Objectives of the greed classes (with the connivance of the religious right and a host of other frauds):
1. Destroy the safety net
2. Vilify, humiliate, and mock the poor
3. Reduce 98% of the population to poverty.

This does not seem like an optimum survival strategy to me. Perhaps their arrogance is so great they think they can pull it off. No doubt the smug French aristocrats thought the same before 1789.