It’s paper straws and compostable cups for the masses, space travel and $600m weddings for their overlords. No wonder everyone who can afford it wants a doomsday bunker, writes Arwa Mahdawi
Increasingly I think it actually might protect them. Not in a postapocalyptic bunker or a libertarian private island but rather in the upper echelons of a less climate-striken authoritarian country. One where there’s still a functioning society, enough labor to sustain an economy and a compliant political and law enforcement classes happy to maintain some form of apartheid. The Arabian peninsula countries could be a model.
The thing why I am not 100% sure this will work is that the wealthy especially today increasingly hold abstract wealth. It’s in the form of money and other financial instruments. All of those are IOUs owed to them in labor. In other words it’s only meaningful because someone will accept these IOUs in order to do some work in exchange. This is even true for natural resources and more automated services because all of them require some amount of labor to extract or maintain. With that in mind, say the source countries where these IOUs commanded labor fall apart (mass death, political upheaval, etc) then they go with these IOUs to Qatar to Uncle Putin to purchase a citizenship. Putin could accept those IOUs in exange for a citizenship. However he wouldn’t be able to buy anything with them from because they are no longer accepted. So why would he take the wealthy person? Surely he isn’t so naive to believe every wealthy person is actually as valuable in their ability as their wealth. So I’m thinking, and I’m not confident in this thought, but I feel like its possible that the first wave might be able to buy its way into Traditional Values Federation, while the global economy isn’t dead yet. As things start to crumble, it’ll get harder and harder to do so. Perhaps in the later rounds of the lottery, only people who have some other type of capital, not financial, would qualify. E.g. a guy from ASML with all the blueprints to build 1nm lithography machines. In fact, even if financial capital is accepted in exchange for citizenships it will probably not be accepted in the landing country in order to prevent it from being deployed against the existing political class. Adding a lot of billionaires in Russia and letting them spend domestically can dismantle the regime that let them in.
Money can only buy people if people still value the money. In a world where their money means less and less, they will have less power/ value and may not survive unscathed.
Wow this is completely detached from reality in an Econ101 kind of way.
The problem is that these are not “IOUs” but paper printed by the most violent empire(s) in history. The choice is to serve or starve. Their “other kind of capital” is literally guns, not blueprints ffs.
People will be violently forced to serve just like they are and always have been.
As long as the markets are open, the “free market” will ensure that they are comfortable. That’s the purpose of the free market. They only suffer when markets close (and their money becomes useless).
Yep. Why do you think these creeps are so exciting about building walls and murdering refugees? Fortress europe and fortress canada must be defended against the desperate masses.
It’s an apartheid.
Their wealth can protect them from climate change, so they have no good reason to change their behavior.
Increasingly I think it actually might protect them. Not in a postapocalyptic bunker or a libertarian private island but rather in the upper echelons of a less climate-striken authoritarian country. One where there’s still a functioning society, enough labor to sustain an economy and a compliant political and law enforcement classes happy to maintain some form of apartheid. The Arabian peninsula countries could be a model.
Oh, definitely. In most countries the wealthy can simply buy citizenship.
The thing why I am not 100% sure this will work is that the wealthy especially today increasingly hold abstract wealth. It’s in the form of money and other financial instruments. All of those are IOUs owed to them in labor. In other words it’s only meaningful because someone will accept these IOUs in order to do some work in exchange. This is even true for natural resources and more automated services because all of them require some amount of labor to extract or maintain. With that in mind, say the source countries where these IOUs commanded labor fall apart (mass death, political upheaval, etc) then they go with these IOUs to Qatar to Uncle Putin to purchase a citizenship. Putin could accept those IOUs in exange for a citizenship. However he wouldn’t be able to buy anything with them from because they are no longer accepted. So why would he take the wealthy person? Surely he isn’t so naive to believe every wealthy person is actually as valuable in their ability as their wealth. So I’m thinking, and I’m not confident in this thought, but I feel like its possible that the first wave might be able to buy its way into Traditional Values Federation, while the global economy isn’t dead yet. As things start to crumble, it’ll get harder and harder to do so. Perhaps in the later rounds of the lottery, only people who have some other type of capital, not financial, would qualify. E.g. a guy from ASML with all the blueprints to build 1nm lithography machines. In fact, even if financial capital is accepted in exchange for citizenships it will probably not be accepted in the landing country in order to prevent it from being deployed against the existing political class. Adding a lot of billionaires in Russia and letting them spend domestically can dismantle the regime that let them in.
It could be you’re right.
I don’t think anyone can really say how it will work out in the end, but I am comfortable in saying I’m sure the wealthy will survive it unscathed.
Yes that’s probably the safer bet. Plus no tears here for the ones that don’t.
Agreed.
Money can only buy people if people still value the money. In a world where their money means less and less, they will have less power/ value and may not survive unscathed.
Wow this is completely detached from reality in an Econ101 kind of way.
The problem is that these are not “IOUs” but paper printed by the most violent empire(s) in history. The choice is to serve or starve. Their “other kind of capital” is literally guns, not blueprints ffs.
People will be violently forced to serve just like they are and always have been.
As long as the markets are open, the “free market” will ensure that they are comfortable. That’s the purpose of the free market. They only suffer when markets close (and their money becomes useless).
Yep. Why do you think these creeps are so exciting about building walls and murdering refugees? Fortress europe and fortress canada must be defended against the desperate masses.
You can’t eat money. They might live comfortably for longer but eventually they’ll be just as turbo fucked as we are.
Not soon enough, they won’t, unfortunately.