More than 11% of the world’s more than 2,000 billionaires have run for election or become politicians, according to a study highlighting the growing power and influence of the super-wealthy.
While billionaires have had mixed success at the ballot box in the U.S., billionaires around the world have a “strong track record” of winning elections and “lean to the Right ideologically,” said the study, which is by three professors at Northwestern University.
“Billionaire politicians are a shockingly common phenomenon,” the study said. “The concentration of massive wealth in the hands of a tiny elite has understandably caused many observers to worry that the ‘super-rich have super-sized political influence.’”
There are now 2,000+ billionaires? We’d better get to eating.
The irony is you have to be a billionaire to have a big enough walk-in freezer…
We could make billionaire jerky and pickled billionaire.
To quote Bubba Gump:
Anyway, like I was sayin’, [billionaire] is the fruit of the sea. You can barbecue it, boil it, broil it, bake it, saute it. There’s uh, [billionaire]-kabobs, [billionaire] creole, [billionaire] gumbo. Pan fried, deep fried, stir-fried. There’s pineapple [billionaire], lemon [billionaire], coconut [billionaire], pepper [billionaire], [billionaire] soup, [billionaire] stew, [billionaire] salad, [billionaire] and potatoes, [billionaire] burger, [billionaire] sandwich. That- that’s about it.
First up. I know it’s way too late to respond this comment. I understand the direction taken, but it misses the context of the conversation. I don’t know why, but it’s still getting to me.
Two points. I was talking about the potential for the preservation of billionaire flesh for future consumption, and Two thousand of them would require no preservation efforts whatsoever.
In conclusion,… Only billionaires could afford a reasonable portion of billionaire…?
“Eat the rich” is only an expression, not a literal call for cannibalism. Do not report this comment.
I doubt they taste very good anyway.
Probably pretty good on a barbecue, from all the fat.
Yeah decapitation and mulching seems the better option all around. I don’t want any of their inbred prions messing me or anyone else up
They already run the world. They just don’t want to do it behind closed doors anymore.
The old capitalists were smart… they knew that hiding behind politicians camouflaged the class structure that enabled their privilege and power. But now it seems they’ve forgotten the lesson of the guillotine…
And you have forgotten the power of the bread and circus.
I think they’ve combined politics with the circus. Now even people who think they’re paying attention are really just watching a show.
Oh? And what power is that?
People don’t care what the rulers do if they’re well fed and entertained with distractions.
Yeah, the annual inflation rate reached 3500% in France before the start of the revolution. Things have to start looking pretty destitute before people are willing to put their own lives at risk. When they’re faced with potential starvation, though, eating cake starts to sound pretty good.
Yeah… I’d say that ole’ trope has been thoroughly disproven… but even if it wasn’t, I wouldn’t worry about the ruling elites keeping people well-fed any time soon.
It’s a term from the Roman empire. Basically it’s saying if you keep people well-fed and entertained, they’ll let you do anything.
I wouldn’t put too much stock in that… the internet itself has proven that no matter the distractions, better-informed people will always have a habit of caring about stuff the elites don’t want them to care about. And that’s just a very recent example.
The new capitalist never bothered to read their Machiavelli
Back to feudalism!
Yes, let us farm mud and actually belong to the oligarchs who still had more money than us.
Glory days.
Bring out your dead!
This one isn’t dead!
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Only the narcissistic ones who need the direct adulation of the people. Most of them are still content to buy politicians and spread disinformation through right wing “think tanks”.
Yes, I’m glad they added this (on why there are more billionaire politicians in authoritarian countries):
‘We surmise that this is due to stronger wealth-protection motives for political entry in autocracies and the wide array of ‘stealth’ pathways to informal political influence in democracies,” the study said.
Billionaires in (so-called) democracies don’t need to get their hands dirty. They can control the whole polity via well-paid lackeys.
Marx is spinning in his grave, of course they are. You don’t need to be a communist to read his book. Its called Capital, its almost entirely about capitalism, and much of the critique AND techniques he used for the critique (Dialectics) have become foundational in other aspects of modern society. They should make people read this in school, the only communist teacher I ever had in college made us young lefties who signed up read Milton Friedman and John Smith FIRST. The baby daddies of capitalism, and we did because not knowing only makes us dumber. Why are we dead set on not making ourselves smarter? Remember when General Milley said even he’s read Marx, there’s reasons for that.
Lmao good Marx had bad ideas and got millions of people who believed in them killed.
Also it’s weird to imply Marx invented Dialectics, since he just adopted Hegelian Dialectics in the same style as Engels.
But yes Marx is a very easy read and everyone should analyze his writings, if only to understand the criticisms and why his economic philosophy didn’t age well.
He had bad solutions but his criticisms of capitalism are spot on.
Also I prefer to blame the authoritarian strongmen who consolidated power as opposed to a guy that advocated against hierarchy. Is Adam Smith culpable for the Bengal famine?
I mean… politicians have been rather wealthy throughout history. You think our founding fathers worked fields? They were significant land owners with influence.
You mean collonizers?
The people who made collars?
I think they performed colonoscopies?
Basically anyone could come settle land (literally free real estate), that’s why they had to borrow a system of indentured servitude to produce. While white indentured servants were initially preferred, the Dutch trade routes and invention of the cotton gin turned in to the institution of chattel slavery of primarily Africans as we know it. Out of this period came the modern notion of “race” and conceptions of white-supremacy as a justification. Then you basically had a merchant economy in the north and an agricultural one in the south, and what was a moral concern for the north was the foundation of the economy in the south. Even after they lost Andrew Johnson basically gave all the planters back their seats in local governments.
“Billionaire politicians are a shockingly common phenomenon,” the study said. “The concentration of massive wealth in the hands of a tiny elite has understandably caused many observers to worry that the ‘super-rich have super-sized political influence.’”
Every aristocracy in history has entered the chat.
Wow who would have guessed that the people who have all the time and money checks notes have the time and money to run for office?
So they’re dabbling in politics themselves as opposed to simply buying the politicians they want.
Yeah… this whole capitalism thing sure seems to be on-track to reach it’s logical conclusion - I sure hope there will be humans left afterwards.
One thing that I do respect the Swedish Vänsterpartiet (the left party) is that any MP belonging to the party can only make X ammount of money from their political position, any more has to be sent back to the party.
There are plenty I dislike about the party, but that I can respect.
I’m shocked, shocked I say! well… not that shocked.
It’s because people are proud to lower their standards for what they can get.
They see that the ruling class is tightening its grip, so they convince themselves that this is the best way to go to avoid feeling bad about what we’re missing out on.
