The ways the powerful insulate themselves from the problems they cause:

[1932]

I just want to see if I can list a few of these:

- Gated Communities save the powerful from having deal with blighted communties and the poverty and the insecurity created by having so many poor and desperate people who have so little in a society that gives so much to so few.

- Private schools mean the powerful don't have to send their children to the public schools they're underfunding.

- Bottled water means the powerful don't have to drink the water they're contaminating through industrial activity and underfunded public infrastructure.

- Expensive private health insurance that only the powerful can afford means that they don't have to worry about how crappy medicare and medicaid is, and it means they don't have to confront the real costs of illness.

- Imperial wars: poor people fight and die to secure the markets that make the powerful even more powerful.

Anything else?

[ret5hd]

1. all i know is...

that someeday those gates may be locked...from the outside.

then that bottled water and healthcare might be hard to come by.

[RazzleDazzle]

2. One of the original ways

at least in modern times -- "the other (right or wrong) side of the tracks"

As you intimate, it's very helpful not to have to SEE the impoverished, the disadvantaged, the poor and helpless.

[ProfessorPlum]

3. They can't fully protect their kids and themselves

from the crappy air quality they are generating . . .

but if we start seeing air tanks and breathing masks becoming chic among the jet set, we'll know we're screwed.

[1932]

7. They can move out to the suburbs, or buy houses in Aspen and ranches

in Montana to avoid the polution (and they'll drive their SUVs to get there).

[MadHound]

4. Rising energy prices, the poor pay through the nose

While the rich and powerful, like Bush and Cheney, have state of the art alternative energy sources, wind, solar, and woodburning, installed on their personal ranches.

[ProfessorPlum]

5. They've also rigged the court system

so that little people can't demand redress from the rich and powerful when they've been harmed. That's called tort reform.

[CrispyQ]

6. A few more

- The rich can afford eco-houses like Crawford Ranch. A good portion of their energy is solar powered, they re-use their grey water to water their garden. They will be the first to have the new hybrid SUVs because they can afford them.

- The rich will always be able to afford organics (assuming they don't strip the organic standards to nothing!). Even then, they will have gardeners to tend to their private organic gardens.

- The rich have access to better health, simply through better food & water. Also less stress -- don't have to worry about where the next meal is coming from.


Yes, they better be careful or the masses will revolt. I don't care how high their fences are or how secluded they are, when the masses get hungry & cold enough, they will storm those gated communities with pitch forks & torches & then the rich will find out that the essence of life is not material wealth, but time, & theirs will be in short supply.

[schmuls]

8. The rich and powerful can buy themselves out of the crimes

they commit.

[CrispyQ]

9. Good one! ~eom

[Horse with no Name]

10. The wealthy will ALWAYS be able to obtain safe abortions

for themselves and their families.

[Yollam]

11. You can be happy to know...

That bottled water is totally unregulated and often LESS pure than tap water, with a good filter, almost any tap water is better than the overpriced bottled crap.