What Is Oligarchy: Robert Reich

[appalachiablue]

Last edited Wed Nov 6, 2019, 06:42 PM - Edit history (1)

'What Does Oligarchy Mean?' America's imbalance of power and wealth is increasingly incompatible with democracy. By Robert Reich, June 4, 2019. Oligarchy” means government of and by a few at the top, who exercise power for their own benefit. It comes from the Greek word oligarkhes, meaning “few to rule or command.” Even a system that calls itself a democracy can become an oligarchy if power becomes concentrated in the hands of a few very wealthy people—a corporate and financial elite.
Their power and wealth increase over time as they make laws that favor themselves, manipulate financial markets to their advantage, and create or exploit economic monopolies that put even more wealth into their pockets. Modern-day Russia is an oligarchy, where a handful of billionaires who control most major industries dominate politics and the economy.

What about the United States? According to a study published in 2014 by Princeton Professor Martin Gilens and Northwestern Professor Benjamin Page, although Americans enjoy many features of democratic governance, such as regular elections, and freedom of speech and association, American policy making has become dominated by powerful business organizations and a small number of affluent Americans. The typical American has no influence at all...
https://prospect.org/economy/oligarchy-mean/

- 'The Real Divide, Oligarchy v. Democracy, Robert Reich, Nov. 1, 2019.
https://robertreich.org/post/188745257830
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- Wiki. Oligarchies: A business group might be defined as an oligarch if it satisfies the following conditions:
(1) owners are the largest private owners in the country
(2) it possesses sufficient political power to promote its own interests
(3) owners control multiple businesses, which intensively coordinate their activities.

- Russian Federation, Main article: Russian oligarch, Since the collapse of the Soviet Union and privatisation of the economy in December 1991, privately owned Russia-based multinational corporations, including producers of petroleum, natural gas, and metal have, in the view of many analysts, led to the rise of Russian oligarchs.

- Ukraine, Main article: Ukrainian oligarchs, The Ukrainian oligarchs are a group of business oligarchs that quickly appeared on the economic and political scene of Ukraine after its independence in 1991. Overall there are 35 oligarchic groups

- Zimbabwe, The Zimbabwean oligarchs are a group of liberation war veterans; who form the Zimbabwe African National Union - Patriotic Front, a colonial liberation party. The philosophy of the Zimbabwean government is that Zimbabwe can only be governed by a leader who took part in the pre-independence war. ZANU-PF has a theme motto in Shona "Zimbabwe yakauya neropa" meaning Zimbabwe was born from the blood of the sons and daughters who died fighting for its independence. The born free generation (born since independence in 1980) has no birthright to rule Zimbabwe.

*- United States, Further information: Wealth inequality in the United States and Income inequality in the United States § Impact on democracy and society. Some contemporary authors have characterized current conditions in the United States as oligarchic in nature.. Jeffrey A. Winters wrote that "oligarchy and democracy operate within a single system, and American politics is a daily display of their interplay." The top 1% of the U.S. population by wealth in 2007 had a larger share of total income than at any time since 1928. In 2011, according to PolitiFact and others, the top 400 wealthiest Americans "have more wealth than half of all Americans combined."

French economist Thomas Piketty states in his 2013 book, Capital in the Twenty-First Century, that "the risk of a drift towards oligarchy is real and gives little reason for optimism about where the United States is headed."...
In a 2015 interview, former President Jimmy Carter stated that the United States is now "an oligarchy with unlimited political bribery" due to the Citizens United ruling which effectively removed limits on donations to political candidates...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oligarchy

[Newest Reality]

1. K&R

[appalachiablue]

2. Wiki, Oligarchy...

- MINORITY RULE: The exclusive consolidation of power by a dominant religious or ethnic minority has also been described as a form of oligarchy. Examples of this system include South Africa under apartheid, Liberia under Americo-Liberians, the Sultanate of Zanzibar, and Rhodesia, where the installation of oligarchic rule by the descendants of foreign settlers was primarily regarded as a legacy of various forms of colonialism.

-> The modern United States has also been described as an oligarchy, with its Republican Party representing a minority of the population but securing control of the Senate, the Presidency, and the Supreme Court, while the Democratic Party has control of the House.
-> Migration to cities will likely see the Republican Party's hold over the Senate strengthen in subsequent elections, despite an expected demographic shift to a majority-minority population by 2045. Lifetime appointments of Supreme Court justices could also make that body's conservative majority a likelihood for at least eight years...https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oligarchy

[BigmanPigman]

3. Reich is right , as usual.

[Uncle Joe]

4. Kicked and recommended.

Thanks for the thread appalachiablue.

[appalachiablue]

5. Robert Reich on Jeff Bezos' 25-bathroom DC mansion:

25 bathrooms? Former Clinton labor secretary says Bezos' mansion helps make case for soaking the rich, Nov. 4, 2019

http://www.msn.com/en-us/money/markets/25-bathrooms-former-clinton-labor-secretary-says-bezos-mansion-helps-make-case-for-soaking-the-rich/ar-AAJXnjy?li=BBnbfcL&ocid=HPCOMMDHP15