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Comment by edwardbernays | Hacker News Reader

Forget China. The greatest threat to American freedom and global power is robber baron billionaires. We live in a full-on kleptocracy. It's about time we add some new amendments to the constitution to relevel the balance of powers.

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Fortunately the Illinois governor can be counted on to take a stand against billionaires.

true, we wish this brave and powerful man the best of luck as he takes on his matched opponents: the people in his socioeconomic bracket. amen.

You jest, but the harsh truth is that almost no change in society is possible unless at least some of the societal elites are on the bandwagon.

It's both sardonic and genuine. If he's genuine, then I genuinely wish him the best luck. However, it is very hard for me to believe that any billionaire would ever do something generally disfavorable to the current billionaire class. It's even harder for me to believe that, if one of them was to do so, that it would not be for their own further gain, just to the detriment of their peer cohort. I'm a bit jaded from having been lied to too many times.

Again, however, if he is genuine: I genuinely wish him the best luck taking on his matched opponents.

Agreed.

... or that's what they want you to believe

I have to admit that for as corrupt as Illinois is, Pritzker has managed to support a few things which his billionaire buddies weren't too fond of. It's not all good, but it's better than I expected. He's called for higher taxes on the rich, stronger labor protections, higher minimum wages and better support for the poors.

Yeah I actually like JB, even though I'm somewhat uncomfortable with him being a billionaire.

The problem is that they have bought all three systems of government so they can do whatever they want. They own all the media as well. Even something like PBS that is supposed to be more independent is highly dependent on "philanthropy" from these same billionaires and they've fallen victim to what I'm going to moniker as Sinclair's Law ("It is difficult to get someone to understand something when their salary depends upon not understanding it" -Upton Sinclair)

America just lives under capitalism.

There are plenty of countries that don't like capitalism. If you don't like it you can move to one of those. You can even go somewhere like the UK if you don't want to give up the US's anglo/protestant culture.

Tell my mother and friends (hypothetical) that. Where do you get off, honestly? You also changed the subject.

I also don't live in the US.

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