Right because once the public has real economic power the rich do not so they juice their prices, and meddle in other ways to deflate the buying power; aka inflate prices.
$200k in the 80s would be $600k buying power now. But it’s barely middle class.
Our society is entirely a wealth preservation scheme for people who cannot prove they did the work, they just have political documents of power.
It’s funny since pricing is set based upon social behavior (do we spend that or not and/or should we charge that or not?) capitalism is socialism with obligation to carry around a mind virus that preserves the figurative identity of Bezos and the like; they’re “better” capitalists.
I mean, socialism is capitalism with a mind virus that encourages displays of self-sacrifice, without really eradicating greed. Personally I think hypocrisy is more corrosive than ambition, and bitterness is more corrosive than misplaced hopefulness. (I also don't compare my worth to others based on money, and I don't envy the likes of Bezos. I do enjoy being paid and occasionally buying things that make my life more enjoyable, but certainly not because other people can't afford them; holding a grudge upward or holding a superiority complex downward would be the kind of "mind virus" you describe, but it's totally unnecessary if all you want is to have an enjoyable and productive life in a capitalist society full of fun shit and chances to build things that people in communist societies couldn't have dreamed of).
The thing I love most about Portland is that you can have these intellectual debates almost everywhere you go, really get to hear other people's thought processes based on their personal situations, and understand where they're coming from. I'm by no means a hard-liner; but I spend half my time out in Newberg which has an entirely different set of baked-in assumptions and priorities. I'm as likely to get into deep debates with people there as I am here, but far less likely to get into interesting theoretical territory. At least this place still has the ferment, the ideological exploration and experimentation of one of the 1920s capitals of Europe, as opposed to the stochastic but rigid normie-core preference structure of everywhere else in America. I appreciate that.
We’re just reviewing our prior stats and insuring they do not deviate too much such that the wrong people would be impacted.