[keybored]

I don’t buy your history but we seem to agree on the conclusion.

The “thus” is misplaced. Nothing was given from the elites. In two senses of the word: labor created that standard of living, elites took a lot of it, and then labor forced them to give a bit more of if back. And labor has always created that value.

And the future when labor is displaced? Does the fully automatically manufactured “largesse” of the elites dry up because the elites made it and they don’t have to give it to anyone else? No to the first part, yes to the second. Labor first created the value. Then the automation. Then they let the elite steal it wholesale.

So discussing the elites as having inherently something to give away is misplaced.

[acatnamedjoe]

They have something to give away because they have power, which is the only thing that matters in the final analysis.

It doesn't matter who created the value - it's who controls it.