Comments by "L.W. Paradis" (@l.w.paradis2108) on ""Open Celebration of the Oligarchy": Both Dems u0026 GOP Sucked Up to Billionaires in 2024 Election" video.

  1. And lives only get worse.
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  2. The speed with which it did is what is really staggering.
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  3.  @Captain-Obvious  Well, when your IQ is 537 . . . 😂
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  4.  @RussoConcerned  Brilliant idea.
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  5. ​ @chelo2626ify  His lawyers told him how.
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  6. Well, of course. They don't do this for nothing. They get their cut.
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  7. Short answer: because the Soviet Union fell. John Lanchester's work during the Great Recession explains it perfectly, and (needless to say, I hope) he is opposed to those types of societies. His LRB articles and books from that time are worth a reread.
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  8.  @appleblossomxo  Does that mean not for long?
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  9.  @appleblossomxo  I tend to be pessimistic about the longevity of anyone truly good at their job. I mean, I want to be proved wrong. It just doesn't seem likely.
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  10. @Curt-Gevert  Exactly, ìt is. And laws are bought.
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  11.  @angelainamarie9656  My echoing your point, using mathematics, was shadowed.
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  12. ​@Curt-Gevert Wait. You think Amy Goodman is jealous? Is David Sirota, too? How about Sally Rooney? Oliver Stone? Roger Waters? Briahna Joy Gray? Noam Chomsky? Tariq Ali? Tell me who else is. I want to delve into this mindset. How does it form? You can't tell who is avid and obsessed with money lust, and who isn't?
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  13. ​​ @nanabai329  Do you know math at all? Two billion dollars is roughly a million a year for every year since the birth of Jesus. Now explain how someone can earn that. Next, please multiply by 100. Ruining mathematics education was the single most important thing Reagan did for the ruling class. After that, everything else declines. It's no accident that everyone from Mitterrand to the Soviets stressed mathematics, and no accident that mathematics declined under the neoliberal capitalists. So much for your "logic."
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  14.  @Curt-Gevert   What do I really think? None of the oligarchs ever had a good love life or artistic talent, and now they've made sure that far fewer of the rest of us will, either.
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  15. @cliffordmaxwell9802  Too much censorship here. I'm out, and blocking notifs.
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  16.  @ryleighloughty3307  I wonder if you'll get to see my answer. I cited a couple of brilliant thinkers, which algorithms tend to disfavor.
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  17. @phantomcreamer  Hmm. How does that counter what I said? And . . . Why is its current debt unsustainable?
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  18. ​ @abc33155 I wonder how many of our comments will remain. YT doesn't like this stuff.
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  19.  @Curt-Gevert  My detailed answer was removed. Mentioning certain writers is removed.
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  20. @francislenetti5016  Bitter? Ad hom that doesn't land.
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  21. @wotiluv  Sounds good to me.
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  22. ​ @blizz2795  I'm sorry. That is false.
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  23. ​ @Curt-Gevert My posts that give an inkling of how this works are routinely shadowed. Same for posts critical of G a t e s and M u s k. Nice, huh?
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  24. ​ @Curt-Gevert  Even posts about mathematics are routinely s h a d o w e d. How pathetic is that?
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  25. @Curt-Gevert  Oh wow, you had to stoop to that. I would never vote for that _____, nor have I ever voted for a ticket with Biden on it. When you have no arguments, what can say? 😂😂😂
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  26.  @Curt-Gevert  You call that good?
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  27. ​ @billcollins6894 😂😂😂😂 Thanks for letting us know your bias. Carry on.
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  28.  @billcollins6894  It depends on how they got that money. I admire gifted artists and writers, and they don't pay me to admire them. They simply create, and we benefit from their creations.
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  29. @billcollins6894     What do I really think? None of the oligarchs ever had a good love life or artistic talent, and now they've made sure that far fewer of the rest of us ever will, either.
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  30. ​​ @ryleighloughty3307  Unbridled greed as an ideal, no.
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  31. @ryleighloughty3307  Not at all. It is either valued, by being concretely rewarded, or it is not. There are societies where people would be ashamed to display wealth the way Westerners do. Most people in the world, in fact. Emmanuel Todd is interesting on this point, relating it to whether an early society adopted primogeniture or not in its pre-literate past. Most did not. Disinheriting all but the oldest male is not conducive to democracy. John Rawls is interesting on that point as well: if you didn't know your status in a family, or in society, what rule would you make? See, the mistake you make is to assume general ignorance. Not on Amy's channel. 😂
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  32. ​ @phantomcreamer ​ The major corporations have found it profitable to pay vastly more in campaign donations and lobbying than they will ever pay in taxes, while relying on the armed forces far more than any of us do to protect their global interests -- not to mention reaping our taxes in the form of government contracts and interest on Treasury bonds. They arrange not to pay taxes, and make sure taxes flow to them. How is that "efficient?" They buy the politicians, and the politicians make us pay. They do because they can afford it. It's no accident that tax rates were so high after WWII, when the difference between the value of the common man who fought when called upon and the parasitic class was stark and unmistakable. You couldn't get away with this back then.
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  33. ​ @phantomcreamer Capitalism could not have come about in a society of scarce food, or even scarcity of anything needed for survival itself for the vast majority. That's not the history of how markets formed and grew. You make capitalism sound like the coming of Jesus, mana from heaven, instant karma.
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  34. @phantomcreamer  I did not say scarce resources. I said scarcity of the necessities of life. Nor is Japan one of the places where capitalism first arose. Nor did capitalism take root and grow rapidly prior to the exploration of the globe and the exploitation of resources from around the world. There is something called economic history you might want to read up on, rather than memorizing podcast talking points. It reminds me of people who say we should all live like the Amish, and similar silliness.
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  35. @phantomcreamer  I wonder if that post will be visible. Here's the gist:  I did not say scarce resources. I said scarcity of the necessities for life. Nor is Japan one of the places where capitalism first arose. Nor did capitalism take root and grow rapidly prior to the exploration of the globe and the exploitation of raw materials from the entire world. Economic history -- you might want to read up on it.
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  36. I might be shadowed. Can't tell yet.
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  37.  @mnemonija  Likely
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  38. That's not evidence. The DNC refuses to run strong candidates in fair primaries and abide by the results. Why?
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  39.  @wackadoodle4446  Who in their right mind would be envious of people who are obviously cognitively disordered? The Emperor's New Clothes has never been more applicable.
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  40.  @gianthills  There is no "left" in the US to speak of. No real left anywhere is wokester or a gender warrior, or a closet eugenicist. The French left, including communists(!), was against vaccine passports and mandates, and helped make it illegal to ask a minor their vaccine status.
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  41.  @DowntownsUptown  I see I'm shadowed. I mentioned opposition to certain cough cough man dates among the French left, including PCF.
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  42. ​ @schooloftonyhumphries2647  Degrees matter? I don't see that. Not anymore, and probably not since 2008.
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  43. ​ @ryleighloughty3307 They can buy laws. Literally, they can. When Russian oligarchs do it, you see it.
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  44. ​ @ryleighloughty3307 Are you trying to bait people with the names of notorious DNC donors? I have only voted in a handful of primaries for candidates from that party in my life. They don't dupe me.
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  45. @ryleighloughty3307  I'd actually give the money away. I fantasize about winning a Mega Ball and being a secret donor to people I know, making them millionaires. I'm non-Western. Really. I am. 😊
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  46. @ryleighloughty3307  What do I really think? None of the oligarchs ever had a good love life or artistic talent, and now they've made sure that far fewer of the rest of us will, either.
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  47. @ryleighloughty3307  You do realize that they take out massive, massive loans using assets as collateral, and raise cash equivalents without triggering a taxable event? Or how did you think they bought castles, yachts, and islands?
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  48.  @ryleighloughty3307  You do realize 1. I know exactly how they finance their lives, and 2. I am being scents erred when I explain it. Right?
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  49.  @ryleighloughty3307  You do realize that when I answer, it doesn't appear. Right? 😂
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  50.  @ryleighloughty3307  You know people take loans against assets . . . Right?
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  51.  @ryleighloughty3307  And that is not a taxable transaction. You know that . . . Right? 😂😂😂
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  52. 💯
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  53. So, microdose Musk can trash the agencies that regulate brain chips. Sounds like a plan. Let's see how that works out.
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  54. This is our world since Reagan. In this respect, Clinton was somewhat worse than Trump, though comparisons are not simple.
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  55. ​ @meanderinoranges No, we have not. But rising psy-ops . . . That, you can count on.
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  56. ​ @meanderinoranges Look up the number of countries bombed and the quantities dropped since Nagasaki. Then look up growth in real wages by the bottom four quintiles. Compare with the top 5%.
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  57. ​ @meanderinoranges Rising standard of living? Can you be serious? This is where (even) RFK Jr has it right. No point in obfuscating that. The Trump coalition won for a reason, and it's not because any standards have risen.
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  58. ​ @angelainamarie9656 Exactly! Two billion dollars is roughly a million a year for every year since the birth of Jesus. Someone explain how that is "earned?" Now, multiply by 100. How is that earned? Now ask them to explain how a billionaire can find it profitable to pay vastly more in campaign donations and lobbying than he will ever pay in taxes, while relying on the armed forces far more than any of us do to protect his interests -- not to mention reaping our taxes in the form of government contracts and interest on Treasury bonds. Well, I guess what I mean to say is to explain why they support it.
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  59. ​ @Curt-Gevert ​ The major corporations have found it profitable to pay vastly more in campaign donations and lobbying than they will ever pay in taxes, while relying on the armed forces far more than any of us do to protect their global interests -- not to mention reaping our taxes in the form of government contracts and interest on Treasury bonds. They buy the politicians, and the politicians make us pay. They do because they can afford it. It's no accident that tax rates were so high after WWII, when the difference between the value of the common man who fought when called upon and the parasitic class was stark and unmistakable. You couldn't get away with this back then.
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  60. ​​ @francislenetti5016 Do you understand how they finance their lives? You do know that they borrow against their holdings, which frees up hundreds of millions in cash equivalents that are not taxable income? You know that, right?
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  61. ​ @Curt-Gevert When you use your stock portfolio to collateralize loans, that is not a taxable event.
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  62. ​ @DanA-nl5uo 💯
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  63. ​ @francislenetti5016  I always find it funny when someone clueless thinks other people are.
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  64. ​ @abc33155 Now it is the norm to pay much more in lobbying and campaign contributions than to pay in taxes. At those levels, there is nothing the oligarchs can buy in the way of material things. They buy power and influence over hundreds of millions of people. As you can see, they can.
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  65.  @abc33155  I'm sorry. Harris supporters were better . . . How?
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  66. @abc33155  Someone programs the algorithm. Someone has control.
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  67.  @Curt-Gevert  ​ ​ The major corporations have found it profitable to pay vastly more in campaign donations and lobbying than they will ever pay in taxes, while relying on the armed forces far more than any of us do to protect their global interests -- not to mention reaping our taxes in the form of government contracts and interest on Treasury bonds. They pay the politicians, and the politicians make us pay. They do this because they can afford it. That is their purpose in becoming wealthier than small countries. It's not money their owners can spend on more things. It's no accident that tax rates were so high after WWII, when the difference between the value of the common man who fought when called upon and the para_sites was stark and unmistakable. You couldn't get away with this back then. This comment gets removed regularly. Explaining how it's done is verboten.
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  68. ​​ @francislenetti5016 A "risk?" Do you imagine a dollar is a rigid yardstick? The people we are talking about are set for life for generations. The ones you cite could be living under a tent in five years if they impair the deed to their home. You think this is comparable? This is obvious for the middle class. A person making $125k can sustain 20% inflation. A person making $40k cannot. That's a scale you can grasp, correct??
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  69. What do I really think? None of the oligarchs ever had a good love life or artistic talent, and now they've made sure that far fewer of the rest of us ever will, either.
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  70. ​ @abc33155  The information is here, but only available if you sort by Newest. As for this guy, he slipped up and answered a post in Russian. 😂
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  71. @francislenetti5016  I only want to sell my screenplay and finish my novels. And return to practicing civil rights law. Billionaires have no bearing on my goals.
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  72. @angelainamarie9656  What's really funny is that accurate information about how the economics of these concentrations of wealth are achieved and increased, and pure mathematics are taken down. I do mean pure mathematics. It has happened to me in multiple contexts. Now someone explain to me how math is a culture war issue?
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  73. ​ @Im-ahthegreat And it would not have mattered who won. Look at the accelerating upward transfer of wealth since 2020, which includes both administrations.
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  74. ​@someonenotnoone That is almost every American now.
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  75. ​ @wotiluv Glenn is always very much worth a listen, and often the best commentator. No one should be a person's sole source of news and analysis.
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  76. Oh, more mergers will definitely help Americans. /s
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  77. ​@Curt-Gevert You mean Jeff Epstein's buddy? That one?
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  78. ​@Curt-Gevert Absolutely none of it is. As for me, there is nothing I need that $500,000 wouldn't provide me -- which is a low estimate of what my family lost due to Enron-level corporate crime. There is nothing I want that $1,000,000 couldn't provide, and I would want either to earn it honestly or by winning a lotto, where at least every ticket has an equal chance. If you think other people are jealous, maybe that's like Hillary saying other people steal elections? 😂
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  79. ​ @Curt-Gevert ​ ​ The major corporations have found it profitable to pay vastly more in campaign donations and lobbying than they will ever pay in taxes, while relying on the armed forces far more than any of us do to protect their global interests -- not to mention reaping our taxes in the form of government contracts and interest on Treasury bonds. They buy the politicians, and the politicians make us pay. They do because they can afford it. It's no accident that tax rates were so high after WWII, when the difference between the value of the common man who fought when called upon and the parasitic class was stark and unmistakable. You couldn't get away with this back then.
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  80. ​ @janetmontgomery-r6j  It's not income.
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  81. Sorting by Newest, and you'll see what that looks like. Very different. 😅
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  82. ​ @christinewarren9660 Can you be serious? Watch some debates from before the great implosion, which began in earnest on 9/11 and accelerated after 2008 -- though its foundation was laid during Reagan. I can understand not being able to face it. Harsh reality.
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  83. ​​ @christinewarren9660 Harris never won a primary. If Trump is so dangerous, why didn't the DNC start strategizing on the first Wednesday in November 2016 to find an outstanding candidate to beat him in a landslide? Instead, they installed Harris at the last minute -- eight years later. Think this through.
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