This brief article brings into focus the key feature of the capitalist system that provides our masters in the ruling class with so much wealth while leaving us with so little that we have to scramble to survive.
Those at the very top today have figured out what those who lived upstairs in Downton Abbey knew almost a century ago: it’s amazing how much wealth you can come to own when everyone else creates it but ends up owning very little of it.Because Vanity Fair magazine caters to the rich and powerful, they often run "cultural" articles that appeal to our masters in the One Percent. A year ago I noticed that they were giving extensive coverage to PBS's TV program "Downton Abbey". Obviously there has been something about this program that has turned into something like an obsession for our masters. After some reflection I began to understand how key features of this series appealed to them. In my rather satirical commentary posted about a year ago, I wrote this:
From watching TV the rich apparently have rediscovered the delights of having people serve their every personal need just like in the days of yore. This is good news for us [job seekers]. They now want to emulate the characters on their favorite TV program, Downton Abbey, by hiring people who will attend to their many personal needs in a suitably obsequious manner. Of course, this highly romanticized TV version of aristocratic life has very little to do with reality. Then domestic helpers were treated little better than slaves and sexual abuse was rampant, but the lords of the manor in these British TV programs featured on PBS are always extremely virtuous. It's clear that Downton Abbey serves the fantasies of the current ruling class who want to view themselves as virtuous as well as powerful.