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Gina S Meyer's avatar

Isn’t it interesting how much it parallels the plantation life Jefferson so loved? The few becoming rich at the expense of slave labor, and everyone else fooled into thinking that was not only okay, but admirable.

Thank you, Sharon , for pointing out that everyone suffers when government does not protect us from greed. Why would we willingly choose to deregulate industries that profit from killing us?

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Wendy OConnor's avatar

Frightening how some want to go back in time. Thanks for this amazing reminder that all of the gold did not sparkle.

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Gina S Meyer's avatar

Exactly, Wendy. It only sparkled for the 1%. The rest is a useful fantasy, at best. In reality, it is a dangerous lie.

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Rhiannon's avatar

Manny of the ideas of MAHA ARE good for everyone! But that's not what is actually being implemented. Fewer regulations on specific industries lead to the toxins from those industries ending up in our air and our water (that's where a lot of our lead exposure comes from) Swapping high fructose corn syrup for sugar in soda is performative since the substances are metabolically equivalent. Synthetic food dyes affect a small number of people (who are still important!) but replacing those with natural dyes and calling that a huge win instead of working on things that can make the biggest differences for the Americans with the worst health outcomes isn't making things better for everyone.

Americans need better access to food and healthcare and they need time to cook. They need companies to be restrained from willingly diminishing the health of the population to keep margins high. They need affordable living and groceries.

The difference between the average health of individuals according to income is depressing. We need things that will make big improvements for most people. There is a ton of research on determinants of health.

On substack Jessica Knurick is a good resource on public health education and explains things that DO make a big difference for everyone

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Margaux's avatar
2dEdited

Jessica is a great communicator with the credentials to back her up. I love all the stuff she shares!

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TS's avatar

I am a big fan of Jessica’s work!!

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Rhiannon's avatar

Commenting to add that my original comment was intended to be on response to Tonya Motley's comment, I'll repost it where I intended it to be :)

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J Tierney's avatar

To Trump and his wealthy cronies, the most attractive aspect of the Gilded Age was the absence of a Federal Income Tax. His fervent pursuit of tariffs has income tax mitigation/elimination as its ultimate goal. It is an economically naive and morally bankrupt objective.

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Carey Gregg's avatar

I think it's important to note that "gilded" means "covered thinly with gold leaf or gold paint." It's a veneer, a facade, a cheap way to cover over something less attractive. I think it's a really good name for that period: things looked great on the surface, but if you scratch at it even a little, the gilding peels right off, exposing what's really underneath. We shouldn't be striving for an America that only looks good on the surface.

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Timothy Patrick's avatar

Thanks, Sharon! Reading this piece I was realizing that the Glided Age mirrors the conversations happening in tech circles today. There's a prevailing frame of thinking in the tech world right now that with the advancements of technology, we're on the verge of everyone becoming comfortably wealthy; the end of labor for those who don't want to work, diseases solved, abundance for all. And they believe this will all just naturally happen, without much in the way of planning or regulation to make sure we actually get there.

A perfect example was a post on Threads earlier this month from Garry Tan, the CEO of Y Combinator, an extremely prolific venture capital firm. In the photo accompanying his post, he's wearing a blue shirt with orange text as a spoof of the “Zohran for New York City” campaign merch, with the phrase "WE SHOULD HAVE MORE BILLIONAIRES" spelled out. The caption to his post: "We should have more billionaires. Maximize abundance. Support entrepreneurship. We should be prosperity-maxxing." The post did as well as you could expect: 350 likes compared to 1,300 comments. A top comment: "Y-Combinator's cookie-cutter, dude-bro, one-size-fits-all startup sausage fest is what I use in my university lectures to show exactly how broken the VC model is, and how you cosplay as innovators while privatizing the commons, forfeiting real abundance to help the world for individualistic extraction. And stealing Zohran's campaign font for your own merch is peak Sand Hill Road. No grasp of the real world outside your Patagonia vest bubble, digitizing feudalism and calling it the future." (Bian Li earned a follow from me for that one!)

Not only is that a perfect example of how these supposed geniuses think that basic economic principles don't apply in their vision for the world (because obviously, maximizing the amount of billionaires would mean crazy inflation, making the title of billionaire meaningless, and you can't be rich without poor people to need the dollars you have too many of) but it also shows their hand. They aren’t feeling guilty about the sysstemic economic oppression they are perpetuating; they’re telling a story they think absolves them of responsibility. They think that venture capital firms are going to be the ones making sure that wealth is attainable. But venture capital exists to concentrate wealth, not distribute it. VCs take money from the already wealthy, bet it on companies that might create more wealth for those same wealthy people, and then extract maximum value when those bets pay off. The entire model depends on scarcity: both of capital and of successful outcomes. If everyone could access the same opportunities and achieve the same returns, there would be no venture capital industry. You can bet that if there was a serious threat of income equality to come, VC CEOs would be denouncing it as communism.

The tech elite's vision of a “Golden Age" powered by AI and automation sounds remarkably similar to the Gilded Age promise that industrial progress would lift all boats. But just as the robber barons consolidated power while workers suffered in tenements, today's digital barons are positioning themselves to own the infrastructure of tomorrow's economy while promising that the benefits will somehow trickle down. While workers lose their jobs to ChatGPT, the use of ChatGPT will become as necessary as a cell phone in today's world, and the price of a subscription will increase as that dominance becomes closer to a monopoly (all based on technology that was stolen from the data's creators). Aside from some professional thinkers who don’t seem to be getting much accomplished in the way of regulation, they’re not planning for universal basic income or wealth redistribution. They're planning for a world where they own the algorithms, the data, and the platforms that everyone else will depend on. Surely there will be abundance, but just like it always has, it’ll trickle up to the wealthy if we don’t write some smart laws.

The good news is that we don't have to accept this version of the future. We can demand that our representatives regulate AI development to ensure it serves public interests, not just private profits. We can support worker organizing efforts in tech companies and gig work. We can push for public investment in digital infrastructure instead of leaving it all to private companies. The robber barons wanted us to believe their dominance was natural and inevitable too, but it took organizing, regulation, and political action to rein them in. Find today’s muckrakers and make sure their work has financial support (even as reporting facts could mean financial ruin by a frivolous lawsuit from the president). The same tools that worked against the Gilded Age can work against its digital sequel, we just have to be willing to see and use them.

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Todd Bruton's avatar

Timothy -- When I taught my "economics" unit, I would start my lecture with, "We're going to turn on the printing press, and everyone in America gets a million dollars. Whad'ya think?" Keep in-mind, these were high school juniors. Of course...they thought this would be amazing. Fifty-minutes later--after explaining the 'value' of money, and how it depends on its' relative rarity...along with human 'greed' (e.g. oil companies would artificially triple/quadruple the price of gasoline)--they came to realize that in a relatively short time, we'd be right back to where we were in a capitalist society: Exploiters exploiting.

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Timothy Patrick's avatar

And I like that you put "greed" in quotes -- maybe "exploiters" should be in quotes too. Because really everyone is just doing their job and filling their role in the market. Seems weird to judge people as individuals for extracting as much profit as possible for themselves or the companies that employ them (as long as they are following the law). Otherwise, it's the system that's to blame, not them. I might be laughing at Garry Tan's expense in my example, but it's not because he's an anomaly; his words are just a symptom of what's wrong systemically.

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Gina S Meyer's avatar

Timothy, I respectfully disagree. Would you also put “fairness” in quotes?

I believe greed and exploitation are not excused just because they are allowed.

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Timothy Patrick's avatar

Hi Gina! The point I am making is that just calling it “greedy” or “exploitative” is perpetuating the system. It’s pretending that this is the fault of bad apples in need of replacement, as if all we need to do is type more condemnations and someday we will have less greedy and less exploitative people leading the most powerful corporations in the world.

Instead, we should admit that these people being greedy and exploitative would be fired if they didn’t pursue all avenues to make a profit. If we talk about corporations themselves as a corrupt system, we might have a better chance at coming up with a solution that matches the problem.

I’m not condoning bad behavior, I’m saying there will be more bad behavior if we don’t admit that bad behavior is in their job description.

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Gina S Meyer's avatar

Timothy, thank you for the clarification. Yes, bad behavior is the feature, not the bug.

But just as it is not excusable, it is not inevitable. People can choose fairness, and when they do, it all falls apart.

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Gina S Meyer's avatar

Timothy, May I also add to “we just have to be willing to see and use them,” and also listen to and learn from people that attempt to educate us. Thank you for being one of those people.

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Tori Jo Wible's avatar

Was there ever a time when things were good for everyone? That would be a truly golden age. This <waves arms > is not good for anyone. Even (especially) those who think they are winning. Is it really that hard to just do the right thing?

Thank you, Sharon for helping us all see and be,

our better angels!!

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Margaux's avatar

My hope is that we will get there, but it will require enough Americans waking up to what is happening. We are being pitted against one another, so we don’t pay attention to the rich and powerful robbing us blind in every way. There is opportunity now to right the ship, but we the people need to meet the moment and show people a new path forward that leaves behind bullies, division, corruption, and lies. I’ve really enjoyed James Talarico’s speeches on this subject lately.

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Ashley Archuleta's avatar

Is it weird that this article gave me hope? After all, it shows us that American can and has moved out from an aristocratic Gilded Age and toward a more hopeful and democratic age of growing the middle class and lifting people out of poverty. It sucks that we're in a moment of reversing course back toward an oligarchal government, but maybe the roadmap of the past can help us get out of this again. I'd love a follow up article detailing the fall of the Gilded Age and what movements, policies, and governmental efforts brought about a growing lower- and middle-class. (Although, now that I'm thinking about it, I suppose a great depression and a couple of world wars might be the price we have to pay to shake off the current form of government, which is... not ideal.)

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Dennis McElroy's avatar

As long as money exists as a tool to pay for necessities and excesses, there will never be equality amongst the people. Those that find ways, scrupulous or not, to amass it will do just that…on the backs of those who are in the created caste below them. Some people work for the wealth they attain. Others, like Trump, had it handed to them and have never known a day of hard work in their life. They will do anything to maintain their wealth regardless of the cost to those around them. The sad part? Those who aren’t wealthy, but aspire to attain it, will force a group (immigrants) to be the caste below them. Somehow it makes them feel a little less poor and downtrodden when they can make someone feel worse than they do. THAT is the history of this country and of mankind in general.

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Angie's avatar

Great article! Sound warning bell.

I wish I was reading this (and many more like it) in summer 2024. I wonder if it would have helped prevent what we’re being ruled by. We are only 6 months in. This dumpster fire - for 99% of our fellow Americans - is only beginning. What will remain after they are done with their machetes?

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Rach D's avatar

Thank you for pointing out the issues with sanitation… such a great reminder that scaling back environmental regulations are going to make no one healthier, despite the empty promises offered by our current “health” administration.

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Lee A.'s avatar

my mother in law always says she wished she could live in this era, she has no clue that there was such a high risk of disease living in unsanitary conditions. no thank you!

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Mari's avatar

A great reminder that we must not stop fighting for the rights of all. It's past time we start thinking more in terms of the collective well-being as a people to really become the great nation that we were meant to be. Everyone has a right to a roof over their heads, good food on their table, a good education, and access to medical care. Period. Let's even that playing field and then go from there.

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Cherrus's avatar

The GOP is also talking about bringing back child labor. Definitely going backwards.

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Todd Bruton's avatar

Sharon -- The theme of today's article brought to mind thoughts of my most-recent read. Going to take this opportunity to recommend the latest book by author John Green, "Everything is Tuberculosis" https://www.google.com/books/edition/Everything_Is_Tuberculosis/zUYpEQAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=0

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Amber's avatar

Wonderful audiobook and after you finish - tuberculosis shows up everywhere you look!

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Renae R's avatar

I read the last paragraph with frustration because I'm not sure that my little voice/little vote in a red state can actually DO anything. It doesn't matter how many phone calls I make or how many emails I send or how many posts I share on social media. Things are hard these days, and accepting that I'm getting weary and that I'm powerless is starting to feel like the easy thing to do. Hoping for a shift in the country's acceptance very soon. Apologies for the resignation I'm currently mired in.

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Kathleen's avatar

Renae I agree with you. Our representatives in Congress have lost their spines, and with that, their courage to say NO to Trump. As long as this continues, and they maintain control of Congress (we'll see what next year's elections bring but I'm not very optimistic), nothing will change. They are part of the Trump cult and things will remain the way they are until the fever breaks. I fear so much damage will have been done by then, that it will be exceedingly difficult to claw our way back.

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Allison Adkins's avatar

Renae-You are certainly not alone in your feelings. I think it is only natural to feel overwhelmed and a little bit depressed about the state of things. I keep trying to remind myself that every small action I can take is a step in the right direction, but this is going to be a long, uphill battle. Stay informed, keep making those calls and writing those emails. But also take time to notice the good things in the world; I don't mean to give advice that sounds trite, but I truly believe that taking time to step back and notice the good things that do exist and that are happening, even if they are tiny, is helpful.

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