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from the no-one's-leaving-until-we-have-unanimous-agreement dept.
The rise of populism has rattled the global political establishment. Brexit came as a shock, as did the victory of Donald Trump. Much head-scratching has resulted as leaders seek to work out why large chunks of their electorates are so cross.
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The answer seems pretty simple. Populism is the result of economic failure. The 10 years since the financial crisis have shown that the system of economic governance which has held sway for the past four decades is broken. Some call this approach neoliberalism. Perhaps a better description would be unpopulism.Unpopulism meant tilting the balance of power in the workplace in favour of management and treating people like wage slaves. Unpopulism was rigged to ensure that the fruits of growth went to the few not to the many. Unpopulism decreed that those responsible for the global financial crisis got away with it while those who were innocent bore the brunt of austerity.
2017 Davos says: The 99% should just try harder.
(Score: 2) by JoeMerchant on Wednesday March 29 2017, @03:37PM
In other words: the 99% should try harder to get a handle on their government and make it work for them.
The 1% have been "giving back" a proportionally greater share of their time, attention, and wealth, to ensuring that they continue to get richer. Say they pay a 3% "governance" tax - not required of them by law, something they choose to do with their time and money to make sure that things continue to improve for them.
The 99% aren't putting up a similar effort or expenditure. The 99% can't win a spending war with the 1%, even if the 99% became as cohesively organized as the 1% (itself an impossible task), and they put 10% of their collective wealth into shaping government to benefit themselves, the 1% could still respond to that thread by out-spending them.
Where the 99% have power is, of course, in numbers. As a start, they could fielding and voting for candidates who actually represent their interests. They could take the time and effort to create a media channel that carries their side of the news. They could, but mostly they're busy "working harder, not smarter" which is doubtless a cornerstone of the anti-populist strategy.
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