Michelle, you are right. To whom much is given, much is expected. And people like Zuckerberg, Bezos, and Musk have failed dreadfully to live up to expectations and their responsibilities.
I really enjoy reading your work. You understand what's going on and write it so well.Thankyou for allowing us that can't pay subscription fee to be able to read this top tier writing. Hopefully that will change within next 12 months and I can then upgrade to paid. You certainly deserve it .From a reader in Perth, Western Australia.
Hi Michelle you are absolutely right. My thinking is there has got to be a service or product that rich people must have. They, or their children/wife would be devastated or severely inconvenienced if they could not obtain this object or service. Now to figure out what that would be and then we need to tackle that with everything we have. Protests and resistance make us feel good. But it really does nothing to the rich, they don't feel anything. What can we make them feel? What emotion do we want them to feel? If we doggedly focus on this, I think we'll get their attention.
Jst curious. Were you raised in a (literal) trailer or a mobilehome? As I'm sure you know, we mobilehome owners are quite fussy about this distinction for some reason. LOLOL
I was completely unaware that some people prefer to call a trailer a mobile home when I was living in one. :)
Nancy, the manager of the fictional Loire Mobile Home Park in my book The Trailer Park Rules, is extremely particular about this distinction, until at a certain point in the story when she concedes they’re all just trailers.
Once, in my journalist days, I was covering a fire at a trailer park, and a resident came up to me and quite earnestly begged me to me to make sure to call it a mobile home park in the story!
Yeah, that was what she was concerned about in the moment.
Of course, older ones were literal trailers, which could be hauled behind a car with a decent sized engine. Our park was for those, when it was started decades ago. Now, mobile homes require huge trucks to move and as a general rule stay in place during their lifetimes, so "mobile(home)" is a bit of a misnomer, too. Some call them modular homes, but personally, I never cared for that. Sounds like something from a sci-fi movie. LOL
That remains the great question: Why did the oligarchy line up behind Trump? I suspect it is because they assessed the situation and believed they would gain the most from it. I wonder why another Republican wasn't put forward as a viable option this time - one backed by party leaders and elite money. Why did they just go with Trump? While there's a fair amount of luck and circumstance in how guys like Zuck, Bezos, and Elon got really rich, they stay super rich through intention - Joe Biden and Kamala Harris were the first Pres/VP to march on a picket line with a union - UPS (Teamsters) and other unions saw some big gains from 2021-24 - UAW was scoring big wins (like the VW plant in Tennessee) - had Harris won, this trend would likely have continued. The Consumer Bureau was taking a bite out of big-time corporate wrongdoers (like Wells Fargo) - perhaps the oligarchy wanted to avoid responsibility for its actions, and figured (rightly, as it turns out) that Trump would be a welcome aid.
I find class to be such an interesting and complex topic. I'm a perfect example of how weird it can get. My grandmother was very wealthy. My father grew up in mansions with servants. When he was in his twenties he walked away from his family and moved to another continent to start over. He never received any money from his family and when I was born our family was quite poor. Over my childhood, with both my parents working, we managed to get up to a basically middle class level of income and lifestyle. I'm 61 now and the most I've ever made in one year is $30,000. Most people would just look at my income and call me poor or working poor or look at my upbringing and call me middle class. But one thing I've always had is confidence. I attribute that confidence almost completely to my upper class roots even though they were never a part of my life. The effects of class run across generations. I had this conversation with my wife recently and asked her what class she would put me in. Her response was "fallen aristocrat" 😂😂😂
WHETHER or not you are a good person has nothing to do with your wealth. Not all wealthy people support Trump and not all poor people do not support Trump. Everyone has an opinion and usually it is not just based on one's wealth. Religion has a role, age has a role, your sex has a role, your sexual orientation has a role, how tall you are has a role (maybe), whether you like blue better than red or visa versa (maybe). I have nothing against ZUCK, BEZOS, OR MUSK. I neither like them nor hate them. I DO NOT KNOW THEM, so I do not think that I can make a judgement on their character. Character is what is important to me when I decide that someone is a "friend" or not not their wealth or lack of same. The people you mention are NOT elected leaders. They are not religious leaders either. In fact they are not leaders period, they are just wealthy. So What? They can live their lives as they see fit as long as they do NOT violate the law or behave in such a manner that they intentionally or negligently hurt people, whether they are following the law or not.
They have far more power than any elected leader except Trump. And none of us got to vote for any of them.
The fount of power changes through history. It’s been brute force and religion and government. We are skidding into a new phase in which private corporations wield more power than any other entity.
I was talking about individuals and you are adding the threat of private corporations. I am not saying you are wrong. While at least public corporations can be owned by thousands of people, even these PUBLIC corps are NOT controlled by their shareholders but rather by their board of Directors. The fact that an entity is a corporation (public or private) does not mean that they cannot abuse their power, they can and do. There are laws on the books that prevent this huge monolithic corporations whether public or private from abusing their power, but you can make all the rules you want and if these rules are not properly ENFORCED THEY are for all intensive purposes useless. Again the problem is not that there are no laws, the problem is that the laws that do exist are not properly enforced, we as a society have to work on this problem.
Michelle, you are right. To whom much is given, much is expected. And people like Zuckerberg, Bezos, and Musk have failed dreadfully to live up to expectations and their responsibilities.
Thank you. I don't want to say you have a responsibility to speak on this topic, but you do have the opportunity, and I am glad you have taken it.
I really enjoy reading your work. You understand what's going on and write it so well.Thankyou for allowing us that can't pay subscription fee to be able to read this top tier writing. Hopefully that will change within next 12 months and I can then upgrade to paid. You certainly deserve it .From a reader in Perth, Western Australia.
Thank you! Notes like yours make my day.
The Peoria Book Fest is November 15, 2025. Now accepting authors -check out FB page Peoria Book Rack Author/Vendor Page.
Hi Michelle you are absolutely right. My thinking is there has got to be a service or product that rich people must have. They, or their children/wife would be devastated or severely inconvenienced if they could not obtain this object or service. Now to figure out what that would be and then we need to tackle that with everything we have. Protests and resistance make us feel good. But it really does nothing to the rich, they don't feel anything. What can we make them feel? What emotion do we want them to feel? If we doggedly focus on this, I think we'll get their attention.
Jst curious. Were you raised in a (literal) trailer or a mobilehome? As I'm sure you know, we mobilehome owners are quite fussy about this distinction for some reason. LOLOL
I was completely unaware that some people prefer to call a trailer a mobile home when I was living in one. :)
Nancy, the manager of the fictional Loire Mobile Home Park in my book The Trailer Park Rules, is extremely particular about this distinction, until at a certain point in the story when she concedes they’re all just trailers.
Once, in my journalist days, I was covering a fire at a trailer park, and a resident came up to me and quite earnestly begged me to me to make sure to call it a mobile home park in the story!
Yeah, that was what she was concerned about in the moment.
Of course, older ones were literal trailers, which could be hauled behind a car with a decent sized engine. Our park was for those, when it was started decades ago. Now, mobile homes require huge trucks to move and as a general rule stay in place during their lifetimes, so "mobile(home)" is a bit of a misnomer, too. Some call them modular homes, but personally, I never cared for that. Sounds like something from a sci-fi movie. LOL
That remains the great question: Why did the oligarchy line up behind Trump? I suspect it is because they assessed the situation and believed they would gain the most from it. I wonder why another Republican wasn't put forward as a viable option this time - one backed by party leaders and elite money. Why did they just go with Trump? While there's a fair amount of luck and circumstance in how guys like Zuck, Bezos, and Elon got really rich, they stay super rich through intention - Joe Biden and Kamala Harris were the first Pres/VP to march on a picket line with a union - UPS (Teamsters) and other unions saw some big gains from 2021-24 - UAW was scoring big wins (like the VW plant in Tennessee) - had Harris won, this trend would likely have continued. The Consumer Bureau was taking a bite out of big-time corporate wrongdoers (like Wells Fargo) - perhaps the oligarchy wanted to avoid responsibility for its actions, and figured (rightly, as it turns out) that Trump would be a welcome aid.
I find class to be such an interesting and complex topic. I'm a perfect example of how weird it can get. My grandmother was very wealthy. My father grew up in mansions with servants. When he was in his twenties he walked away from his family and moved to another continent to start over. He never received any money from his family and when I was born our family was quite poor. Over my childhood, with both my parents working, we managed to get up to a basically middle class level of income and lifestyle. I'm 61 now and the most I've ever made in one year is $30,000. Most people would just look at my income and call me poor or working poor or look at my upbringing and call me middle class. But one thing I've always had is confidence. I attribute that confidence almost completely to my upper class roots even though they were never a part of my life. The effects of class run across generations. I had this conversation with my wife recently and asked her what class she would put me in. Her response was "fallen aristocrat" 😂😂😂
The megarich like Bezos have failed us by not living up to how they should be advocating for society instead of further personal advancement.
But I think David Brooks was actually correct in stating that the working class liked Trump because he bashed the professional classes routinely .
The professional managerial classes have failed working class people. Trump has sensed that and routinely bashes the PMC to working class approval
Bless you! This is a great post, Michelle. Thank you so much. xo
WHETHER or not you are a good person has nothing to do with your wealth. Not all wealthy people support Trump and not all poor people do not support Trump. Everyone has an opinion and usually it is not just based on one's wealth. Religion has a role, age has a role, your sex has a role, your sexual orientation has a role, how tall you are has a role (maybe), whether you like blue better than red or visa versa (maybe). I have nothing against ZUCK, BEZOS, OR MUSK. I neither like them nor hate them. I DO NOT KNOW THEM, so I do not think that I can make a judgement on their character. Character is what is important to me when I decide that someone is a "friend" or not not their wealth or lack of same. The people you mention are NOT elected leaders. They are not religious leaders either. In fact they are not leaders period, they are just wealthy. So What? They can live their lives as they see fit as long as they do NOT violate the law or behave in such a manner that they intentionally or negligently hurt people, whether they are following the law or not.
They have far more power than any elected leader except Trump. And none of us got to vote for any of them.
The fount of power changes through history. It’s been brute force and religion and government. We are skidding into a new phase in which private corporations wield more power than any other entity.
I was talking about individuals and you are adding the threat of private corporations. I am not saying you are wrong. While at least public corporations can be owned by thousands of people, even these PUBLIC corps are NOT controlled by their shareholders but rather by their board of Directors. The fact that an entity is a corporation (public or private) does not mean that they cannot abuse their power, they can and do. There are laws on the books that prevent this huge monolithic corporations whether public or private from abusing their power, but you can make all the rules you want and if these rules are not properly ENFORCED THEY are for all intensive purposes useless. Again the problem is not that there are no laws, the problem is that the laws that do exist are not properly enforced, we as a society have to work on this problem.
Excellent points!
“I still feel a wave of astonishment roll over me each time I see him speak. This guy? This guy is president? Really? What’s wrong with people?”
There is nothing more to say or write than the above.
What’s wrong with people?