This article is a fascinating read, if deeply disturbing.
They are overwhelmingly white, rich, older and male, in a nation that is being remade by the young, by women, and by black and brown voters. Across a sprawling country, they reside in an archipelago of wealth, exclusive neighborhoods dotting a handful of cities and towns. And in an economy that has minted billionaires in a dizzying array of industries, most made their fortunes in just two: finance and energy.
Now they are deploying their vast wealth in the political arena, providing almost half of all the seed money raised to support Democratic and Republican presidential candidates. Just 158 families, along with companies they own or control, contributed $176 million in the first phase of the campaign, according to a New York Times investigation. Not since before Watergate have so few people and businesses provided so much early money in a campaign, most of it through channels legalized by the Supreme Court’s Citizens United decision five years ago....
Oh, and, unsurprisingly, there's this:
[All images are from the linked article]
Surprised by the dramatic animation when I scrolled down, I scrolled back and replayed it a half dozen times. I returned to it a couple of times while reading the column, and I did so again from the end of the column, replaying yet a few times more.
ReplyDeleteShock. Anger. Sadness. Clearly, the rest of us are just along for the bumpy ride. We all know it, it's just that it feels better to pretend it isn't so.
Defacto plutocracy. If not in name in fact. I might add that every congressional representative has a net worth of a million dollars. So much for the voice of the common people.
ReplyDeleteYet the RWS insist not only is it fair but indeed just that 1% of the population be showered with such wealth! The other 99% are lazy moochers who sponge off that noble 1%.
Mark Twain just wishes he could be here for this round of Gilded Age
BERNIE 2016
ReplyDelete