(Published in response to this trash)
They are entitled, lacking in resilience and empathy, but the privileged remain a waste of society's best resources and opportunities.
As a human person, I understand the overclass, also known as toffs - I've observed them eating $25 eggs on toast in bougie cafes across the east coast; I've watched them on the news flocking to bid million-dollar amounts for shoebox apartment in capital cities; I've heard of their reckless wasting of money on trinkets and one-off amusements even while their fellow citizens struggle to eke out a living above the poverty line.
Since the industrial revolution, we might have expected a remarkable increase in toffs, perhaps a more equal distribution of wealth that would see an end to class warfare in general. But of course, in the century and more since that time, the overclass has only mildly swelled in size, with the richest 1% of toffs holding almost half of the world's total wealth.
And despite their considerable resources, toffs continue to be a drain on our society. They're inevitably constantly seeking handouts in the form of tax breaks, and more clever ways to account for their always growing asset bases (negative gearing, super tax concessions, franking credits, etc etc). Even as we, as society, keep footing the bill for their expensive lifestyles, we have to watch as they use their privilege as justification for endangering the public with their anti-vax rhetoric and obsession with fad diets, environmentally unfriendly vehicles and determination to hog the best spots in nature of their holidays homes and rich people resorts.
Alarmingly, even with their clean eating, private school educations and limitless capital, toffs can't seem to stay out of trouble. White collar crime continues to plague society, proving that there is no end to the greed in the overclass, no limit to how much wealth and privilege they hoard.
But with all this said, there remains something we could all learn from the toffs. Their ability to spin the narrative, to reframe their crimes as the inadequacies of the working people who prop them up, their unending sense of entitlement and willingness to blame the poor for the inequalities that dictate their lives demonstrates a level of self-belief that, if harnessed correctly, could probably enable the end of the corrupt capitalist systems that imprison the working and middle classes in an endless cycle of work-home-sleep-repeat.
I am convinced we can do better to harness the overclass. We need to make it a focus of social policy, instead of generating policy with the view to enabling the toffs to get richer. We have little choice, unless we want to see the greed and selfishness of the minority swallow the potential of the majority.
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