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Becoming An Oligarchy? We’ve BEEN An Oligarchy For 40 Years
The only difference now is that American oligarchs are unashamedly flaunting it
Crunch the numbers on wealth inequality any way you want, the bottom line is that money talks.
So, who do you think is in charge in America?
The chart above was my favorite of all the depressing charts I looked at. It combines wealth and taxes in one clear statement: Starting right about 1980, the percentage of all wealth held by the top .01% has been skyrocketing (the orange line) while the taxes paid by that top .01% has barely crept back up at all (the blue line).
Sure, you and I (the peasants) get to vote. However, once we peasants have voted, policy-making is out of our hands.
Look at polls on issues. Look at all the policies a large majority of Americans want, but those policies never seem to get enacted. Curious, isn’t it?
The policy-makers need your vote to get into office, but once there, who do they answer to? Who has the influence?
Who writes the text of regulations that always seem to have nice loopholes tucked in there to benefit the wealthy? Who writes the details of an ever-growing tax code that renders a nominal tax rate into a near-zero…