Why calls for "wealth equality" via "participatory democracy" never work.

 Anyone who has ever been part of a group quickly finds out who the leader and decision-makers are.  They are the ones who make the proposals, who have an “iron bottom” and are willing to sit and talk until all hours.  And that’s how they get their way.  

That’s why a statement like:  “… increasing wealth equality will result in a society that is more decentralized, more multicultural, more participatory, more ecological, and will have “an electoral and media system that cannot be controlled by money.”  is nonsense on stilts.  

Decisions will have to be made about how a society functions and those decisions will be made by groups. Those groups will have leaders, and those leaders will run the show.  And suddenly we are in Animal Farm where the “leaders” - because they spend so much time “working for us” – need the good things in life.  The nicest places to live, the best food, medical care, transportation, exclusive resorts to rest because they work so hard, etc.   Just as Stalin and the Russian communists became indistinguishable from the Czars and the nobility of the system they overthrew.  

It’s amazingly similar to Academia and the US Government which rewards its thought leaders and  “public servants” so richly.  

How much money you need to be part of the 1 percent worldwide

Just how much money do you need to be among the global 1 percent?

According to the 2018 Global Wealth Report from Credit Suisse Research Institute, you need a net worth of $871,320 U.S. Credit Suisse defines net worth, or "wealth," as "the value of financial assets plus real assets (principally housing) owned by households, minus their debts."

More than 19 million Americans are in the 1 percent worldwide, Credit Suisse reports, far more than from any other country, while "China is now clearly established in second place in the world wealth hierarchy," with 4.2 million citizens among the world's top 1 percent.

Exhibit one for gross wealth disparity

Buyer pays $133K for two courtside tickets to Game 5 of NBA Finals

Here's how much you need to earn to be in the top 1% of every US state

Big, Very Rich and Dangerous: Time to Rein in Private Charitable Foundations

Together, private and public charitable foundations are apparently sitting on trillions of dollars of assets.

These organizations have grown to massive size -- and are poorly, if at all, regulated. Instead of meeting the charitable needs of citizens that government funds were inadequate to provide for, foundations are regularly being misused to fund organizations and outfits antithetical to our best interests, disenfranchising us and working at cross purposes to the desires and beliefs of most Americans. The achievements of a few big foundations include undermining the war on terror, Balkanizing our universities and society, lobbying for open borders, and undermining our economy with radical environmentalism. -

The most egregious offenders in terms of size seem to be those foundations categorized as private “non operating foundations” such as the Bill, Hillary and Chelsea Clinton Foundation --which exist primarily to give grants to others, and it will be these to which I refer here. (Operating foundations function rather like public charities, providing direct support to a school, a hospital, or another specific charitable program, and are not the subject of this article.)

The Foundations that are my focus are those like the Tides Foundation, Rockefeller Brothers Fund and the Ford Foundation. Evidence of their anti-democratic, anti-American, anti-capitalist, anti-Israeli activities is copious and well documented.

The Ford Foundation

Ford funded the Black Power Movement, helped establish the Black studies, Womens Studies, Hispanic Studies and Diversity Programs in colleges throughout the country, and supported Multiculturalism in place of assimilationist policies. It created and funded the Black Power Movement and La Raza, the Mexican national group here. Ford fought to expand the welfare state, created the Open Borders Lobby, underwrote the “human rights “ focus in America’s law schools, and pushed affirmative action programs. Its sponsorship of the anti-Israeli, anti-American Durban Conference got it into hot water, after which it promised to cease funding “subversive groups” including those calling for the destruction of Israel,

In recent decades, the Ford Foundation has continued to play a major role in shaping American culture, popular opinion, and public policy, by funding organizations whose agendas and worldviews are consistent with its own. These agendas and worldviews include:

the weakening of homeland security and anti-terrorism measures on the theory that they constitute unacceptable assaults on civil liberties;

the dissolution of American borders;

the promotion of mass, unchecked immigration to the United States;

the redistribution of wealth;

the blaming of America for virtually every conceivable international dispute;

the depiction of Israel as an oppressor state that routinely victimizes its Palestinian minority;

the weakening of American military capabilities [snip];

a devotion to the principle of preferences based on race, ethnicity, gender, and a host of other demographic attributes;

the condemnation of the U.S. as a racist, sexist, homophobic nation that discriminates against minorities, women and gays;

the characterization of America as an unrepentant polluter whose industrial pursuits cause immense harm to the natural environment;

the portrayal of the U.S. as a violator of human rights both at home and abroad;

the depiction of America as an aggressively militaristic nation; and

support for taxpayer-funded abortion-on-demand as an inalienable right for all women.

Read the whole thing.

HUNGER GAMES, AMERICAN STYLE

Sasha and Malia Obama Wore $20K Dresses to the Canada State Dinner

While their mother opted for a custom strapless number from one of her favorite designers, Jason Wu, her daughters went with Naeem Khan. Malia, 17, who was seated next to Saturday Night Live’s Lorne Michaels and actress Sandra Oh, wore a strapless faille gown with crystal beading from the pre-fall 2015 collection. The 100 percent silk piece is no longer available for purchase, but it originally retailed for $17,990. The embellished piece didn’t need any more bling, so she went without jewelry.

Glenn Reynolds comments:

When teenagers wear dresses that cost more than many Americans make, it’s easy to see why Bernie and Donald are getting traction.

When you're part of the Ruling Class, it's all good.  But watch out for the peasants with pitchforks.  Does anyone feel that the the French revolution may be waiting in the wings?  

Black Wealth Barely Exists, In One Terrible Chart

Glenn Reynolds Remarks:

Well, when people get lousy K-12 educations, and are then steered into low-paying “social justice” jobs, it’s not a big surprise that they don’t end up wealthy. But this pattern does generate a political army for the Democrats, so there’s that. It’s just that footsoldiers don’t get paid that well.

 




The top comment at the Huff Post:

These numbers are totally fictional. Everybody knows that President Supergenius Hopenchange was the greatest mortal in the history of all mankind, and everything is better due to his wonderful blessings of peace and prosperity. Let none dispute these claims!

The Danish Model – don’t try this at home

Interesting essay.

So, Denmark first became rich, and then introduced the programs, which make up the welfare state. The huge increase in government spending has been accompanied by deep structural problems, which has made it necessary to reform the Danish economy and welfare state ever since. It can hardly be claimed that introducing the welfare state made Denmark rich; rather it was the other way around. Denmark first became rich, and then authorities began to redistribute some of the wealth. ...

In many respects, Denmark could serve as a model for the World (just like most other countries). But if you fail to learn the right lessons, it could be dangerous to try to imitate our model. Especially the idea that you can become rich by redistributing wealth or that there is a gentler way to socialism than the one experienced by typical socialist countries in general could get you into trouble.

And it would certainly be ironic, if the Danish case were to become an excuse for politicians in e.g. Greece or the US to avoid economic reforms, and fiscal consolidation, since we have been reforming and consolidating for decades to handle the problems created by the introduction of the welfare state.

It seems to be the path that the US is following.

Democrats and Dinner with a pedophile

You get to know a lot about people by those they hang out with.  

On the evening of December 2nd, 2010, a handful of America's media and entertainment elite—including TV anchors Katie Couric and George Stephanopoulos, comedienne Chelsea Handler, and director Woody Allen—convened around the dinner table of convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. It wasn't just any dining room, but part of a sprawling nine-story townhouse that once housed an entire preparatory school. And it wasn't just any sex offender, but an enigmatic billionaire who had once flown the likes of former President Bill Clinton and former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak around the world on his own Boeing 727. Last spring, Epstein completed a 13-month sentence for soliciting prostitution from a minor in Palm Beach. Now he was hosting a party for his close friend, Britain's Prince Andrew, fourth in line to the throne.

Keep this in mind when you recall that Obama hung around with racist preachers, Leftist bombers, crooked politicians and slum lords.

Bob McDonnell just got two years for accepting a Rolex watch.  He made the mistake of being a Republican.

Rich and Poor, Democrat and Republican

The delightfully droll Bud Norman reflects on race, gender and class.

 On class:

Class used to be simpler, too. In our younger days rich people were all right so long as they earned their money in an honest and socially beneficial way, poor people were all right so long as their poverty resulted from hard luck or heredity, and most people considered themselves somewhere in between and thought themselves all right as well. Back then the rich people were presumed Republican, the poor people Democrat, and the folks in between chose sides according to their personal preferences. Now the very rich and the very poor tend to be Democrats, which imbues both with a sense of nobility, while the folks in the middle tend to vote Republican, which earns them a reputation as boobs. Because the Democrats’ candidates are invariably from the wealthier end of the party, usually having earned their wealth through political connections and speaking fees and marrying rich widows and other not very honest or socially beneficial ways, it requires a more complex theory of class than Marx and Engels ever conceived. The wealthiest and most liberal communities in America are the most segregated by both class and race, the poorest and most liberal communities can be counted on to continue voting for the policies that have created their segregated squalor, and the new rules somehow allow the former to retain their sense of moral righteousness and the latter to retain an even more spiritually satisfying sense of victimhood.

Advice to Republicans: run against plutocrats, crony capitalists and welfare chislers

The Democrats are now the party of the ultra-rich silicon valley billionaires, wealthy Hollywood fat cats, Al Sharpton and Al Sharpton wanna bees, and crony capitalists like GE's Jeff Immelt.  They have demonized the average American, labeling them "bitter clingers." 

Believing that a coalition of Blacks, Hispanics and college professors who disdain Americans, like Jonathan Gruber, constitute an electoral majority, they have become identified as the party of the  greedy rich, government power, welfare and contempt for working Americans. 

That leaves the real American majority ready to be scooped up by the Republican party if they only have the wit to see it.  They don't need, in fact they should shun, the people in the coalition that Obama built.   The other America gave Republicans an overwhelming vote in 2014.  The worst thing Republicans in office can do at this point is to turn it's back on them.  Because if they do, they will, like a jilted lover, find someone who wants them.  This is the point at which a third party can easily become a real possibility.  

Booby Kennedy likes heroin

Bobby Kennedy is unhinged.  He wants the death of people and institutions that disagree with him.
 

From Power Line

.

Apparently yesterday’s rant about the Koch brothers wasn’t enough for Little Bobby. Here he is calling for the jailing of the Koch brothers, and possibly politicians who “deny” climate change, when all they’re really denying is the will to power of brownshirts like Little Bobby. (John referred to this rant yesterday, but here’s the tape.) He cites “reckless endangerment” as the legal cause of action for jailing the Kochs, who belong “with all the other war criminals.” Hmm: shouldn’t Little Bobby be in prison for the “reckless endangerment” of his unrelenting claims that vaccines cause autism, which every scientific review has debunked? How many children of getting the old childhood diseases again because their stupid, gullible parents listened to this demagogue? (Video is just 45 seconds long—hardly time to pour a shot glass for Power Line’s Little Bobby Drinking Game.)

But here's a possible explanation for his outbursts ... (in an article about RFK Backtracks Amid Skakel Furor 11/15/2002)

Kennedy served as a prosecutor in the Manhattan district attorney's office from 1982 until 1983, when he was arrested for heroin possession. He checked into treatment, pleaded guilty, and was given probation. He currently heads an environmental group working to protect the Hudson River.

It's amazing what the rich and famous can get away with.  Unfortunately, Bobby Kennedy may well be saying what much of the Liberals really believe.  What they really want to the rest of America. The new Brownshirts, who were also radical anti-capitalists.   

Strange juxtapositions

Does it seem strange to anyone else that Obama decries income inequality at $32,000 a plate fundraisers?   Is he denouncing the people who can afford to pay tens of thousands of dollars to sup with him?  Are they that stupid?

Yes.  Next question.

Obama's fundamental transformation of America

Well, he doesn't have to worry about his personal wealth, does he?  Barack Hussein Obama has done very well for his contributors in the 1%.

Median household net worth decreased by $5,046, or 6.8 percent, between 2000 and 2011. ... Between 2000 and 2011, experiences of households varied widely depending on their net worth quintile (See Figure 1). Median household net worth decreased by $5,124 for households in the first (bottom) net worth quintile, $7,056 (or 49.3 percent) for the second quintile, and $5,072 (or 6.9 percent) for the third quintile. Median household net worth increased by $18,433 (or 9.8 percent) for households in the fourth quintile, and by $61,379 (or 10.8 percent) for households in the highest (top) quintile.

Our Ruling Class

Chelsea Clinton's not interested in money she says.  Growing up up the White House and having mega-millioniare parents, being the heir to a family fortune does that to people.

In Chelsea the Clintons had finally become true aristocrats, finally left their Little Rock roots. Chelsea had joined that elite group which has had money for so long it bores them. She, as the British well knew of the upper classes, finally accepted her duty to rule, shouldered the burden and paid the sad price for a life cursed with luxury and privilege.

Leonardo DiCaprio borrows the FIFTH largest superyacht in the world to party in Brazil

Hollywood superstar Leonardo DiCaprio has taken over one of the world's largest superyachts in order to watch the World Cup in style.

DiCaprio and more than 20 friends are said to have taken over the 482-foot Topaz, worth £400million, while staying in Brazil for the football tournament.

The yacht is owned by Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan, deputy prime minister of the United Arab Emitates and owner of Manchester City FC.

I would say that Di Caprio's taxes are not high enough.

You take those long vacations. More for me.

Here's What 'Income Equality' Would Look Like. I want some of Soros', Gates and Buffet's wealth. With that I don't need income.

Is "Worse" the New Normal for Most of Us?

Mark Steyn:

Obama’s pointless, traceless super-spending is now (as they used to say after 9/11) “the new normal.” Nancy Pelosi assured the nation last weekend that everything that can be cut has been cut and there are no more cuts to be made. And the disturbing thing is that, as a matter of practical politics, she may well be right. Many people still take my correspondent’s view: If you have old money well managed, you can afford to be stupid — or afford the government’s stupidity on your behalf. If you’re a social-activist celebrity getting $20 million per movie, you can afford the government’s stupidity. If you’re a tenured professor or a unionized bureaucrat whose benefits were chiseled in stone two generations ago, you can afford it. If you’ve got a wind farm and you’re living large on government “green energy” investments, you can afford it. If you’ve got the contract for signing up Obamaphone recipients, you can afford it.

But out there beyond the islands of privilege most Americans don’t have the same comfortably padded margin for error, and they’re hunkering down. Obamacare is something new in American life: the creation of a massive bureaucracy charged with downsizing you — to a world of fewer doctors, higher premiums, lousier care, more debt, fewer jobs, smaller houses, smaller cars, smaller, fewer, less; a world where worse is the new normal. Would Americans, hitherto the most buoyant and expansive of people, really consent to live such shrunken lives? If so, mid-20th-century America and its assumptions of generational progress will be as lost to us as the Great Ziggurat of Ur was to 19th-century Mesopotamian date farmers.

For those who managed to make good before the Age of Obama, or who have the looks and talent to pretend to be others in front of a camera, who have the skill to excel in sports (one in millions), they have bought insulation from its ravages.  But those who live paycheck to paycheck, buy used cars on time, decide to buy chicken instead of beef because it's cheaper, and look carefully at the prices on the menu when they go out to eat know that they are stuck in  an economic rut.  And the economic system is being gerrymandered every day to keep them from doing better.  They are being corralled, penned in and made to obey.  They are learning what it's like to compete with the laborers of China and Viet Nam.  For the Ruling Class, the Leftists, the Socialists, the Communists true believers this is known as progress.

Four in five investors provide financial support for adult children or parents,

Economic life in Obama's America

The UBS survey of high net worth investors found that most are supporting their children and their parents.

Unemployment, the economy and aging parents make concerns about the financial situation of family members significant. In fact, investors’ second-biggest personal finance concern is the financial situation of their children/grandchildren (58% of those with children are concerned, behind being able to afford the healthcare and support needed in old age). Investors are providing a high degree of financial support to family members and feel good about doing so. Four in five investors with adult children ages 18-39 are financially supporting other family generations in some way. Two in three are supporting these adult children, three in four are supporting their grandchildren, and for those with parents over 70, 28% are financially supporting them.

A significant number of investors are providing substantial financial help, including education funding, paying for large purchases and sharing their home. Even among affluent and wealthy investors, one in five has another family generation (most commonly their adult children) living at home. For investors who are providing seemingly minor financial support—e.g., paying for phone bills, groceries, etc.—even this can have a real impact on their finances over time.