Why some experts believe we’re living in a second Gilded Age

[@craven5328]

"Gilded" implies the thinnest layer of gold, covering up base materials - or even rot - below.

[@bobbydigital8056]

Sounds accurate to me then.

[@Mexican01o101]

Go to Mexico and you will find mostly all Catholic Churches full of gold… the best part is that we went to war and the state seized all of the vaticans assets in Mexico… they still keep the 10% but the gold and cathedrals belong to the state See * guerras cristeras

[@rolandnelson6722]

That’s precisely why the Gold was chosen to the first place. Fully intentional

[@magnifiedharmonica2902]

Where was Kamala helping illegals get housing?

[@jamesbyrne9312]

Yes that's why the book was named such. Great metaphor

[@gordonallen9095]

That's because we ARE living in another Gilded Age. Instead of Rockefeller, Carnegie, and Vanderbilt, we have Bezos, Zuckerberg, and Musk in the 21st Century. Like the mid 1800's to the early 1900's, the vast majority of wealth is concentrated at the top, while the rest of us fight over the crumbs that are left. "Those who fail to LEARN from history, are doomed to REPEAT it." This is why ACTUAL history isn't taught in America's schools. Just the revised, watered down version. the more collectively ignorant Americans are, the greater grip of the plutocracy over wealth and power. Ignorance is BLISS for the wealthy.....

[@yvonneplant9434]

It's another kind of feudalism.

[@jenniferhiemstra5228]

No kidding...having tried to explain this people who don't get it is infuriating. So much for learning from history.

[@davidknightx]

I've been screaming we're a civil oligarchy to deaf ears for years. Americans don't...or simply can't believe it. We were never a true free society and we never will be. Wealth = worth is part of our DNA.

[@shutupimstilltalking]

I learned everything you said in school.

[@shutupimstilltalking]

We need protections though. Protections from police, government, and our labor. Also fun fact our infrastructure sucks. Boo 21st century

[@BallardBaller]

Gilded age... where the upper class passes the middle class in wealth by multipliers of 10X. Time for pitchforks my friends

[@Anthony-dj4nd]

I can smell the hate through my screen 😂

[@JohnSpartan-117]

Pitchforks are too kind. I prefer blood eagling.

[@JohnSpartan-117]

@@Anthony-dj4ndGet lost bootlicker.

[@philipellington]

I wouldn't trade the capitalistic system that causes that for anything. Six years ago, I was homeless sleeping in my truck. Now I'm typing this comment from I don't even know what island off the Colombian coast. What I do know is I got here from my private luxury yacht charter, which I was able to afford because I worked smarter. Stop writing hate comments on an ABC News youtube video and grow up.

[@JohnSpartan-117]

More like chainsaws

[@theblondeone8426]

been noticing this and waiting for someone to make the comparison - the lifestyle differences are HUGE. As a nurse, I rarely get ANY lunch…and hurt my body to earn a living…the hospital CEOs barely show up to work, work from home, order groceries, and never do ANY physical labor. They also rarely worry about money, meanwhile the critical workers like me are living on the edge. Its just huge differences like never before.

[@mallowmallow2070]

It's insane that the most critical to society are worked to death for pennies- Truthfully stronger corporate regulation is the answer and I normally lean libertarian, but this is getting ridiculous how much the average person is bled dry to line a CEO's pockets.

[@JayZee-lo8qy]

Now try digging ditches for a living, try being a soldier, a construction worker. We don’t get paid a 1/4 of what you do and you think your body is being destroyed…. LMFAO

[@mikeypalmice9628]

@@JayZee-lo8qyEverybody’s different, what hurts her body might not hurt yours, they want us pointing fingers and fighthing each other instead of focusing on the real problem

[@pinchebruha405]

@@JayZee-lo8qyyou’re not wrong but neither is she, Men do work harder, I am sorry that so many have been attacking our men, it’s not right, we need many kinds to make things work.

[@SkadooHusky]

I got no sympathy for over paid nurses. Last time I went to the hospital for dehydration, they brought in mental health professionals. Simply because I looked dirty. I even pointed out my weight loss, got ignored. I know that people who are struggling financially buy vehicles like the Honda super cub. Not an luxurious civic. I also know that the medical industry likes testing on people in developing countries. Those are the people I think need to get paid.

[@FirstThief]

I’m starting to think these news outlets are 2 years behind us in time

[@Dan-ri9hw]

Lol for real this has been so obvious and they act like it isn’t. Major news is also funded by advertising from massive corporations so I doubt they have that much incentive to cover this. Smaller independent journalists have been covering wealth inequality way more

[@tw8464]

We've been in a 2nd guilded age since the 1980s 😢 these corporate media are disgusting just talking about it now decades late

[@erykahhoney588]

They are and on purpose

[@Lo289-im3ip]

@@erykahhoney588Exactly!

[@MichaelPesta]

It is

[@Cosmocroft]

still waiting for that trickle down

[@Wasengenyie]

The faeces really did trickle down

[@CYR888]

Been waiting since Ronald Regan

[@HappyOva]

You will be waiting forever, the trickle down effect is just planted there to keep working class people like you going, thinking maybe one day you'll have a better life.

[@levmoses742]

Really? Cause I’m pretty sure the increases in parking, tolls and other fees are exactly what the trickle down was intended to do, and it’s working! So yes, as taxes for the wealthy and corporations have reduced, the tickle down is increased financial burdens for the rest.

[@Cosmocroft]

@@levmoses742 precisely

[@squirrel3200]

In Russia its called Oligarchy

[@megaponful]

Here we call them "Entrepreneurs" or Business moguls and other embelished names to hide the truth.

[@mamatrain100]

Where one might fall out a window for bucking the state. Meanwhile, they allows a million Americans die of COVID so Elon stayed happy and to stoke Trumps ego.

[@theunholyone2505]

@@megaponful Same in the Philippines.

[@cats10999]

Here too. Now. We should have elected Harris. America is poisoned by Fox "news".

[@isunlloaoll]

US “oligarchs” at least invented stuff that impact and changed humanity. Russian oligarchs just sit on their oil and gas fields they inherited from family connections.

[@pamlewis1183]

Unions are good for building the middle class. The End

[@kamuelalee]

Weekend?!

[@rabbit251]

My dad was teamster for decades and because of them he earned a livable wage, although just barely. I never thought of ourselves as poor but when I became an adult I sadly discovered that many in our community, our church looked down upon us. The teamsters also set up a pension for my father. They pay him $2500 / mo. which on top of his $1500 Social Security he's better now than ever before. But think about that, he worked basically since he was 18 and paid into the system until he retired at 65 and the government only gives him $1500 for all that time! If he hadn't belonged to a union where would he be now? (Shout out to the Boeing workers!)

[@ag-bk5wf]

Also a good igniter to foreign competition.

[@jimliu2560]

UAW Union killed American car industry….!

[@who2u333]

Unions are not perfect, but just like the hate toward HOA's the problems normally arise from bad leadership. And since leaders are elected, it is the rank and file that needs to get off their *** and manage how the unions are run. Unions have and will ensure that the top won't take everything. Because, as we have seen over the last ~50yrs, they will absolutely take everything. The money(1000x pay), freedom(Patriot act), and country (buy politicians).

[@eksbocks9438]

5:51 To put this into perspective: A milkman in the 1950's made enough money to buy a house, and raise a family. Despite the job being unskilled labor. Plus, the low cost of rent and tuition.

[@sew_gal7340]

Correct, thats why those housewives commercials were so popular, you can actually afford to stay home and look after the kids. The irony is that you can't even be a house mom today if you even choose to. The cost of everything is so high right now.

[@nychris2258]

Population in 1950 was a third of what it is now. If you want every Amazon driver (2024 Milk Man) to make enough to buy a house, you better be prepared to pay 60x more for your cheap infinite Amazon junk delivered right into your clammy hands every day. We have too many people all competing for the limited opportunity.

[@sew_gal7340]

@@nychris2258 The issue is manufacturing left the US...if you wanna know where our middle class is please go to China, you will see them happily spending money on rolexes and dior while strolling around with their kids in a packed mall in shanghai. I only came to this conclusion when i randomly decided to visit there for a 4 day vacation. The average person there appears a lot more gratuitous than our ppl here in the States

[@rabbit251]

@@sew_gal7340 Not necessarily true. My niece just had twins and her spouse and her work for tech companies and have good salaries. Their using their parental leave first one for 6 months and then the other, her husband's company is allowing him to work from home mostly. They own 2 houses, they had to move due to their jobs so they rented out their old home because housing prices skyrocketed that high. They used the first home as collateral to buy their current house.

[@djhero0071]

@sew_gal7340 America got cheap products made at low cost but at a price of losing its manufacturing. There are whole towns that never recovered.

[@TheContentLovers]

A second gilded age, but everything's from Ikea and designed to fail. We won't have any marble clad buildings to mark us, just skyscrapers that will require careful demolition when they become public hazards.

[@02nupe]

Its a lot of mansions from that era that no longer exist, ones like this are the exception and not the norm...

[@TheContentLovers]

@@02nupe Depends on location. Walking around Chicago or New York you see craftsmanship that doesn't exist anymore.

[@onedroprule]

Wealthy people dont shop at ikea.

[@echochamber1234]

you know many skyskrapers are from the progressive and new deal era right?

[@mimim8532]

Yes- things are built cheaply

[@nerdlingeeksly5192]

Definition: The Gilded Age, period of gross materialism and blatant political corruption in U.S. history during the 1870s that gave rise to important novels of social and political criticism. Yeah, I'd say so.

[@CoercedJab]

You do realize they’re the ones who’s then write the history right 😂

[@nerdlingeeksly5192]

@@CoercedJab "the one's who then write the history" Is English your language? Because this sentence doesn't make sense, the grammar is wrong.

[@Legally_Bomb]

@@CoercedJabYeah, you might want to sit this one out until you learn English if you want those quips to hit 😂😂😂😂😂😂

[@doctorthraxmc]

@@CoercedJab Yeah, I'm sure that JD Rockefeller went on to personally influence the dictionary definition of the word Gilded Age during his lifetime. I actually remember this story being told to me, you see JD Rockefeller was on his death bed and his last words were "The Gilded Age will be defined as a period of gross materialism and blatant political corruption in U.S. history during the 1870s that gave rise to important novels of social and political criticism." Great insight, very valuable!!!!!!

[@kyledecker7004]

This is literally my paper topic for sociology.

[@TheBrainFlow]

Thank you for studying Sociology. I wish more people would study it. It’s OPEN people’s eyes.

[@TheAS687]

Sounds fun I loved that course

[@thedopplereffect00]

Two questions: do you have student loans? And what kind of job will you get with that degree?

[@TheAS687]

@@thedopplereffect00 it’s literally a course he never stated he was becoming a sociologist. Can only assume you’ve never been to college.

[@CoercedJab]

@@TheAS687 lmao meanwhile it sounds like you got those sweet sweet loans 😂 I notice you didn’t answer either question and instead went for a personal attack? Do they teach that in college?

[@nychris2258]

"There arent too many guest rooms"... no duh, you think the Vanderbuilts were sharing?

[@leonk8875]

Guest rooms are usually for when family stays. Their family had multiple homes in Newport so no need for guest rooms.

[@vhead612]

What about Anderson Cooper tho? jk 😅

[@drewmorrison]

Why need a guest room when you can commute on a private jet back home?

[@abitofitall8295]

​@@leonk8875they also pissed away all their money so I guess they didn't have a need for that either

[@John_Doe3]

We ARE in a second gilded age as far as I'm concerned

[@KarlLetcher]

But ABC can’t come out and say that, because the owners of media conglomerates are the kinds of a-holes that this puff piece is cautiously criticizing.

[@willytodd2750]

Gilded age never ended. Cant be a second we are still in the first.

[@drewmorrison]

@@willytodd2750I can agree with that, it just hit the extremes during that time then got less extreme now it’s back to being more extreme again.

[@The_king567]

@@John_Doe3 good

[@The_king567]

@@willytodd2750 nope

[@jujitsujew23]

The reason unions can struggle to be affective is because there are no laws about how fast companies need to make a deal once a union is approved. Companies will deliberately drag out negotiations over years to stymie the union

[@bwofficial1776]

If you let a union into your company, you don't run it any more, the union does. I don't blame companies for wanting to block the union and keep the union bosses from shaking them down.

[@jujitsujew23]

@@bwofficial1776 HAHAHAHAHAHAHA what a load of garbage you just spouted! Congrats on falling for corporate propaganda! LMFAO

[@laneguthrie400]

We need some monopoly busting

[@PelosiStockPortfolio]

No, we need higher top tax rates and to close the loop holes in the tax system

[@Bailey-cx7zz]

​@@PelosiStockPortfolioyes we need that and we need to create competition. new wealth and major regulations on how much of the market a group of investors can control. They're getting rich because they don't have competition. Top tax rate over 1000000 99 perfect capital gains and income tax. also we need some redistribution of wealth for the super rich kick them back down to under 100 million dollars worth of cash and assets combined.

[@PelosiStockPortfolio]

@@Bailey-cx7zz Monopolies can harm society when they completely control something that is necessary to function in our daily lives. Facebook doesnt provide anything necessary in our daily lives, it is not something we must have. What is the point in requiring facebook to have competition? Focus on the things that actually matter.

[@ST-rj8iu]

@@PelosiStockPortfolio No. we are not an island. How are we going to compete with outsourcing if we have the highest tax rate in the world? Tax the billionaires to the poor house, does that touch the government spending of 35 trillion? NO

[@PelosiStockPortfolio]

@@ST-rj8iu Tax the billionaires to 90%, like it was done in the 1950's and 1960's when "America was great". Why dont you want to make America great again? Do you hate America?

[@legacyliner1868]

My great grandfather was a sharecropper in the Jim Crow south with a 9th grade education and he was able to provide for his wife and 8 kids. Meanwhile I have two degrees and a pretty good career with no kids and can’t afford a studio apartment. YES we are in a second gilded age.

[@PyschotherapyUnhindered-e1k]

be like the "new" rich. have everyone in your family claim those next group of 8 children, get tax benefits and welfare for 18 years, and claim you are elite.

[@The_king567]

@@legacyliner1868 well you would be wrong

[@legacyliner1868]

@@The_king567 how so?

[@The_king567]

@ you can afford a house if you worked harder

[@legacyliner1868]

@@The_king567 I work 2 jobs 6 days a week and have a side hustle but ok clearly I’m just being lazy 😂 you have a happy holiday.

[@medusagorgon9]

I'm not against anyone doing well. My issue is that many who have see no issues with everyone else struggling. It's a shame and government officials should be embarrassed that there are so many people experiencing homelessness and individuals/families struggling to afford the most basic necessities.

[@bobwoods1302]

When a private citizen can start their own space program there are serious problems with the tax structure.

[@BigChibi-y2k]

😢 Elon space program is literally financed bu public funds, add to injury 🤕

[@delcarmen1377]

whats wrong with that? I don’t believe it’s wise to let government have a monopoly on that.

[@Atheist-Libertarian]

Whats wrong with them. State monopoly is bad and unethical.

[@anonymous_5016]

You don't think private citizens should be allowed to innovate? Should they be stopped from creating computer or automobile companies too?

[@johnphantom]

Phony Stark didn't "innovate" anything. He bought corporations, after he got lucky betting on stocks from the money his parents gave him from slave emeralds.

[@joker6solitaire]

My parents took me on a tour of Hurst Castle in California when I was a kid. I knew nothing of the Gilded Age beyond Daddy Warbucks from the Annie movie, yet I felt a subtle sense of disgust walking through the endless rooms of opulence. I felt the same way when learning about the Palace of Versailles in junior high French class. My teacher extolled a room covered in gold foil for its beauty, but all I could think about was French Revolution and how freaking poor everyone else was. Suddenly it made sense to me why Marie Antoinette was beheaded. Even children can recognize that places like Hurst Castle and Breakers mansion are a shameful waste of resources.

[@mycatlovesme159]

I have met the Hearst family. Yes they are extremely wealthy but they are nice people. The Hearst and Rockefeller’s live near Seattle. Big ass homes! Wow!!

[@GrowWildOutdoors]

Hearst Castle is an atrocity today. Just a bunch of random aging crap, even the tour guides acknowledge the fake Arabic on certain items. Hearst got grifted just as much as he grifted.

[@jenniferhiemstra5228]

Oh man...I was a youngun' when I visited Hearst Castle years ago, what a throwback. I was too young at the time to know the insinuations of that kind of wealth and grandeur. But yeah, agreed. I'm pretty sure I'd feel the same if I revisited it.

[@CoercedJab]

Marie Antoinette would urge you to trust the experts…

[@CoercedJab]

@@mycatlovesme159if they’re so nice they should fund my university education 😂

[@BAD46660]

What happened to all the laws put into effect that broke up Ma Bell and the other monopolies. Now they are everywhere and growing by the day!

[@untrueman]

Congress stopped passing new laws. And since the 90s, the FTC has been asleep at the wheel. Biden tried to change it a bit but wasnt' very successful in court when trying to stop mergers.

[@calvinhoward3808]

A bit of conjecture here, but as far as I recall, it isn't considered a monopoly if there's alternatives. The rules could be the same, but now with globalization, there's often competition even if it isn't from/in the US.

[@OceanWolf808]

“History doesn’t repeat itself, but it often rhymes.” - Mark Twain.

[@michaelriggs325]

so many died in gilded ages for the top to live so comfrotable

[@Melior_Traiano]

Yeah its not as bad now as it had been in those days...

[@michaelriggs325]

@@Melior_Traiano if you count the whole worlds population then it is billions suffer so a few million people can live like kings

[@Liliarthan]

@@Melior_TraianoI wouldn’t be so sure. I think the prices we, the working class and the impoverished class, pay may not be as obvious. I’m thinking of the number of people who die from drug overdoses, homelessness, preventable diseases like obesity and heart disease (both appear to be diseases from a life of gluttony and excess but can be linked to poor education, lack of availability of healthy food choices due to cost and food deserts - it’s far cheaper to buy soft drinks than milk). Also the deaths caused by pollution eg Flint Michigan, maternal and child mortality due to insufficient access to care and nutrition, not to mention the level of risk to personal safety is not proportional to the level of pay - eg fishermen, oil rig workers, prison guards, ICU nurses etc etc and one of the most egregious cases - war veterans. We often hear about life expectancy statistics from a whole population scale. I wonder what that breakdown looks like across different wealth and socioeconomic groups. Also the stats on quality of life and other outcomes. I think we can get the illusion that life is getting better for each generation, and I wonder if the level of improvement is the same across the board or as I suspect, the ultra rich enjoys a level of quality and access that we can’t even imagine, let alone realise how much we are missing out on despite working harder and making far more sacrifices to our lives in comparison.

[@Melior_Traiano]

@@Liliarthan You make some good points. I won’t pretend to have all the answers or immediate insights into the statistics. However, when reading books like Jack London's The People of the Abyss, which recounts his real-life experience in London in 1901, it becomes clear how much life has improved for the majority of people since those times. Back then, child labor was prevalent (only formally abolished in 1938 in the U.S.), and the working class could literally be worked to de ath by their employers, with few rights, no social security, and no health care. Worker protections were almost non-existent and working hours were much longer than today and unregulated. The average life expectancy was around 48 years for the entire population. Women only gained the right to vote in the U.S. in 1920, and the Civil Rights Act (which prohibits discrimination based on race) only came into effect in 1964.

[@dandy1738]

Bro, we got a second gilded age before gta 6

[@ELASTICGlRL]

this is so funny 😭

[@h.gardea384]

Damn

[@redjetsen1002]

We knew this 20 years ago.

[@whatthef911]

We knew this 30 years ago when the richest were Gates and Jobs.

[@faraboverubieskerry]

Watching this after I saw a news story about a Pepsico plant shut down without notifying employees. They showed up and were given garbage bags to collect their things and were escorted out by police. Some had been there nearly 30 years and couldn't even receive a dignified notice of job termination. Nope. Just the disrespect and humiliation that goes along with being employed in the US.

[@samlewis6615]

Yup happened in Chicago, that factory has been there for decades.

[@Liliarthan]

Reminds me of how Elon fired his employees for choosing public and personal safety over his bottom line, and Trump praising him for it. America just voted in a male Marie Antoinette.

[@bwofficial1776]

If it was an at-will state, that's fine. It doesn't matter how long the workers had been there, Pepsi owed them nothing as long as they complied with state law.

[@dodobono452]

For the people that think unions are bad and backing rich A hole for president and glaze a certain South African billionaire you are the biggest idiots in the country and aloud this to happen thank you

[@AdamValadez-x1y]

Unions can be good for workers, all candidates are rich a-holes, no one should ever think about glazing Elon just gross I will "allow" you to think about that

[@wbay3848]

@@AdamValadez-x1yPlease clean your intestines with drain cleaner

[@Kingedwardiii2003]

Allowed *

[@echochamber1234]

i'm voting against that rich a hole, but I KNOW unions are bad. I worked under one. never will again. they are just as extortionary, useless, and give zero shits about you like the corporations you seem to despise.

[@samuelfink4799]

I remember when liberals loved them both, what changed? 😂😂😂

[@bibilym4514]

Boy I wish we’d all unite and have “no spend days.” Hurt the wealthy’s pockets for this deep disparity between the classes.

[@HappyOva]

So what would you consider wealthy? Anyone with more money than you?

[@theseventhgeneration6910]

It is directed towards anyone making more than precisely $153,000 per year.

[@jenniferhiemstra5228]

What's sad is that, it wouldn't take much. Just 1, maybe 2, days of no spending anything, and that effect would be felt immediately on the rich and the tide would turn in a heartbeat.

[@RomanticPopPunk]

@@theseventhgeneration6910 nah, $150K a year is around $7500 a month after tax. Mortgage for an old house is starting from 5K a month in CA. After grocery and other spendings to maintain said house, you have around $1000 left.

[@jonathanb.814]

“Buy Nothing Day” is a thing. All it takes is organization. en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buy_Nothing_Day

[@shabazz6682]

The Gilded Age was the precursor to the Great Depression.

[@ElliottJamesT]

I came from poverty but have worked at some of those top levels, and seen their world. WE ARE 100% in an absolute state of disparity. The fact people in Australia are skipping meals is shocking. Because this is the place it should be the least likely to happen.

[@joegott9391]

1 million seconds adds upto about 11 days while 1 billion seconds is about 32 years...most people don't grasp the difference in wealth & financial systems.

[@jenniferhiemstra5228]

Again...water is wet? This IS the Gilded Age 2.0, I don't need experts telling me what has been happening for a while. But as with the first one, it'll fall/fail eventually. That's the good part. The bad part is that many will suffer as a result. What happened last time? The First World War. Followed by a decade long era of insane prosperity, but at least it was somewhat accessible for the rest of us. Followed by a global depression, then the Second World War that brought us out of it and the social reset that happened after that. The late 40's into the 50's was an era of upward mobility that finally many could achieve, rather than the few. History. We're very literally repeating what happened almost a century ago. So much for learning from it.

[@anuragchakraborty8766]

Except that there won’t be any era of prosperity this time round. We’re almost out of resources to spare. Tough luck.

[@jenniferhiemstra5228]

@@anuragchakraborty8766 That last part isn't true at all. There's plenty. But just like a century ago, people didn't think so because all the super wealth were hoarding them like they pretty much always do. The pendulum always swings.

[@aprildawnsunshine4326]

I remember being in highschool in the early 2000s and these super rich families were credited with creating wealth and better living standards for all through public works and charities. The message was the only way to improve the lives of everyone in the country was to become super rich just like them. And I wasn't in some deep red or backwoods school; this was 30min outside DC in a well off area of mostly high level government workers. It's taken decades for me to unlearn all that crap 😞

[@HappyOva]

Sounds like NoVa hahaha

[@aprildawnsunshine4326]

@@HappyOva where the N stands for knowledge 😆🤦🏻‍♀️

[@desired117]

Sounds like potomac

[@Fido-vm9zi]

No, they need to get rich so the peasants can eat & keep working.

[@CoercedJab]

Trust the experts!

[@kaelynkear4331]

My great grandma (mom’s grandma) was one of the maids there. She came from Ireland :)

[@jasminebridgett9200]

Did she tell y'all stories about her working there ? And what were the people like as well ? 😎

[@dipro001]

Yeah share conspiracy stories. Spicy ones 😂

[@a-totally-random-person]

This mansion was built by the finest UNION craftsmen, but they didn't want to pay their regular employees. UNIONIZE YOUR WORKPLACE!

[@Astrobucks2]

Unions are a business. Typically a 'connected' one. No thanks.

[@bwofficial1776]

Unions are corrupt and greedy. They're no longer needed. I hire non-union workers because they do a better job and usually for less money.

[@willytodd2750]

@@Astrobucks2 Union is adding a bureaucracy over you to negotiate your wages. People need to get their own bargaining power back. I don't need a woman in an office that has never worked a day in my field controlling how much money i make and neither does any union worker, they have been duped like everyone else.

[@danid1855]

The first Gilded age hasn’t ended and never will.

[@Colinalb]

You guys elected the Gilded President too 😂

[@MB-qx9vn]

Remember this when a celebrity tells you to bike to work or who to vote for.

[@youtubename7819]

Most rich celebrities are in the ten or (rarely) hundred million net worth range. Yes, that is a lot of money, but you should be much more concerned about billionaires. It’s mostly people who you’ve never heard of that are the problem. I am bothering to point this out because if we are going to address the issue, we need people focused on the root of the issue. Celebrities generally are just people who got a big paycheck. That is very different from those who are lobbying and running the country against the people.

[@Lion_McLionhead]

So you're saying the last 100 years of wealth redistribution programs didn't do anything.

[@marsco2442]

Government keeps borrowing from the national debt instead of raising taxes on the rich to cover their overspending.

[@ryanw7196]

They did work, really well actually... So well that it prompted the largest backlash along socioeconomic lines that the world has ever seen to the point where CEO pay is now 300-400 times their average worker vs the 60s-70s where CEO pay was 30-40 times their average worker... Beginning somewhat in the early 70s, massively ramping up with the aid of Reagan who laid the groundwork for the takeover, then the model created under Reagan becoming commonplace under the following administrations/legislatures. One little tax break followed by one little cut to social spending and maybe an anti-union measure here or a campaign finance change there, then another round, then another round, and then another round. Round and round til today where corporations pay next to nothing in taxes but can buy elections wholesale, unions are fighting for their lives, and avg wages have fallen massively below productivity. 50 years of a massive, organized, unified, and most importantly patient effort to assure the dominance of capital owners in the United States for all time. It didnt matter what party was running congress or who the president was, they all sold us out and are all continuing to do so.

[@michaelhamilton7602]

Wealth redistribution programs are the reason why we had such a strong middle class in the late 40's through the 70's. lol

[@NewYorkNevada]

At least during the first Gilded Age, the rich built beautiful libraries and museums, helped to fund parks and gardens for the public, etc. They did this to keep the masses happy enough that they didn't take up the pitchforks and arms. Today's robber barrons offer nothing of the sort. Just selfishness on steroids. "Greed is good", or so I've been told.

[@zombies4evadude24]

Instead of that these billionaires use internet algorithms to divide people based on hate. If people are too distracted trying to screw people different than them they won’t notice the real masterminds of their misery, because fear is a stronger emotion than love.

[@terri200]

No matter the circumstance of the building of this it is a truly beautiful architectural building!!

[@yasaralamin1246]

Every monument of civilization is also a monument of barbarism.

[@eslnoob191]

I disagree. It's nothing but a monument to vanity, and it's overall pretty hideous.

[@winstonoboogie2424]

"Experts"? A society where one person has enough money to end world hunger, and doesn't. This doesn't require an expert.

[@Fido-vm9zi]

One must possess invisible magic to solve those issues.

[@jbone9900]

​@@Fido-vm9zi or elons money

[@Morgan-ed2cb]

This is so tiring with this equivocation from the media. There is always this tinge of well maybe there's a problem. There is full stop when workers are living out of their cars while going to work.

[@vinylordie1301]

You don’t need an expert to tell you that

[@povertyiscreated2265]

I remember reading High School finance books in the 2000s and it talked about savings and how one could earn money by having it sit in the bank. Now we just live in an era where if you work hard you'll have to move back with your parents. 😢

[@batsandbatsandbats]

Now we're all paying that money to the bank for our debts instead

[@TianaManeO]

Investing in many sources of income that are independent on government paychecks is the prudent thing that everyone should be thinking about right now, especially given the global economic crisis. Stocks, forex, and digital currencies are still good investments at this time

[@AngellLevey]

Trading without professional guide...Huh i laugh you, because you will remain where you are or even make huge loses that will stop you from trading, this has been one of the biggest problem to new traders

[@PajinakStanovska]

How can one find a verifiable financial planner? I would not mind looking up the professional that helped you

[@AngellLevey]

My CFA Julianne Iwersen Niemann, a renowned figure in her line of work. I recommend researching her credentials further. She has many years of experience and is a valuable resource for anyone looking to navigate the financial market.

[@PajinakStanovska]

Found her online page by searching her full name, I wrote her an email and scheduled a call, hopefully she responds.

[@jessicasquire]

The thing is people often doubt the prospects of financial advisors like Julianne Iwersen Niemann in business/markets today.

[@SirLangsalot]

Id be ok with all that wealth if ordinary people werent going without housing, food, health care, clothing etc...

[@greksmith1874]

At least in the first gilded age, the grossly wealthy built libraries and theaters and other institutions that benefitted society.

[@multidimensional_holographer]

imagine living in your own museum

[@Kingedwardiii2003]

Be pretty dope tbh

[@CoercedJab]

@@Kingedwardiii2003 Fr sounds like a dream man cave to have museum stuff in my living spaces. I’d want a T. rex skull somewhere 😂

[@JTSunriseMusic]

Time to repeat the French Revolution

[@tw8464]

No. We need a 2nd American Revolution. The French Revolution rapidly devolved into a bloodbath nightmare dictatorship Robespierre Napoleon etc

[@sociedadnortena9514]

No

[@jackcarraway4707]

​@@sociedadnortena9514Found the CEO

[@legendofman12]

You first, kommy

[@DistrustHumanz]

​@legendofman12 You severely underestimate the rage.

[@eksbocks9438]

Growth is one thing. But eventually it slows down. And economic management becomes more important. Especially with maintaining the middle class. Hence why European economics is different. They never had Westward Expansion like we did.

[@JosePerez-vz1qq]

The Caribbean, Africa, Asia, Central and South America: "Europe never what?"

[@Astrobucks2]

Collectivism fails ....anywhere it's ever been tried.

[@javaman7199]

"Why some experts believe we’re living in a second Gilded Age" Some experts? Is there anyone who thinks we are not?

[@blakepollock8074]

the corruption is so extensive that anyone will say red is blue depending on who signs their paycheck

[@DrewberTravels]

Jeff bezos is sailing around in a literal pirate ship.

[@1988vikable]

Elites and the Oligarchy have been around for a very long time. Greed of not wanting to share the wealth can be traced back to the Monarchy. Everyone thinks just because the nobility that came to live in the USA no longer have titles it doesn't mean they didn't have influence and have become kings without titles just a very well known rich name. SO indeed the USA has a monarchy they are just called by a different name know as the elites/Oligarchy.

[@user-wk9wy5qd4r]

This is definitely becoming the 2nd Gilded age. Hopefully the middle class doesn’t get completely destroyed.

[@jenniferhiemstra5228]

Becoming? It's been one for years, if not decades now.

[@GrowWildOutdoors]

Couldn't care less about boats & houses. Do care about the health & well-being of children, families & communities.

[@abelinaportillo1783]

Anderson Cooper is Vanderbilt royalty. 🤙

[@dianaverano7878]

Yes but he said he needed to work hard as he wont inherit all the ancestors's money

[@rabbit251]

Tucker Carlson is beneficiary of the Swanson Food Co. that his mother inherited part of. Just from the inheritance he's estimated to be worth over $300 million.

[@02nupe]

@@dianaverano7878 sort of, even with a few million dollars inhertiance and leg up with that name he is a multi-millionaire many times over, Its levels to having to "Really" work for it and he didn't start from scratch. Im not mad at it, just pointing it out.

[@dianaverano7878]

@@02nupe he went into modelling even at an early age, as he knew he has to work. Millions are nothing within few years if you cant handle it and continue to earn millions to maintain it. Millionaires continue to be rich because they have businesses that are continuously running. His side of the family lost losts of money along the way. That is documented even before he was born

[@Kingedwardiii2003]

Yes, bow to your betters peasant

[@michaell6645]

This expands past wealth into many aspects of life. It seems there is a growing divide between the classes as far as fitness, intelligence, etc and lack of competition in the gene pool.

[@rickyayy]

It's by design

[@coincrazy3563]

i like how skilled labor is now just “this ingroup monopolist lends me shekels for having a college degree and using a computer!”

[@douglassauvageau7262]

That closing comment about 'FLEX' was an insight to human-nature.

[@Stikkelsbær]

"America was rolling westward" Rolling or slaughtering? Pillaging?

[@xxbatflowerxx]

'The Jungle' was published in 1906. It should be assgined in high school.

[@eparris2908]

It used to be. So was Grapes of Wrath, Great Gatsby, and Farewell to Arms.

[@Myles2C]

The “Technological Middle Ages”

[@dessieangel1021]

Many people have been saying this for years . . .

[@SonyaTheSidePieceCrumbSnatcher]

Luigi knows.

[@CrucifiedSlide]

Conveniently forgot to mention the Gilded Age ended in the Great Depression…

[@eparris2908]

Yep, which the power and greed triggered as a means to eliminate the "undesirable" populations when WWI didn't get rid of enough. They started the American Eugenics Societies and worked with the Nazis later to further their work globalizing power and eliminating the unwanted races and ethnicities. WWII through the 1950s was a surprise that elevated those undesired peoples to a strong middle class and they couldn't have that so they made the Boomers and Millennials out to be the ubermensch and destroyed X and X's children as best they could world wide.

[@GreyCrowe]

All you have to do is look at the homes, condos, apartments, cars, etc being produced in the past 10 years. Its clear brands and developers are catering more and more to the $200k+ salary groups. Not to mention America's tax system has gotten wildly regressive since the last time big business and monopolies were broken up.

[@demontewalker7805]

The tv show the gilded age is good and does the time period very well, if your reading this and have not watched the show go watch

[@Orfeo68]

We need to tax the rich for a third of their wealth.

[@jamesbyrne9312]

Every company should have a board seat for unions.

[@bwofficial1776]

That's like saying every company should have a board seat for the mafia. Same result, some boss on the outside is shaking you down and telling you how to run your company and employees.

[@richardcampbell7255]

HUGE wealth tax NOW!

[@Passbu]

I live in West Virginia in a 6,000 square foot home. I paid $125,000, and my mortgage is less than $700 a month. I make $168,000 as a travel nurse. Listening to people complain about everything being so expensive is laughable. You can live like the 1% if you're smart with your income. Most people want to live near major cities or are too lazy to get certifications that pay well, or to travel to areas where the jobs are. Also, the most important thing people forget about the Gilded Age is that families practiced group economics, meaning they pooled their money together and worked as a unit. Our individualism keeps us in poverty.

[@jbone9900]

Just say your doing well and are a complete narcissist.

[@jbone9900]

Troll post

[@Passbu]

@ is it really that hard to use google and look up homes in WV? It’s not rockets science most people just aren’t willing to live in poorer states with less amenities.

[@Passbu]

@@jbone9900 168k in NYC is nothing. This is combined income including my online business where I sell vintage fossil watches.

[@loriar1027]

I would say there's no doubt that we are living in another gilded age. Don't know why we need experts to say so.

[@arks8089]

The Gilded Age for a chosen few.

[@cesarhernandez769]

Jokes aside, it’s not that workers aren’t pro Union it’s just that being union means we’re just gonna laid off for someone who’ll do it cheaper and for no benefits

[@trafficispeople5750]

I highly recommend watching the PBS American Experience documentary The Guilded Age (available here on KZbin). It is eye opening for people who don't know the history if the era in detail, especially the labor issues of the time.

[@michaelanthony508]

The breakers decorate quite impressively for the Christmas season

[@benf1111]

Who will be our Teddy Roosevelt?

[@danmur2797]

People who ignore (and want others to ignore) the concept of a Gilded Age 2, tend to throw around words like "socialism", "communism" and then give countries like Venezuela and Cuba as examples instead of countries like Norway, Sweden, or Denmark as examples of strong unions, living wages, and access to healthcare. And they have in the past scared people into not supporting measures that they deem "socialist" because supposedly rich people "create jobs" so they need that tax break. Except not just rich people create jobs. And taxes are low for the wealthy historically speaking. The rich today pay less than 40% in taxes, while in the 60s they paid upwards of 60%. And America had the largest middle class in history and least inequality during that period.

[@eparris2908]

😂😂😂 You have not done your homework at all. That living wage BS was stopped by those countries long ago and they're trying to remove socialism as a failed experiment now. Gov healthcare failed, unions failed, communism failed, all of it failed because it relies on leeching from taxpayers who are broke, not replacing at population rates and using immigrants who don't want to float the olds and will and do kill them to continue that socialism. Educate yourself

[@kylelaw7210]

Most people here will disagree but the average American has it better than the richest people of the late 1800s. Yes they had servants and large mansions but we have air conditioning, cars, airplanes, modern medicine, and access to all the world information and music in our pocket. All of which was made possible by capitalism.

[@michaelplunkett5124]

I'll trade to be 19th cent millionaire. Air conditioning and middle seat on a jet liner are both over rated.

[@marsco2442]

Capitalism was never the issue, there is government overspending and taxes on the rich are too low low to cover it in most states but California

[@raisinrover]

You're such an idiot. I've never heard of a king or a gilded age millionaire killing themselves. Being at the top of society in any time period gives a person such a feeling of euphoria and pure dopamine, your peasant mind would never comprehend their existence.

[@bwofficial1776]

@@marsco2442 Government overspending, yes. Taxes, the top 1% of earners contribute 50% of all tax revenue while the bottom 50% collectively pay $0. They pay enough. Would you want to innovate and build companies if the government is going to take almost everything you make?

[@nicoletambasco9210]

The Biltmore in Asheville NC is kind of a big deal too. Christmas I think might be the most popular time of year

[@trishasingh3950]

Was this building on Gossip Girl? The scenes when Vanessa goes to visit Nate’s family as his girlfriend..

[@bigbeautifulsky]

It’s too bad the oligarchs aren’t building beautiful homes anymore, or building hospitals, museums or schools. I’m not sure where all their money goes, but at least during the gilded age wealthy did give back.

[@vincem4756]

And Americans just voted for the guy who’s going to give them all tax breaks and deregulate them 🤦🏻‍♂️

[@BmovinzFirstorlast]

You mean the donors silly 😂 no party will bite the hand that feeds them let’s be critically honest

[@eparris2908]

Educate yourself. The Progressives, aka Democrats and RINOs, ARE AND WERE the Gilded Age wealthy. They want to keep that power by any means necessary even if it means unleashing biowarfare, invasion, kleptocrats, lobbyists, and actors against the common man. Progressive Gilded wealthy threw natives and ranchers off their land, killed their animals, enacted monopolies, unleashed wars, and used eugenics to turn vast swaths of land into their own playgrounds (only wealthy then could access the parks), and they only wanted "educated" to be skilled workers who know their place. Just like the Democrats now.

[@zombies4evadude24]

@@eparris2908biowarfare? What the hell are you talking about? You are falling into their trap. They want to divide so you don’t realize THEY ARE THE PROBLEM! You think Elon Musk, the richest man in the world, cares about you? Bullocks…

[@alisanina]

Yet they voted for Trump and his billionaire clan. Stupid.

[@SamMcKinley]

Did Fred Trump come here legally? I believe we are in a Gilded Age. I love that architecture

[@hova2781]

Lol donald father was born in the US

[@SamMcKinley]

Yes. I stand corrected. Fred was born in the Bronx. Immigrant grandparents. Either way immigrants and I’m sure Fred was not wealthy. People don’t identify with the plight of others for some reason.

[@ashleygood4615]

My husband is IBEW strong and union proud. No way he'd EVER work non-union working on the power lines.

[@bwofficial1776]

That's unfortunate. I always hire non-union. They do a better job because they earn their pay instead of expecting it to be given to them.

[@bluetexas001]

At least in the first gilded age, the robber barons invested in some projects that benefited the masses like libraries. Today's robber barons give us fascism.

[@BrokeCryptoBro]

Nah bruh, we're regressing.

[@brisvegas859]

The masses are fed up with these elites

[@adamoliver4094]

4:45 People call things unsustainable, but then do not explain why it's unsustainable. Does unsustainable now just mean unpopular?

[@thedopplereffect00]

It's word-saladian

[@RyvreRandom]

It means that if things keep headed in the current direction either the populace will revolt and upend the current powers, or our way of life will become unrecognizable: a few super wealthy and the rest basically a slave class. I think that's what they mean by unsustainable.

[@adamoliver4094]

@@RyvreRandom Okay, so it means unpopular. Thank you.

[@RyvreRandom]

@@adamoliver4094 Haha, the British weren't popular either, neither were the monarchies of Europe. Caring for the people is important, not that it seems to matter to you.

[@RyvreRandom]

@@adamoliver4094 I'd add that it's also unsustainable in terms of human life, both quality and actual lives. Greed, hording of resources at the expense of people's health and well-being is harmful on a moral level. Your desire to downplay the impact of wealth and power centralizing, belies an ignorance of history, economics, and human nature.

[@beckybnyc322]

We should be asking what happened AFTER the gilded age🧐

[@NightOfCrystals]

Living in? Living in and have been living in.

[@Lomhow]

I've been saying this for years, we live in a Second Gilded Age.

[@izzyc1570]

What this video leaves out is that labor unions for police, teachers, and doctors make it virtually impossible to fire bad police, teachers, or doctors. There is also the possibility of political capture (like we see with UAW) where signing up for a labor union means signing up for a political party. Labor unions increase a worker’s bargaining power and can increase their wages, however there are important drawbacks to consider and intentionally omitting them from a “informative” news video is not helpful.

[@jbone9900]

Tell it to Amazon ceo who loves to abuse workers.

[@kathieharine5982]

People could end the stupidity.

[@harrismonica44]

The gap, is even wider between the haves and have nots than during the “Guilded Age”… hello!

[@EyeC_33]

All this gilded bull💩 and we still ain’t learn😔 “Our selfishness and greed will be the catalyst for our destruction!” - quote by: Me

[@l.h.tnguyen4916]

who are the billionaire class supporting, like Musk? Republicans. And the will send us into another depression.

[@eparris2908]

Educate yourself already. The Great Depression was deliberately caused by the Progressives, aka Democrats. As were ALL of the wars, recessions, death of the middle class, and worse. Literally 99% of the top elites in power and money are ALL DEMOCRATS.

[@darrtrubb]

Interesting fact: CNN’s Anderson Cooper is a Vanderbilt, on his mother’s side.