@Matt5sean3 @chrisisgr8 I've done some reading over the years on the impact the "communist specter" exerted on the capitalist class. Kept them honest. For example, if the "coked up fascists" caused inequality like we have today ... a successful communist state might have looked pretty appealing to a lot of folks. So, there was a ton more public spending in response. I think whenever the throughout history the elite class isn't faced with the possibility of economic ruin due to a competing ideology, the get really cocky and government has little leverage to exert the public spending side of the equation.
Then you wind up with Fukiyama end of history style busllshit and the elite run wild.
The elite need a new legit threat. And it's not China or Russia ... they're just as coked up fascist as we are.
Let's call it the #CokedUpFascistRule.
@LeftistLawyer @chrisisgr8
I've heard that theory posed before. I'm a little skeptical just based on the fact that the Soviet Union seems to be a credible threat in the popular imagination until 1989 and coked up finance bro is kind of THE meme of the 80s and wages get decoupled from productivity well before 1989.