> People voted to transfer wealth to the rich, reduce benefits for the masses cut taxes for the rich, scammy corporations, general immunity for the crony rich who are exploiting the government, customers, and employees.
Not only that. They also voted for economic structures that make it easier for the wealthy-and-powerful to take advantage of the less-wealthy-and-powerful. Healthcare is tied to your job. Housing costs 40% of take home pay. Worker protections are constantly under attack. Regulatory capture is everywhere. Oligopoly is everywhere; every minor crisis is an excuse to raise prices, which of course never come down, and because the CPI doesn't include wages it gets hand-waved away as "inflation" instead of being correctly identified as declining consumer surplus. Employment is at-will; if you don't keep your head down and dedicate your life to your job, and to making new kids who can dedicate their future lives to their future jobs, there is a nonzero risk of lifelong misery for you and your family.
And this time around people went even further. A popular majority eagerly voted for authoritarianism, more or less explicitly in service of breaking down cultural resistance to those economic structures.
Most politicians are just trying to grab and hold onto whatever they can before the ship sinks. They only differ in whether they are accelerationists actively trying to sink the ship faster, or denialists allowing it to sink while quietly enjoying their hoard of grabbed stuff and making a weak show of trying to fix things for appearances.
Not only that. They also voted for economic structures that make it easier for the wealthy-and-powerful to take advantage of the less-wealthy-and-powerful. Healthcare is tied to your job. Housing costs 40% of take home pay. Worker protections are constantly under attack. Regulatory capture is everywhere. Oligopoly is everywhere; every minor crisis is an excuse to raise prices, which of course never come down, and because the CPI doesn't include wages it gets hand-waved away as "inflation" instead of being correctly identified as declining consumer surplus. Employment is at-will; if you don't keep your head down and dedicate your life to your job, and to making new kids who can dedicate their future lives to their future jobs, there is a nonzero risk of lifelong misery for you and your family.
And this time around people went even further. A popular majority eagerly voted for authoritarianism, more or less explicitly in service of breaking down cultural resistance to those economic structures.
Most politicians are just trying to grab and hold onto whatever they can before the ship sinks. They only differ in whether they are accelerationists actively trying to sink the ship faster, or denialists allowing it to sink while quietly enjoying their hoard of grabbed stuff and making a weak show of trying to fix things for appearances.