The Off Topic Topic

[Admiral Yi]

Where did that happen?

I'm thinking primarily of Great Britain.

[Capetan Mihali]

Nah he's just crushing on this Greek breitbart "reporter"

Hey now, Greek parentage aside, "Milo" is all Britain's doing.   Or rather he's a product of our Atlanticist "special relationship" (between US shock-jocks and UK tabloids in this case, but still).  Greece has had more than its share of trouble, it's not fair to add this human embarrassment to their burden.

[Capetan Mihali]

Where did that happen?

I'm thinking primarily of Great Britain.

For your purposes, what's the difference between the rentier class and the land-owning aristocracy?  And how would/did their interest diverge so dramatically?

[The Minsky Moment]

Notice that all the good lines go to the pinkos.

Ayn Rand was more painfully turgid didactic prose than zippy zingers, to be fair.

[Oexmelin]

I'm thinking primarily of Great Britain.

I am having a hard time figuring out when that decline actually happened - the decline of a land-base aristocracy? As far as I know, the biggest fortunes of Britain still hold a whopping 95% of all land in Britain. 

[The Minsky Moment]

Nah he's just crushing on this Greek breitbart "reporter"

Hey now, Greek parentage aside, "Milo" is all Britain's doing.   Or rather he's a product of our Atlanticist "special relationship" (between US shock-jocks and UK tabloids in this case, but still).  Greece has had more than its share of trouble, it's not fair to add this human embarrassment to their burden.

No offense to Hellas intended.  In my own personal life I've significantly increased my share of Greek wine consumption . Every little bit counts.

[The Minsky Moment]

I'm thinking primarily of Great Britain.

I am having a hard time figuring out when that decline actually happened - the decline of a land-base aristocracy? As far as I know, the biggest fortunes of Britain still hold a whopping 95% of all land in Britain.

No doubt, but probably also 95% of the stocks, bonds, fine art, jewelry, collectibles, horses, etc, etc (fill in asset category here)

A more relevant datum would be the proportion of total wealth accounted for by land over time. My guess it that it would show a steady decline though perhaps not as rapid as Yi thinks.

[Capetan Mihali]

No offense to Hellas intended.  In my own personal life I've significantly increased my share of Greek wine consumption . Every little bit counts.

I like to hear it.   They don't just make retsina, that's the message to spread.

[Admiral Yi]

For your purposes, what's the difference between the rentier class and the land-owning aristocracy?  And how would/did their interest diverge so dramatically?

The difference is the source of their income.

[Capetan Mihali]

Notice that all the good lines go to the pinkos.

Ayn Rand was more painfully turgid didactic prose than zippy zingers, to be fair.

Kautsky's painful as well.  While Marx is a mixed-bag; some endless Germanic sentences, but some unforgettable zingers.  The Eighteenth Brumaire of Louis Bonaparte is probably the best treasure-trove I've come across for Marx's prose stylings, and not just for the "first time as tragedy, second time as farce" line

[Capetan Mihali]

For your purposes, what's the difference between the rentier class and the land-owning aristocracy?  And how would/did their interest diverge so dramatically?

The difference is the source of their income.

... how so?  In both cases, the source of the income isn't the sale of the harvest?

[Oexmelin]

No doubt, but probably also 95% of the stocks, bonds, fine art, jewelry, collectibles, horses, etc, etc (fill in asset category here)

A more relevant datum would be the proportion of total wealth accounted for by land over time. My guess it that it would show a steady decline though perhaps not as rapid as Yi thinks.

Of course - but then, the displacement of one "class" by another, conceived of as antagonistic, becomes much harder to track, and thus, the significant advantage of heirs favored by long-standing inequality based on title, blood and nobility, much more difficult to wish away. 

[Admiral Yi]

... how so?  In both cases, the source of the income isn't the sale of the harvest?

Rentier refers to deriving income from interest and dividends.

[Capetan Mihali]

... how so?  In both cases, the source of the income isn't the sale of the harvest?

Rentier refers to deriving income from interest and dividends.

Whereas the aristocracy couldn't so invest their profit from the land? Rentier capitalism appears to be a term coined by Karl Marx coinage, and he seems to describe it in a way very similar to aristocratic habits, i.e. subsisting off their income without taking an active role in economic activity. 

His claim seems to have been that the rentier class would either have to become industrial capitalists or perish, which sounds similar to what the fate of the aristocracy would've been.

[Martinus]

Still doesn't understand capital is needed in production.

I think the gag is more the idea of having communist philosophers as management consultants in a company run by Ayn Rand, rather than to make a didactic point

I thought your recent position was that people should not make offensive jokes that other people do not find funny.

Clearly Yi does not find the joke funny, and I can't think of anything more offensive than an ideology that killed the largest number of people on the planet.