Why are the most delusional people making the most money?

2024

Fig. 1. Cartoon by Ben Jennings, January 24, 2024, via the Guardian,^[1] fair use.

Alan Feuer and Charlie Savage, “Takeaways From the Trump Ballot Case,” New York Times, February 8, 2024, https://www.nytimes.com/2024/02/08/us/politics/supreme-court-trump-ballot-takeaways.html

Chris Geidner, “The Supreme Court must fully resolve Trump disqualification case now to avert ‘chaos,’” Law Dork, February 9, 2024, https://www.lawdork.com/p/supreme-court-must-fully-resolve-sec-3-case

Imperialism

United States

Fig. 2. “American Progress,” painting by John Gast, 1872, digital version 2006, via Wikimedia Commons, public domain.

Why are the most delusional people making the most money? My one quibble with Jon Schwarz would be that he seems to assume that U.S. imperialism is a thing of the past.^[2] To be honest, I don’t know where he gets that or how anyone could even imagine it. As for the infinitely delusional Erik Prince, just never mind.

Guardian, “Donald Trump says he would encourage Russia to attack Nato allies who pay too little,” February 10, 2024, https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2024/feb/11/donald-trump-says-he-would-encourage-russia-to-attack-nato-countries-who-dont-pay-bills

Jon Schwarz, “Erik Prince Calls for U.S. to Colonize Africa and Latin America,” Intercept, February 10, 2024, https://theintercept.com/2024/02/10/erik-prince-off-leash-imperialism-colonialism/

Russia

Fig. 3. Historic Russian empire, from the New York Times, possibly March 6, 2014, fair use.^[3]

Who can be surprised by anything Donald Trump says?

Pennsylvania

Pittsburgh

Housing

Fig. 4. Once upon a time this was a Whole Foods Market. The store is part of a complex that replaced the Penn Plaza Apartments.^[4] Whole Foods has now relocated to a larger location a few blocks away. Photograph by author, August 23, 2023.

It seems a large part of the problem is the apparent disappearance of affordable housing in combination with inflation.^[5] There’s plenty of high-cost housing being built in “desirable” neighborhoods that techies can afford.

The root of the problem, according to Ms. [Cinda] Watkins, is that the costs of basics continue to outpace wages. In 2021, household costs in Allegheny County were well above the federal poverty level of $12,880 for a single adult and $26,500 for a family of four, according to PA 211 data. The average costs for housing, childcare, transportation, food, tax payments and other basics averaged to about $30,636. For a family of four, it was $74,424.^[6]

In Pennsylvania, the supply of apartments below $999 shrunk by more than 191,000 units between 2012 and 2022, while apartments with rents above $1,000 multiplied by over 276,000 units.

Apartment operators’ cash flows siphoned as interest, insurance premiums and operating costs shot up during the pandemic. To keep pace with the market, property owners are pricing out vulnerable, low-income tenants.

“From the real estate side of things, we see a lot of these kinds of small apartment buildings go up for sale, and they are often marketed as an opportunity for a new owner to raise rents on existing tenants,” Mr. Madia said. “We’re actually losing apartments that would be considered naturally affordable apartments and could be a good option for somebody that has a Section Eight voucher, things like that. That creates just a ton of pressure for the folks who are really living paycheck to paycheck and need this housing the most.”^[7]

But I also see the office construction in South Oakland along the Monongahela River. In Oakland itself, Fifth Avenue is forever tied up with lane closures for buildings under construction. Downtown now encroaches the Hill District with a bank building going up on the old Civic Arena site across Centre from the PPG Paints Arena that’s supposed to somehow reconnect the Hill with Downtown. I see ludicrous development in the Strip District along the Allegheny.

Politicians just talk about bringing in jobs. They don’t mention that the people who will fill those jobs will come from out of town. I still see a surprising number of California and even Oregon license plates as I drive around Pittsburgh. I assume those plates belong to techies who don’t solve any real problems but who certainly jack up the rent.

Meanwhile Uber keeps right on cutting my pay. For now, the technological upgrades I’ve made seem to be helping but the main help is that I was able to start collecting Social Security early. I’m still being squeezed out.

But because Uber blindsided me with a 40 percent pay cut late in 2022, my credit is now in shambles. And landlords check credit. I might soon be on the street myself. But hey, I’m clearly subhuman, rejected by this society from birth, tormented by my father and school children, abandoned on the side of the information superhighway in the dot-com crash, refused a decent job throughout my life, now even with a Ph.D., so obviously, who the fuck cares?

Jordan Anderson, “Cost of rent is hitting record levels, including in Pittsburgh, but not enough low-cost units are available,” Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, February 10, 2024, https://www.post-gazette.com/news/social-services/2024/02/10/pittsburgh-cost-of-rent-harvard-study/stories/202402080091

Jacob Geanous, “As evictions soar in Allegheny County, a sense of urgency permeates,” Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, February 11, 2024, https://www.post-gazette.com/news/social-services/2024/02/11/landlord-evictions-allegheny-county-public-housing/stories/202402090067

^[1]Ben Jennings, “Ben Jennings on Donald Trump’s progress along the Republican nomination trail – cartoon,” Guardian, January 24, 2024, https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/picture/2024/jan/24/ben-jennings-on-donald-trumps-progress-along-the-republican-nomination-trail-cartoon ↩
^[2]Jon Schwarz, “Erik Prince Calls for U.S. to Colonize Africa and Latin America,” Intercept, February 10, 2024, https://theintercept.com/2024/02/10/erik-prince-off-leash-imperialism-colonialism/↩
^[3]New York Times, “Ukraine Crisis in Maps,” n.d., http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2014/02/27/world/europe/ukraine-divisions-crimea.html ↩
^[4]Bob Bauder, “Pittsburgh settles court battle over Penn Plaza Apartments,” Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, October 27, 2017, https://archive.triblive.com/local/pittsburgh-allegheny/pittsburgh-settles-court-battle-over-penn-plaza-apartments/↩
^[5]Jordan Anderson, “Cost of rent is hitting record levels, including in Pittsburgh, but not enough low-cost units are available,” Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, February 10, 2024, https://www.post-gazette.com/news/social-services/2024/02/10/pittsburgh-cost-of-rent-harvard-study/stories/202402080091 ↩
^[6]Jordan Anderson, “‘The perfect storm’: Loss of pandemic-era benefits puts families on the brink,” Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, September 5, 2023, https://www.post-gazette.com/news/social-services/2023/09/04/pandemic-era-benefits-covid-snap-pennsylvania-government-assistance/stories/202308240096 ↩
^[7]Jordan Anderson, “Cost of rent is hitting record levels, including in Pittsburgh, but not enough low-cost units are available,” Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, February 10, 2024, https://www.post-gazette.com/news/social-services/2024/02/10/pittsburgh-cost-of-rent-harvard-study/stories/202402080091 ↩

Irregular Bullshit

Why are the most delusional people making the most money?

Illiberalism

Gilead

Donald Trump

Coup attempt