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Comment by c_crank | Hacker News Reader

Reality: Americans have not been ruled by the superhero-like ultra rich for decades, and are starting to notice that little is improving and much is getting worse.

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I think a lot improved for the countless people who got medicaid.

When you assert something hasn't improved, it tells me it hasnt improved according to your personal criteria. I suspect those dont cover the wellfare and health of your society.

How many people would be willing to trade medicaid for something as simple as inflation reduction, I wonder?

That's because the ultra-rich figured out how to buy the politicians, so they're not the ones "in charge" and don't take the blame.

The politicians the ultra rich buy are the ones pushing policy in the opposite direction of Elon Musk.

.... I looked back to the very root comment for any mention of Musk. Why did you mention him? What relevance does he have? What point are you trying to make?

For as much as any man in 21st century America can claim to stand for the position of the superhero rich man trying to dictate policy in favor of industry, he does. He argues for less regulation, less taxes, even such quaint things like free speech. But the rich can also stand for the opposite of those things, as the Rockefeller trust and the Bill Gates fund do.

I'll just point to basically everything that's happened at Twitter as an example of bad policy, including the 'free speech' he promised except not really. He's also dialing labor laws back by a century or two with the pressure he put on people to sleep in the office, even setting up beds that were in violation of building code.

Pedo Guy Space Karen is not the billionaire superhero you want him to be, so simp for him elsewhere.

I'm not assigning any moral value by calling him a 'superhero' only pointing out that he can represent a side, and that side does not even hold the majority of the wealthy.

Calling him a superhero assigns him the moral value of things generally considered "good", which is quite an assumption to make about Pedo Guy Space Karen WeChat2 Wannabe. He represents the non-billionaire cohort about as well and faithfully as Trump did. 'Kill your heroes' and you'll be better off.

>Calling him a superhero assigns him the moral value of things generally considered "good"

Perhaps to braindead fans of the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

I didn't try and push the term. It was used by people further up in the thread.

>He represents the non-billionaire cohort about as well and faithfully as Trump did.

But the question is not about how he represents the non billionaire cohort, is it?

If the question is about how well he represents the billionaire cohort then he's an embarrassing exaggeration yet still based on truth.

Aren't all recent US presidents ultra-rich?

No. Most were in the $1-10 million net worth range before taking office. Former presidents, of course, can easily make tens of millions on book sales and speaking fees. But that's still small time compared to the owners of major firms.

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