US is seen as a bigger threat to democracy around the world than Russia or China, new poll finds

[Right To Left]

So, who is the greatest threat to world peace and security today? Russia, China, Iran, North Korea? NO, not according to most people living outside the US!

 

US is seen as a bigger threat to democracy around the world than Russia or China, new poll finds

 

After four years of Donald Trump and rising political extremism in the United States, America is no longer the beacon of democracy it once was. At least according to a new poll that has found the US is perceived as a bigger threat to democracy than Russia and China.

Inequality is believed to be the biggest hindrance to democracy, but in the US, tech companies and their power is also seen as a threat.

The poll was commissioned by the Alliance of Democracies Foundation and they gathered data from 50,000 people in 53 countries.

The survey shows that democracy still gets high marks, even though people who live in democratic nations are more likely to have negative views of their government’s response to the coronavirus pandemic, compared to people who live in countries with less democracy.

The outcomes of the poll might prove difficult reading for the G7 nations as they conclude their London talks as they perceive themselves to be the guardians of democratic values and those that fight more authoritarian governments.

The survey was conducted between February and April, so the results may have been stained by the reputation left by Mr Trump. The survey did, however, acknowledge that the US’ reputation was improving since Mr Trump left office.

The most astonishing takeaway was that 44 per cent of those who took part in the survey view the US as a threat to their country’s democracy. Thirty-eight per cent of respondents fear the same from China, and Russia is at 28 per cent.

In a year, the view that the United States is a threat to global democracy rose greatly. The highest increase was in Germany and China.

Respondents from Russia and China had the most negative view of the US and the supposed threat they represented, followed by European countries.

The poll showed that democracy was still important to people across the world, with 81 per cent saying so. Only 53 per cent of people said their country was democratic regardless over whether the country actually was considered as such.

Aside from Egypt and Saudi Arabia, each country polled said that inequality was a greater threat than freedom of speech crackdowns.

Chair of the Alliance of Democracies Foundation, former Nato chief and Danish Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen said, “This poll shows that democracy is still alive in people’s hearts and minds. We now need to come out of the Covid-19 pandemic by delivering more democracy and freedom to people who want to see their countries become more democratic.

“The positive support for an Alliance of Democracies, whether it the UK’s D10 initiative or President Biden’s Summit for Democracy, shows that people want more cooperation to push back against the autocrats. Leaders should take note of these perceptions and act upon them.”    https://news.yahoo.com/us-seen-bigger-threat-democracy-175547059.html

[OftenWrong]

Sorry, I don't read Chinese.

[Right To Left]

3 hours ago, OftenWrong said:

Sorry, I don't read Chinese.

If you stopped at "I don't read," that would have been more on point.

[Right To Left]

If I can post a clear reason why the rest of the world is sick and tired of US hypocrisy and plundering, Glenn Greenwald captures it today:

Antony Blinken Continues to Lecture the World on Values His Administration Aggressively Violates

Continuing his world tour doling out righteous lectures to the world, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Thursday proclaimed — in a sermon you have to hear to believe — that few things are more sacred in a democracy than “independent journalism.” Speaking to Radio Free Europe, Blinken paid homage to "World Press Freedom Day”; claimed that “the United States stands strongly with independent journalism”; explained that "the foundation of any democratic system” entails "holding leaders accountable” and “informing citizens"; and warned that “countries that deny freedom of the press are countries that don't have a lot of confidence in themselves or in their systems.”

The rhetorical cherry on top of that cake came when he posed this question: "What is to be afraid of in informing the people and holding leaders accountable?” The Secretary of State then issued this vow: “Everywhere journalism and freedom of the press is challenged, we will stand with journalists and with that freedom.” Since I know that I would be extremely skeptical if someone told me that those words had just come out Blinken's mouth, I present you here with the unedited one-minute-fifty-two-second video clip of him saying exactly this: https://youtu.be/jzbJEij9oFs

 Needless to say - when this shit is on the US/NATO equivalent of Pravda, the host is not going to say "what about Julian Assange?" 

I had no idea who or what a 'blinkin' was before the big rollout for Biden's cabinet appointments. He was apparently Shillary's most trusted adviser...which means that the other "women in the room" - Susan Rice and Samantha Power were less trusted. Then again, that makes a lot of sense! But who got the idea that this evil looking, black-eyed bastard was the perfect public face for the Biden Administration to represent the US Government to the rest of the world?

Edited May 10, 2021 by Right To Left

[WestCanMan]

22 hours ago, Right To Left said:

So, who is the greatest threat to world peace and security today? Russia, China, Iran, North Korea? NO, not according to most people living outside the US!

 

US is seen as a bigger threat to democracy around the world than Russia or China, new poll finds

 

After four years of Donald Trump and rising political extremism in the United States, America is no longer the beacon of democracy it once was. At least according to a new poll that has found the US is perceived as a bigger threat to democracy than Russia and China.

Inequality is believed to be the biggest hindrance to democracy, but in the US, tech companies and their power is also seen as a threat.

 

1) Your own quote referenced "peace and security", the article doesn't mention those things at all. You could have just as easily posted this article and asked who was the biggest threat to the world's ice cream supply. 

2) The 'poll' was from after the inauguration, so you can ignore Yahoo news's ridiculous spin - the people of the world in Feb 2021 were looking straight at the sitting POTUS and the Dems' undemocratic actions of the past 5 years. IE the Dems' litany of new election fraud friendly policies, the Dems' recent history of election cheating (Hillary got caught cheating 3 times on the last election), the collusion witch hunt, the fact that the FBI was exposed as a partisan political tool [not unlike the KGB] over the past four years, the fact the Dems are such massive hypocrites about election interference (it's well-known that Americans try to influence elections all over the planet but the Dems went apoplectic about some low-budget FB ads), the fact that the Dems used Antifa anarchists and BLM terrorists like their own private militia (you know that the Dems and their MSM called extremely violent and costly riots 'mostly peaceful', it doesn't get much more undemocratic than using domestic terrorism to influence political change), and the fact that big tech worked so hard and in such a blatantly biased manner to influence the election in favour of the Dems, and big tech is specifically named in the article as a threat to democracy. 

3) Regarding the outward appearance of democracy, and ignoring everything else, Demmies in the US can act like they know the election was fair and square, but the rest of the world saw dozens of Trump rallies with 20,000+ people in them and just a handful of Biden rallies, none of which scrounged up more than 200 people. From the outside, something about US 'democracy' under the demonrats is very fishy.

 

P.S. - I'm pretty sure that it's against forum rules to copy and paste a whole article. I don't care personally, and I'm not going to rat you out, it's just an fyi. You might want to check into it.

Sorry about the truth bombs. Lots of people don't appreciate my candor. Oh well. 

[Right To Left]

1 hour ago, WestCanMan said:

 

P.S. - I'm pretty sure that it's against forum rules to copy and paste a whole article. I don't care personally, and I'm not going to rat you out, it's just an fyi. You might want to check into it.

 

btw I didn't copy the whole article!  Just the parts that are relevant to the topic.

Quote

Sorry about the truth bombs. Lots of people don't appreciate my candor. Oh well. 

"truth bombs"  sure, call them that if you want to! You think everyone in the world all of a sudden shifted focus from Trump to Biden in Feb. of this year? Your truth bombs are just another sign that the cocoon you've constructed is almost sealed tight with you inside!

[Right To Left]

1 hour ago, WestCanMan said:

 

1) Your own quote referenced "peace and security", the article doesn't mention those things at all. You could have just as easily posted this article and asked who was the biggest threat to the world's ice cream supply. 

 

Click on the hyperlink "Alliance of Democracies Foundation"  in the Yahoo News artiicle and take a look at the chart they posted titled "Threats to Democracy" and look at the ratings of "US influence" and compare with Russian and Chinese influence. The data is available at the download tab that offers a closer look at how they made up their Democracy Perceptions chart. So, whether you agree or disagree, it's all there!

Edited May 10, 2021 by Right To Left

[WestCanMan]

17 hours ago, Right To Left said:

"truth bombs"  sure, call them that if you want to! You think everyone in the world all of a sudden shifted focus from Trump to Biden in Feb. of this year? Your truth bombs are just another sign that the cocoon you've constructed is almost sealed tight with you inside!

Geez RTL, maybe people were basing their current opinion on what the US was like in 1873, or 1912. I never thought of that lol. 

Of course they're thinking of the current POTUS, the Dems' recent history of election cheating, the politicization of the FBI, the Dems' use of violent militias, and the power that big tech is exercised over the last election. That was even cited in the article, and Biden is quickly rewarding big tech execs with gov't positions. 

Do I care how Yahoo "News" chose to spin this? Of course not.

Ergo, the truth bombs. 

[WestCanMan]

17 hours ago, Right To Left said:

Click on the hyperlink "Alliance of Democracies Foundation"  in the Yahoo News artiicle and take a look at the chart they posted titled "Threats to Democracy" and look at the ratings of "US influence" and compare with Russian and Chinese influence. The data is available at the download tab that offers a closer look at how they made up their Democracy Perceptions chart. So, whether you agree or disagree, it's all there!

OMFG! So you still don't get it???? DUUHHHHH!

"Threats to democracy" means just that. It doesn't mean threats to "security or peace". 

Believe me, the Dems intend to have nothing but peace and compliance all across the board. They are silencing dissent everywhere to ensure it. But at the very same time, they are putting and end to democracy. 

[Right To Left]

59 minutes ago, WestCanMan said:

OMFG! So you still don't get it???? DUUHHHHH!

"Threats to democracy" means just that. It doesn't mean threats to "security or peace". 

Believe me, the Dems intend to have nothing but peace and compliance all across the board. They are silencing dissent everywhere to ensure it. But at the very same time, they are putting and end to democracy. 

How is a 'threat to democracy' NOT a perception of a security threat by others living outside of the American bubble?

Even a lot of Canadians who, in spite of our controlled corporate media and next to useless CBC, are aware that we are also exploited by US finance and business! Every time a Canadian-based business or industry gains a competitive advantage, the US Chamber of Commerce orders their hounds to go out on the attack, threatening Canadian industries with countervailing sanctions! Then it takes months or years before the sanctions are removed...usually after businesses close down and move, and the unjustified seizure is never returned to Canadian sources. And neither Liberal nor especially CONservative Prime Ministers will make an issue of it.

So, every time the US attacks Canadian softwood lumber, for example, for no justifiable reasons other than attempts to protect their declining and less efficient lumber suppliers, the charges are spurious and cost our government big money in legal fees to appeal the case to the WTO and attempt to roll back.

And by the time it goes to what passes for a court trial and it's all said and done months or years later, the issue is forgotten and the Canadian firms won't see a dime of the money they've lost, unless they live another 100 years or so! Rinse and repeat! Because US trade negotiators say every time at the end of the WTO hearings that the decision was wrong or unfair...."your subsidies are worse than our subsidies etc." and they are just waiting to spring the trap on us to permanently keep us under their thumb! It won't be lumber this year for sure, but some other Canadian industry will be under attack until lumber's turn comes back up in a couple of years from now! Why didn't we bite the bullet 40 years ago, when all this shit was building up, and pay the cost of having a truly independent nation not controlled by a giant, evil capitalist monster devouring everything in sight!?

[WestCanMan]

2 hours ago, Right To Left said:

How is a 'threat to democracy' NOT a perception of a security threat by others living outside of the American bubble?

America was a model of democracy. Countries that operated like functioning democracies always knew that they had the United States backing them up.
 

America is no longer a model of democracy. It operates like a banana republic and big tech, the FBI and the MSM are complicit in America’s undoing. 
 

The reason that America threatens world democracy is that the way that their big tech (along with the MSM and the FBI) was weaponized as a tool for one-party rule and socialist government in America, it can be easily be used to do the exact same thing in other countries. 
 

Biden brought execs from those companies right on into the WH to form part of his government. They openly work for the US government.

 

The Dems’ complete lack of scruples, their dedication to fraud-friendly election policies and their total domination of big tech is a threat to the possibility of legitimate elections all over the world. 
 

The Democrats actually do pose a threat to world security, in that they are economically and militarily very weak, but that was not the point of the article that you cited.

[Right To Left]

1 hour ago, WestCanMan said:

America was a model of democracy. Countries that operated like functioning democracies always knew that they had the United States backing them up.

Exactly how long ago was that? Cause I can think of several times in history when the US overthrew democratically elected governments to install a puppet dictator because of political/business interests: Arbens in Guatemala, Mossadegh replaced with the Shah of Iran, the elected communist government of Salvador Allende in Chile - replaced by the genocidal fascist - Pinochet, which Chileans are still trying to get out from under today....and so many more. 

Quote

America is no longer a model of democracy. It operates like a banana republic and big tech, the FBI and the MSM are complicit in America’s undoing. 

They realized it was a good investment to buy up politicians of both parties along with MSM as they worked towards solidifying their monopolies. They're following the principles of capitalism, so it should have been expected! If they were trying to function for the public good, they would have been violating those principles of focusing on shareholder wealth.

Quote

 

 

The reason that America threatens world democracy is that the way that their big tech (along with the MSM and the FBI) was weaponized as a tool for one-party rule and socialist government in America, it can be easily be used to do the exact same thing in other countries. 

 

One party with two faces. But neither one is socialist by any conceivable definition. Since socialism means acting on behalf of the people's best interests/not the profits of a selfish minority.

Quote

Biden brought execs from those companies right on into the WH to form part of his government. They openly work for the US government.

 

And they have all of these wonderful ideas on how they can 'work with government for mutual advantage.'

Quote

The Dems’ complete lack of scruples, their dedication to fraud-friendly election policies and their total domination of big tech is a threat to the possibility of legitimate elections all over the world. 

The GOP has no high ground on any of these issues. When some of their egghead advisers started confronting the leaders with realities from increasingly bad demographics 20 or more years ago  - declining white portion of voters, the leaders decided to double down on whiteness instead of looking for ways to enlarge their brand. So, Republican governors all across America crosscheck names off the voter lists who are likely black or brown or some other non-Republican minority to keep their states under Republican control. 

Quote

The Democrats actually do pose a threat to world security, in that they are economically and militarily very weak, but that was not the point of the article that you cited.

The poiint mentioned several times is that most people polled in the 53 countries examined don't really see much of a difference other than style, between Trump and Biden. There's been a continuity of governance that betrays the fact that most of the decisions and business of government are made by the legendary "deep state" working in a number of government departments and not subject to public scrutiny or removal like the elected officials are every two to six years.

 

[WestCanMan]

40 minutes ago, Right To Left said:

Exactly how long ago was that? Cause I can think of several times in history when the US overthrew democratically elected governments 

Yup, but you're not making the case tat anything changed then, are you? Wasn't that article supposed to somehow paint Trump as the original sinner? Didn't things suddenly take a dark turn in January of 2017? 

Quote

The poiint mentioned several times is that most people polled in the 53 countries examined don't really see much of a difference other than style, between Trump and Biden. There's been a continuity of governance that betrays the fact that most of the decisions and business of government are made by the legendary "deep state" working in a number of government departments and not subject to public scrutiny or removal like the elected officials are every two to six years.

Nothing that you're saying makes that poll about "peace and security", nor does it make that poll a reflection of anything to do with Trump. Do you understand that RTL?

The main thing that the people in the poll specifically cited was big tech:

Quote

but in the US, tech companies and their power is also seen as a threat.

... which is undisputedly in the corner of Joe Biden and the Dems. 

Do you get it? Big Tech blatantly mauled, molested and perverted democracy, and it was all for the Dems. Not for Trump. The author of that article tried to make the poll into an attack on Trump she failed miserably, now you're trying to turn that poll into something completely different again.

The poll doesn't mean what you really wish it meant, RTL. So what? You can always talk about the 2 hrs of rioting, by less than 200 people, if you want to attack Trump. Or you can just talk about other things. Just don't bring fiction here and dress it up like a damning historical account of something. 

[Right To Left]

On 5/11/2021 at 6:42 PM, WestCanMan said:

Yup, but you're not making the case tat anything changed then, are you? Wasn't that article supposed to somehow paint Trump as the original sinner? Didn't things suddenly take a dark turn in January of 2017? 

If it was, this Yahoo News piece gives the impression that people living in other countries don't see the big difference between Trump and Biden that Americans seem to believe! 

Too bad so much of what qualifies as 'journalism' today is stuck behind paywalls. And open sources like Yahoo and MSN only report the briefest takes on the original story, so I can't say you got it wrong here. 

But, the few comments included in the original show many who answered the polling questions are looking back 20 years or more at the entire "War On Terror" episode, and not just brief snippets about who happened to be in the White House at the time. That's the American obsession!

Quote

Nothing that you're saying makes that poll about "peace and security", nor does it make that poll a reflection of anything to do with Trump. Do you understand that RTL?

I understand the numbers that agree with US as the greatest threat to democracy is higher than China and Russia, and even slightly higher than a vague "foreign" interference tag, and only slightly lower than "big tech". And did you notice that the #1 threat to democracy according to polled results was economic inequality?

Quote

The main thing that the people in the poll specifically cited was big tech:

NO, read it again! Big Tech was #4, though I would agree with it being higher!

Quote

... which is undisputedly in the corner of Joe Biden and the Dems. 

Which is also a sign of how stupid Trump and his advisers were! Because he made it possible for them to cash in big time during his four years as president. And only at the end, when it was too late, did he threaten to go after the FAANGS monopolists. Which may have been impossible anyway, cause it would entail an major ideological readjustment or reboot of capitalist dogma. 

Quote

Do you get it? Big Tech blatantly mauled, molested and perverted democracy, and it was all for the Dems. Not for Trump. The author of that article tried to make the poll into an attack on Trump she failed miserably, now you're trying to turn that poll into something completely different again.

Yes, I get it! That's why they played their cards close until after they stabbed Trump in the back! 

Quote

The poll doesn't mean what you really wish it meant, RTL. So what? You can always talk about the 2 hrs of rioting, by less than 200 people, if you want to attack Trump. Or you can just talk about other things. Just don't bring fiction here and dress it up like a damning historical account of something. 

The poll shows a majority of people in the world can see through the bullshit propaganda that so many people over here are marinating in on an almost daily basis! Maybe because they are further away from our MSM and have some other sources of information. 

Their concerns are with the threats to democracy in their own countries....not whatever the hell is going on in the US!

[WestCanMan]

1 hour ago, Right To Left said:

NO, read it again! Big Tech was #4, though I would agree with it being higher!

If you realize that 'income inequality' was a bullshit response (because 1) destroying the middle class is the surest way to create income inequality, which is a primary goal of Biden and other leftists and 2) being poor in the US, aside from in Democrat states, isn't nearly as bad as it is in most other countries on earth), big tech is the only thing cited that  points at America. 

Quote

Yes, I get it! That's why they played their cards close until after they stabbed Trump in the back! 

Not at all. Conservatives were well aware of shadow banning, the false/discriminatory use of fact-checking, etc but it took a long time for the rest of the world to be forced to acknowledge it. It took some very big, high-profile, clear-cut cases to out big tech as election manipulators.

Quote

The poll shows a majority of people in the world can see through the bullshit propaganda that so many people over here are marinating in on an almost daily basis! Maybe because they are further away from our MSM and have some other sources of information. 

Almost 50% of people can't see past propaganda, and this poll is nothing more than an indictment of how piss poor the new POTUS is.

Quote

Their concerns are with the threats to democracy in their own countries....not whatever the hell is going on in the US!

Au contraire. People wouldn't be concerned with "America's threat to democracy" if they didn't know what was going on there.... Make sense? 

 

[Right To Left]

15 hours ago, WestCanMan said:

If you realize that 'income inequality' was a bullshit response (because 1) destroying the middle class is the surest way to create income inequality, which is a primary goal of Biden and other leftists and 2) being poor in the US, aside from in Democrat states, isn't nearly as bad as it is in most other countries on earth), big tech is the only thing cited that  points at America. 

This response makes no sense!  Who realized income inequality was a bullshit response?  Income inequality is at the root of every social crisis going on in America today, including increased violence and gun crimes, suicide, increased cancer and heart disease and mortality, mental stress and mental illness, rising drug dependence....everything bad increases the more economically unequal a society becomes! 

And that site is focused on the US specifically, but the same trends show nations with rising levels of neoliberal-caused inequality are making Canada, Europe and various third world nations under the sway of neoliberal policy goals share the same dysfunctions!

It should have been expected! How can you expect any nation or society to have a sense of cohesion or common purpose if the population is atomized and subdivided into smaller and smaller groups measured by wealth and income? That ma be why rightwingers try to fake it with all their flags and attempts to project patriotism. Same shit goes on at football or even hockey and baseball games...which I have never made sense of even when I watched a lot more sports than now.  Why should I give a crap about whether the local team wins the Cup or the Superbowl? Rarely are any of the players from the same town or even area; and the team is owned by a multibillionaire whose only option to feel like one of the jocks and get interviewed like he's part of the winning team, is to put down his money and buy it!

So, income inequality is not only important...it outweighs everything else on every list of what can be good or bad about any society!

[WestCanMan]

4 hours ago, Right To Left said:

This response makes no sense!  Who realized income inequality was a bullshit response?  Income inequality is at the root of every social crisis going on in America today, including increased violence and gun crimes, suicide, increased cancer and heart disease and mortality, mental stress and mental illness, rising drug dependence....everything bad increases the more economically unequal a society becomes! 

And that site is focused on the US specifically, but the same trends show nations with rising levels of neoliberal-caused inequality are making Canada, Europe and various third world nations under the sway of neoliberal policy goals share the same dysfunctions!

It should have been expected! How can you expect any nation or society to have a sense of cohesion or common purpose if the population is atomized and subdivided into smaller and smaller groups measured by wealth and income? That ma be why rightwingers try to fake it with all their flags and attempts to project patriotism. Same shit goes on at football or even hockey and baseball games...which I have never made sense of even when I watched a lot more sports than now.  Why should I give a crap about whether the local team wins the Cup or the Superbowl? Rarely are any of the players from the same town or even area; and the team is owned by a multibillionaire whose only option to feel like one of the jocks and get interviewed like he's part of the winning team, is to put down his money and buy it!

So, income inequality is not only important...it outweighs everything else on every list of what can be good or bad about any society!

Income inequality is absolutely normal, and is less of a factor in a healthy capitalist society than anywhere else throughout history. Go check it out for yourself.

The problem with being poor in America now is that there's extreme competition for low-end housing now because there's so much illegal immigration. It's not like homelessness didn't exist 6 months ago, and now there are 180,000 people apprehended at the border every month, plus all the people who slip by. 

That's a whole new wave of abject poverty, plus the fact that Americans looking for low-end housing and low-end jobs have huge competition now. It drives up the cost of housing while driving down wages at the same time. Add to that the fact that the prices of lumber, gas and food are also going up. 

The $15/hr bullshit that Dems are talking about is completely destroyed by the fact that they are undermining low income families every day with their open border policy. If wages do eventually get there it will happen despite the fact that it's lagging behind inflation. 

America is becoming a shithole, just like every Dem-controlled state already is one. 

[Right To Left]

20 hours ago, WestCanMan said:

Income inequality is absolutely normal, and is less of a factor in a healthy capitalist society than anywhere else throughout history. Go check it out for yourself.

The problem with being poor in America now is that there's extreme competition for low-end housing now because there's so much illegal immigration. It's not like homelessness didn't exist 6 months ago, and now there are 180,000 people apprehended at the border every month, plus all the people who slip by. 

That's a whole new wave of abject poverty, plus the fact that Americans looking for low-end housing and low-end jobs have huge competition now. It drives up the cost of housing while driving down wages at the same time. Add to that the fact that the prices of lumber, gas and food are also going up. 

The $15/hr bullshit that Dems are talking about is completely destroyed by the fact that they are undermining low income families every day with their open border policy. If wages do eventually get there it will happen despite the fact that it's lagging behind inflation. 

America is becoming a shithole, just like every Dem-controlled state already is one. 

Once again, you post up another comment that's all scatter shot and goes all over the place! 

If I can reign it in a bit, the reason why inequality and hatred of the extreme rich has broken through as an MSM story after some 30 odd years of 'TINA' or perhaps liberals falling back to a fudging around the boundaries position (which is what $15 per hour is!) is because most people in the middle and closer to the bottom still believed that if they work hard enough, they will be able to buy that house and a few luxuries to show off to friends (and virtual friends in the Facebook era), so if MSM didn't say bad things about the new tech billionaires, everybody believed the bullshit about Gates, Zuckerberg, Bezos...new kid on the block - Elon, and let's not forget the comparatively more secretive banking oligarchs like Jamie Dimon, who are part of a cabal who rig the rules of the money game by handing the politicos of both parties a shockingly small cut of the action....compared to the services they provide for Wall Street!

All of Gates's PR fluffing of his image with bullshit story after story about the fake benevolence of the Foundation that bears the names of him and his wife, came crashing down in recent months as details leaked out about their divorce and how much actual charity they do.

And worse, Gates would have been under rightwing attack automatically for being on the vanguard of the international vaccination campaign...which has really been about privatizing and profiting from vaccine research, development and production. When Gates gets up on stage and spews talking points about why patent 'rights' are more important than people's lives, it gets harder and harder for his PR team to spin his bullshit in a positive direction....even with all of the MSM and Democratic Party help available!

At the base of the pyramid, there may not be as much focus on what the superrich minority who run the world are doing to the rest of us, but when people already struggling with minimum pay jobs find that they can no longer earn enough to afford rising rents pushed up by tons of free money sloshing around in the economy and worried about ending up out on the street with the growing army of homeless living in tents and pushing their belongings around in shopping carts! Bad enough if you're single, but what of the mothers and families with children, who have been evicted? Once the Biden and Trudeau celebrations of "beating the pandemic" are over, there are millions living in Canada and the United States who have been watching their debt levels increase and will have no chance of paying backrent owed or moving in to a different apartment. And then there's medical, student debt also that's hainging over a lot of people's heads!

So, all in all, this is why there are revolutions every so often in history in the past 500 years or so! In earlier feudal times, when economies were static and people stayed in place...literally and figuratively, it was taken as a given that the more privileged nobles who occupied the manor houses and had servants looking after their needs, deserved or didn't deserve their privileges, BUT that's where they were and would stay, while the rest of us would stay in our small houses, and plowing the fields, along with doing other work demanded, and just hoping and praying to grow enough food each season to feed our families and provide the 'tax' assessed by the lord of the manor. 

Since the peasants were 'subjects' of the manor, the lords had a reciprocal set of obligations to provide for the necessities of all of the people under their rule. When that part of the agreement started breaking down in the middle ages, due to the Plague, the rise of the independent tradesmen and women as the first 'middle' class, or invasions, then peasants started demanding a better return for their work.

The first rebellions in England were anarchist or libertarian - by The Diggers and Levelers more broadly - peasants who demanded the right to unused land and to set up independent cooperative farms with their fellows, instead of having their produce taxed away by someone claiming the right to rule over them.  

It was a few centuries later, before middle class educated men like Marx, Engels and many other philosophers started trying to develop theories on how economies should be managed. And like it or not, when Karl Marx studied the principles of how the newer economic system of capitalism actually functioned, he was able to explain that capitalists work towards creating monopolies in their sectors, with cooperation if they decide it is better to team up with one or two other enterprising oligarchs. So without a political system to reign in the power of the oligarchs....which is what the Right has been trying to establish for the past 40 years with centrist liberal assistance, there will be riots and eventually revolutions, just as there was 100 to 150 years ago! 

So, in your rant, you rattled off a bunch of news and statistics on stuff that is bad today, like rising commodity prices, without attempting to connect it with favorite rightwing hobby horses like non-white immigrants, rather than connecting rising real estate, rents and commodity prices with the simple fact that if our idiot leaders, like the one in the White House right now, are allowed to create $Trillions in fake, brand new money that never existed before, the bankers who are first to get their hands on this new money in the form of Treasury Bills, and everyone else down the line who gets a cut of the action, is going to try to put that fake created wealth into buying up real assets. So it shouldn't be a surprise to anyone that people at the top and near the top, will buy up condominiums without giving more than a second thought to how they are going to fill them and what they will sell units for! Even if they sit empty, someone who has received free money from on high knows that they will still benefit much more than if they leave cash lying around that could end up worse tomorrow if a few banking runs put the US Dollar and satellite currencies (like ours) in jeopardy! 

But, in the end, I want to take out my frustrations and anger on those at the top of the pyramid, rather than further abuse those at the bottom, like many recent refugees and immigrants who have had to flee their homelands because of what US foreign policy has made their homes unlivable today. The present US administration is doing exactly what the last one did! The only difference is that this stupid old bastard - Biden, has to put on a fake act of benevolence, whereas Trump could let his freak flag fly, and advocate repression and murder directly and unfiltered. And I'll leave it there. I'm starting to forget how I got started on this post anyway!