Would you want to live forever?

[Lilith7]

Plus it will only be available to the few. And that lot are already privileged quite enough...

Indeed they are. And too much wealth & privilege for one small group generally ends in a very similar way.

 The rattle of tumbrils over cobblestones isn't something any of us should ever want, but unless there are changes it may all end badly.



https://tinyurl.com/ys986u6a

"But letÔÇÖs speak frankly to each other. IÔÇÖm not the smartest guy youÔÇÖve ever met, or the hardest-working. I was a mediocre student. IÔÇÖm not technical at allÔÇöI canÔÇÖt write a word of code. What sets me apart, I think, is a tolerance for risk and an intuition about what will happen in the future. Seeing where things are headed is the essence of entrepreneurship. And what do I see in our future now?
I see pitchforks.

At the same time that people like you and me are thriving beyond the dreams of any plutocrats in history, the rest of the countryÔÇöthe 99.99 percentÔÇöis lagging far behind. The divide between the haves and have-nots is getting worse really, really fast. In 1980, the top 1 percent controlled about 8 percent of U.S. national income. The bottom 50 percent shared about 18 percent. Today the top 1 percent share about 20 percent; the bottom 50 percent, just 12 percent.
But the problem isnÔÇÖt that we have inequality. Some inequality is intrinsic to any high-functioning capitalist economy. The problem is that inequality is at historically high levels and getting worse every day.


Our country is rapidly becoming less a capitalist society and more a feudal society. Unless our policies change dramatically, the middle class will disappear, and we will be back to late 18th-century France. Before the revolution.
And so I have a message for my fellow filthy rich, for all of us who live in our gated bubble worlds: Wake up, people. It wonÔÇÖt last.

If we donÔÇÖt do something to fix the glaring inequities in this economy, the pitchforks are going to come for us. No society can sustain this kind of rising inequality. In fact, there is no example in human history where wealth accumulated like this and the pitchforks didnÔÇÖt eventually come out. You show me a highly unequal society, and I will show you a police state. Or an uprising. There are no counterexamples. None. ItÔÇÖs not if, itÔÇÖs when.


The most ironic thing about rising inequality is how completely unnecessary and self-defeating it is. If we do something about it, if we adjust our policies in the way that, say, Franklin D. Roosevelt did during the Great DepressionÔÇöso that we help the 99 percent and preempt the revolutionaries and crazies, the ones with the pitchforksÔÇöthat will be the best thing possible for us rich folks, too. ItÔÇÖs not just that weÔÇÖll escape with our lives; itÔÇÖs that weÔÇÖll most certainly get even richer."