A concise history of present US economic history.
(Listen on 2x to save time so you can get back to work)
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Stop listening after 2 or 3 minutes, it ain’t going to solve your problems, just whining over spilt milk. The message is clear, Labor won’t make you rich but Capital will, provided you don’t go bankrupt first. It has never been easier to start a business with resources like Shopify. Or milk the stock market with careful investing, not easy by any means.
The Captain
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A synopsis, and the macroeconomic effects:
“Smothered by Riches” traces the deliberate, decades-long campaign by America’s wealthiest elite to reshape the nation’s political and economic systems in their favor—favoring “riches” (pure wealth accumulation) over “wealth” in the broader sense of societal well-being.
- The Powell Memo (1971) Lewis Powell’s influential memo called on wealthy individuals and corporations to combat liberal reforms; civil rights, environmental protections, and pro-union policies, and to proactively defend “free enterprise”.
- Organized Conservative Counter‑Movement, Powell’s memo spurred the creation of conservative think tanks, legal teams, and media campaigns. Their goal: dismantle progressive institutions like the Fairness Doctrine, counteract union power, and shift public sentiment toward market-first ideology.
- Media Realignment Conservative interests targeted mainstream journalism, paving the way for cable news, talk radio, and media biased toward corporate-friendly narratives, undermining balanced reporting.
- Economic Impacts These efforts fueled neoliberal policies, like tax cuts, deregulation, and privatization, that weakened public services and social safety nets while centralizing wealth and power among the elite.
- Modern Consequences This concerted power play set the stage for Trump’s presidency and the January 6 Capitol attack, viewing them not as isolated incidents, but as climactic outcomes of decades-long planning.
“Smothered by Riches” offers a compelling historical narrative: the elite hand‑crafting of America’s modern conservative infrastructure—from legal frameworks to media ecosystems.
Rising inequalities and political dominance by the wealthy aren’t accidental—they’re engineered, and pose a threat to democratic values and future generations.
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The message is clear. The rich deliberately created a system where the rich get rich, and the middle class struggles and struggles and struggles, falling behind. This isn’t about getting rich, Captain. It’s about have a society that is healthy and that most people can actually have a life. The middle class has been clobbered, by design. It has to stop. thegreatdane has it right.
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The day you are born the only thing that is guaranteed is that you are going to die. Make the best of it. You feel like a victim? I don’t.
The Captain
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I don’t feel I’m a victim. My post was about others. About society. And I care about that. I care about the health of society and whether a small portion of it is actively making it harder for a large part of the rest of society. This should not be a controversial stance to take. You completely lack empathy.
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As should we all.
I’ve known a number of combat hardened US Marines. They despised others who only took care of themselves, by saying,
“Pull up the ladder, Jack, I’m aboard.”
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Could be. Maybe reality wiped out empathy. Maybe reality and empathy coexist.
My mother told me that as a young boy, during the war, I asked her how god could exist with so much evil in the world. I don’t recall asking. I was born and circumcised Jewish in Berlin. In Hungary mother had us baptized so that my brother and I could be admitted to a Catholic boarding school for safekeeping.
The Salesians of Don Bosco, formally known as the Society of Saint Francis de Sales.
I’m legally a Catholic! I hated the school while my brother loved it. Had I not convinced my mother to take me out of the school, I’d be as dead as my older brother.
In my twenties I decided to find out if god exists by researching the various religions of the world. It was hard to decide, one conclusion I reached was that, should I ever become a believer, I would become a Jew. Why? Because Jewish congregations pick their Rabbi and fire them if they don’t like him. It was Ayn Rand who put an end to the decades long search. In The Virtue of Selfishness she wrote “Anyone who believes in an all powerful supernatural being has no self-respect.”
During my life I came in contact with people from all walks of life from maids to millionaire entrepreneurs and learned about many others in the literature. There is no cabal. There are good and bad people in all walks of life. The Economy has natural laws:
- People invent tools to reduce burden and increase productivity
- Joint action is more powerful than individual action
- Manual labor gets replaced by tools and machines
- Brain labor is replaced by tools and computing machines
- Humans are becoming obsolete as production entities
How to cope with these developments? Find the devils that guide Economics. You think Smothered by Riches are the devils? I think the Davos crowd are the devils. Does world view matter or must everyone conform to the current popular beliefs or be burnt at the stake for heresy?
The Captain
Q: Can Atheists believe in a Guardian Angel? Mine has been fantastic! But I’m a weird Atheist who believes gods exist but not as supernatural beings, just popular memes.
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Empathy doesn’t require any religious belief at all. It just requires being a decent person who looks out for others than themselves.
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Ayn Rand was a sociopath. I’d bet she was a terrible neighbor.
True dat, and ditto what @bjurasz replied. Ethics and morals are not limited to only those who believe in a higher power.
Sociology has natural laws too, here’s one - Social order and cooperation are critical to a society’s long-term success.
When there are extreme gaps in wealth, justice, and safety, a society will inevitably collapse.
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Define decent person. Someone who does not look out for himself?
Airlines must be run by terrible people. They tell you to put on your own oxygen mask first.
The Captain
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The fact you are touting Ayn Rand, a person who literally says that selfishness is a virtue, well…
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Could be, but what do you think of the proposition that “Anyone who believes in an all powerful supernatural being has no self-respect”?
DB2
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My favorite little factoid about Ayn was that, despite railing against Social Security, she had no problem collecting it 
Of course, she then rationalized that she had paid into it with taxes, so she should get some, too (duh!).
Pete
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Ayn Rand asked, “Why did I call Selfishness a Virtue?” Read the book to find out.
The Captain
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To start, I don’t believe in all powerful beings, supernatural beings, etc. But I do think you can believe in them and still have self respect. There are lots of good, valid reasons to reject the notion of a god. But needing to do that in order to have self respect, nah, don’t agree with that.
I also know why Ayn said selfishness was a virtue. But she was flat wrong about that.
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That’s a question for Denny v. eldemonio since he just used that as a lightbulb moment for him.
I will say that, yes, there is some merit in that statement although like any generalizations I’m sure there are some exceptions 
Pete
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I think those who are so self-interested should look inward, and not preoccupy themselves with what others believe or do.
I also consider overgeneralizations as lazy attempts to justify unjustifiable beliefs.
Here are some examples of Ayn Rand’s “philosophy” in action -
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Denise Cummins, the author, asks, “One wonders whether these same people would champion the idea of removing all umpires and referees from sporting events.” One of the reasons I liked sailboat racing is that there were no umpires or referees except at the starting and finishing lines.
Her use of Eddie Lampert and Sears shows that she knows little about business. By the time Eddie Lampert bought the company it was a corpse walking. Sears belonged to the railway era catalog sales. Lampert simply was a clueless manager owner.
I have a personal anecdote about Sears. They had some really good tools, the reason for my shopping there. They also diversified into finance issuing a credit card. Discover? When I tried to pay with my VISA card, they did not accept it. When trying to pay by check they required a “Major Credit Card.” When I asked what that was… “VISA, Master, and AmEx.” No wonder they went broke.
The Captain
It’s a glib statement, meant to be provocative. It’s actually puerile.
Atheism is just as strained as theism. Can you prove there is or isn’t a god? No. So, there’s no need to argue for one or the other.
Anyone who believes in a god has an imagination, an attempt to explain eternity and infinity.
Just let them be, until they try to make you believe the same.
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