It amuses me to read about the billionaires building their bunkers so they can survive the apocalypse they have, to a large extent, created. They seem to imagine that the serfs left outside the bunkers will continue to feed and protect them as if they were worker bees serving the queen. I imagine not much time would pass before the supply of food and clean water and even oxygen was cut off and people were dancing on the bunkers like they were graves. Let's save them from that fate by seizing the wealth that deprives them of their humanity.
They are members of a very small, select, financial wealth class that needs dismantling for the greater good.
"fewer than 60,000 multimillionaires and billionaires holding unprecedented financial power, while billions of the world’s poor remain cut off from even basic economic stability."
This is an interesting question. What was his particular motivation for wanting that document? Did someone ask him? 1)To show that he could and thereby signal his power and wealth to continue clinching his membership in the billionaire club? 2)Or was it because, as you suggested, he actually thought about it as a way to symbolically bring back slavery by destroying the document?
Owning the EP and the Basquiat are acts of deliberate desecration. The irony of 'owning' the signed EP is inescapable. Plus aesthetically, someone like Griffin shood be collecting Dutch masters and maybe other Western European art from impressionism on back. 'owning' a modern piece by a black artist (who would have despised Griffin) is, again, an act of desecration.
Not the ultimate point, but per the essay, Griffin bought a copy of the EP, not the actual document. I'm sure there are things that are not for sale, that belong to the country, are in the Library of Congress. The signed Declaration of Independence is not available to the highest bidder. Another small point, it's nice that Griffin lent the painting to the Hirschhorn, so people who appreciate it can stand in front of it and be awed. It does show some recognition of the painting's actual value aside from money.
Another point is that every actual painting (rather than reproduction) we get to see in a museum was bought by someone very rich and donated to the museum. Buying the painting enabled the artist to continue pursuing his/her art. Is there a better way? I don't know. If Basquiat had continued painting on walls people who saw those paintings would have loved them, and eventually they would have been covered by a liquor ad.
"You can stand one foot away from it and peer at the drips and feel the same gravity that held Basquiat to the earth when he painted it in 1982." That's some profound writing, and observation, Hamilton. As we end this year of the snake, and shed those things we no longer need, may society join us by shedding billionaires.
The highest tax bracket is only 37% which means the richest get to just keep getting richer. Of course even that is too much and they hire a small army to shuttle their money around the world, away from prying eyes. It is framed as a great act of generosity (and a savings for them) that we poors get to look at the things they own.
Whenever I hear someone say a politician "bought" an election, I think an important point is being missed. These fucking assholes don't have any power that we don't allow them to have.
Ken Griffin isn't going to beat me to a pulp if I don't vote for his preferred henchmen. He has no magic powers. He can only convince us to punch ourselves in the face. Which seems shockingly easy to do.
I have a rich fantasy life. One favorite fantasy is that some wizard shows up and opens a series of magic portals leading to various parallel Earths, and people can go to the world whose political views most match their own.
What would be more delightful than people having to live with the consequences of their belief systems. I just hope I get to fast forward through the future history of these parallel Earths.
I agree with the premise, that the economic divide is one of the biggest underlying threats to this country. But there are subtleties being missed.
I might be disgusted that Ken Griffin owns a Basquiat. But the art market is an artificial economy anyway. At least he loaned it to the Hirshhorn. I'm also disgusted that Lincoln Center for the Arts is partially funded by one of the Koch brothers. So there's a paradox; the Arts can be appreciated and supported by people who are otherwise not the sort of people we would expect (ie, not "liberal" for lack of a better term). What about George Soros? Or Bill Gates, for that matter, who is not the most sickening of the bunch!
Secondly, why is it even possible for billionaires to win elections spending money? They may be assholes for wanting to, but the system allows it to happen. Needless to say, that system was constructed by people with those same interests (power and money). My old accountant used to recommend checking the "donate $3 to the Federal Campaign Fund" box on the 1040 form as a way to avoid one tiny audit flag! Seems kind of quaint now. Is it too late to fix this?
Spot on about the guiding star. Just want to add this link to aid in the heightening of the awareness level. It cogently notes that the billionaires have an array of think tank simps at the ready to do their malevolent bidding. Know the enemy.
True wealth inequality will be achieved when I can take the few bucks in my wallet and ram them down that motherfuckers throat until he chokes, yelling “Ok,ok, I got it!”
Such a beautiful painting, I see why you love it. When you put a price on the priceless, it’s easy to justify enslavement or healthcare rationing. What is that aside from putting a price on a human soul?
Beautiful ending. Chef's kiss. No notes.
Cosigned.
It amuses me to read about the billionaires building their bunkers so they can survive the apocalypse they have, to a large extent, created. They seem to imagine that the serfs left outside the bunkers will continue to feed and protect them as if they were worker bees serving the queen. I imagine not much time would pass before the supply of food and clean water and even oxygen was cut off and people were dancing on the bunkers like they were graves. Let's save them from that fate by seizing the wealth that deprives them of their humanity.
Its truly for their own good
They are members of a very small, select, financial wealth class that needs dismantling for the greater good.
"fewer than 60,000 multimillionaires and billionaires holding unprecedented financial power, while billions of the world’s poor remain cut off from even basic economic stability."
https://www.democracynow.org/2025/12/11/headlines/report_wealthiest_0001_hold_three_times_more_wealth_than_the_poorest_half_of_humanity
This should be hung in the Lourve then sold to Ken Griffin for sixty billion dollars.
on target, as always, the perversity today puts the Gilded Age to shame...
Did he buy the Emancipation Proclamation so he could tear it up someday and reduce people back to slavery?
This is an interesting question. What was his particular motivation for wanting that document? Did someone ask him? 1)To show that he could and thereby signal his power and wealth to continue clinching his membership in the billionaire club? 2)Or was it because, as you suggested, he actually thought about it as a way to symbolically bring back slavery by destroying the document?
Owning the EP and the Basquiat are acts of deliberate desecration. The irony of 'owning' the signed EP is inescapable. Plus aesthetically, someone like Griffin shood be collecting Dutch masters and maybe other Western European art from impressionism on back. 'owning' a modern piece by a black artist (who would have despised Griffin) is, again, an act of desecration.
Not the ultimate point, but per the essay, Griffin bought a copy of the EP, not the actual document. I'm sure there are things that are not for sale, that belong to the country, are in the Library of Congress. The signed Declaration of Independence is not available to the highest bidder. Another small point, it's nice that Griffin lent the painting to the Hirschhorn, so people who appreciate it can stand in front of it and be awed. It does show some recognition of the painting's actual value aside from money.
Another point is that every actual painting (rather than reproduction) we get to see in a museum was bought by someone very rich and donated to the museum. Buying the painting enabled the artist to continue pursuing his/her art. Is there a better way? I don't know. If Basquiat had continued painting on walls people who saw those paintings would have loved them, and eventually they would have been covered by a liquor ad.
"You can stand one foot away from it and peer at the drips and feel the same gravity that held Basquiat to the earth when he painted it in 1982." That's some profound writing, and observation, Hamilton. As we end this year of the snake, and shed those things we no longer need, may society join us by shedding billionaires.
The highest tax bracket is only 37% which means the richest get to just keep getting richer. Of course even that is too much and they hire a small army to shuttle their money around the world, away from prying eyes. It is framed as a great act of generosity (and a savings for them) that we poors get to look at the things they own.
Whenever I hear someone say a politician "bought" an election, I think an important point is being missed. These fucking assholes don't have any power that we don't allow them to have.
Ken Griffin isn't going to beat me to a pulp if I don't vote for his preferred henchmen. He has no magic powers. He can only convince us to punch ourselves in the face. Which seems shockingly easy to do.
I have a rich fantasy life. One favorite fantasy is that some wizard shows up and opens a series of magic portals leading to various parallel Earths, and people can go to the world whose political views most match their own.
What would be more delightful than people having to live with the consequences of their belief systems. I just hope I get to fast forward through the future history of these parallel Earths.
Imagine Planet Wall Street.
Planet Trump.
Planet Clinton/Obama/Pelosi/Professional Managerial Class.
Planet Osteen.
But once they get there, they can't leave. And they live forever.
Let these people have the worlds they are trying to build. For all eternity.
HamNo, if you keep writing bad things about billionaires, then YOU won’t get to be a billionaire someday. Don’t you understand economics?
I agree with the premise, that the economic divide is one of the biggest underlying threats to this country. But there are subtleties being missed.
I might be disgusted that Ken Griffin owns a Basquiat. But the art market is an artificial economy anyway. At least he loaned it to the Hirshhorn. I'm also disgusted that Lincoln Center for the Arts is partially funded by one of the Koch brothers. So there's a paradox; the Arts can be appreciated and supported by people who are otherwise not the sort of people we would expect (ie, not "liberal" for lack of a better term). What about George Soros? Or Bill Gates, for that matter, who is not the most sickening of the bunch!
Secondly, why is it even possible for billionaires to win elections spending money? They may be assholes for wanting to, but the system allows it to happen. Needless to say, that system was constructed by people with those same interests (power and money). My old accountant used to recommend checking the "donate $3 to the Federal Campaign Fund" box on the 1040 form as a way to avoid one tiny audit flag! Seems kind of quaint now. Is it too late to fix this?
Spot on about the guiding star. Just want to add this link to aid in the heightening of the awareness level. It cogently notes that the billionaires have an array of think tank simps at the ready to do their malevolent bidding. Know the enemy.
https://twvme.substack.com/p/project-2025-was-the-warm-up-this?utm_source=post-email-title&publication_id=4211715&post_id=181749415&utm_campaign=email-post-title&isFreemail=true&r=eov1&triedRedirect=true&utm_medium=email
True wealth inequality will be achieved when I can take the few bucks in my wallet and ram them down that motherfuckers throat until he chokes, yelling “Ok,ok, I got it!”
Figuratively speaking of course.
Beautiful, piercing writing. Thank you.
Such a beautiful painting, I see why you love it. When you put a price on the priceless, it’s easy to justify enslavement or healthcare rationing. What is that aside from putting a price on a human soul?
Bullseye.