Comment by int_19h

Yes, the time-honored strategy of keeping the poi holloi fed and entertained just enough to prevent riot, but not anymore.

Long-term, it usually fails because the elites become too greedy and too complacent because they haven't seen what a large scale riot looks like, and try to squeeze too much. Then things blow up somewhere and there's a mad scramble to prevent it elsewhere by making concessions (witness all the improvements in labor rights in the West after the Russian revolution).