OVERPRODUCTION OF ELITES (Turchin)

"One issue he gives special weight is what he calls “elite overproduction,” where a society generates more elites than can practically participate in shaping policy. The result is increasing competition among the elites that wastes resources needlessly and drives overall social decline and disintegration. He sees plenty of historical antecedents where elite overproduction drove waves of political violence. In today’s America there are far more millionaires than was the case only a couple of decades ago, and rich people tend to be more politically active than poor ones. This causes increasing political polarization (millionaires funding extreme candidates), erodes cooperation, and results in a political class that is incapable of solving real problems."

I found this quote helpful, since I totally am not into the overproduction of elites. My thing with the lower prices is that very poor people can somehow have a place within some kind of economic system that might also allow them to pay some degree of taxes. Oddly enough, I saw a video of post ISIS residue showing how good they were at governing, and how much they depended on and were able to collect taxes. If ISIS could do that under such pressure and in a war confirms that stringent circumstances ought not prohibit a poor people's civilization. I'm in no way equipped to understand any but an economic order suited to the poor.