Today's title was stolen from Joseph Stiglitz's Vanity Fair article. I've still got the flu, so your "assignment" today is to read that excellent article.
It’s no use pretending that what has obviously happened has not in fact happened. The upper 1 percent of Americans are now taking in nearly a quarter of the nation’s income every year. In terms of wealth rather than income, the top 1 percent control 40 percent. Their lot in life has improved considerably. Twenty-five years ago, the corresponding figures were 12 percent and 33 percent.
One response might be to celebrate the ingenuity and drive that brought good fortune to these people, and to contend that a rising tide lifts all boats. That response would be misguided. While the top 1 percent have seen their incomes rise 18 percent over the past decade, those in the middle have actually seen their incomes fall.
DOTE readers should familiar with the income & wealth inequality data by now. This situation is a central symptom and cause of the Empire's decline. Stiglitz reminds us of the salient circumstance which precludes a "Democracy" in America—
Wealth begets power, which begets more wealth...
Virtually all U.S. senators, and most of the representatives in the House, are members of the top 1 percent when they arrive, are kept in office by money from the top 1 percent, and know that if they serve the top 1 percent well they will be rewarded by the top 1 percent when they leave office.
By and large, the key executive-branch policymakers on trade and economic policy also come from the top 1 percent. When pharmaceutical companies receive a trillion-dollar gift—through legislation prohibiting the government, the largest buyer of drugs, from bargaining over price—it should not come as cause for wonder. It should not make jaws drop that a tax bill cannot emerge from Congress unless big tax cuts are put in place for the wealthy. Given the power of the top 1 percent, this is the way you would expect the system to work.
If most Americans understood how they are governed I daresay there might be some "hope" for us... But a sufficient number of Americans have been brainwashed by the top 1%. Wealth begets power, which begets more wealth...
Soon dollars will be worthless, anyway:
http://www.zerohedge.com/article/it’s-official-china-will-be-dumping-us-dollars
Posted by: Gail | 04/21/2011 at 12:30 PM