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"California’s descent to socialism"

GrundleStiltzkin
GrundleStiltzkin Member Posts: 61,516 Standard Supporter
http://www.dailynews.com/opinion/20170611/californias-descent-to-socialism-joel-kotkin
California is widely celebrated as the fount of technical, cultural and political innovation. Now we seem primed to outdo even ourselves, creating a new kind of socialism that, in the end, more resembles feudalism than social democracy.

The new consensus is being pushed by, among others, hedge-fund-billionaire-turned-green-patriarch Tom Steyer. The financier now insists that, to reverse our worsening inequality, we must double down on environmental and land-use regulation, and make up for it by boosting subsidies for the struggling poor and middle class. This new progressive synthesis promises not upward mobility and independence, but rather the prospect of turning most Californians into either tax slaves or dependent serfs.
The oligarchs of the Bay Area have a problem: They must square their progressive worldview with their enormous wealth. They certainly are not socialists in the traditional sense. They see their riches not as a result of class advantages, but rather as reflective of their meritocratic superiority. As former TechCrunch reporter Gregory Ferenstein has observed, they embrace massive inequality as both a given and a logical outcome of the new economy.

The nerd estate is definitely not stupid, and like rulers everywhere, they worry about a revolt of the masses, and even the unionization of their companies. Their gambit is to expand the welfare state to keep the hoi polloi in line. Many, including Mark Zuckerberg, now favor an income stipend that could prevent mass homelessness and malnutrition.
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Comments

  • PurpleJ
    PurpleJ Member Posts: 37,643 Founders Club
    That's the plan for the entire world. Not just California.
  • RaceBannon
    RaceBannon Member, Moderator, Swaye's Wigwam Posts: 114,143 Founders Club
    Good chit splitskin
  • Swaye
    Swaye Moderator, Swaye's Wigwam Posts: 41,739 Founders Club
    California sucks. Paradise lost. Thanks Obama.
  • YellowSnow
    YellowSnow Moderator, Swaye's Wigwam Posts: 37,332 Founders Club
    I hear it's a great place to be a renter!
  • YellowSnow
    YellowSnow Moderator, Swaye's Wigwam Posts: 37,332 Founders Club
    Swaye said:

    California sucks. Paradise lost. Thanks Obama California State Legislature with massive donkey majorities for decades.</</b>blockquote>

    Fixed

  • PurpleJ
    PurpleJ Member Posts: 37,643 Founders Club
    I remember watching a video about a guy who built a bunch of tiny homes for the homeless in LA, but the city came and destroyed them all.
  • AZDuck
    AZDuck Member Posts: 15,381
    I don't know about you, but I'm totally in favor of mass homelessness and malnutrition. Keep the fucking proles in line.

  • PurpleJ
    PurpleJ Member Posts: 37,643 Founders Club
    AZDuck said:

    I don't know about you, but I'm totally in favor of mass homelessness and malnutrition. Keep the fucking proles in line.

    Stabbing someone in the heart and putting a bandaid on it is always special.
  • Sledog
    Sledog Member Posts: 37,875 Standard Supporter
    PurpleJ said:

    That's the plan for the entire world. Not just California.

    California leads the way!
  • dnc
    dnc Member Posts: 56,840
    I'm too upset about poor people shit in Idaho to give a fuck about this
  • PurpleThrobber
    PurpleThrobber Member Posts: 48,134 Standard Supporter
    Tie me up, spank me and call me a socialist.

    image
  • bananasnblondes
    bananasnblondes Member Posts: 15,515
    Kansas already tried the "conservative utopia" experiment and it was a complete fucking disaster. Let's see what Cali can do batting from the other side of the plate.
  • RaceBannon
    RaceBannon Member, Moderator, Swaye's Wigwam Posts: 114,143 Founders Club

    Kansas already tried the "conservative utopia" experiment and it was a complete fucking disaster. Let's see what Cali can do batting from the other side of the plate.

    That's kind of like using the Mariners to judge the Yankees

    Meanwhile I'll be forced to celebrate my birthday in crisp 100 degree heat here in Socialistland

    Someone has to do it
  • PurpleThrobber
    PurpleThrobber Member Posts: 48,134 Standard Supporter

    Kansas already tried the "conservative utopia" experiment and it was a complete fucking disaster. Let's see what Cali can do batting from the other side of the plate.

    That needs a do-over because Kansans are inherently the dumbest motherfucking people on the planet.

    I kid you not, I do business all over the country - and those fuckers are in an idiot class by themselves.

  • AZDuck
    AZDuck Member Posts: 15,381
    TRICKLE-DOWN ECONOMICS CAN NEVER FAIL

    IT CAN ONLY BE FAILED
  • allpurpleallgold
    allpurpleallgold Member Posts: 8,771
    This is what Alex Jones would sound like if he was a democrat.
  • dnc
    dnc Member Posts: 56,840

    Kansas already tried the "conservative utopia" experiment and it was a complete fucking disaster. Let's see what Cali can do batting from the other side of the plate.

    Stop eating 'Member Berries.
  • Swaye
    Swaye Moderator, Swaye's Wigwam Posts: 41,739 Founders Club

    Kansas already tried the "conservative utopia" experiment and it was a complete fucking disaster. Let's see what Cali can do batting from the other side of the plate.

    That's kind of like using the Mariners to judge the Yankees

    Meanwhile I'll be forced to celebrate my birthday in crisp 100 degree heat here in Socialistland

    Someone has to do it
    Added bonus that your age matches the temp.
  • Mosster47
    Mosster47 Member Posts: 6,246
    Wait, so they want to end poverty by giving the poor more money? No no, this can't work. @Sledog told me they just need to go get a 3rd or 4th job instead.
  • Mosster47
    Mosster47 Member Posts: 6,246

    Kansas already tried the "conservative utopia" experiment and it was a complete fucking disaster. Let's see what Cali can do batting from the other side of the plate.

    That needs a do-over because Kansans are inherently the dumbest motherfucking people on the planet.

    I kid you not, I do business all over the country - and those fuckers are in an idiot class by themselves.

    Rural Oregon is a special kind of stupid now too. They haven't had a sense or purpose since 2004. Survival mode for 13 years churns out insane stupidity.
  • TierbsHsotBoobs
    TierbsHsotBoobs Member Posts: 39,680
    Mosster47 said:

    Kansas already tried the "conservative utopia" experiment and it was a complete fucking disaster. Let's see what Cali can do batting from the other side of the plate.

    That needs a do-over because Kansans are inherently the dumbest motherfucking people on the planet.

    I kid you not, I do business all over the country - and those fuckers are in an idiot class by themselves.

    Rural Oregon is a special kind of stupid now too. They haven't had a sense or purpose since 2004. Survival mode for 13 years churns out insane stupidity.
    As the bored's Superiority Guy on Rural Oregon, let me assure you it has been dumber a lot longer than that.
  • CirrhosisDawg
    CirrhosisDawg Member Posts: 6,390

    http://www.dailynews.com/opinion/20170611/californias-descent-to-socialism-joel-kotkin

    California is widely celebrated as the fount of technical, cultural and political innovation. Now we seem primed to outdo even ourselves, creating a new kind of socialism that, in the end, more resembles feudalism than social democracy.

    The new consensus is being pushed by, among others, hedge-fund-billionaire-turned-green-patriarch Tom Steyer. The financier now insists that, to reverse our worsening inequality, we must double down on environmental and land-use regulation, and make up for it by boosting subsidies for the struggling poor and middle class. This new progressive synthesis promises not upward mobility and independence, but rather the prospect of turning most Californians into either tax slaves or dependent serfs.
    The oligarchs of the Bay Area have a problem: They must square their progressive worldview with their enormous wealth. They certainly are not socialists in the traditional sense. They see their riches not as a result of class advantages, but rather as reflective of their meritocratic superiority. As former TechCrunch reporter Gregory Ferenstein has observed, they embrace massive inequality as both a given and a logical outcome of the new economy.

    The nerd estate is definitely not stupid, and like rulers everywhere, they worry about a revolt of the masses, and even the unionization of their companies. Their gambit is to expand the welfare state to keep the hoi polloi in line. Many, including Mark Zuckerberg, now favor an income stipend that could prevent mass homelessness and malnutrition.
    Joel kotkin sounds poor and unskilled. We don't want him in California.
  • Sledog
    Sledog Member Posts: 37,875 Standard Supporter

    Kansas already tried the "conservative utopia" experiment and it was a complete fucking disaster. Let's see what Cali can do batting from the other side of the plate.

    Cali's been on the other side of the plate for many years. More homeless now than ever. If you build it they will come.
  • Kaepsknee
    Kaepsknee Member Posts: 14,913
    Mosster47 said:

    Kansas already tried the "conservative utopia" experiment and it was a complete fucking disaster. Let's see what Cali can do batting from the other side of the plate.

    That needs a do-over because Kansans are inherently the dumbest motherfucking people on the planet.

    I kid you not, I do business all over the country - and those fuckers are in an idiot class by themselves.

    Rural Oregon is a special kind of stupid now too. They haven't had a sense or purpose since 2004. Survival mode for 13 years churns out insane stupidity.
    It's been longer than 13 years. Locking up the Forests and leaving them to over growth and disease, all the while decimating most of rural Oregon's economy must have looked so good on paper when Clinton signed those laws. But Hey, they saved habitat for an Owl, that it turns out doesn't really thrive here anyway.

    But if those loggers and mill workers would have just learned to write code, their towns wouldn't be in the predicament they are in, right?
  • 2001400ex
    2001400ex Member Posts: 29,457
    salemcoog said:

    Mosster47 said:

    Kansas already tried the "conservative utopia" experiment and it was a complete fucking disaster. Let's see what Cali can do batting from the other side of the plate.

    That needs a do-over because Kansans are inherently the dumbest motherfucking people on the planet.

    I kid you not, I do business all over the country - and those fuckers are in an idiot class by themselves.

    Rural Oregon is a special kind of stupid now too. They haven't had a sense or purpose since 2004. Survival mode for 13 years churns out insane stupidity.
    It's been longer than 13 years. Locking up the Forests and leaving them to over growth and disease, all the while decimating most of rural Oregon's economy must have looked so good on paper when Clinton signed those laws. But Hey, they saved habitat for an Owl, that it turns out doesn't really thrive here anyway.

    But if those loggers and mill workers would have just learned to write code, their towns wouldn't be in the predicament they are in, right?
    Wait, now you want to control the environment? Which is it?
  • CirrhosisDawg
    CirrhosisDawg Member Posts: 6,390
    salemcoog said:

    Mosster47 said:

    Kansas already tried the "conservative utopia" experiment and it was a complete fucking disaster. Let's see what Cali can do batting from the other side of the plate.

    That needs a do-over because Kansans are inherently the dumbest motherfucking people on the planet.

    I kid you not, I do business all over the country - and those fuckers are in an idiot class by themselves.

    Rural Oregon is a special kind of stupid now too. They haven't had a sense or purpose since 2004. Survival mode for 13 years churns out insane stupidity.
    It's been longer than 13 years. Locking up the Forests and leaving them to over growth and disease, all the while decimating most of rural Oregon's economy must have looked so good on paper when Clinton signed those laws. But Hey, they saved habitat for an Owl, that it turns out doesn't really thrive here anyway.

    But if those loggers and mill workers would have just learned to write code, their towns wouldn't be in the predicament they are in, right?
    Triggered fucking simpleton.
  • TierbsHsotBoobs
    TierbsHsotBoobs Member Posts: 39,680
    salemcoog said:

    Mosster47 said:

    Kansas already tried the "conservative utopia" experiment and it was a complete fucking disaster. Let's see what Cali can do batting from the other side of the plate.

    That needs a do-over because Kansans are inherently the dumbest motherfucking people on the planet.

    I kid you not, I do business all over the country - and those fuckers are in an idiot class by themselves.

    Rural Oregon is a special kind of stupid now too. They haven't had a sense or purpose since 2004. Survival mode for 13 years churns out insane stupidity.
    It's been longer than 13 years. Locking up the Forests and leaving them to over growth and disease, all the while decimating most of rural Oregon's economy must have looked so good on paper when Clinton signed those laws. But Hey, they saved habitat for an Owl, that it turns out doesn't really thrive here anyway.

    But if those loggers and mill workers would have just learned to write code, their towns wouldn't be in the predicament they are in, right?
    I have no idea what you are referencing.
  • Kaepsknee
    Kaepsknee Member Posts: 14,913
    2001400ex said:

    salemcoog said:

    Mosster47 said:

    Kansas already tried the "conservative utopia" experiment and it was a complete fucking disaster. Let's see what Cali can do batting from the other side of the plate.

    That needs a do-over because Kansans are inherently the dumbest motherfucking people on the planet.

    I kid you not, I do business all over the country - and those fuckers are in an idiot class by themselves.

    Rural Oregon is a special kind of stupid now too. They haven't had a sense or purpose since 2004. Survival mode for 13 years churns out insane stupidity.
    It's been longer than 13 years. Locking up the Forests and leaving them to over growth and disease, all the while decimating most of rural Oregon's economy must have looked so good on paper when Clinton signed those laws. But Hey, they saved habitat for an Owl, that it turns out doesn't really thrive here anyway.

    But if those loggers and mill workers would have just learned to write code, their towns wouldn't be in the predicament they are in, right?
    Wait, now you want to control the environment? Which is it?
  • Kaepsknee
    Kaepsknee Member Posts: 14,913

    salemcoog said:

    Mosster47 said:

    Kansas already tried the "conservative utopia" experiment and it was a complete fucking disaster. Let's see what Cali can do batting from the other side of the plate.

    That needs a do-over because Kansans are inherently the dumbest motherfucking people on the planet.

    I kid you not, I do business all over the country - and those fuckers are in an idiot class by themselves.

    Rural Oregon is a special kind of stupid now too. They haven't had a sense or purpose since 2004. Survival mode for 13 years churns out insane stupidity.
    It's been longer than 13 years. Locking up the Forests and leaving them to over growth and disease, all the while decimating most of rural Oregon's economy must have looked so good on paper when Clinton signed those laws. But Hey, they saved habitat for an Owl, that it turns out doesn't really thrive here anyway.

    But if those loggers and mill workers would have just learned to write code, their towns wouldn't be in the predicament they are in, right?
    I have no idea what you are referencing.
    I'm surprised that you're not surprised.