I usually think this, but then I'll see some random piece of advice from thousands of years ago, e.g. Seneca, Sun Tzu, Jesus, Plato and it seems very relevant.
We've got a lot more bells and whistles these days, but maybe the absence of reddit, imgur, youtube and the general dopamine hamster-wheel allowed them to have a better understanding of human nature.
Counter-point is that we are more likely to live longer and have to fight fewer threats of disease, famine, predators and war, so maybe we have more time to contemplate higher thoughts.
I once read that to get the loop out of your head, you have to "finish" the song, i.e. play it to the end, either in your head, sing it or play it on the stereo.
Technology and global markets have driven tremendous efficiencies. Companies can make more money selling a $300 TV to the poor than a $3,000,000 TV to the rich.
Up until around 1900, in the US, the top 10% lived drastically better than the bottom 10% (or whatever top/bottom chunk you want to look at).
Now, extreme money just doesn't buy you anything special. It will have more gold on it, less inconvenience, be bigger (or smaller), faster, etc.
- Bezos has a private plane, the poor have Southwest
- Gates has a Porsche 959, the poor can take a bus
- Buffet lives in a small house in Nebraska (well, bad example)
So the rich earn and/or accumulate more and more money, but since they can only spend $1200 max on a new phone once a year, it mostly get re-invested into the market.
This article is about how money has become more detached from reality to the point where investors can throw money around [to strike gold at overvalued unicorns while every other venture bleeds money -my take]. There's definitely an overlap with the other articles from various news sources reporting on how millenial apps and services are fueled by this "reckless" spending that bleeds losses.
Sure, most Americans can afford the bare necessities of life: food, water, housing. However many cannot afford it without going into debt, which then fuels the financial lenders with more money to spend through parasitic interest usury (in addition to the central bank engaged in schemes to pump more money into these lenders to "stimulate the economy"). Not to mention the state of medical care where many cannot afford it or else they will go bankrupt.
Money is also increasingly being funneled into the top percentages with the relative lack of wage growth since the 70's. (What filled that gap? Going into debt.) "Free money," as the article states but is in the form of debt, is given to people with good credit scores and denied to people with bad credit scores. This in itself helps creates the divide that the article refers to “The system of making capitalism work well for most people is broken.” and "...which contributes to the rising wealth, opportunity, and political gap."
All true, unless you do a low-carb diet. Once your body adjusts (2-3 weeks for me), your hunger feelings are significantly dampened because your blood sugar is always stable. This is why low-carb diets are considered "easier" by many people.
Thomas Sowell digs into this in his book "Black Rednecks and White Liberals"
quote from the book's Wikipedia page:
Sowell argues that the black ghetto culture, which is claimed to be "authentic black culture", is actually a highly dysfunctional white southern redneck culture which existed during the antebellum South. This culture came, in turn, from the "Cracker culture" of the North Britons and Scots-Irish who migrated from the generally lawless border regions of Britain.
Another classic indicator is when your cab driver gives you stock tips.
But I figure now it's Uber driver giving crypto tips.