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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: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday March 30 2017, @10:41AM
For instance, by law,
"Our investment offerings are not currently available to all investors in all states. Investors may invest in loans facilitated by Lending Club only if they reside in one of the states listed here and also meet that state’s Financial Suitability conditions."
https://help.lendingclub.com/hc/en-us/articles/216092827-What-are-the-requirements-to-become-an-investor- [lendingclub.com]
"Investors who are residents of states other than California must have:
(a) an annual gross income of at least $70,000 and a net worth (exclusive of home, home furnishings, and automobile) of at least $70,000 or
(b) have a net worth of at least $250,000 (determined with the same exclusions).
Investors who are residents of California must have:
(a) an annual gross income of at least $85,000 and a net worth of at least $85,000 (exclusive of home, home furnishings, and automobile) or
(b) have a net worth of at least $200,000 (determined with the same exclusions) or
(c) invest no more than $2,500 in Notes if the investor does not meet either of the tests set forth in (a) or (b).
Note that some of these conditions do not apply to the Note Trading Platform."
https://help.lendingclub.com/hc/en-us/articles/216092957 [lendingclub.com]
It should be noted that the trading platform is, even according to lending club, the more risky of the two platforms.
So the government has two sets of laws, one for the rich and one for the poor. If I am poor and I want to invest my money I don't have the option of choosing a low-risk, high yield investment. I can either
A: Gamble it at the casino and lose it. That's perfectly OK. Or play the lottery or gamble it in general.
B: Choose a very low yield investment option with the banks.
C: Put it in the stock market, which is very high risk because the people I invest my money into don't owe me my money or anything back in return. If they don't pay me back (ie: say it's a company that doesn't give dividends or say the company goes out of business or whatever) it's perfectly OK because they don't owe me the money I give them and so nothing happens to them (ie: it doesn't ruin their credit score or anything).
D: Invest it in a high risk note trading platform.
This is unacceptable. I am outraged and everyone here should be equally as outraged that the government is so directly and openly discriminating against poor people and giving them a different set of laws than everyone else.