politics
Welcome to the discussion of US Politics!
Rules:
- Post only links to articles, Title must fairly describe link contents. If your title differs from the site’s, it should only be to add context or be more descriptive. Do not post entire articles in the body or in the comments.
Links must be to the original source, not an aggregator like Google Amp, MSN, or Yahoo.
Example:
- Articles must be relevant to politics. Links must be to quality and original content. Articles should be worth reading. Clickbait, stub articles, and rehosted or stolen content are not allowed. Check your source for Reliability and Bias here.
- Be civil, No violations of TOS. It’s OK to say the subject of an article is behaving like a (pejorative, pejorative). It’s NOT OK to say another USER is (pejorative). Strong language is fine, just not directed at other members. Engage in good-faith and with respect! This includes accusing another user of being a bot or paid actor. Trolling is uncivil and is grounds for removal and/or a community ban.
- No memes, trolling, or low-effort comments. Reposts, misinformation, off-topic, trolling, or offensive. Similarly, if you see posts along these lines, do not engage. Report them, block them, and live a happier life than they do. We see too many slapfights that boil down to "Mom! He's bugging me!" and "I'm not touching you!" Going forward, slapfights will result in removed comments and temp bans to cool off.
- Vote based on comment quality, not agreement. This community aims to foster discussion; please reward people for putting effort into articulating their viewpoint, even if you disagree with it.
- No hate speech, slurs, celebrating death, advocating violence, or abusive language. This will result in a ban. Usernames containing racist, or inappropriate slurs will be banned without warning
We ask that the users report any comment or post that violate the rules, to use critical thinking when reading, posting or commenting. Users that post off-topic spam, advocate violence, have multiple comments or posts removed, weaponize reports or violate the code of conduct will be banned.
All posts and comments will be reviewed on a case-by-case basis. This means that some content that violates the rules may be allowed, while other content that does not violate the rules may be removed. The moderators retain the right to remove any content and ban users.
That's all the rules!
Civic Links
• Congressional Awards Program
• Library of Congress Legislative Resources
• U.S. House of Representatives
Partnered Communities:
• News
view the rest of the comments
I'm not sure if you're American but I'm English, we were educated on the great depression in the US but also, for example on our industrial revolution and how mass protest and strikes (mostly focused on the UK) have improved laws, working conditions and so on, how the suffragettes fought for women's rights etc. We weren't taught that capitalism is the only option - though we weren't given too much on communism I don't think we have the same mass hysteria about communism or socialism as seems usual in the US.
I think that billionaires could build these places... They have the money. Towns maybe. In the UK businesses already built towns, eg Saltaire. Cults build towns, don't they? They could entice, bribe, threaten enough people to live there, but it wouldn't work in the end. They do build or at least grow company towns - look at Microsoft or the big tech firms in silicon valley. A country/state can't be run like a company in the long run so its doomed to failure, but they could absolutely do it or pay others to do it and make it look good for a while.
Ah fair, the capitalist propaganda is definitely more intense over here, but nowhere in the anglosphere is safe from it
But to answer your question, a billionaire can build a compound, but they're literally incapable of building a town. A town requires people, it's made up of webs of interconnected people. If you plop a few thousand people somewhere, they organize themselves.
If a billionaire built a compound and set up some farms, some infrastructure, and then subsidized the cost of people moving there, they could easily form a town. But that's not enough - you can't become a billionaire without a compulsive need to stand at the top.
Let's talk company towns - basically you have a resource, and to that end a company builds the infrastructure to develop it. They set up a monopoly on trade, and basically enslave people once they're there
How do they maintain control? Control the food and travel in and out. But still, people tend to rise up when they feel injustice - you need guards for the day to day, and response teams for riots and mutiny
Here's the thing... Consultants told doomer billionaires that if you want to be a feudal lord, you have to inspire loyalty. To make your knights feel like family - you have to invite them for family dinner and make them absolutely certain that if they die in your service, you'll support their family
Instead, they asked about explosive collars and biometric locks on food storage
Billionaires can't build societies. Not city states, not even company towns - if there's not someone ready to enforce their claim of ownership, they die.
By their very nature - if they could share, they wouldn't be a billionaire. They would live in the highest possible luxury, but they wouldn't be billionaires... They are mentally unwell by definition