Spoiler
Opinion | The Rich Are Not Who We Think They Are. And Happiness Is Not What We Think It Is, Either.
A groundbreaking 2019 study by four economists, "Capitalists in the Twenty-First Century," analyzed de-identified data of the complete universe of American taxpayers to determine who dominated the top 0.1 percent of earners.
The study didn't tell us about the small number of well-known tech and shopping billionaires but instead about the more than 140,000 Americans who earn more than $1.58 million per year. The researchers found that the typical rich American is, in their words, the owner of a "regional business," such as an "auto dealer" or a "beverage distributor."
A related article I liked a lot...
Data scientist and author Seth Stephens-Davidowitz found that over 20 percent of car dealerships in the U.S. have an owner banking more than $1.5 million per year.
And car dealers are not only one of the richest demographics in the United States. They're also one of the most organized political factions—a conservative imperium giving millions of dollars to politicians at local, state, and national levels. They lobby through NADA, the organization staging the weekend's festivities, and donate to Republicans at a rate of 6-to-1. Through those efforts, they've managed to write and rewrite laws to protect dealers and sponsor sympathetic politicians in all 50 states.
[...]
In many ways, you can't understand U.S. conservatism without understanding the car dealer—that middlemensch of American capitalism, selling a product he doesn't make at a fat-enough markup to become fabulously rich and politically powerful. And dealers who have lodged themselves in the middle of Republican politics.
a hacker could show up at an event like this and harvest a ton of valuable personal information
Some hacker should do that and then inform the attendees so that that they canakjfk;j klewjrw aewr riuw 23 nadmf a .
Sorry, I had a laughing fit.
I dont think you can get names and phone numbers just by being in the same room as them. You could get their home WiFi SSIDs and passwords with a pineapple. But after that you'll have to do a proper MITM attack and harvest all their network traffic.
a conservative imperium giving millions of dollars to politicians at local, state, and national levels
domesticated radlibs: "we can't just build trains, carbrain culture is a natural and normal part of the universe"
It's really a reminder a certain group of people can become rich ad powerful simply by being a middleman and then using politics to become the most efficient and successful parasite possible. From the first article in the self text...
Beverage distributors have long been protected by a system set up after Prohibition that prevents beverage companies from distributing their products themselves.
destroy the car-centric city and the bourgeoise will crumble with it :elmofire:
i was kind of wondering if there was a national-level capital formation behind the anti-walkable cities blitz. i guess this is part of it.
critical support to comrade elon in attempting to proletarianize the car dealership owner
Petty bourgeois and national bourgeois exist. Liberals: this is unexpected!!!!
Lol this is so depressing
Like you think at least it would be really smart people. High finance successes, partners at law firms and consultants etc. but of course it’s just a bunch of fucking car dealers and ski doo salesmen or whatever
Death to America
Like you think at least it would be really smart people.
I have to admit that I had that bias. I should have remembered the dinosaurs...
of course it’s just a bunch of fucking car dealers and ski doo salesmen or whatever
They ruled for 100 million years. And they had bodies the size of McMansions but brains the size of jelly beans.
This type of stuff always makes me think of this article. Specifically the section called The land of lumpen billionaires.
Two social landscapes are particularly important for such an investigation: first, the ‘Micropolises’, smaller non-union, culturally conservative cities of the Midwest and South; and second, ‘Exurbia’, the affluent white migration into rural counties at the edge of major metropolises.
In addition to family dynasties, mainly based on oil wealth like the Kochs, who have been around since the days of Goldwater and the John Birch Society, Trump’s key allies are post-industrial robber barons from hinterland places like Grand Rapids, Wichita, Little Rock and Tulsa, whose fortunes derive from real estate, private equity, casinos, and services ranging from private armies to chain usury.
Telsa selling their cars direct instead of through dealerships is the only good thing :melon-musk: can claim responsibility for.
I remember a study from a few years back that tried to designate political power associated with job title and car dealership owners are vastly more influential in terms of regional politics than nearly anyone else
Also - unlike many other groups - they are the most powerful group likely to be literally everywhere.
