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Really something to chew on and try to grasp even though it is obvious.

It has been determined already. We criticize Russia and deservedly so, but we ARE Russia, a democratic oligarchy or better said, a pseudo-democratic oligarchy, although the US doesn't quite have that oligarchical patina that they do... yet.

We much keep that message alive though, lest we fall deeper into that ugliness.

I agree with the OP about the rich controlling things in the US, but the comparison to Russia isn't even close. Freedom of speech is squashed, gays are persecuted by the government, educational opportunities are much lower, and there are many more who poor people, and corruption is much worse in Russia. Russia may present itself as a first world country, but it is not. Really the comparison makes me laugh it's so ridiculous.

I wasn't comparing the US and it's people and culture with the present conditions in Russia and I certainly wasn't comparing goodness and badness. I was comparing economic systems that are at various stages of the same path. We are an oligarchy. They are an oligarchy. When we look at Russia we're looking at out future if we continue on the same path. Patina means the coloring or oxidation with age, the darkening with time usually referred in the context of beauty and value which was the irony of the statement. Darkening with age. Don't laugh too soon.

Wall Street has done exceptionally well under our current president.

of how to approach this.

I don't think that is a good solution.

Enforcing and strengthening anti-trust and inheritance tax laws could be a start. We don't have to tear apart everything. We don't have to completely destroy the ability of people to build businesses. We need to establish that independent small businesses are the desired norm. And that those businesses can be run cooperatively and successfully compete with each other.

We need to make more of the things we buy and use in our country if not locally.

Nor the many mistakes he made in his opportunism. But nothing else is going to work.

want to work in the enterprises better. I like the idea of coupling that with laws that promote employee participation in the decisionmaking in the workplace.

Now I don't think that he's a Leninist, he's a self-proclaimed Marxist in economics.

stop allowing our government to enter into exploitative trade agreements. I agree with Richard Wolff that we should regulate businesses and require them to pay all of their costs and not externalize costs that then appear as taxes or healthcare costs.

Last edited Wed Jun 18, 2014, 02:05 AM - Edit history (1)

It didn't go so well in the "People's Republic" of China either.

Both the late unlamented (except by Putin) Soviet Union and the "People's Republic" of China were just oligarchies that ruled in the name of Communism.
If this is not inevitable, how could it be prevented from happening yet again?

from 1928 or so on, was Stalinist. The USSR degenerated and the rest were deformed at birth BECAUSE of Stalin's influence. It's IMPOSSIBLE to explain all of the "whys" in an internet post. There have been volumes of books written about it, mostly by Trotsky and the followers of Trotsky. It's a deep and rich field of study that is difficult to condense into a few paragraphs.

Last edited Sun Jun 15, 2014, 02:08 AM - Edit history (1)

The court house building in Snyder is a perfect symbol of the oligarchy we now inhabit.

It's not Iraq. It's not al Qaeda. It's not the Viet Cong, communists, or anything the media comes up with. It's Charles and David Koch. It's the Walton's. It's Steve Ballmer and Donald Sterling. It's the big money interests that are really destroying this country. They profit, we suffer. George Carlin was right - it's a big club and we're not in it.

and all those imagined to be "good" billionaires and foundations

more fundamentally, so are Wall Street and the military industrial complex and the media conglomerates.

This escapes many DU, who want to believe in the myth of there being a good side to capital, and think the cash flowing into Democrats is okay, and accept the standard of "viability" being related to how much money a candidate raises.

More broadly, oligarchy is the necessary outcome of capitalism. A violent oligarchy, necessarily, since crisis is also a necessary outcome.

A system must be overthrown, not just the group that owns it but that was also produced by it.

and Complete Campaign Finance Reform (CCFR)! We take away the Oligarch's ability to legally buy our politicians. Most Americans would agree that our government has been bought, just apathetic about it. Let's spread the word!

About 8-10,000 people. A few "mom and pop" businesses but every thing relies on Wally world and many other chains listed in the article.

With very few exceptions wages hover at $8-maybe $12/hr. Have for at least 15-20 yrs.

I had way more buying power, $1400-$2000/mon., in the '70's than my younger, by 20 yrs., brother does now at the job he just got hired at $13.00/hr.

Then things started going to hell in the mid '80's. and haven't gotten much better.

There's one mom and pop chicken place and no pizza places except for the chains. If we want a good home made pizza we have to go 10-30 miles for a good pizza so we usually end up making our own. We've gotten pretty good at it. Much cheaper too.

It's really sad.

Every time we shop at national chain stores/restaurants we are making our local communities a little bit poorer as some of that money leaves our communities permanently for the bank accounts of the financial elite and/or their mega-corporations.

It is such an important point.

A store manager simply does not make the same money as business owners make. No wealth is being generated by anybody who works in chain stores. The wealth is being accumulated (and kept) by people who do not live in our communities for the most part. So, we are slowly but surely making our communities poorer and poorer over time as much of the national collective mind continues to insist on patronizing these mega businesses.

We need to remake America, and I think it may be easier to do that in our purchasing decisions (and build an effective national consciousness supporting this movement) than at the ballot box.

Edited to add: This is not a post advocating for people to not vote. The Republicans are insane. Vote Democratic.

Wish I could rec more than once.

Yes, things are bad and they need to be rectified. But every negative aspect of the country cannot be blamed on some overarching conspiracy. Lex Luthor is not calling the shots.
[hr][font color="blue"][center]Stop looking for heroes. BE one.[/center][/font][hr]