Tea at Trianon: "Peace, Land, Bread"

John Wilson Croker on Marie-Antoinette

"We have followed the history of Marie Antoinette with the greatest diligence and scrupulosity. We have lived in those times. We have talked with some of her friends and some of her enemies; we have read, certainly not all, but hundreds of the libels written against her; and we have, in short, examined her life with– if we may be allowed to say so of ourselves– something of the accuracy of contemporaries, the diligence of inquirers, and the impartiality of historians, all combined; and we feel it our duty to declare, in as a solemn a manner as literature admits of, our well-matured opinion that every reproach against the morals of the queen was a gross calumny– that she was, as we have said, one of the purest of human beings."

~from History of the Guillotine by John Wilson Croker, 1844

Edmund Burke on Marie-Antoinette

"It is now sixteen or seventeen years since I saw the queen of France, then dauphiness, at Versailles; and surely there never lighted on this orb, which she hardly seemed to touch, a more delightful vision. I saw her just above the horizon, decorating and cheering the elevated sphere she had just begun to move in, glittering like a morning star full of life and splendor and joy. Oh, what a revolution....Little did I dream that I should have lived to see such disasters fall upon her, in a nation of gallant men, in a nation of men of honor and of cavaliers! I thought ten thousand swords must have leaped from their scabbards, to avenge even a look which threatened her with insult. But the age of chivalry is gone; that of sophisters, economists, and calculators has succeeded...."

~Edmund Burke, October 1790

Thursday, November 20, 2025

"Peace, Land, Bread"

From AND Magazine:

When the Tsar fell in 1917, a new democratic assembly took power in Russia. The Bolsheviks, who would go on to rule and create the Soviet Union, were one among a number of leftist factions. They did not rule. Yet, within a remarkably short space of time, they seized power and crushed their opponents.
How? Conditions for the average Russian continued to worsen. The Bolsheviks claimed they could deliver and made their slogan “Peace, Land, Bread”. For the average Russian, desperate and out of options, they became a better option than betting on the establishment and the status quo.
The conditions became extreme. Those who preached moderation were drowned out. By the time it became clear the Bolsheviks could not and would not deliver on their promises, it was too late. The die was cast.
We stand at a similar juncture in time today.
The median age of first-time homebuyers is now 40.
That’s the oldest age in more than four decades. It is also a dramatic increase from only four years ago, when the median age was 33.
In 1981, the median age of first-time buyers in the U.S. was 29.
That isn’t good. It gets much worse. Part of the equation is clearly at what age people can afford to buy a home. The other part is how many people can afford to buy a home at all. The numbers in that regard are terrifying.
First-time home buyers now make up just 21% of the market. That is the lowest share since the National Association of Realtors started tracking those numbers in 1981.
Let me say that again. We have never seen numbers this low – not in the almost 45 years we have been collecting such data.
Not everyone is unable to afford a home, however. While most Americans find owning their own residence out of reach, there has also been an explosion in the number of individuals who simply put down cash and buy homes without taking out a loan. (Read more.)