The Epstein class needs a desperate precariat living in favelas to scare the middle class into working more for less. $50T of wealth transfer upward since the 1971 Powell memo[0] and the introduction of so-called "trickle-down economics" of neoliberalism, the liquidation of the middle class has been the primary goal and wildly successful. No amount of voting for neoliberal Democrats or Republicans, two sides beholden to the same master, would ever change anything apart from the momentary blip that was Carter because there were very few politicians interested in We the People for 45 years. Corporate and capital gains tax cuts and non-enforcement of anti-trust laws led to perverse incentives that cut wages, drove offshoring, stock buybacks, and the rise of extreme wealth and inequality, and megacorps.

0. https://archive.org/details/PowellMemorandum-AttackOnAmerica...