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What’s fuelling the rise of the far right? (sh.itjust.works)
submitted 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) by to c/asklemmy@lemmy.world
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It’s been reported that in the German elections, a far right party has made ‘significant gains’.

In the UK (at least before the scandals) Reform UK seems to have had a significant boost and has even surpassed the right-wing Conservative Party in some polls/predictions.

Even France, one or two years ago, was threatened with a far-right government due to the French far right party gaining a lot of support.

It feels like in the last few years, the far-right has exceeded itself and had a surge in popularity. Is this the case? And if so, wtf is fuelling it?

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[–] 14 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) (10 children)

This is stupid. Media had plenty of rightwing trash before "the 1990s"... And economics isn't a matter of "significant downturns" - which in a cyclical economy happen REGULARLY the problem is ACTUAL WEALTH DISPARITY has been on an increasing trajectory since the 1970s. We're talking about a long term trend of racheting up, not just a brief stint of "social media is bad now".

Wages vs productivity:

https://www.economicshelp.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/800px-US_productivity_and_real_wages.jpg

You can do something similar for median wages vs GDP:

https://www.economicshelp.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/us-wage-gdp-compared-800x604.jpg

And income inequality globally:

https://assets.weforum.org/editor/MB7z1WodhP7LDJeH0YX67-1OtxdaT6BH8Qbb4wPHYjU.png

Same trend, relating to changes to the banking system in the 1970s and beyond:

These are continuing and long term shifts that have made it easier for the wealthy to accelerate wealth, and be less morally culpable, whilst poorer people have consistently hit greater barriers, requirements, and burdens.

The idea it's "just the media is particularly bad right now" is stupid. Right wing media has always been prevalent and dogshit. Could not downvote your over simplification of the world more.

WE ARE TALKING ABOUT A CONSISTENT INCREASE IN SPECIFIC DISPARITIES.... Which then become economic pressures and grievances, which are then misdirected by the media. But the media IS NOT the cause. That's like pretending the symptom is the cause. It's just not the case.

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  • [–] 3 points 1 month ago (1 child)

    yep, wealth inequality is a big problem. more people should read piketty

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  • [–] 4 points 1 month ago*

    ...and people who believe income inequality is the key issue don't understand that billionaires avoid income, and borrow against assets instead.

    Wealth inequality is the big problem.

    Billionaires avoid taxes because they don't want to give back to society. They buy inflated assets instead, the borrow against them, driving up prices on purchase of land, houses, luxury goods, ect... Driving up prices, avoiding taxes. They're all assholes, and they don't take income.

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  • [–] 1 point 1 month ago (6 children)

    I think what you're missing is that if inequality were a major driver of the popularity of fascism, then how can it be the case that in many Western democracies other than the U.S. the popularity of fascist parties has also boomed? Some of these societies, while far from utopian, are among the most egalitarian in human history. Some have wealth taxes, almost all have far higher top income tax rates than the U.S., all all have dramatically lower levels of inequality.

    Media had plenty of rightwing trash before “the 1990s”

    Yeah, but unlike today, it wasn't the dominant way public political debate was held.

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  • [–] 2 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) (5 children)

    Do you know how a coefficient works?

    If you have the majority as middle class then one uber wealthy rich guy controlling everything... The gini score would pretend as if everything is fine in that society when it's not.

    Statistics aren't the be all and end all, and can be used to obscure drastic levels of corruption and systemic issues....

    You know, like all the billionaire fascists buying up media companies, houses, being in bed with the president and bribing supreme court justices.

    Errr duh "that's equality". Noooo no it's not.

    Err durr... That has nothing to do with disenfranchisement.

    Yes.... Yes it does.

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  • [–] -1 points 1 month ago (3 children)

    The Gini coefficient measures the distribution of incomes in a given economy. If a single individual has all income, then the coefficient is 1, if everyone's income is equal, then the coefficient is 0.

    In fact, in the scenario you've sketched, i.e., an individual or small number of individuals hoarding a large share of income, the Gini coefficient would be relatively high.

    Not only do many of the aforementioned societies have dramatically lower income inequality (as measured by Gini coefficient) than the US, many furthermore have dramatically lower rates of corruption and judges and government officials are generally not bribed to the same degree. (Case in point: the Toblerone affair.)

    However, what these countries very much have in common with the US is that the same social media companies owned by the same assholes are active there, flooding the zone with fascist propaganda.

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  • [–] 1 point 1 month ago*

    What is this day 1 looking at this problem for you?

    BILLIONAIRES DON'T HAVE AN INCOME!!!

    Because having an income would mean paying income tax. So they don't draw an income, as avoiding income provides a tax loophole.

    What do they do instead?

    They store cash in assests they borrow against instead.

    They live off debts, they get paid by their companies in millions or billion dollar stock deals then borrow against that. They live off that loan then pay it back when they have to, usually via getting more loans and/or other financial tricks.

    This is why everyone goes on about the importance of having a wealth tax rather than an income tax on billionaires. Go look it up.

    It's literally 101 of talking about this stuff. So when you come here talking about how "income equality" proves society has no problems with inequality, you're just showing that you don't know what your on about.

    Go look up how Billionaires avoid income taxes.

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  • [–] 0 points 1 month ago*

    In fact, the only reason income inequality is fairly even is BECAUSE OF progressive taxation and regulation. That's only really allowed BECAUSE it doesn't touch billionaires or the real problem makers in society.

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  • [–] 0 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

    Like what did you think inequality is? It's the concentration of wealth in the hands of a few powerful people who make life horrible for everyone else. That's why everyone knows their names.

    That's why they can turn a society fascist in the first place. You can't buy a media company without a big fat bank loan borrowed against your stocks, or that huge house you bought with your last loan.

    This also contributes to inflation, because they're avoiding paying their dues to society so others - everyone else is covering their tax costs. They're not giving back... And at the same time they're jacking up prices! Every nice house they buy is bought at an inflated rate, and gives other sellers the idea to jack their prices up. Same with land, and luxury goods, and killing the planet with travel and super-yatchs. It's all bought at inflated rates because money isn't real to them, assests they can later borrow against are their wealth stores.

    Billionaires mooch off society, don't appear in income inequality statistics and contribute an outsized amount to inflation. Now you know the basics of how billionaires work.

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