KRUGMAN: Oligarchy American Style-"the truth is that the whole nature of our society is at stake"

OP-ED COLUMNIST
Oligarchy, American Style
By PAUL KRUGMAN


....We have a society in which money is increasingly concentrated in the hands of a few people, and in which that concentration of income and wealth threatens to make us a democracy in name only.

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Who’s in that top 0.1 percent? Are they heroic entrepreneurs creating jobs? No, for the most part, they’re corporate executives. Recent research shows that around 60 percent of the top 0.1 percent either are executives in nonfinancial companies or make their money in finance, i.e., Wall Street broadly defined. Add in lawyers and people in real estate, and we’re talking about more than 70 percent of the lucky one-thousandth.

But why does this growing concentration of income and wealth in a few hands matter? Part of the answer is that rising inequality has meant a nation in which most families don’t share fully in economic growth. Another part of the answer is that once you realize just how much richer the rich have become, the argument that higher taxes on high incomes should be part of any long-run budget deal becomes a lot more compelling.

The larger answer, however, is that extreme concentration of income is incompatible with real democracy. Can anyone seriously deny that our political system is being warped by the influence of big money, and that the warping is getting worse as the wealth of a few grows ever larger?

Some pundits are still trying to dismiss concerns about rising inequality as somehow foolish. But the truth is that the whole nature of our society is at stake.

MORE:
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/04/opinion/oligarchy-american-style.html?_r=1

Honestly, in matters economic and financial the Democratic party at this point is just not that far apart from the Republican party.

Yes, I know social issues and all that which is why many of us will continue to vote Democratic. Gay rights, civil rights, women's rights, abortion rights, etc. All incredibly important.

But the fact is that at this point the Democratic party with select few exceptions has fed into and given credibility to the notions that:

1) Tax Increases are bad and tax cuts stimulate the economy.
2) Cost Cutting in the form of austerity is good.
3) Unions are bad (except for their donations).
4) The wealthy are job creators.

The fact is over the past 10+ years we've needed a party that strongly and vigrously counters these arguments. Instead we've gotten a party that at every level has, when confronted with these bogus tenets of economics has said "Well, yes we agree with that......BUT....." instead "NO! WRONG! And here's the evidence and history showing why it's wrong!".

And now I'm afraid we're just too far down the rabbit hole to be able to turn back.

drop it now, and we'll all be much better off... I'm pretty curious to see what happens when some sort of political party spins off of OWS and all the OWS supporters get heckled off of DU for supporting a new party... but I'm just talking to myself now...

There's plenty of hope. Our system has failed, but we're creating a new system.

I'm just old enough and cynical enough to not believe it's going to be able to change such a rotted out system. Especially when the party that is supposed to and has in the past spoken for the people is just as bought and sold as the other one, to a degree not seen previously.

K&R

Start our own companies.
Beat them at their own game.
Market to other union members only.
And freeze out the corporatists.