The U.S. Is Run by a Financial Oligarchy: The Ruling Elite, Money & the ...

CA 7 The U.S. Is Run by a Financial Oligarchy: The Ruling Elite, Money & the Illusion of Progress (1993) 156,012 views Apr 28, 2014 2.8K 100 Share Save The Film Archives 233K subscribers Some contemporary authors have characterized current conditions in the United States as being oligarchic in nature. About the book: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/080... Simon Johnson wrote that "the reemergence of an American financial oligarchy is quite recent," a structure which he delineated as being the "most advanced" in the world. Jeffrey A. Winters argues that "oligarchy and democracy operate within a single system, and American politics is a daily display of their interplay." Bernie Sanders (I-VT) opined in a 2010 The Nation article that an "upper-crust of extremely wealthy families are hell-bent on destroying the democratic vision of a strong middle-class which has made the United States the envy of the world. In its place they are determined to create an oligarchy in which a small number of families control the economic and political life of our country." United States political and finance industry leadership has recently been dominated by people associated with Harvard and Yale. All nine members of the current Supreme Court attended Harvard or Yale law schools. The last member appointed to the court who was not a former student at one of those two institutions was Sandra Day O'Connor, appointed by the newly elected President Ronald Reagan in 1981. Reagan was also the last United States President who did not attend either Harvard or Yale. A well-known fictional oligarchy is represented by the Party in George Orwell's novel Nineteen Eighty-Four. The socialists in the Jack London novel The Iron Heel fight a rebellion against the oligarchy ruling in the United States. In the Ender's Quartet, by Orson Scott Card - specifically Xenocide, Speaker for the Dead, and Children of The Mind - there is an Oligarchy of the Starways Congress which rules by controlling communication by the Ansible. The Capitol in The Hunger Games trilogy is also a form of Oligarchy, as is the nation of Tear (ruled by a group of High Lords, until the appointment of High Lord Darlin as King of Tear) in Robert Jordan's The Wheel of Time. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oligarchy Corporatocracy is a term used as an economic and political system controlled by corporations or corporate interests. It is a generally pejorative term often used by critics of the current economic situation in a particular country, especially the United States. This is different to corporatism, which is the organisation of society into groups with common interests. Corporatocracy as a term tends to be used by liberal and left-leaning critics, but also some economic libertarian critics and other political observers across the political spectrum. Economist Jeffrey Sachs described the United States as a corporatocracy in his book The Price of Civilization. He suggested that it arose from four trends: weak national parties and strong political representation of individual districts, the large U.S. military establishment after World War II, big corporate money financing election campaigns, and globalization tilting the balance away from workers. The term was used by author John Perkins in his 2004 book Confessions of an Economic Hit Man, where he claimed that a "corporatocracy" exists, involving tacitly coordinated corporations, banks, and governments. This collective is known as what author C Wright Mills would call the Power Elite. The Power Elite are wealthy individuals who hold prominent positions in Corporatocracies. These individuals control the process of determining society's economic and political policies. The concept has been used in explanations of bank bailouts, excessive pay for CEOs, as well as complaints such as the exploitation of national treasuries, people, and natural resources. It has been used by critics of globalization, sometimes in conjunction with criticism of the World Bank or unfair lending practices, as well as criticism of free trade agreements. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corporat... 732 Comments Auggie Giuseppe Add a public comment... Auggie Giuseppe Auggie Giuseppe 0 seconds ago I have always told everyone the same. Its_Rick_James_Bi*ch Its_Rick_James_Bi*ch 1 week ago “Growth for the sake of growth is the ideology of the cancer cell” - Ja Rule 52 Kevin W Kevin W 3 days ago Nothing different between a "D" and the "R" it is all about control. Stack your gold and silver. 4 10 Hammers 10 Hammers 2 weeks ago "...its about universities. it's about corporations. it's about the media" same as it ever was. 137 More Cowbell More Cowbell 6 days ago I was falling asleep and then heard "administer an enema to the gentleman" and that kept me going. 7 Panzer Abt. 507 Panzer Abt. 507 2 weeks ago Jimmy Carter was right. This country is an Oligarchy. 88 Meester meester Hastings. Meester meester Hastings. 2 weeks ago He talked about Kissinger as if he were dead but the criminal is still alive at 98. 147 Randyl Plampin Randyl Plampin 2 weeks ago Had the title included a "criminal financial oligarchy" then it would have been closer to the truth. 98 Gy Bx Gy Bx 6 days ago (edited) One of the most disappointing aspects of growing old is realizing how eternally dysfunctional we are as a species. 22 Kooi Seng Chng Kooi Seng Chng 10 months ago For a country of the size of US, you only have 2 candidates, each essentially no different from the other. In countries much smaller than US, you can find 6 or more political parties of really different political shades. That is democracy. What we have in US is oligarchy. Having 2 candidates makes it so much easier to control the whole scam - that is what it is - a rigged election process. 114 FACTS DC FACTS DC 2 weeks ago “All the world is a stage.” - Shakespeare 96 orange70383 orange70383 4 years ago All he says is there are dozens concentric elite rings each with a little more power. 65 Kurt Berube Kurt Berube 2 weeks ago The more you read about man kinds history the more you realize that nothing has changed, people are still caught up in the fight to just survive while the well off who are blessed with ability or wealth try to protect their empire!!!! 58 Jordan Fraser Jordan Fraser 2 weeks ago Amazing how in almost 30 years, you hear the same criticisms as today. Nothing has really changed, except for the internet 58 Shane McBryde Shane McBryde 2 years ago 'Actors are like pets.' Lol, my favorite line.