I saw this going viral: Inside the opulent world of six-figure kids birthday parties in Silicon Valley.
So much for ‘civil war 2.0’ or the economic or societal collapse everyone has been promising or predicting for the past 10 years. The rich as are as indulgent and insular as ever, and act with impunity. People keep expecting that there will be some sort of collapse or upheaval or the ‘old order’ due to the complacency of elites or ‘people having had enough’, and they keep being wrong.
The rich don’t have to worry about appearing out of touch, when that is part of their appeal/brand, but also no one cares that they behave that way. Ultra-rich people like Andrew Tate are hugely popular and built brands by living extravagantly.
Also, there is this narrative or wishful thinking that somehow after some threshold is crossed, that the public will stop consuming out of protest, but this is clearly not the case. Instead, the public has shown a remarkable ability or willingness to adapt. We live in an era where spending $100 on lunch is an afterthought, as much as people may complain about food inflation or blame politicians for it. Dropping $40 at Chipotle has become just another luxury or premium experience.
Comparisons to America being like ‘Rome 2.0’ or the final stage of the Roman Empire will keep coming up short. Rome was surrounded by threats, unlike America, which is head and shoulders above its rivals, who are more interested in trade and consumerism instead of conquest.
So America’s patrician-class has little to lose sleep about, whether it’s civil war, uprising, or collapse. The only possible threat I can see is if the homelessness or crime situation gets bad enough that it encroaches on their turf. The rich spend considerable money to self-segregate from the masses, like private schools, gated communities, vacation retreats, and so on. But at some point, there may be nowhere for them to go.