The rich aren't like you and I. They're stupid, self-absorbed, petty, and desperately looking for meaning in their otherwise empty lives.
Okay, they're a little like you and I. But you get the point.
I'm reading today, courtesy of a hijacked NYTimes digital subscription, the story of Cordelia Scaife May. A Pittsburgh-born heiress to a massive fortune, Ms. May was, shall we say, quite the fucking piece of work. Here's a link. It's worth using one of your six free monthly articles or whatever it is to read it (plus it's really long, which makes it a bargain).
The point of this post isn't how Ms. May's dedication to reproductive rights slid ever so gradually into a hatred of immigrants, especially the dark immigrants. It's not the story of her miserable-ass empty life either. Though the part where her new husband, a Pittsburgh DA facing corruption charges, killed himself on the day he was formally indicted, and May blamed her brother for turning on the DA guy, and severed their relationship, losing in one quick swoop the only two people she was close to on the planet, and then secluded herself in an Arizona cabin where a year or two later she emerged as a full-blown bigot dedicated to giving her fortune to hate groups, I mean anti-immigration groups--that part was pretty incredible, as a kind of 19th century novel kind of thing.
No, the point of all this is talking about the cycle of grifting and suck that warps our society. The other NYT article that caught my eye was the story of Stephen Miller, trump advisor and full-blown anti-immigration con man. Miller was born into a SoCal life of private school privilege, but his wealth wasn't anything compared to Cordelia Scaife May (Miller only had two names, for example). But he did figure out the quickest way to an adult life of leisure and comfort--embracing an extremist ideology under the cloak of patriotism or whatever, and getting people to give him money for it.
Because what we call the right-wing information complex, or the Fox News company picnic, or the extremist propaganda punditocracy, isn't anything more than a way to fleece rich people from their money. So much so that it doesn't matter whether Hannity, Carlson, Miller, Jones, whoever, believe the shit they're selling. They found the shortest, quickest way to a life of power for an underachieving dipshit--good enough to get into any Ivy League caliber college, but not nearly good enough to excel once they get there--is to stake out a wealth-friendly ideological position that is in opposition to the dominant (informed, humane, liberal) position that pervades on campus. Rich people will throw fucking yacht-loads of money at you. Set yourself up a non-profit and watch those tax-deductible dollars flow in. Call it Turning Point USA or the Leadership Institute.You'll never have to worry about money ever again.
Because wealthy people--and we're talking REAL wealthy, like generational billions--hate two things in this world: paying taxes, and their empty aimless drift through their 80-ish years on the planet. They are naive, stupid, and looking for something to spend their money on. They are easy marks for hustlers and con artists (or con content providers, if you prefer). The whole thing would be funny and adorable if it didn't result in the unconscionable suffering of millions. Stephen Miller couldn't run a fucking Burger King morning shift if you gave him three years to try, but he knew how to suck up to the powerfully-stupid powerful (his first D.C. job was working for Michele Bachmann, whose first three auto-fill suggestions on my google are, in order: corn dog, bikini, and young--should we all kill ourselves together or take turns?). And that's why I type transcriptions of notes called in by financial advisors and insurance agents for $10 an hour while Stephen Miller lives a life of financial comfort and figures out how to profit from his ugly ideologies. But at least I don't look like a semi-sentient bowl of pudding that hasn't slept in a week, and whose ejaculate is made up of (I imagine) a hastily thrown-together mix of saliva, mosquitos and paste.
One solution, what we in the rich-guillotine business call a good start, would involve a Wealth Tax.
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