The contempt and disdain among the elite in media, business, pop culture and athletics display towards the people who make them rich is striking.  Like the political ruling class, their wealth and social position have insulated them from what much of what the populace experiences. The political class has engineered law, regulation, and policy to ensure immunity and sustained advantage.  These other elites can be dislodged.  The reason is simple: the political class can compel the populace to comply under threat of imprisonment, prosecution, and financial ruin. The others cannot compel or coerce people to spend disposable income and leisure time in perpetuating their status. The tyranny and contempt of the governing class towards the governed is a story old as dirt, but the emergence of sellers demeaning, castigating and insulting their buyers is a new concept in the marketplace.  It does not seem to have occurred to them that they lack the power to compel....(Read Full Post)