed against motivated populations almost without exception in all asymmetrical scenarios this century: it is not a foregone conclusion that oppression lacks an upper bound.

The end state on the current trend lines would be a catastrophic failure of our civilization.

I’m not yet prepared to accept that as inevitable.

[JumpCrisscross]

> that probably means a credible threat at least in abstract

When has this worked in practice to the benefit of those making the threats?

(Versus bargaining for more rights by dividing the elite.)

> Extreme military power has failed against motivated populations almost without exception in all asymmetrical scenarios this century

Internally? Each of China, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Myanmar, et cetera seem to be doing fine.

> end state on the current trend lines would be a catastrophic failure of our civilization

Sure. But a revolution just speed runs that. (And we aren't the only civilisation on the planet.)

> I’m not yet prepared to accept that as inevitable

It's not even probable. Going back to the original comment, Americans' standards of living have been rising across almost every class. On an income and wealth scale, a positive-sum game, almost every category of American is better off than before.

What's changed in the last 50 years is on the relative standard. And in the political domain, a zero-sum game, that's led to some issues. But nothing terminal, not even close--ordinary workers still swing elections.

[benreesman]

I don’t care and neither should you what consumer electronics and other durable goods cost. That’s not even remotely standard of living.

Housing, energy, healthcare, education. All off the charts inaccessible relative to 60 years ago. The Boomers are the Worst. Generation. Ever. Full stop.

When the LAPD beat Rodney King half to death on camera and all of the officers wielding the batons were acquitted?

Los Angeles burned.

Detroit. Watts. Harvey Milk was assassinated for a reason.

I will always strongly prefer a negotiated settlement between classes of society.

But one guy self-immolation in Tunisia kicked off regime change in 11 countries.

I abhor violence but I make no difference between violence in person and violence by economic or policy proxy.

I grew up in San Diego, half the guys I grew up with are former JSOC and even angrier than I am. Private equity people operate at our pleasure if it really came to it.

[benreesman]

You remind me a bit of one of the smartest guys I’ve ever met. A poker player turned VC called Zach.

Brilliant guy, but cynical in a way that I never saw as his best self. He did well for himself and then kind of stopped worrying about the larger world.

But earlier, when he was younger, he constantly advised me to do things by a code more robust than self-enrichment.

I love and admire the guy, but I miss him trying to make the world better.