Does this sort of perverse pride go before the fall? No sign of that happening yet. Plutocracy in America is more likely to be our destiny.
Does this sort of perverse pride go before the fall? No sign of that happening yet. Plutocracy in America is more likely to be our destiny.
The United States today qualifies as a plutocracy -- on a number of grounds. Let's look at some striking bits of evidence.
Amazingly, the priorities of the 1 percent match up with the priorities of our political class, while the priorities and needs of the vast majority of us are ignored.
Critics say it's more of the same out of an Obama Administration that in the first term had a cozy relationship with corporate patrons.
This week the president of the United States held a press conference with the DC elite press corps. They had the opportunity to ask the president what our government is doing about the nation's most serious problems.
Congress and the media paid homage to the agenda of the billionaires and Wall Street, with the manufactured "fiscal cliff" PR campaign frenzy that just ended. So now can we get back to the country's priorities? Can we talk about jobs now?
In the second part of our three part interview, Thomson Reuters Digital Editor Chrystia Freeland spoke with us about the 2012 election and Mitt Romney...
Thomson Reuters Digital Editor Chrystia Freeland recently spoke with us about her new book, Plutocrats: The Rise of the New Global Super-Rich and the ...
Between 1900 and the 1950s, average Americans beat down plutocrats every bit as dominant as ours. Most Americans today, unfortunately, have no inkling that this huge transformation ever took place.
Unlike Mitt Romney and his plutocratic financial backers, Barack Obama does this sort of thing only because he respects plutocrats, not because he is one. He won't gain financially by turning this nation into a banana republic.
"What is that sucking sound?" I asked a classroom of seniors at San Pedro High School in California. I had been invited to speak for their Career Day, Making a Difference In Our Youth. Upon the wall I showed a picture of a vacuum cleaner. A few giggles erupted through the room.
The American people have seen how extreme wealth concentrated at the top greatly unbalances the lives of citizens, and a growing number of people want the opposite, and are willing to work to change the system.
Step back from the partisan posturing and political rhetoric for a moment. Ask yourself a simple question. What is the agenda of the richest Americans? What would they want to consolidate their position? In every case, Romney takes up their cause.
Both political parties are concentrating on government deficits at a time when they should be focused on jobs and growth the middle class. That's the mark of a plutocracy: government by and for the wealthy.
The deficit hysteria and the "fiscal cliff" are all about cutting government and the things We, the People do for each other, so that the billionaires can have more.
When the plutocrats and their minions abuse the average citizen, it is called "oppression." When the oppressed presumed to assert their rights as citizens, the Republicans call it "class warfare." We call it justice ... or, the American way. No feints in that.
Mitt Romney was caught on video complaining that 47 percent of us don't make enough to pay taxes, believe they are victims, are dependent on government, etc. The right question is why do so many of us make so little?
Charles Murray's newest book, Coming Apart: The State of White America, proves two classic truths. First, it is impossible to compete with self-parody. Second, be careful what you ask for; for you may receive it. Charles Murray asked right-wing plutocrats to drop what he derided as "political correctness" and denounce Americans who received governmental support as immoral failures. Murray is a vigorous supporter and flatterer of Mitt Romney, claiming that the fact that he became wealthy at Bain should make him a "slam dunk" for the presidency. Murray's reasoning is so crude that he announces a new doctrine -- the divine right of CEOs to govern America. But be careful what you wish for, Romney and Paul Ryan answered Murray's call of right wing plutocrats to arms.
A message must also be sent to Rove, the Kochs, Romney and the Supreme Court that we are not for sale. This should start by telling Congress that the DISCLOSE Act is a necessary first step to preserving our democracy and the integrity of our elections.
When we had democracy, We, the People made the rules and we ran our country and our economy for our benefit. Now that we are a plutocracy things are ...
Before the Great Recession, I would sometimes give public lectures in which I would talk about rising inequality, making the point that the concentrat...
The cause of our terrible economic inequality is clear: the 1% have too much power, and use that power to enrich themselves at the expense of the rest of us -- the 99%.
The new Republican budget (called the "Ryan Budget" by DC insiders) reflects current electoral reality: billionaires and corporations now finance cand...
The new Republican budget plan: Smoke, smoke, smoke, smoke, smoke, smoke, smoke, smoke, smoke, smoke, smoke, smoke, smoke, smoke, smoke, smoke, smoke, smoke. Tax cuts for the 1%, cuts in the things We, the People do for each other.
