When the crash (and then possibly, the revolt) finally gets here, maybe it won't be so bad that the mob just burns everything down - but that's not how it usually plays out.
If any system of government/economy is to sustain itself over time, there has to be a broad appreciation for a kind of Societal Extortion. The top tier (where all the money and power is) has to figure out a good way to buy the cooperation and the acquiescence of the lower tiers. The mob below has to be pacified somehow. The Tsars and the Caesars and Kings and Emperors tried various things - sometimes they just hanged a bunch of peasants and burned out their settlements to keep them bottled up, but the really smart ones built roads; or they put on elaborate shows; or they portioned out grain directly to the people; or they allowed some freedom of commerce. They knew that even as absolute rulers, if they wanted to stay in power, they had to have the rabble's approval to some extent.
We've evolved a different system here in the US. We use a lottery system to determine whether or (usually) not someone else is allowed to move up a rung or two. We call it "The American Dream", but it's set up as the same very exclusive club as any previous system of ruling class(es). It's just that here you get to pretend that if you work really hard, and if you adhere to a strict code of self-reliance and rugged individualism, then you can rise out of your lowly station and take your place among the Ruling Elite. It may have been more possible not all that long ago, but in the last 30 years, the transfer of wealth to the upper echelon has been accelerating, and is approaching a point where the Great American Middle Class could actually be in danger of collapse. From here on out, it's all just a shot in the dark.
And here's the kicker: Most of us have accepted the notion that what we have here is a Meritocracy. ie: "If I earn it, then I get it", which morphs into, "I have it, therefore I've earned it".
And the flip side is "If you don't earn it, then you don't get it"; which then morphs into "Your life is shitty, therefore you've earned a shitty life".
If any system of government/economy is to sustain itself over time, there has to be a broad appreciation for a kind of Societal Extortion. The top tier (where all the money and power is) has to figure out a good way to buy the cooperation and the acquiescence of the lower tiers. The mob below has to be pacified somehow. The Tsars and the Caesars and Kings and Emperors tried various things - sometimes they just hanged a bunch of peasants and burned out their settlements to keep them bottled up, but the really smart ones built roads; or they put on elaborate shows; or they portioned out grain directly to the people; or they allowed some freedom of commerce. They knew that even as absolute rulers, if they wanted to stay in power, they had to have the rabble's approval to some extent.
We've evolved a different system here in the US. We use a lottery system to determine whether or (usually) not someone else is allowed to move up a rung or two. We call it "The American Dream", but it's set up as the same very exclusive club as any previous system of ruling class(es). It's just that here you get to pretend that if you work really hard, and if you adhere to a strict code of self-reliance and rugged individualism, then you can rise out of your lowly station and take your place among the Ruling Elite. It may have been more possible not all that long ago, but in the last 30 years, the transfer of wealth to the upper echelon has been accelerating, and is approaching a point where the Great American Middle Class could actually be in danger of collapse. From here on out, it's all just a shot in the dark.
And here's the kicker: Most of us have accepted the notion that what we have here is a Meritocracy. ie: "If I earn it, then I get it", which morphs into, "I have it, therefore I've earned it".
And the flip side is "If you don't earn it, then you don't get it"; which then morphs into "Your life is shitty, therefore you've earned a shitty life".
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