A Cataclysmic System of Privilege and Power

[Nevilledog]

https://jaredyatessexton.substack.com/p/a-cataclysmic-system-of-privilege

This is a time of strange things. A moment of seemingly-inexplicable events, head-scratching decisions by governments, politicians, and businesses. In some cases, the greed compelling the course of history is recognizable. The self-interest undeniable. But the course that it takes, the way that it moves and operates, and the havoc it causes, still leaves us feeling both shocked and repelled.

In the case of Wall Street investment firms suddenly snatching up family homes in bulk and shifting them to rental properties, the impetus is understandable if not disgusting. There’s incredible profit to be made through landlording, one of the oldest exploitative tricks in the books. That’s for sure. But the method in which this is occurring, in such massive quantities, and with such blatancy and disregard for the public, who now face incredible odds at ever owning their own homes, climbing out of debt or poverty, and securing something resembling the promised American dream.

The strategy makes sense. It’s logical. Rational, even. Housing, as a commodity, is required. There’s a market for this type of thing. And it figures, in a system designed to prioritize self-interest and profit, that some enterprising individuals would take these chances. They’ve done it before, obviously. But the way this is taking place seems strange. Inhuman. The run on single-family homes is like a gold rush, full of all the manic energy and resulting in wanton suffering. The mind reels when it tries to understand how other humans could do something like this. How, in a sprint of greed, they could almost entirely wipe out one of the most fundamental aspects of this culture.

And that’s the rub. Humans are doing this to other humans, for certain, but that’s not how this happened. It’s not how this is unfolding. The repulsion is because our economy has been hooked up to machines using artificial intelligence programmed to grow the wealth of a powerful, elite class of people at literally any cost. They are carrying out the will of a long-lasting aristocratic class and the work of white, patriarchal supremacy.

*snip*