<story><title>Jeff Bezos Becomes the Richest Man in Modern History, Topping $150B</title><url>https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-07-16/happy-prime-day-jeff-amazon-ceo-s-net-worth-tops-150-billion</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>aphextron</author><text>Except we actually had a functioning federal government during the last gilded age, so we ended up with things like the Sherman Antitrust Act, and eventually the New Deal.&lt;p&gt;I doubt we&amp;#x27;ll be so lucky this time around. Things are about to get absolutely brutal for the 90%.</text></item><item><author>Endama</author><text>I feel that America is in the midst of a new gilded age; instead of Standard Oil, we have Amazon.&lt;p&gt;Like the late 1920s, we saw losses in purchasing power of the average American, the collection of wealth among the top 1%, and disruption of our civic spaces as a result. I think the thing that many Americans aren&amp;#x27;t aware of was just how violent that time in US history was[1].&lt;p&gt;The US economy isn&amp;#x27;t just about how comfortable the average US citizen is, it is also a measure of how much cushion there is in our society between us being frustrated looking at a job board and being angry and armed in the streets. The teachers strikes in Oklahoma, Florida, and W. Virginia are showing the rise of Unions (much like in the gilded age as well). Protest and civic engagement must be our response, we should take signs like the wealth of Bezos as a cautionary tale, rather than something to simply marvel at.&lt;p&gt;[1]&lt;a href=&quot;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&amp;#x2F;wiki&amp;#x2F;Ludlow_Massacre&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&amp;#x2F;wiki&amp;#x2F;Ludlow_Massacre&lt;/a&gt;&lt;p&gt;[1]&lt;a href=&quot;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&amp;#x2F;wiki&amp;#x2F;Battle_of_Matewan&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&amp;#x2F;wiki&amp;#x2F;Battle_of_Matewan&lt;/a&gt;&lt;p&gt;[1]&lt;a href=&quot;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&amp;#x2F;wiki&amp;#x2F;1920_Alabama_coal_strike&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&amp;#x2F;wiki&amp;#x2F;1920_Alabama_coal_strike&lt;/a&gt;&lt;p&gt;[1]&lt;a href=&quot;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&amp;#x2F;wiki&amp;#x2F;Battle_of_Blair_Mountain&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&amp;#x2F;wiki&amp;#x2F;Battle_of_Blair_Mountain&lt;/a&gt;</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>sidlls</author><text>&amp;quot;About to?&amp;quot; It already is brutal for the bottom half. And the 90th percentile is too low: people in that range are paupers by comparison even to the top 5. I think the 95th to the 99th percentile is the region to look at. There are some seriously deluded individuals in that group who think they won&amp;#x27;t be on the outside with the rest of us when the top pull the gates closed behind them.</text></comment>
<story><title>Jeff Bezos Becomes the Richest Man in Modern History, Topping $150B</title><url>https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-07-16/happy-prime-day-jeff-amazon-ceo-s-net-worth-tops-150-billion</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>aphextron</author><text>Except we actually had a functioning federal government during the last gilded age, so we ended up with things like the Sherman Antitrust Act, and eventually the New Deal.&lt;p&gt;I doubt we&amp;#x27;ll be so lucky this time around. Things are about to get absolutely brutal for the 90%.</text></item><item><author>Endama</author><text>I feel that America is in the midst of a new gilded age; instead of Standard Oil, we have Amazon.&lt;p&gt;Like the late 1920s, we saw losses in purchasing power of the average American, the collection of wealth among the top 1%, and disruption of our civic spaces as a result. I think the thing that many Americans aren&amp;#x27;t aware of was just how violent that time in US history was[1].&lt;p&gt;The US economy isn&amp;#x27;t just about how comfortable the average US citizen is, it is also a measure of how much cushion there is in our society between us being frustrated looking at a job board and being angry and armed in the streets. The teachers strikes in Oklahoma, Florida, and W. Virginia are showing the rise of Unions (much like in the gilded age as well). Protest and civic engagement must be our response, we should take signs like the wealth of Bezos as a cautionary tale, rather than something to simply marvel at.&lt;p&gt;[1]&lt;a href=&quot;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&amp;#x2F;wiki&amp;#x2F;Ludlow_Massacre&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&amp;#x2F;wiki&amp;#x2F;Ludlow_Massacre&lt;/a&gt;&lt;p&gt;[1]&lt;a href=&quot;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&amp;#x2F;wiki&amp;#x2F;Battle_of_Matewan&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&amp;#x2F;wiki&amp;#x2F;Battle_of_Matewan&lt;/a&gt;&lt;p&gt;[1]&lt;a href=&quot;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&amp;#x2F;wiki&amp;#x2F;1920_Alabama_coal_strike&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&amp;#x2F;wiki&amp;#x2F;1920_Alabama_coal_strike&lt;/a&gt;&lt;p&gt;[1]&lt;a href=&quot;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&amp;#x2F;wiki&amp;#x2F;Battle_of_Blair_Mountain&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&amp;#x2F;wiki&amp;#x2F;Battle_of_Blair_Mountain&lt;/a&gt;</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>Synaesthesia</author><text>That came about due to pressure from mass civil action, just like every positive change in society.</text></comment>