Robert Reich’s sobering message for wealthy elites: You’ll soon be poor if you keep screwing over

[Katashi_itto]

Workers (This really goes for the Corporate shills of Both parties)

You are the captains of American industry, the titans of Wall Street, and the billionaires who for decades have been the backbone of the Republican Party.

You’ve invested your millions in the GOP in order to get lower taxes, wider tax loopholes, bigger subsidies, more generous bailouts, less regulation, lengthier patents and copyrights and stronger market power allowing you to raise prices, weaker unions and bigger trade deals allowing you outsource abroad to reduce wages, easier bankruptcy for you but harder bankruptcy for homeowners and student debtors, and judges who will let you to engage in insider trading and who won’t prosecute you for white-collar crimes.

All of which have made you enormously wealthy. Congratulations.

But I have some disturbing news for you. You’re paying a big price – and about to pay far more.

First, as you may have noticed, most of your companies aren’t growing nearly as fast as they did before the Great Recession. Your sales are sputtering, and your stock prices are fragile.

http://www.rawstory.com/2016/02/robert-reichs-sobering-message-for-wealthy-elites-youll-soon-be-poor-if-you-keep-screwing-over-workers/

[closeupready]

1. They won't be listening. History, as Dick Cheney said, is written by the victors.

Thus, in the minds of many of those at the top, it holds no lessons or value from which to learn how to avoid the fiscal mistakes made by every society which came before our society.

(Relatedly, what you will also find in societies which experience growth in wealth inequality is the rise of organized crime and black markets, though what form that takes is unique to each society or social sub-group. Though that's not a problem exactly parallel to what Reich is talking about here.)

[HughBeaumont]

2. Their businesses will be poor or closed. Those that run them won't be.

They'll be on their islands with their fortunes if they're not dragged out into the streets first.

They own the police and the military. They could give a flying toss what their hoi polloi thinks.

[HughBeaumont]

3. I fully kick and rec this missive.

Of course, the people that need to read this won't.

[CrispyQ]

4. I love this part:

A politics based on resentment can lurch in any direction at almost any time. Yet you and your companies rely on political stability and predictability.

You follow me? You’ve hoisted yourself on your own petard.

[WillyT]

5. HUGE K & R !!! - THANK YOU !!!

[HughBeaumont]

6. More people REALLY need to read this.

In fact, some people here need to read this.