The Ownership Wars: Who Owns You?

Book excerpt: The world is ruled by the rich elite, the 1%, the Ownership Class. How do these people manage to make the 99% do their bidding? That is the greatest magic trick of all. The German philosopher Hegel gave the best explanation. When the 99% submit to the 1%, it's a reflection of what Hegel called the "master-slave dialectic". Hegel imagined the occasion of the first encounter of two self-conscious beings. Given the savagery of Nature, he imagined they would engage in a struggle to the death. However, it would not play out all the way to the end … one would submit to the other. The one who surrendered would become the slave of the other, who would be the master. The poor love being ruled by the rich. They believe the rich are on their side. They couldn't be more wrong. The only side the rich are on is their own. That's the First Law of the Human Race.