Belle Époque

9 thoughts on “Belle Époque”

1. I recall that uncomfortable feeling visiting poorer nations in the 1980s. Embarrassed by my good fortune to have been born in the USA in good enough circumstances.

   Your piece suggests that I can expect to experience that once again here in the USA.

   Sadly, in our country that will fuel resentment against immigrants and foreigners (read China) rather than the US companies which denuded large areas of the country of decently well-paying jobs on the altar of the sacrosanct “shareholder returns”.

2. Great piece. I live in a college town, though this lord wouldn’t mind schlepping food to college kids for a little spice in his life. Software has lost its cerebral luster.

3. Is it possible that lowering interest rates reduces the spending of the people in the upper part of our K-shaped economy (because excess cash/savings earns less) and, even though lower interest rates would help the people in the lower part of our K-shaped economy; when we combine the impact of lower rates on both parts of the K-shaped economy, it is a net reduction to economic spending?

4. H-Man, the rise and fall of a civilization can be especially depressing when you are talking about your civilization rather than the Greeks, Egyptians or the Romans.

5. If the masses could ever get organized with the proverbial pitchforks and torches, there would be one hell of a reckoning.

   Years ago, in the late 80s, I was just starting out in college. Reagan was President (obviously) and he had a schtick about welfare queens. I was working the bar in a restaurant not dissimilar to the two that H visited. At the time, 18-year olds could serve liquor. I got into a discussion with a single male, middle-aged patron with some means. H in the late ‘80s if you well. We were discussing the wealth gap and bifurcation of the haves and have-nots back then. I was somewhat precocious politically for my age.

   I was buying the Reagan line about people living off the government and how they were a drag on the “producers”. The patron laughed. He said, “Son, welfare isn’t for the people that are on it. It’s for the rich so the poor don’t rebel against the system.” For some reason, it really stuck with me. Genuinely my first experience as to things are not always as they seem.

   Is there a real leader for this group? Perhaps Bernie was. I view him as dangerous, but he seems genuine. Hillary, the DMC, and Biden screwed him. It’s not Ms. Harris. She will not take up the cause with any seriousness. Trump is a fake populist (as discussed regularly here). Perhaps Senator Warren, but her time is passed and it’s hard to take anyone seriously who “earned” $350,000 for one class.

   One way or the other, it’s coming. Either politically with a strong leader (as yet unknown) or violently. Timing is unclear, but it’s coming.

   1. https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/27209433-white-trash

      400 years – or longer – class divisions expand and contract, but class (or caste) is integral to American way of life. We’ve just hidden and denied it. But used it … a very long history that won’t be changed by anybody in today’s political arena.

      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c0cOUDwKl9k – Neil young
      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SMAlmHvKhxU – dick Gregory

      This isn’t new- embarrassingly

      1. I should but have not yet clicked on the links.

         You are correct about USA class divisions. However the expansion and contraction is something that we should be striving to understand. It seems the best humans can do is to manage, rather than anticipate, risks including: technological, economic, environmental and political. Management is most peacefully done through regulation and government programs. What we have seen recently is an expansion of class division that seems to exceed that of The Guilded Age. By some measures, The Guilded Age excesses ushered in the Great Society programs and the follow on environmental movement of the 60’s. Today we see California and New York economy both as most highly regulated, government program rich and extremely wealthy. Is this a causative factor or a happenstance? I think it is a causative factor.

         If you take the causative factor as a valid thesis then the logical next step is to swing our country towards more regulation and government programs. These efforts should be paid for by the primary beneficiaries of our economic system, the wealthy, as we did after The Guilded Age. Do we do this in advance of some terrible economic tragedy like 1929 or do we do it in advance more painlessly. I am not optimistic human nature will allow anything but addressing a crisis after it has formed, but I remain hopeful.

      2. The caste roots you describe are not only real and still around, but have their origins in the middle ages. To maintain their thrones, European kings, especially, developed a program of buying support from greedy strongmen by making them the owners of large estates which they essentially owned in perpetuity. In exchange for this wealth, the lords of the various manors pledged fealty to their king. The big fly in the ointment was what to do with these estates when the various lords passed on. The property passed to the kids, well one kid, the oldest son. He got the house, the grounds, the farms, the incomes, etc. The process of passing on the goodies involved a legality called entailment (still around, btw). By tradition, any second sons went off to war as officers, third sons were expected to join the clergy and the rest got nada. So these enterprising lower level relatives want to be in charge of something, live the good life on free money, as it were, so in the 1600s or thereabouts, they began to emigrate to “the colonies,” grab what they could get, buy some slaves and Bob’s your uncle, the American upper class was born. Some of the third sons also came to own their own churches, you get the idea. Entailment became the motivation to the highborn with nothing but their clothes to leave town. Most got capitalized by those eldest brothers to make them go away and the rest is history. We celebrate this time in history all over the country with Renaissance Fairs. Oh yeah, entrepreneurs and jugglers came here, too.

   2. Patrick, sadly I agree with you. I am hopeful however increasing taxes on the wealthy as called for by Dimon, Buffet and Gates will catch some resonance. We also need to reign in the tax shelters constructed by the old G.O. P. which were eroding the economy for the 90%. These changes should take root in the well to do class. If not in the well to do class then in the lower classes where the 90% live their lives. The danger of the 90% taking the mantle is that they do not yet know what the battle really is. Dangers are therefore multiple should the combination of disillusion, ignorance, economic pain and a need to do something about it take root.

      I hope and attempt to clarify to people what the real problems are, so these problems can be solved rationally and at the ballot box.

      It is true Bernie was a good hope but to a degree we needed a trailblazer to show the way. The way being a thought revolution like that in the 1960’s but with a modern twist. Pelosi was a part of that movement I believe. What Bernie has spawned was the squad and that group has the potential to grow beyond the current slate. Spawning 6 from one is a good start but not the end goal. I am hopeful that once the Ukraine war is over we can get on with solving our problems rather than fending off Russian propaganda. Like David Hogg said, we will win because you will die on your own sometime.

      I am not sure a strong leader is required. It can also be like the current left of France, a cadre of dedicated thinkers. Or in ancient times the american revolution. What is needed is dedication. I am dedicated but I am too old to make a difference, but I will help educate and clarify the problems that need to be solved.