I think banking has changed. It's become truly transnational, to the point of having no national identity, or loyalty. You don't have families like the Mellons anymore, who saw themselves as Americans, and invested heavily in America. The Rockefeller came from that stripe too, they preserved vast stretches of American wilderness, and their responsible for creating Grand Teton National Park.
In the 1901, an American oligarch owned extensive assets in America, and made his money off of Americans. While he may have exploited Americans, he also needed them, both as consumers, and workers. Because of social expectations, he was heavily involved in philanthropy in America.
in 2021, an American oligarch makes his money internationally, and washes his sins by donating money outside of America. Americans remain a profit source, but not the only one, and in some cases, China is a more important customer. If he works in tech, most of his work force is foreign. And not American. In many cases, he also benefits from policies that impoverish poor or middle class Americans - outsourcing and H1B Visas are two examples.
Things go haywire when a ruling class is divorced from the land, and the people they rule. I think that's the defining feature of the new oligarchy, and what makes them so much worse than the people they replaced.
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gnidrologs) rakstīja,
