Since you mentioned both Europe and stealing from the rich let's go back to when Europeans first arrived in the new world and review what actually happened and how it's the basis for all that's happened since. I remember learning about this in grade school.
The one sentence definition is that the wealthy class in Europe sent over their agents who took over the land from the indigenous, brought over enslaved Africans in chains to work the land, and then sent all varieties of minerals and agricultural products back to Europe - Triangular Trade. That's just the economic impact. There's also the destruction of cultures which were replaced with European cultures. I remember travelling through much of Mexico and when you go site seeing it was normal to get a two-fer - part of the original temple (or other site of cultural significance) of the indigenous and the centuries old church the conquerors/agents of the wealthy class built on top of it's ruins so there was no mistaking who was boss and who all the resources (land and people) now belonged to.
View attachment 9154
Politicians feed off people's frustration because, surprise, a lot of people are frustrated and are open to someone who at least claims to speak for them as opposed to someone who speaks for the rich. The way I see it, ever since rich Europeans came to the new world they are the ones who polarized society between rich and poor (or at least continued it, since the conquered had their class structures as well). They are the ones who stole, not from other wealthy people, but the people who were already living here since long before the rich Europeans arrived. If today leftist politicians are feeding off people's frustration and leeching it's because society has created and long maintained a system based on exploitation that also creates a situation where it frustrates average people who are not only left out, but told to appreciate their shitty existences. No surprise that a abstract carrot and concrete stick is used to reinforce this. Be a good and obedient servant to your master now and you will be rewarded in the afterlife for your obedience and subservience. You say we are missing people who value the right things. I see people on the left talking about values such as dignity and basic human rights whereas the only value I see the rich valuing is wealth and they don't care how they obtain it, what kind of negative effect it has on the environment (the Amazon is another perfect example of the rich exploiting the poor in the insatiable pursuit of wealth), or people. The weird thing, to me, is that so many people who are not extremely wealthy or even rich choose to support them while vilifying the people who are actually much closer to them in status. Those who the right wing populists feed off of frustrations and do their leeching because as much as they say they're "fighting for you" they never lower their taxes, fix their roads, end corruption, or fulfill any other promises that will benefit anyone but other rich people. When the wannabe rich say "he fought for us" it usually means that he validated their hate because he (it's usually a he) hates the same people they hate and sadly that's all they think they need. Maybe they act/vote in such a way because they figure that one day they too may be wealthy enough to benefit from all the governments give the rich; Socialism for the rich, rugged individualism for the rest of us.
There's no need for anyone to be a Billionaire. Billionaires wouldn't exist but for a system that allows them to exploit those frustrated people you mentioned. People see the pay disparity between the average worker and CEOs, how the disparity has been growing, and, no surprise, it frustrates them. People see politicians (primarily on the right) who deregulate industry for the benefit of industry and watch as these industries fuck up without any risk or downside because the country's treasury will cover any loss and no matter that it hurts the general population while the Billionaires increase their wealth and the executives use bailout money to give themselves extremely generous bonus that are paid for by the average taxpayer. Frustrating. Examples of this (that I'm most familiar with having lived in the US at the time) are the banking crisis and the housing crisis where deregulation caused massive failures and those responsible for the failures received massive government bailouts which they used to give themselves massive bonuses. A current example can be seen in the US with the Autoworker's strike. While the rich were giving themselves bonuses the workers were making sacrifices and taking paycuts because they were told it was necessary to keep the business from failing. Now that the car companies are making massive profits they would like for things to go back to how they were before they were asked to unilaterally make sacrifices which affected their pay and benefits. Maybe you don't agree, but all of this is frustrating for someone living paycheck to paycheck and being told that getting any kind of cost of living adjustment is out of the question because the company just can't afford it/it would hurt profitability. Why is it Billionaires need the support of people who aren't rich? Why do some claim to be Billionaires yet ask the average person living paycheck to paycheck to send them money? It sounds to me like they want the support because they'd rather have a general population who thinks they deserve to be rich and believe that they are the victims who are being stolen from as opposed to people doing something about the frustrations that they cause those they exploit.
View attachment 9156
Jeff Bozos of Amazon has $185 Billion
View attachment 9157
View attachment 9160
View attachment 9155
View attachment 9158View attachment 9159
Obviously I'm not buying into this whole pity-party for the rich because they're supposedly the victims of theft and not the perpetrators and instead let's blame the poor and working class. The fact that Billionaires exist is a sign of an unhealthy society with a system built on exploitation. No one becomes a Billionare without exploting average people and no one needs a Billion dollars. And as long as there are obscenely wealthy who obtained their wealth through exploitation, the exploited are going to be frustrated and listen to the people you consider to be leeches who are taking advantage of that frustration instead of asking why it is that people are so frustrated and feel the need to turn to these leftist leeches (hint: it's because the rich and their political mouthpieces aren't helping them, they're screwing them).
End rant.
baexpats.org
www.elysee.fr
