Adventures In Rage Kapitalism
The last decade stands as the final stage of the transformation of the American psyche, from Protestant ethics of hard work to compulsive risk takers and lottery winners, a residual of the gold rush mentality that has mysteriously survived centuries of reality checks.
[Read more from NOTES FROM DISGRACELAND and follow on Twitter]
29. XII 2020
Between 1996 and 1997, during the de-Sovietization of Eastern Europe, Albania was convulsed by the dramatic rise and collapse of several huge financial
One can only hope that there is an awakening for the 70M rubes.
Great piece.
Equal parts disturbing and amusing.
An effective elaboration on an absurdist horror show.
I had an almost out of body experience while reading this. Trump, as proxy for the aggrieved middle class, has acted as the ultimate lottery ticket…a personification of all that is possible, but never quite in reach. The fact that I live down the street from the Amway co-founders may, in part, explain my strong reaction. Thomas Jefferson’s words ring in my ears: “ Experience demands that man is the only animal which devours his own kind, for I can apply no milder term to the general prey of the rich on the poor. ”
Therapeutic piece for me. That each of us are just future millionaires who will achieve freedom (million dollars) one day is a myth most do not know they harbor, or at least I did not know I harbored until recently. That this is a feature of American culture is surprising to me. The thought and political implications are humbling.
Really good. “The holy grail of this ideological affliction is the belief in the sovereignty of luck: …” I would add … fueled by a sense of universal entitlement. The sense is that luck will somehow come to everyone comes from the idea that it’s only fair that everybody will get their due eventually. We have been reinforcing that idea in our schools for two generations with .. if you want anything bad enough you can get it. Sadly, not true.