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Forum Post: The Property Beast

Posted 9 years ago on Sept. 12, 2014, 9:46 a.m. EST by agkaiser (2516) from Fredericksburg, TX
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from: "All in the Family: How the Koch Brothers, Sheldon Adelson, Sam Walton, Bill Gates, and Other Billionaires Are Undermining America"

"Posted on September 12, 2014 by Yves Smith"

". . . This, then, is the indigenous romance of American capitalism. The man from nowhere becomes a Napoleon of business and so a hero because he confirms a cherished legend: namely, that it's the primordial birthright of those lucky enough to live in the New World to rise out of obscurity to unimaginable heights. All of this, so the legend tells us, comes through the application of disciplined effort, commercial cunning and foresight, a take-no-prisoners competitive instinct, and a gambler's 'sang froid' in the face of the unforgiving riskiness of the marketplace. Master all of that and you deserve to be a master of our universe. (Conversely, this is the dark fairy tale that nineteenth century Gilded Age anti-capitalist rebels knew as 'the Property Beast.') . . ."

By Steve Fraser, the author of Wall Street: America’s Dream Palace. His next book, The Age of Acquiescence: The Life and Death of American Resistance to Organized Wealth and Power, will be published by Little Brown in February. He is a writer, historian, and co-founder of the American Empire Project. Originally published at TomDispatch

www.nakedcapitalism.com/2014/09/family-koch-brothers-sheldon-adelson-sam-walton-bill-gates-billionaires-undermining-america.html

4 Comments

4 Comments


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[-] 5 points by trashyharry (3084) from Waterville, NY 9 years ago

The people referred to in this post are such twisted liars.They say all of our problems come from unemployed people who prefer Free Stuff to working.That is such a filthy lie.They have convinced clueless people that it's true.They made a big mistake throwing so many formerly employed people into the Pit of Doom.They used to blame their troubles on the Free Stuff Army.Now more and more people are finding out that hardly anybody in the Free Stuff Army is a volunteer.We have no right to work.Technically,we have a right to Free Stuff.In practice,Free Stuff can be shut down at any time,for any or no reason.We want to work.People in Hell want ice water.The Free Stuff Army was created by the 1% and serves its purposes.This duplicity is enough to drive people crazy.The 1% should have been more careful about what they wished for,IMHO.

[-] 2 points by agkaiser (2516) from Fredericksburg, TX 9 years ago

Moses knew what would result from the 1%'s usuries. So he banned them and declared debt Jubilees. But good resolutions never last.

Nero fiddled while Rome burned but not due to indifference. He started the fires to burn out the slums of the free stuff army he and his cohorts had created with their greed and avarice. "Free Trade" besotted and enslaved the Celts with Roman wine and we've never recovered from the crime.

Where's Moses when we need him?

[-] 2 points by trashyharry (3084) from Waterville, NY 9 years ago

4-5-6 stopped in tunnel AGAIN.Moses and everybody else is going to be Late To Work.D'oh!

[-] 5 points by agkaiser (2516) from Fredericksburg, TX 9 years ago

more about neo aristocratic political power plays:

"Scotland's top banks have threatened to move to England if Scottish voters choose independence in next Thursday's referendum. Polls show Scots are about equally divided." - http://www.democracynow.org/2014/9/12/headlines#9127