Oh, dear, career pervert Jeffrey Epstein has been arrested again. Don't get your hopes up too much; the system is built for pelf-encumbered scumbags like Epstein to never be held accountable for what they do. He has too much money, and too many powerful friends -- and he probably has photos of all of them in action. But it would be nice to think of Donald Trump, Bill Clinton, Alan Dershowitz, Prince Andrew, and the rest of Uncle Jeff's Sex Island Club being brought down, once and for all.
It won't happen, of course. Maybe we need to revisit that pledge of allegiance thing, the semi-coerced fealty oath to the decorated cloth Trump enjoys spooning with. People get fixated on the "under god" part, but maybe they should pay more attention to the last four words: "....and justice for all." Really? Because it sure as fuck seems like Epstein gets to buy his way out of trouble every fucking time. A non-wealthy person would have been locked up for life a decade ago. So maybe "....and justice for people who can't afford to rent lawyers and politicians" might be a more accurate way to put it.
Another powerful friend Uncle Jeff apparently has is, get this, William Barr. You see, Bill's dad was the headmaster (giggity) of the Dalton School, and hired Uncle Jeff to teach physics and calculus -- and presumably how to swallow. From there, it's been the usual chef's-kiss of a charmed life for Uncle Jeff.
These people are such fucking scum. From time to time one hears calls from what passes for the left in this country, for things like a maximum income, or just no billionaires at all, just a straight-up redistribution to cap wealth and income at a paltry nine-zero ceiling. I have generally scoffed at such ideas, rightly thinking that in a true capitalist meritocracy, these sorts of moves would constrain -- even deter -- innovation and productivity. Why, it might disincentivize the next boiler-room operation out there, feverishly working on their IPO pump-and-dump scheme. And where would our would-be Caligulas put their giant cartoon bags with the dollar signs on them?
So take a look at some of the more well-known members of that club: not just do-nothing perverts like Epstein, but Jeff Bezos, whose big idea is to build space cities where the elites can escape the poorz. Or Elon Musk, who seems hellbent on burrowing personal transport tunnels under large cities, apparently oblivious to the idea that cities that have been around for hundreds of years frequently are built on top their earlier incarnations -- or, you know, that it's just a stupid fucking idea to begin with.
Or you have entitled turds like Betsy DeVos, whose life can essentially be summed up as the winning of two -- not one, but two -- one-in-a-billion lottery tickets. She and her brother were born into a billion-dollar fortune, and then she married into the Scamway billion-dollar fortune. Where a normal person might take a look at such incredible luck and help people and just enjoy life, DeVos has spent her adult life collecting ricockulous super-houses and yachts, and trying to turn Michigan's public education system into a christofascist indoctrination for-profit scheme.
(And of course her brother is Erik Prince, who became a Navy SEAL and since has spent the last twenty years building an international mercenary army, accountable to no laws or mores. There are humans who would literally be alive and/or leading better lives, if Erik and Betsy had been born destitute and never been allowed near real money. Think about that for a second.)
You could go on and on down the list, the Koch brothers buying the political system, etc., but you get the idea. Bezos and Musk actually have some ability and talent, and clearly a respectable amount of drive and persistence. They didn't inherit massive fortunes like DeVos or the Kochs. But even so, look what they've done with it. They could be helping people, they could be working to save the planet that their resource-extraction supply chains have severely damaged, and instead they're fucking around with space travel like a couple of moony-eyed fifth-graders reading Asimov for the first time.
That's a perfect model of what post-modern predatory capitalism really is: make ungodly amounts of money despoiling the planet and ruining competitors, then use that money to build an escape pod to get away from the consequences of everything you've ever done. Sounds about right.
Youth may be wasted on the young, but it seems more and more like wealth is wasted on the wealthy. It's times like these where you start to have a bit more respect for Paris Hilton, who at least just took her inherited pile and went away to party off-camera, instead of rubbing everyone's nose in it.
It won't happen, of course. Maybe we need to revisit that pledge of allegiance thing, the semi-coerced fealty oath to the decorated cloth Trump enjoys spooning with. People get fixated on the "under god" part, but maybe they should pay more attention to the last four words: "....and justice for all." Really? Because it sure as fuck seems like Epstein gets to buy his way out of trouble every fucking time. A non-wealthy person would have been locked up for life a decade ago. So maybe "....and justice for people who can't afford to rent lawyers and politicians" might be a more accurate way to put it.
Another powerful friend Uncle Jeff apparently has is, get this, William Barr. You see, Bill's dad was the headmaster (giggity) of the Dalton School, and hired Uncle Jeff to teach physics and calculus -- and presumably how to swallow. From there, it's been the usual chef's-kiss of a charmed life for Uncle Jeff.
These people are such fucking scum. From time to time one hears calls from what passes for the left in this country, for things like a maximum income, or just no billionaires at all, just a straight-up redistribution to cap wealth and income at a paltry nine-zero ceiling. I have generally scoffed at such ideas, rightly thinking that in a true capitalist meritocracy, these sorts of moves would constrain -- even deter -- innovation and productivity. Why, it might disincentivize the next boiler-room operation out there, feverishly working on their IPO pump-and-dump scheme. And where would our would-be Caligulas put their giant cartoon bags with the dollar signs on them?
So take a look at some of the more well-known members of that club: not just do-nothing perverts like Epstein, but Jeff Bezos, whose big idea is to build space cities where the elites can escape the poorz. Or Elon Musk, who seems hellbent on burrowing personal transport tunnels under large cities, apparently oblivious to the idea that cities that have been around for hundreds of years frequently are built on top their earlier incarnations -- or, you know, that it's just a stupid fucking idea to begin with.
Or you have entitled turds like Betsy DeVos, whose life can essentially be summed up as the winning of two -- not one, but two -- one-in-a-billion lottery tickets. She and her brother were born into a billion-dollar fortune, and then she married into the Scamway billion-dollar fortune. Where a normal person might take a look at such incredible luck and help people and just enjoy life, DeVos has spent her adult life collecting ricockulous super-houses and yachts, and trying to turn Michigan's public education system into a christofascist indoctrination for-profit scheme.
(And of course her brother is Erik Prince, who became a Navy SEAL and since has spent the last twenty years building an international mercenary army, accountable to no laws or mores. There are humans who would literally be alive and/or leading better lives, if Erik and Betsy had been born destitute and never been allowed near real money. Think about that for a second.)
You could go on and on down the list, the Koch brothers buying the political system, etc., but you get the idea. Bezos and Musk actually have some ability and talent, and clearly a respectable amount of drive and persistence. They didn't inherit massive fortunes like DeVos or the Kochs. But even so, look what they've done with it. They could be helping people, they could be working to save the planet that their resource-extraction supply chains have severely damaged, and instead they're fucking around with space travel like a couple of moony-eyed fifth-graders reading Asimov for the first time.
That's a perfect model of what post-modern predatory capitalism really is: make ungodly amounts of money despoiling the planet and ruining competitors, then use that money to build an escape pod to get away from the consequences of everything you've ever done. Sounds about right.
Youth may be wasted on the young, but it seems more and more like wealth is wasted on the wealthy. It's times like these where you start to have a bit more respect for Paris Hilton, who at least just took her inherited pile and went away to party off-camera, instead of rubbing everyone's nose in it.
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