[ExI] The Great Gatsby Curve

Fri Mar 1 22:29:12 UTC 2019

From: extropy-chat <extropy-chat-bounces at lists.extropy.org> On Behalf Of John Clark

WORLD’S 15 MOST EXPENSIVE LUXURY YACHTS  <http://www.beautifullife.info/automotive-design/worlds-top-10-most-expensive-luxury-yachts/> 

>…I was particularly interested in the yacht "History Supreme", it's only 100 feet long, and that'ssmall compared with another super luxury yacht the 536 foot long 1.5 billion dollar "Eclipse"…

John, where did that .5 billion dollars go?  Away?  Where away?  

>…  but the "History Supreme" cost 3 times as much, 4.5 billion dollars…

Did that 4.5 billion dollars go away?  Where is it now?

>… because it has 220,462 pounds of Gold and Platinum decorating it…

OK so it is a floating Fort Knox.  I still don’t see the problem, even if it sinks.  We can haul it back up for that kinda money.  In fact that would help keep it safe.  I don’t see why it is any more obscene in a yacht than in a fort in Kentucky.

>… and a statue made of Tyrannosaurus Rex bones in the dining room…

Hey cool I wonder if I can make arrangements to have my bones made into a statue?

>…I don't want to be within a hundred miles of that obscenity when the revolution hits, I don't want the pitchfork wielding mob to think I had anything to do with it.   John K Clark

John I just got back from Costco and realized there is work to be done before the pitchfork revolution can take place.  For starters, the guns need to be confiscated from the citizenry, because those have longer range than pitchforks.  But there is more, and it gets back to Costco.

A number of years ago I saw an interview with a guy who was a companion of Fidel Castro before the war.  He wasn’t at all what you would picture: this guy was happy, funny, jolly, a pleasant guy.  He related a story about how Castro was a fiery young man, struggling to get his fellow revolutionaries off their asses.  They said Fidellll!  Why you want revolutiON?  We have de hogs, we have de women, we have de marijuana.  We have everything we need up here!

Castro sent away the women, no revolutiON!  He cut off de supply of hogs, no revolutiON!  Then he cut off de marijuana.  Then de men would FIGHT!

Today at Costco, I looked at TVs for the first time in a coupla years.  I saw what a marvelous TV one can get for one week of minimum wage.  These are 50 inch diagonal, 4k resolution, they get 400 bucks for them.  With that and free internet, the proletariat will not revolt.  It doesn’t matter how much MC Hammer owns, billions, trillions, tack on whatever prefix you want to illions, doesn’t matter one bit how long his yacht or how tall his house.  If the proletariat are that comfortable, they will not revolt.  The job of the revolutionary leader is to make the masses uncomfortable.  

Cut off their internet = riots in the streets.

spike

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