News

Dayen mentions in passing that “the source of Epstein’s wealth” comes from obtaining power of attorney over the estate of Les Wexner, “from which he appropriated bunches of money” — but this is easy to misread as a euphemism for theft. In fact, Epstein was Wexner’s personal money manager, and his “appropriation” of Wexner’s funds is perfectly ordinary in the WMI — even expected.

Article makes it sound like "business as usual"...

But Epstein lived and ran his business out of a house Wexner owned and let him live in...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Les_Wexner

Like, we're supposed to believe your first client is a billionaire who lets you work and live out of his home?

Epstein didn't create the ring, he just took over management. It existed before him and people owed it favors already. It's the most likely explanation how someone with no experience or even really a business could land such a huge client that comes with a fucking house.

I keep trying to explain this, but nobody really seems to listen.

The reason why things are so expensive is so the people taking money from us can use that to abuse vulnerable people.

Things could be cheaper if we all had higher standards, but we'd rather fight for the people ripping us off than admit we're being ripped off in the first place.

Under socialism, only the Party nomenklatura would have an Epstein Island.

His crimes were capitalism for the elites. It was just another commerce for them, and buisness as usual.

Doesn't capitalism enable most things?

People often frame Capitalism vs. Socialism as if they represent completely different destinies. I generally see capitalism as the better driver of innovation and individual agency, but it’s important to acknowledge an uncomfortable truth: both systems tend to converge toward similar power dynamics over time.

In capitalism, economic capital becomes political power. Wealth concentrates, and those who hold it shape the rules to protect and expand their advantage. In socialism, formal authority and bureaucratic position become the currency of power. Access to resources and opportunities flows through the state apparatus instead of markets. Different mechanisms, same hierarchy.

Across both models, legal and institutional structures tend to favor those already positioned at the top. Power reproduces itself, whether through financial leverage or administrative control.

And a key misconception persists in capitalist societies: people assume they are “capitalists” simply by participating in the market. In reality, unless someone owns productive assets or has significant investments that generate influence and income independent of their labor, they are not a capitalist, they’re a wage earner operating within a system built to reward capital holders.

The systems diverge in theory, but the outcomes often look very similar: a small elite consolidates power, and the proletariat majority must then struggle within the structures created by that consolidation.

Not just enabled. Encouraged. Endorsed. Nurtured.