The 9.9 Percent Is the New American Aristocracy (America's Praetorian Guard)

[Carmody]

The 9.9 Percent Is the New American Aristocracy

The class divide is already toxic, and is fast becoming unbridgeable. You’re probably part of the problem.


A very enlightening article to read. Probably the most interesting thing you'll read all week, all month even...and will keep you thinking, and on target in your musing. That thing... about musing, musing that is effective in where it is going --as it is in a form of functional context.

An excerpt from this very long and information laden article:

2.
The Discreet Charm of the 9.9 Percent

Let’s talk first about money—even if money is only one part of what makes the new aristocrats special. There is a familiar story about rising inequality in the United States, and its stock characters are well known. The villains are the fossil-fueled plutocrat, the Wall Street fat cat, the callow tech bro, and the rest of the so-called top 1 percent. The good guys are the 99 percent, otherwise known as “the people” or “the middle class.” The arc of the narrative is simple: Once we were equal, but now we are divided. The story has a grain of truth to it. But it gets the characters and the plot wrong in basic ways.

It is in fact the top 0.1 percent who have been the big winners in the growing concentration of wealth over the past half century. According to the UC Berkeley economists Emmanuel Saez and Gabriel Zucman, the 160,000 or so households in that group held 22 percent of America’s wealth in 2012, up from 10 percent in 1963. If you’re looking for the kind of money that can buy elections, you’ll find it inside the top 0.1 percent alone.

A Tale of Three Classes (Figure 1):


The 9.9 percent hold most of the wealth in the United States.


Every piece of the pie picked up by the 0.1 percent, in relative terms, had to come from the people below. But not everyone in the 99.9 percent gave up a slice. Only those in the bottom 90 percent did. At their peak, in the mid-1980s, people in this group held 35 percent of the nation’s wealth. Three decades later that had fallen 12 points—exactly as much as the wealth of the 0.1 percent rose.

In between the top 0.1 percent and the bottom 90 percent is a group that has been doing just fine. It has held on to its share of a growing pie decade after decade. And as a group, it owns substantially more wealth than do the other two combined. In the tale of three classes (see Figure 1), it is represented by the gold line floating high and steady while the other two duke it out. You’ll find the new aristocracy there. We are the 9.9 percent.

So what kind of characters are we, the 9.9 percent? We are mostly not like those flamboyant political manipulators from the 0.1 percent. We’re a well-behaved, flannel-suited crowd of lawyers, doctors, dentists, mid-level investment bankers, M.B.A.s with opaque job titles, and assorted other professionals—the kind of people you might invite to dinner. In fact, we’re so self-effacing, we deny our own existence. We keep insisting that we’re “middle class.”

As of 2016, it took $1.2 million in net worth to make it into the 9.9 percent; $2.4 million to reach the group’s median; and $10 million to get into the top 0.9 percent. (And if you’re not there yet, relax: Our club is open to people who are on the right track and have the right attitude.) “We are the 99 percent” sounds righteous, but it’s a slogan, not an analysis. The families at our end of the spectrum wouldn’t know what to do with a pitchfork.

We are also mostly, but not entirely, white. According to a Pew Research Center analysis, African Americans represent 1.9 percent of the top 10th of households in wealth; Hispanics, 2.4 percent; and all other minorities, including Asian and multiracial individuals, 8.8 percent—even though those groups together account for 35 percent of the total population.

One of the hazards of life in the 9.9 percent is that our necks get stuck in the upward position. We gaze upon the 0.1 percent with a mixture of awe, envy, and eagerness to obey. As a consequence, we are missing the other big story of our time. We have left the 90 percent in the dust—and we’ve been quietly tossing down roadblocks behind us to make sure that they never catch up.

My point is... that the television, the articles, the magazines, and all of the motions and handwaving of the structure.... is designed to speak to that 9.9% praetorian guard, who hold the line in the maintenance and reality of the system.


Which is why it looks insane to the 90%, who see it for the insanity that it is.

What is going on right now, is akin to pulling the cards and straws out from under the 9.9%.

That the entire structure is reliant upon the 90% being where and what they are... and the 90% are as drained as they can be, which puts the 9.9% in a perilous position.

A position that does not look perilous... until one really looks at the structure of paperwork and organization that holds their 9.9% position -- together.

[Words of Joy]

Interesting perspective.

When looking at the graph, I can't help thinking that the 9.9% line is pretty steady (bot of a decline since the 60's), while the 0.1% is increasing steadily since the 80's. To me that seems like the 0.1% group is seemingly getting better in plucking the 90%.

Makes me wonder why anyone would point at the 9.9, while, according to this graph, there seems to be a far greater force at work making the gap larger.

[Edit] I see the supposed danger that would bring to the 9.9, though not really feeling the danger. The 9.9 I imagine, is sufficiently provided to make some extra cash on the sideline to be out of grabs of the 0.1.

I do agree that the structure is maintaining the Praetorian Guard, just don't think the 9.9 will be in peril.

Maybe I should ask why you think the paperwork and stuff holding it together will be pulled away from under it?

[Carmody]

One might say that it is the development of a system of record that is, as a comparison to actual grains or cows, or clothes, housing etc....that it is the development of a system of record keeping that is small and efficient....that allowed civilization to develop.

And that... in such a sytem, the control and manipulation of this now very complex system of record, is the key to controlling the system of civilization... or to control the population, as a single commodity group.

It reminds me, in this moment I'm thinking in the now, of the film 'Arrival', regarding the proper meaning for the Sanskrit word 'war'. Which turns out to mean 'a desire for more cows'.

We have a war, a war propagated upon the 90% residual in the USA, done via the manipulation of the frameworks of the civilization in question, and that is the country of the USA.

The USA.. which can be described as: "an experiment in contract law".

So the 9.9% are holding their own, and the 90% are paying for that holding pattern, as the 0.1% and the 0.01% are stealing from the bottom 90% and the 9.9% are playing as the Praetorian guard and structure of such. Likened to the aristocratic court of the king, so to speak.

When the experiment in manipulated record goes bad, the fundamentals of how the 9.9% exist and operate..will dissipate... and they will feel the breakdown of this as a bankruptcy of the structure and fundamentals of the country.

The manipulation is all in the contract law, or record. Paper moved around to prevent the prevailing structure from dealing with the underlying realities of the theft of actual wealth from one group to another. An underlying wealth that is in decline, due to it's global connectivity, and energetic resource realities of the actual country's labour force and physical resource ---all draining away.

It's all paper games. Games of the record. Games of the contract law.

The 0.01%-0.1% who run it all, don't care. They are globalists. They are completely mobile. Corporate or individual, they don't care. They game the 9.9% to be their praetorian guard.

The king 'games' (manipulates) the court. Nothing new here.....

~~~~~~~~~~~~

Importantly, the listed article, came from "The Atlantic" magazine, a paper/print magazine, a widely distributed mainstream magazine.

This is alarmist writing, quality work, in this case. But alarmist none the less. When that occurs in what is considered the mainstream press, you know something, whatever that something may be ..that 'it' ....is getting closer.

[Words of Joy]

Thank you Carmody, for your perspective.

Still skeptical. Hasn't the 0.1 so far always been able to patch things in their favor? They need their Praetorian guard hard. Don't think they will let it fall easily.

Might the "to-be-created" space force be of service to the 0.1% here?

[Carmody]

We'd like to keep it simple for the purposes of absorption so people can muse upon it.... and gain some insight into their own knowledge and musing base.

There are no total and perfected answers anywhere.

And if indeed one possess such, there would be no one to hear it, as it would require the frameworks to take it in..

So be careful of your announcement of skepticism... as being detrimental to the placing forth of some decent quality musing materials.

People have a tendency to place importance on all words, whether they have merit or not. That's where the build into intelligence comes into it's own, via the act of musing upon information and then the deciding whether the data has merit or not. 'The map is not the territory', is a part of that puzzle.

This is why I don't generally go into others threads and pick apart their works at a higher and more complex level. (OK, TBH, not exactly true-guilty as charged) It confuses and breaks the concentration and directed intellect of the intended audience. For no good reason, as I can figure it out for myself and so can the others of intellect (and large data base) that may peruse the thread.

Ie, if there is seemingly no great crime of logic and misdirection, then I leave it alone.

As to pitching it in their favor, then what does that consist of? And, importantly, if the people attempting to read the article are left, by you, with a puzzle and announced skepticism as an end point... does that damage their ability to absorb and muse? Indeed it does all these things. So, be careful, the audience's capacity to muse is at stake. Logic is a fragile thing, it is swaying in the wind on top of an emotional animal edifice of very simple origin --and easy targeting in degrading or shifting it's capacity to think.

The corollary is that such things are used to break the public's concentration on forums. A part of the playbook of the various government branches various countries - in their clandestine infiltration of forums and such.

Currently done by humans, soon to be done via AI programs, which never sleep, can have a million accounts and faces... and get stronger and more potent by the day.

Meaning, let's not get into skepticism and dealing with space force constructs. That will only bounce the intended audience into a garbage can of confusion, one built out of 'one logic step too far', for them to absorb.

All that being said, I thank you for pushing me to outline my immediate and present ideas on the underlying aspects of the construct --so it is easier for others to visualize. They can then judge such ..not specifically on it's merits -- but on their interpretation of it's merits. The critical part. Their interpretation and weighting.

[Zak247]

The problem in America, and probably less so Europe is that the so-called middle class is NOT middle class.
Police officers, teachers, ironworkers, auto workers, plumbers, clerks, folks who make a pretty good salary ARE NOT MIDDLE CLASS. They are Lower Middle class.

These dupes who always think they are middle class are being conned. THEY ARE NOT MIDDLE CLASS. Thinking you are middle class is a big problem because one starts to think too much of themselves and that their not one or two paychecks away from homelessness, they are. In thinking their middle class they get the illusion their somewhat elitist…NO, you’re not; you’re just a high-class slave.
The lower middle class is 35, 000 to about 180,000 a year
The middle class is salaried 200,000 a year to about 500, 000 a year.
Most people are the lower middle class

The middle class are well-paid doctors, business owners, top lawyers, top actors, professional athletes, managers, school Superintendents, high-class stockbrokers, investment bankers, Wall Streeters,

When people realize their very near starvation and not the middle class they’ll finally vote for the right people

This 9.9 is the true middle class

[Mark]

This is an important distinction and recognition on the part of the author and those who realize that they may be being set up for a very big and potentially bloody fall when things get out of hand. I'd imagine the difficulty of sensing such potentialities are difficult for those whose very nature and position is based upon maintaining illusory realities as a matter of course and the daily sojourn. One of those right-before-sleep meandering musings that leads to night terrors and tossing and turning, to be remembered in the morning merely as a side-effect of whatever herbal medicinals are being taken to assist in the descent into dreamland.

There is some part of such folk that knows what they are all about. Probably the part that returns to full consciousness at deathbeds or in moments of sheer terror, like potential automobile accidents or the deaths of close family members or close brushes with total loss of wealth. The descent, like that into dreamland and superconsciousness, being down into the slums of true middle class existence or, worse yet, absolute poverty and the nightmarish scenario of actually being one of those the walls and gates have been erected against.

The Zeitgeist is shifting quite quickly now, Carmody. This is why they can sense it, because the foundations, as ponderous as they are, are moving globally as the political and economic weight of centuries of mismanagement, economic elitism and racism is finally coming to bear fully and completely. All of the old models are failing, the attempts to create a new one within the disintegrating bones of the old will fail, miserably. Bringing it all down. I wonder what this new phoenix will look like as it rises ...

[Flash]

Posted by Slobbe (here)
Thank you Carmody, for your perspective.

Still skeptical. Hasn't the 0.1 so far always been able to patch things in their favor? They need their Praetorian guard hard. Don't think they will let it fall easily.

Might the "to-be-created" space force be of service to the 0.1% here?

No heartless psychopaths, those who lack empathy, will suck the blood (money, slave work) of the remaining population regardless of the damage to their gards, they will also suck them dry, their turn is just not there yet.

Remember the theft of bank accounts of the "middle class" in Cyprus a few years ago. This was a practice of stealing the 9.9%.

Plus, they are replacing their pretorian guard with computers. Those jobs they hold will become pretty much obsolete.

All this if we agree to it. Otherwise, all could change.

And no, there will be no revolutions, no nothing, just passivity, we have been trained to remain passive and uncritical, plus working too much for survival stops any revolution.

Zak: voting for anyone is not the solutions since the system of voting has been taken over by the 0.01 percent, do not thing this would change anything in favor of the 90%

[Justplain]

The OP article makes an observant identification of the upper middle class. Flash makes a good point, as to what Carmody seems to be alluding to, that the underlying 'house of cards' is about to collapse, in that the system maintenance role of this 9.9 percent is about to be gravely threatened by automation and the internet. For example, apparently, with modest amounts of AI, the public will be able to obtain extremely cheap, accurate legal advice from the internet. Medical advice will be soon obtainable in the same manner, with your cell phone being the analytical tool. Accountants probably will suffer from a similar threat.

So, when the ivory tower of the 9.9% starts shaking, and they experience how the 90% feels, then is when the .1% will be in trouble.

But, supposedly, the .1% already have their bunkers and DHS to defend themselves with.

So, it probably behooves the 9.9% to open their eyes to the plight of the 90%, and then perhaps a constructive dialogue can be engaged in to find a workable solution on an ongoing basis.

Me, i think the answer will lie in the decentralization of society, of loosely semi-independent communities or households, connected by technology, such as the internet, but largely independent due to tech enhancements such as free energy and 3D printers. This of course means a vast reduction of centralized authority, and centralized authority is one of the largest obstacles that stands in the way of this happening.

If the 9.9% truly see their livelihoods are seriously threatened by the track our civilization appears to be on, then perhaps a solution can be found.

So let the dialogue begin.

[NeedleThreader]

Posted by Rahkyt (here)
This is an important distinction and recognition on the part of the author and those who realize that they may be being set up for a very big and potentially bloody fall when things get out of hand. I'd imagine the difficulty of sensing such potentialities are difficult for those whose very nature and position is based upon maintaining illusory realities as a matter of course and the daily sojourn. One of those right-before-sleep meandering musings that leads to night terrors and tossing and turning, to be remembered in the morning merely as a side-effect of whatever herbal medicinals are being taken to assist in the descent into dreamland.

There is some part of such folk that knows what they are all about. Probably the part that returns to full consciousness at deathbeds or in moments of sheer terror, like potential automobile accidents or the deaths of close family members or close brushes with total loss of wealth. The descent, like that into dreamland and superconsciousness, being down into the slums of true middle class existence or, worse yet, absolute poverty and the nightmarish scenario of actually being one of those the walls and gates have been erected against.

The Zeitgeist is shifting quite quickly now, Carmody. This is why they can sense it, because the foundations, as ponderous as they are, are moving globally as the political and economic weight of centuries of mismanagement, economic elitism and racism is finally coming to bear fully and completely. All of the old models are failing, the attempts to create a new one within the disintegrating bones of the old will fail, miserably. Bringing it all down. I wonder what this new phoenix will look like as it rises ...

Rahkyt, I just wanted to give you some kudos on your posts lately. Very refreshing and balanced posts.

You can pierce through the subject and give a refined and clarified view on the subject.

Thank You!

[section9]

One of the reasons that Unacknowledged Special Access Programs and the new energy systems that have arisen from them have been kept secret is to maintain this very structure.

[Zak247]

First off, the elite has realized that all revolutions originate in the middle to upper middle class. I mean GW, Jefferson and those others in the America revolution were middle class and up, and remember one word for the middle class means in French Bourgeoisie, denotes the middle and upper middle class.

These are where the minds and hearts of revolutions start NOT in the lower middle class.

The lower middle class, though, are the troops of the revolution or the activist large numbers in modern time’s revolts.

So the recent destruction of unionism and the attack on Liberalism is where the battlefield is.

That’s one reason probably the elite want to buy the Bourgeoisie and either make them greedy capitalists or amoral libertarians or right-wing alt-righters.

The attack on liberalism is another elite attempt to squash all possibilities of revolt.

Ironically, the conspiratorial class is the most reactionary class in society and one of the least threats to the status quo, i.e. the present mentality of an Alex Jones

The modern mentality of liberalism, inclusion, and world unity (the result being the EU) is a paradigm created out of the Renaissance and 18th and 19th-century Masonic lodges.

That is what one faction of the elite is trying to upend.
And to return to nationalism for the wrong reasons

proverbs

It's nothing new under the sun
History repeats itself when people get dumb

[Carmody]

I would not really throw labels at it like liberalism. All of it is misused as a vehicle. That's always been the game: to use whatever works. Today it's forms of liberalism, on one audience, on another..today it's forms of republicanism, today it's forms of libertarianism, or whatever sells or gets the job done.

"Isn't it interesting how fascists always steal the word "freedom?" Henrik Vanger, in 'girl with the dragon tattoo'

[Hervé]

About the "Praetorian Guard"... the original and the current:


The FBI and DOJ as Praetorian Guard: The beginning of the end

LV
Investment Watch Blog
Mon, 16 Jul 2018 00:01 UTC

After Caesar Augustus gained complete control in 27 B.C. and became the first Roman Emperor, he established the Praetorian Guard for his personal protection. Over the next three centuries, the Guard exploited its nexus to the seat of power for its own interest and aggrandizement. Most notably, the Praetorians schemed and interfered with Roman politics to the point of overthrowing emperors and proclaiming their successors.

In 193 A.D., Emperor Septimius Severus tried to disband the Praetorian Guard, but his reorganization of the Guard did not last as it regained power after his death. In 306 A.D., amidst turmoil among a tetrarchy of Roman emperors, the Praetorians turned to Maxentius and proclaimed him their emperor. In 312 A.D., Constantine the Great defeated Maxentius at the Battle of the Milvian Bridge to gain control of the Western Roman Empire. After the death of Maxentius at the battle, Constantine put an end to the Praetorian Guard by destroying their barracks and dispatching their soldiers to the outskirts of the Roman Empire.

Flash forward to the early 21st century in the U.S. and we see a replay of this sordid Roman history repeating itself with the modern-day Praetorian Guard that holds sway within the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the U.S. Department of Justice. Prior to the 2016 presidential election, FBI and DOJ leaders sought to influence the election by favoring one presidential candidate (Hillary Clinton) and undermining her opponent (Donald Trump). They were so sure Clinton would be elected that they clumsily perverted justice to ensure that outcome.

This is exactly what the Roman Praetorians did two millennia ago when they hand-picked the emperors they favored time and time again. They expected to be rewarded by the grateful emperor, who would invariably shower them with gifts and power. For centuries, this rigged system of government worked extremely well for the Roman Praetorians until they overplayed their hand. Ultimately, they picked the wrong emperor, which led to their ignominious demise. As it was then, so it is now.

It is one thing to curry favor with a president who is duly elected by the people. It is quite another thing to influence an election in order to curry favor with a sitting president and his heir apparent. That's exactly what occurred when the FBI and the DOJ did backflips to exonerate Clinton so she could campaign for the presidency unfettered by a criminal probe into her mishandling of classified information and the destruction of subpoenaed emails.

Not only were the American Praetorians careless in their execution and cover-up of the rigged Clinton investigation, they simultaneously sought to damage her adversary, Donald Trump, by launching a probe into possible Trump-Russia collusion based on a licentious phony dossier that was bought and paid for by the Democratic National Committee and Clinton. It was a classic push-pull maneuver. Push Clinton toward her expected coronation as president and pull her opponent down at the same time. FBI and DOJ leaders had morphed from law enforcers into kingmakers or, in this case, queen makers.

At the time, it seemed like the Praetorians had dealt themselves a winning hand since Clinton was way ahead in the polls. Unfortunately for them, pesky American voters didn't get the memo. Trump won; Clinton lost.

Most intelligent individuals, especially the Praetorian insiders, should have seen the writing on the wall at that point. Instead of retreating and calling off the dogs, they doubled down and pressed their attack on the new president. Such was their deep-seated animus toward Donald Trump. They were irate that their favored candidate didn't win and were determined to unseat the victor, who had the temerity to win a national election. In their twisted minds, they knew better than the American people.

The hubris of these unelected bureaucrats was so great that it never occurred to them that they had sworn to uphold the law of the land. Instead, they acted like half-assed politicians who are accountable to no one, including congress and the president. As they see it, their primary duty is to protect the institutions of the FBI and the DOJ above all else, which means protecting themselves first and foremost. After all, who is going to investigate the FBI, the premier law enforcement agency on the planet? Nobody, that's who. They would simply close ranks and clam up. They decided to take down Donald Trump by getting him impeached or, barring that result, they would hobble his presidency with a never-ending Trump-Russia collusion probe.

They sought and received repeated approvals from the U.S. Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court to monitor Trump's associates based largely on a false dossier funded by Trump's political adversaries. Like the Roman Praetorians before them, the upper echelon the FBI and the DOJ were hell-bent on getting their way. American voters be damned. Justice be damned.

Their strong bias for one candidate over another has come to light despite the yeoman efforts of FBI and DOJ management to stonewall record requests from congress and Freedom of Information Act requests from citizen advocacy groups such as Judicial Watch. The FBI and DOJ constantly hide behind self-serving excuses to refuse the release of documents and, when forced to do so, they release heavily redacted files. They offer up the usual pretexts to fend off public disclosure such as: the information you seek cannot be disclosed because it involves an ongoing investigation, or the information you seek involves national security, or our methods and sources will be jeopardized if the information you seek is divulged to the public. But it seems the ones who would be most harmed by public disclosure are the corrupt FBI and DOJ officials themselves, who are trying desperately to keep from embarrassing themselves, or revealing how they played politics by weaponizing our justice system.

Nonetheless, the truth has a way of surfacing through the cracks. Narrow cracks turn into deep fissures and fissures turn into a chasms. Although it may take longer than we like, the truth ultimately wins out. We can see it unfolding at the FBI and the DOJ as the corrupt officials are fired, resign, or are re-assigned. The tide has receded and the naked bodies at the FBI and the DOJ can be seen floundering on the beach. Soon they will turn on each other in much the same way they try to flip witnesses against each other. It's the beginning of the end.

The Praetorians at the FBI and the DOJ, who fixed the Clinton investigation and sought to frame a sitting president, have no place in our justice system, except inside its correctional facilities where they belong.

Related:

• 'Total transparency!' Trump calls for live televised hearing of Strozk and 'other hating frauds' at FBI, DOJ

• GOP will hit FBI, DOJ with 'full arsenal of constitutional weapons' if they don't comply with subpoena, Gowdy warns

• IG Horowitz on Clinton Probe: FBI, DOJ violated federal criminal law, refers to prosecutor for criminal charges

• Report: Inspector General will declare FBI, DOJ broke law in Clinton email probe

• Documents show 'concerning level of coordination' between FBI, DOJ in Clinton email probe, says Rep. Meadows

• Case for and against an FBI/DOJ special counsel investigation

• A dumpster full of grease fire: There's no way to shrug off the level of corruption within the FBI / DOJ / DNC

• House Intel Committee has five more memos exposing 'politically motivated' abuses by FBI, DOJ