Greedy Billionaires Not Named Elon Megathread

[Razgovory]

You don't have to go to New York to meet members of the "creative class".

[HVC]

the billionaire had a well-done steak with A1 sauce.

He must be purged 

[Sheilbh]

When I finish the book I'll create a thread on this, but in short people in the knowledge economy, the professional-managerial class, or the creative class are elites.  They aren't the only ones of course, but they are elites.  I'm beginning to suspect that when Trump supporters talk about fighting the "elites", this is who they are talking about.  They may never meet a billionaire, but they do come into contact with lawyers, doctors, programmers, engineers, etc.

That sounds like Ehrenreich.

I think there's two levels and I think that's absolutely part of it. I think it also ties into "woke"/"identity politics", because I think that was a conscious decision by more centrist Democrats to lean into that as a way to outflank a more populist left challenge - one heartily picked up by corporates (because it's relatively cheap). I think that has helped undermine both those causes and the Democrats that the cause and politics becomes intermingled with sort of middle management we all deal with in our day to day lives and emails from corporate bosses about social justice. I could be wrong but I also think that plays into a perception of corruption around the Democrats.

The other level though is that I think there's also been a cultural and an economic elite which don't always overlap. They've not always overlapped (though as I say above in recent years the latter have been stealing the rhetoric of the former).

Framing it so the elite just means billionaires, or wealth, or even titles is, I think, just being wilfully obtuse at this point.

Maybe it's just a Canada thing, but I don't think the world is that segregated.

I agree and I would add that the discourse on this is particularly extreme in Britain where it's seen as a huge failure of regional inequality that someone might have to travel twenty miles from Wigan to Manchester for work. This then results in very thinly spread jam of government spending so everyone gets a cut which increases regional inequality more severely.

[Josquius]

I agree and I would add that the discourse on this is particularly extreme in Britain where it's seen as a huge failure of regional inequality that someone might have to travel twenty miles from Wigan to Manchester for work. This then results in very thinly spread jam of government spending so everyone gets a cut which increases regional inequality more severely.

It's not the having to travel 20 miles which is the issue.
It's the infrequent unreliable slow and shit busses that are the only way to get there which means a city 20 miles away can be almost
 another planet to a kid growing up in a small town.
Then there's the morans I stuff which means often within the same town the world's can be seperate.
I think you originally shared this?

https://www.ons.gov.uk/visualisations/dvc1371/#/E07000223

You don't have to go to New York to meet members of the "creative class".

Not necessarily NYC. I know there's a fair number in other major cities too.
But I'd be surprised if there's many of them to be found in random rust belt towns.

[Razgovory]

Not necessarily NYC. I know there's a fair number in other major cities too.
But I'd be surprised if there's many of them to be found in random rust belt towns.

Seriously?  There are plenty of lawyers and doctors and other professionals in small towns across the US.

[Sheilbh]

I'd say public transport not buses. We have a lot of buses compared to other similar European countries (and a lot of bus stops which is part of why they're slow) - what few cities have but is standard elsewhere is an integrated local public transport network.

Interesting that's your conclusion from that map because mine was literally the opposite

[Josquius]

Not necessarily NYC. I know there's a fair number in other major cities too.
But I'd be surprised if there's many of them to be found in random rust belt towns.

Seriously?  There are plenty of lawyers and doctors and other professionals in small towns across the US.

Doctors and lawyers I expect so.
But creatives? Programmers? Myriad other professional jobs?
Doctors, lawyers, teachers, accountants, various management folks... These are quite unique professions and by their service based nature not mass employment.
You've got these "obvious" professional jobs with a clear path in front of you. But the more abstract high end white collar stuff is quite locked away in the cities.

[HVC]

Do to the nature of the work there are probably more rural programmers then there are doctors and lawyers. That actually might go for most creative that don't need to be in the "scene" like writers.

[Josquius]

I'd say public transport not buses. We have a lot of buses compared to other similar European countries (and a lot of bus stops which is part of why they're slow) - what few cities have but is standard elsewhere is an integrated local public transport network.

I say bus as its what I had and empathises the shit.
Certainly though our local trains tend not to do their job.

Interesting that's your conclusion from that map because mine was literally the opposite

Maybe depends what cities youre looking at?

Do to the nature of the work there are probably more rural programmers then there are doctors and lawyers. That actually might go for most creative that don't need to be in the "scene" like writers.

Post covid things shifted  certainly (though shifting back again somewhat).
But still it's generally the case if you want to work in tech or write  you move to the major cities.

[Sheilbh]

But surely it's been the case for most of human history that if you want to work in the cutting edge you have to go to the major cities - and I can't see that it'll ever change. Cities are the engines of change (precisely, in part, because they have lots of people moving in and out).

[mongers]

Good work by the mod or whoever split this off from the other thread.

[Grey Fox]

Man, how weird is the UK outside London.

[Razgovory]

Not necessarily NYC. I know there's a fair number in other major cities too.
But I'd be surprised if there's many of them to be found in random rust belt towns.

Seriously?  There are plenty of lawyers and doctors and other professionals in small towns across the US.

Doctors and lawyers I expect so.
But creatives? Programmers? Myriad other professional jobs?
Doctors, lawyers, teachers, accountants, various management folks... These are quite unique professions and by their service based nature not mass employment.
You've got these "obvious" professional jobs with a clear path in front of you. But the more abstract high end white collar stuff is quite locked away in the cities.

My dad was a programmer.  We lived in a town of about 40k.  It's not that unusual.  Maybe Britain is different.

[Tonitrus]

So, now this killer is something of eye candy for women, it seems.
"I can change him". 

The number of reasons for just staying a single, bitter old man are just piling up.

First rule of political change in a better direction: Don't shoot people.

I think you are making the mistake I've seen guardian writers making on this topic, reading too much into meme posts about the killer.

I am hardly a great authority on pop culture, so you are probably right.
And The Guardian is, well, The Guardian still, for better or worse.
I think I learned at some impromptu course at work that they have more people working on content marketing than actual journalists these days. Which sums up my line of work well.

Still, the killer has killer abs.

So, now this killer is something of eye candy for women, it seems.
"I can change him". 

The number of reasons for just staying a single, bitter old man are just piling up.

First rule of political change in a better direction: Don't shoot people.

No worse than one of our Languish election polls. 

[Norgy]

Agreed.