I do own a railroad. I bought it for $200. I own Reading Railroad, B&O, and I'm trying to work out a deal to acquire Short Line from my brother in exchange for Vermont Avenue.
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There's a good bunch of people who don't think they are poor but "temporarily inconvenienced bllionaires".
Sounds familiar. With my conservative family members it's always either socialism or islamphobia. Or both.
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It's the dualistic thinking, indoctrination and team/tribalism for their conditional, flimsy identity and esteem. If they learned healthy ways to not attach identity to things like this and to think on up to highest levels, to weigh valid evidence and make informed choices, use Sagan's baloney kit to see all the propaganda and not fall for it.
Artificial scarcity makes stress and people don't think there's time to learn all this to do better, but there are times or must find time for your own benefit. Some of it is chosen ignorance since knowledge is available to all with freedom, cognitive dissonance, cling to bad ways out of obedience and tradition, used to keep people in dualism and compliantly conforming to the box while the owners get richer.
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In my country center left's tax the rich means tax income above 60k.
And because that's against majorities interests they get voted out.
The rich unfortunately bought all the parties. Parlamental democracy is a failure and we need direct votes on each bill. Imagine being able to directly vote on the topics discussed on a weekly or monthly basis via phone.
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What's amazing is that Americans don't live in a purely capitalist state. Nobody does. Every major country in the world has a mix of capitalism and socialism. AFAIK no country has purely private firefighters. UPS and FedEx exist, but so does the national postal service. In many countries various utilities like water, sewer, electrical, etc are publicly owned, but in most places the phone service is private.
China initially went full publicly owned, but it was a disaster, so they now have a mix of public and private. Cuba has had to open up its economy to allow privately owned businesses. Meanwhile, the US learned long ago that purely private is a disaster. Policing used to be private, run by companies like the Pinkertons. Firefighting used to be for-profit only.
90% of people campaigning for "socialism" are talking about European-style socalism, at least as a first step. A social safety net. Healthcare provided by the state. Utilities owned by the state, or at least heavily regulated, etc.
But, Americans, while they love the fire department and couldn't imagine replacing it with a for-profit fire service, somehow think the economy will collapse if the government opens a grocery store.
I am fighting socialism because my father grew up in the FRG and my mother in the GDR, and because I was able to talk to my grandparents on both sides, who lived in the FRG and GDR respectively.
My relatives in the socialist GDR had to work more (more hours per week, less vacation days per year) and could afford less (though technically, affordability wasn't the issue: they had the money, there was just nothing to buy).
My relatives in the west also had more freedom in where they traveled, which media they consumed, and which opinions they voiced.
Don't get me wrong, I hate capitalism too. But change needs to come democratically. Otherwise things get worse, not better.
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