From: buzzard554@fastmail.co.uk   
      
   On 7/29/2019 2:41 PM, Oh so rich & successful JTEM wrote:   
   > Martin Edwards wrote:   
   >   
   >> The analogy is not quite empty though.   
   >   
   > In context?   
   >   
   >> Amalgamation of estates,   
   >> dependence on slaves, though in the modern economy the slaves are   
   >> machines.  The human equivalent are the perioikoi in the gig economy.   
   >> Above all there is the massive concentration of wealth and the   
   >> impoverishment of the masses at a time when it would be possible for   
   >> everyone to live in modest comfort.  Somewhere in the forest the tree   
   >> was growing..........   
   >   
   > I agree fully. But the piece seems to be claiming that the problem is   
   > handing out free stuff to those impoverished, disenfranchised   
   > masses -- not that they've been impoverished & disenfranchised.   
   >   
      
   Yes it does.  I found it quite well argued, unlike much right wing   
   puffery, but there is the elephant in the room.  The opportunity for the   
   masses to be producers and participate in a market has gradually   
   disappeared, though there are still some.  In a modern society,   
   beginning with Rome, most people are going to be employed in some way,   
   on welfare, or destitute.  The consumers of bread and circuses were   
   descended from self-supporting peasaants.   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)