Shadow Elite

Did you miss it? We've wrapped up our exploration of Arianna's second book club pick, Janine Wedel's "Shadow Elite". To finish things off, HuffPost W...

Janine Wedel, author of the book "Shadow Elite: How the World's New Power Brokers Undermine Democracy, Government", and the Free Market" and HuffPost ...

'Shadow Elite' by Janine Wedel is the book Arianna's been reading for the month of January. Thanks to Janine Wedel and many others, the book has initiated a crucial debate over the survival of democracy in America.

How rewarding to people like Oleg Deripaska that after the indignities Russia suffered at the hands of the West in the 90s, they today see the flow of power and money in the opposite direction.

Tight budgets and political forces are driving Missouri and other state governments toward operating in an emergency mode and we respond by privatizing more government work.

"Invisible Hands" is about how they were able to grow their ranks over time, so that today business interests are able to exercise immense power regardless of which political party is in the White House.

In the community of fewer than 2,000 in which I grew up, the proverbial six degrees of separation melt away. You can't help but play multiple roles in...

Killing people for state purposes should be the ultimate public power in a democratic federal republic such as ours. Yet war's privatization proceeds at an alarming pace.

Public and private are now substantially blurred, as the "transnational" political elites and the financial elites have become literally the same people. It is a condition which leaves the people feeling unrepresented.

The approach of looking to the roles, activities, sponsors, and networks of players--be they organized crime figures, politicians, experts, influencers, or some combination thereof--is today, more than ever, imperative.

There was a time when Americans could have more confidence in the objectivity of the experts who advised government and pronounced on issues of vital importance.

The modern power elites thrive by forgetting any regrettable past. This amnesia is easy at Harvard, where the legal fiduciaries operate in secret and need not answer for their acts.

Today's power brokers are still at the top of their game because they are said to "have the credentials." No matter that they are the credentials of a shadowy elite--and of failure.

My first HuffPost Book Club selection of 2010 is Janine Wedel's Shadow Elite, a gripping book that explains why it's been so hard to bring about any real change in America.