"People of privilege will always risk their complete destruction rather than surrender any material part of their advantage. Intellectual myopia, often called stupidity, is no doubt a reason. But the privileged also feel that their privileges, however egregious they may seem to others, are a solemn, basic, God-given right."
John Kenneth Galbraith
"Egypt is poor precisely because it has been ruled by a narrow elite that have organized society for their own benefit at the expense of the vast mass of people. Political power has been narrowly concentrated, and has been used to create great wealth for those who possess it, such as the $70 billion fortune apparently accumulated by ex-president Mubarak. The losers have been the Egyptian people, as they only too well understand.
We’ll show that this interpretation of Egyptian poverty, the people’s interpretation, turns out to provide a general explanation for why poor countries are poor. Whether it is North Korea, Sierra Leone, or Zimbabwe, we’ll show that poor countries are poor for the same reason that Egypt is poor.
Countries such as Great Britain and the United States became rich because their citizens overthrew the elites who controlled power and created a society where political rights were much more broadly distributed, where the government was accountable and responsive to citizens, and where the great mass of people could take advantage of economic opportunities."
Daron Acemoglu and James Robinson, Why Nations Fail
Don't you just love watching the public reaction to Brexit, and the barely concealed contempt in which the professional class, including the liberal establishment, holds the general public?
It will keep getting more and more obvious as the people continue to diverge from an increasingly unsustainable and superannuated status quo. And she-who-must-not-be-named is its poster child.
Could their designs be any more obvious? They will certainly continue moreso as the mask of civility drops away and the thuggish side of the will to power rises.
This is an old story, and as always is going to end very badly unless some cooler and wiser heads begin to rein in the pigmen. And that will not be happening anytime soon judging by the other worldly denial of insiders, the very serious people.
Today was a 'risk on' day with gold and the dollar giving back some of their recent gains.
Let's see how we go into the long weekend. I had forgotten that the 4th of July was coming up, but was reminded of it by the samples at Costco this afternoon, which were particularly generous and quite good, forgoing any other thoughts of a separate lunch. Samples lunch at Costco with your best girl? Life is good. lol
Have a pleasant evening.
