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[Mongrel]

So, I don't know, maybe you could put this in the economy thread or oil up or something, but we really don't have a thread dedicated specifically to hyper-rich assholes and their various nefarious activities.

Anyway, this article was put up today on the Globe, detailing the Koch brothers' activities in the Alberta oil patch (and Canada in general).

Now, what's really worth noting about the article is the aggregate collection of source material in it. "The Koch Brothers" is a name most of us are familiar with at this point, but more in the form of a shadowy pair of pulp villains who pull string behind the scenes, rather than the Snidely Whiplash or the classic gilded age robber barons they more closely resemble.

For those of you not wanting to wade through the Canadian content, the following material is linked, all of which is well-researched, well-written, and damning as hell. It may be coming in such odd places as Bloomberg financial news, but investigative reporting ain't dead yet:

Bloomberg's recent comprehensive report
Their original profiling in the New Yorker
Thoroughly documented report on the Koch brothers's hand in Canadian heavy oil
Vancouver report on Koch political funding of right-wing groups in Canada

[Mongrel]

This is one of those studies that states the obvious, but manages to be the one out of a hundred that's still useful for doing so: A pair of bright boys at the Oxford Business school have done a study which confirms the huge role of good luck and pre-existing advantages in the success of the hyper-successful.

[Royal☭]

The Alpha Galileo Foundation has a good analysis of the paper, since journals are behind paywalls

[Mongrel]

Thanks!

[Brentai]

They really need to watch their terminology there - they admit that there's more than likely a component of actual, if not very best, talent in there, but a few times they take a luck-not-skill track instead of a luck-and-skill one.

It's a dangerous mistake to make, because implying that the privileged are nothing more than lottery winners is the fastest way to make them shoot you down.

[Royal☭]

Well, I think the terminally specifically refers to the most successful, and that luck is the more determinate factor in being there. The implication is NOT being successful is a matter of luck, but that the difference of being on top and being second is.

[Brentai]

Right - that's definitely the overall conclusion and it's correct.  I'm just pointing out a few spots where they slip off that message a bit (which I can't really quote from here) and reminding everyone to be fucking careful with that stuff.  People on the defensive will naturally try to laserfocus on mistakes like that.

[Classic]

It's a dangerous mistake to make, because implying that the privileged are nothing more than lottery winners is the fastest way to make them shoot you down.

Because the privileged know that there's nothing more dangerous to their privilege than this being a commonly accepted truth?

[Royal☭]

Right - that's definitely the overall conclusion and it's correct.  I'm just pointing out a few spots where they slip off that message a bit (which I can't really quote from here) and reminding everyone to be fucking careful with that stuff.  People on the defensive will naturally try to laserfocus on mistakes like that.

Well, kind of. It tries to place the development of skills into the context of the pure luck of which class of society one is born into. This can be misconstrued as "People at the top are entirely lucky", when I think the real meaning is "It takes luck to be given a chance to make it to the top, where you will have to rely on further luck in addition to the skills you were able to cultivate by your previous luck."

[Mongrel]

Yeah, I don't think anyone here is going to claim that success is all luck or anything. The study guys are just dealing with the extreme end of the spectrum.

The real problem is when those guys sell mythologizing autobiographies that are nothing more than masturbation over their own glorious awesomeness. And people taking that stuff at face value.

[Mongrel]

The Rich Kids of Instagram

[Cthulhu-chan]

I look at those receipts and all I can think is "man, rich people sure are dumb".

[François]

Coca-Cola has been illegal in Europe since the Pepsi Wars. They had to get those on the black market, so 10 dollars Euros? a can is actually a bargain.

[Brentai]

Making it harder than ever to not spit my drink laughing when these people claim to be our leaders in style and class.

Fuck, my avatar is suaver than these kids.

[Mongrel]

I don't really think they're claiming anything more sophisticated than

Nelson - ha ha!

[Mongrel]

Man working at Chicago-area McDonalds for 20 years, can't get full time and has had every raise he was ever eligible for rescinded or denied (not quite "never had a raise", but pretty damned close).