The Oligarchy You Deserve

Elite institutions show little qualms about their acknowledging the U.S. as the Land of Oligarchy. Oligarchy manifests itself through many institutions of american society. Measured by various statistics oligarchy has spread throughout the U.S. faster than both the panic and/or actual cases of Ebola. Unlike Ebola, though, that generated mass hysteria, the spread of oligarchy incites no widespread fear and certainly no meaningful call to action.

In fact, Citigroup calmly states in its 2005 report distributed to its wealthy clients that:

Most 'Global Imbalances' (high current account deficits and low savings rates, high consumer debt levels in the Anglo-Saxon world, etc) that continue to (unprofitably) preoccupy the world's intelligentsia look a lot less threatening when examined through the prism of plutonomy.   

The risk premium on equities that might derive from the dyspeptic 'global imbalances' school is unwarranted -the earth is not going to be shaken off its axis, and sucked into the cosmos by these 'imbalances.' The earth is being held up by the muscular arms of its entrepreneur-plutocrats like it, or not." [1].

Atlas need not shrug while protected by this Master Class of entrepreneur-plutocrats. This protection extends to Atlas carrying no burdens emanating from parasitic masses expressing their will in the delusional diversion known as elections.

Elections in the U.S. are mass exercises of futility, cosmetic facades showing an external appearance of popular sovereignty. Someone could claim popular sovereignty is real if only more of the masses would vote. This observation is supported by the dismally low voter turnout of 36.3% of eligible (not registered voters) in the 2014 elections. [2]. But, the increasing costs of U.S. elections should wake up U.S. supporting idealists that popular elections have empowered the masses. The previous several election cycles shows power is bought and government is a capital investment. The total cost of elections (Congressional and Presidential combined) have increased from just over $3 billion in 2000 to $6.2 billion in 2012. [3]. While average real wages stagnate, the rising costs of elections show one method by which oligarchy is spreading.

Regardless what someone thinks of labor unions, they were an important catalyst in developing the american middle class. That was last century though. During the 2012 election cycle, business organizations outspent organized labor by a factor of 15 to 1. [4]. Business organizations as a category in this context are used in a general sense, which means some business organizations are not aligned with oligarchy. Nonetheless, our adjusting the ratio to account for that fact will still show a significant disparity between business and labor.

Academic researchers can use elaborate statistical models showing that the higher people ascend up the economic scale, the more power and influence they wield as claimed by Martin Gilens and Benjamin I. Page in their study "Testing Theories of American Politics: Elites, Interest Groups, and Average Citizens" published in the journal Perspectives on Politics Volume 12 Issue 3  September 2014. pp 564-81. American Political Science Association.  Online version is available at  http://journals.cambridge.org/action/displayAbstract?fromPage=online&aid=9354310 Their conclusions shouldn't surprise anyone, but this study appears to be another ivory tower message that doesn't resonate enough with the masses to encourage their taking action. (Occupy Wall Street gained some attention but in the end appeared more of a media event than an actual movement.) Is acceptance of oligarchy the result of generations of social conditioning or is it in our DNA? Or both? I know Dr. Stanley Milgram's experiments shed some light on this question...But mass movements have also occurred and succeeded in the past that have weakened somewhat their governing oligarchies. So for me at least the answer(s) still await.

Many observations about oligarchy in the U.S. focus on the powerlessness of Americans in the middle and lower class. By our focus of oligarchy in the U.S., it suggests that empowering the middle and lower classes should be attempted through american institutions. Yes the oligarchy certainly exists in the U.S. but it is also a post-national and transnational phenomenon. If so, do american institutions offer sufficient means of empowerment to the middle and lower classes enabling their regaining some of the power lost over the last four decades? Probably not. And, transnational institutions that serve non-elites is an oxymoron . Thus, that somber observation exposes the non-elites to their being ridiculed condescendingly by the oligarchs with "Workers of the World Unite." Until the masses determine what method(s) and institution(s) work best to promote their interests, their "democratic institutions" will continue to legitimize the oligarchy they deserve.

1. Ajay Kapur, CFA, Niall Macleod, Narendra Singh. Citigroup. "Equity Strategy." Plutonomy: Buying Luxury, Explaining Global Imbalances. October 6, 2005. accessed at University of California Economics Professor Brad Delong's blog at http://delong.typepad.com/plutonomy-1.pdf

2. Bump, Phillip. "We Probably Just Saw One of the Lowest Turnout Elections in American History." The Washington Post. November 11, 2014. http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/the-fix/wp/2014/11/11/we-probably-just-saw-one-of-the-lowest-turnout-elections-in-american-history/

3. Open Secrets.org. Center for Responsive Politics. https://www.opensecrets.org/bigpicture/

4. Ibid.