Posted on 01/12/2024 5:19:00 PM PST by FarCenter
The Western world is experiencing the most dramatic political realignment since the rise of socialism over a century ago. The driving force then was the rise of the working class, created by the Industrial Revolution. Today, it is the shift to an economy dominated by information industries, technology, finance and media. This new economic order, just like that which arose a century ago, is creating a highly disruptive political dynamic and a shift in historic class allegiances.
The tech platforms, the financial giants and retail mega-corporations have formed a new economic oligarchy. In 2023, six of the world’s eight most-valued companies were tech firms. Apple, which sits at the top of the list, became the first $3 trillion company last year. It has a market valuation just below the GDP of India and the UK, and larger than that of Italy, Russia or Canada.
The oligarchs tend to back the so-called progressive agenda on issues like climate change, culture and immigration. Yet, unlike the progressives of old, they they have little interest in achieving greater income equality or spreading prosperity more widely, as they have become the primary beneficiaries of an increasingly feudalised economy.
The oligarchic agenda also draws support from a portion of the middle and upper-middle classes – those who either service the oligarchs in law or media, or who benefit from expanding government regulations and programmes. Indeed, under US president Joe Biden, most employment growth is now concentrated in government and in largely state-funded healthcare. Biden has also granted government apparatchiks their largest salary raises in half a century.
On the other side of the ledger sit the working class and the private-sector middle class – including shopkeepers, artisans, small property developers and skilled tradespeople. While larger firms continue to attract big capital investments and can cope with big government, smaller firms are imperilled by monopoly power and stringent regulations. Overall, the US middle class has shrunk from 61 per cent of the population to 50 per cent since the 1970s. Prospects for home ownership, good jobs and a secure retirement have all diminished across the West.
Unsurprisingly, the traditional working and middle classes in the West are increasingly alienated from the system. A recent poll found that only 34 per cent of Americans approve of so-called Bidenomics. Another survey found that nearly 70 per cent think the economy is worse now than in 2020. This isn’t just the case in the US. Ordinary workers are also suffering in the UK from stagnant wages, failing productivity and a diminished working-class presence in the woke-dominated national culture. As a consequence of all this, a huge political shift is taking place.
The wealthiest people today are no longer fans of the free market. Instead, they and their businesses are deeply tied to the progressive managerial state. Parties that once identified with working-class interests – like America’s Democrats, Canada’s Liberals, the Australian Labor Party and the UK Labour Party – all increasingly rely on well-educated professionals and the administrative class for support.
By contrast, many parties and movements that were once associated with the upper classes – such as the American Republicans, Canadian Conservatives and the British Tories – increasingly depend on working- and middle-class voters. These voters have been the force behind the rise of Donald Trump, Italy’s Giorgia Meloni, France’s Marine Le Pen, the Netherlands’ Geert Wilders and various right-wing parties in Sweden, Finland, Spain and Denmark.
(Continues at the link.)
Someone needs to place the bong on the table and just back away. Reality does not match Joel’s perception.
“Why the right is eating the left’s lunch”
sarcasm?
And the Deep State.
Rule #1...
Never go full communist.
They broke rule #1.
End of story.
Eating their lunch?
Then why are they losing at every turn?
This writer needs to sober up...
It’s actually a decent read except the author fails to account for cheating at the polls. Here’s the ending:
“ Can the Democrats and other formerly left-wing parties make the changes necessary to win back working-class voters? This will be tough to pull off when these parties are financed largely by oligarchs – and when their activists are so wedded to unpopular positions, like identity politics, genderfluidity and climate apocalypticism. But if they fail to make this shift and continue to ignore the voters, then they will only have themselves to blame when the populist right eats their lunch.”
The working classes are revolting against the rent seekers.
On what planet?
We’re not eating Jack Squat. The Left only increases their hold over all the institutions with each passing day.
The 90's was the last stand for the right, and that was merely the fumes of demographics. The migration grenade has already been set off. Everything going forward will be the results of those explosions.
How so?
You don’t actually think the right is getting a leg up on the left do you? Look at Poland. They placed a socialist to lead the country through vote manipulation over a conservative. Now they are looking to outlaw his party. In Germany the conservative party is polling at 38% but can’t form a coalition government and they also are looking to outlaw their conservative party.
Closer to home, Speaker Mike Johnson has rolled over for Chuck Schumer and Joe Biden and shown his belly. The lawfare against Trump continues unabated. Joe Biden has no fear of impeachment, Hunter is showing his ass to congress with no fear which tells me the Biden administration know they have the election locked down through fraud, and Joe Biden’s whole campaign is about demonizing the working right in this country which as fling wing would say “the turd roller party” just laps up along with the media.
And people say we’re winning?
Thanks for the explanation. That does make sense.
“The oligarchs tend to back the so-called progressive agenda on issues like climate change, culture and immigration. Yet, unlike the progressives of old, they they have little interest in achieving greater income equality or spreading prosperity more widely, as they have become the primary beneficiaries of an increasingly feudalised economy.”
They back the upper class virtue-signaling part of the left’s agenda. This is a class issue. They have no interest in the middle class and their only interest in the lower class is to count on the lower class to vote to keep them and their cronies in power.
“But popular resistance and disinterest cannot be permanently ignored.”
He’s far too optimistic. The ruling class has been ignoring popular resistance on border issues for decades without paying any price at all.
The bad news: The United States of America is gone, and isn't coming back. The good news: it's a big world out there, and voting with your feet has never been easier. Since its beginning, America has been populated by people very inclined to vote with their feet, looking for a better life. Surprisingly, some excellent places to live now are countries previously bankrupted by communism. They are entering the steep slope up phase of the economic cycle. Vietnam is an example.
Remarkably, humans have the exact same motivations and interests all over the world. It's the political parties that change, not the people.
That was often the case when media was largely print — an editor would write the catchy headline, often without the say-so of the author of the article. Financial Times has a long legacy in print (founded 1888); maybe they still continue this practice.
The bad news: thanks to FATCA, Americans who want to take full advantage of that world's opportunities will be forced to renounce their US citizenships to do it.
Agreed. Many banks around the world, and some health insurance companies, will not accept American customers. They are afraid of Fedzilla. It is annoying, but for now, there are still companies that will.
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