An interesting theory.
The Class-Domination Theory of Power
by G. William Domhoff
April 2005
NOTE: WhoRulesAmerica.net is largely based on my book, Who Rules America?, first published in 1967 and now in its 6th edition. This on-line document is presented as a summary of some of the main ideas in that book.
Who has predominant power in the United States? The short answer, from 1776 to the present, is: Those who have the money have the power. George Washington was one of the biggest landowners of his day; presidents in the late 19th century were close to the railroad interests; for the Bush family, it was oil and other natural resources, agribusiness, and finance. But to be more exact, those who own income-producing property — corporations, real estate, and agribusinesses — set the rules within which policy battles are waged.
via Who Rules America: The Class-Domination Theory of Power.
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Wealth, Income, and Power
by G. William Domhoff
September 2005 (updated January 2011)
This document presents details on the wealth and income distributions in the United States, and explains how we use these two distributions as power indicators.
Some of the information may come as a surprise to many people. In fact, I know it will be a surprise and then some, because of a recent study (Norton & Ariely, 2010) showing that most Americans (high income or low income, female or male, young or old, Republican or Democrat) have no idea just how concentrated the wealth distribution actually is. More on that a bit later.
via Who Rules America: Wealth, Income, and Power.
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The answer is this. When it comes to protecting the fortunes of America’s rich (mostly top corporate executives and Wall Street) and maintaining their strangle-hold on the political process, Senate Republicans, along with some Senate Democrats, don’t budge
via Robert Reich (Why Obama Wins on Foreign Policy and Gays but Loses on Economics and Taxes).
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The two American economies — the Big Money economy and the Average Working Family economy — will continue to diverge. Corporate profits will continue to rise, as will the stock market. But typical wages will go nowhere, joblessness will remain high, the ranks of the long-term unemployed will continue to rise, the housing recovery will remain stalled, and consumer confidence will sag.
via Robert Reich (New Years Prediction (II): The U.S. Economy in 2011).
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Online lessons geared toward teaching high school students economics as if people mattered. From United for a Fair Economy.
Teaching Economics As If People Mattered.
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History will record 2010 as the year Washington became “business friendly.”
via Robert Reich (The Year Washington Became “Business Friendly”).
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The new tax deal embodies the essence of Reaganomics.
It will not stimulate the economy.
A disproportionate share of the $858 billion deal will go to people in the top 1 percent who spend only a fraction of what they earn and save the rest. Their savings are sent around the world to wherever they will earn the highest return.
The only practical effect of adding $858 billion to the deficit will be to put more pressure on Democrats to reduce non-defense spending of all sorts, including Social Security and Medicare, as well as education and infrastructure
via Robert Reich (The New Tax Deal: Reaganomics Redux).
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… The Democratic Party can no longer ignore critical investments in the productivity of average workers. Nor can it ignore the increasing concentration of income and wealth at the very top, and the inability of America’s middle and working class to get the economy moving again.
The GOP hasn’t changed their story or their strategy since the 1990s. It’s the fault of big government. That was false then, and it’s false now. The structural problems are now much worse, and the cyclical recovery from the Great Recession pathetically anemic.
If the Democratic Party has stood for anything over the years it is to maintain and restore upward mobility for the majority of working Americans, ensure that the playing field isn’t tilted in the direction of the privileged, and limit the power of the richest among us to entrench themselves and their heirs into a semi-permanent plutocracy
via Robert Reich (Why Democrats Should Disregard Bill Clinton’s Endorsement of Obama’s Tax Deal).
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Some Dem apologists say the deal is a $900 billion stimulus. Not true. The rich spend a smaller share of their incomes than everyone else, so the huge benefits going their way will barely stimulate the economy. (Their savings will move around the world wherever they can get the highest return.)
And while middle and working class consumers will get a small break from payroll taxes, they’ll use most of it to help pay down their debts because they know the tax break isn’t permanent while their debt payments and penalties are growing. Again, very little stimulus.
An extension of unemployment benefits for the long-term jobless will surely help them and the economy overall. But a new WPA to put the jobless to work would have been far better. The longer they’re out of work the harder it will be for them ever to get back in, even if and when jobs return. But apparently a new WPA wasn’t even considered
via Robert Reich (The Why-Should-I-Get-Out-Of-My-Chair Gap in 2012).
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Rarely before in American history has there been more disconnect between Washington and the rest of the nation. Washington is obsessing about the projected federal budget deficit. Everyone else in America is worried about jobs
via Robert Reich (The Truth About the Federal Budget Deficit That Noone Is Willing to Tell).
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Quiz: What’s responsible for the lousy economy most Americans continue to wallow in?
A. Big government, bureaucrats, and the cultural and intellectual elites who back them.
B. Big business, Wall Street, and the powerful and privileged who represent them.
These are the two competing stories Americans are telling one another
Read the rest of his analysis here Robert Reich (The Big Economic Story, and Why Obama Isn’t Telling It).
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It’s hard to figure out what the corporations have to complain about. Corporate America registered the highest profits on record last quarter. Companies are sitting on more than a trillion dollars in cash. CEOs are pocketing record compensation. Wall Street is back handing out million-dollar bonuses. The president’s tax deal extends their tax breaks, promises a lower rate on their estates and extends billions in corporate tax subsidies.
The AFL-CIO provides a helpfu guide to just how well the barons meeting with the president are doing. John Chambers, the chairman and chief executive officer of Cisco, was paid $10.2 million during last year’s recession — about 320 times the $32,048 that the average worker took home. Kenneth Chennault, chairman and chief executive officer of American Express, made do with $17.3 million — or an astounding 524 times what the average worker makes.
via Opinion: Getting all of America working – Robert L. Borosage – POLITICO.com.
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The president of World Vision explains why poverty is getting worse—and how this generation can stop it.
Our world is increasingly divided between rich and poor. When I was born, the richest countries were 35 times as wealthy as the poorest. Half a century later, it stood at 75 to 1. The divide more than doubled on the watch of my generation—the one that vowed to end war and save the planet.
via RELEVANT Magazine – Can We Really Solve Poverty?.
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The media were quick to condemn ACORN’s alleged misbehavior, but they’ve been extraordinarily slow to report on independent studies that have exonerated the organization. Investigations by two state attorneys general uncovered no illegal behavior. According to the GAO, all complaints filed against ACORN with the Federal Elections Commission were dismissed. Six FBI investigations into alleged voter fraud by ACORN employees were closed without indictments.
This March a federal District Court ruled that the law Congress passed cutting off ACORN’s federal funding was a bill of attainder, a type of law specifically prohibited by the Constitution because of the Founding Fathers’ fear that a powerful and vindictive federal government could single out a single individual or organization for penalties.
via ACORN deserves an apology, too | The New Rules Project.
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We can save our country by adding eight words to the fundamental law of the land, the US Constitution. “Corporations are not persons.” “Money is not speech.”
This is an excellent article please read the link below.
via 8 Words That Could Save Our Country | The New Rules Project.
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With unemployment high and millions of families in need, for the first time since 1996 when President Clinton and Congress created the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) block grant as part of welfare reform, no additional TANF funds are available from the federal government to help states respond to the large increases in the number of impoverished families as a result of a recession.
Consequently, with the need for emergency and temporary assistance (including help finding work) at their highest levels in decades, more low-income parents will go without jobs, more homeless families will go without shelter, fewer low-wage workers will receive help with child care expenses, and fewer families involved with the child welfare system will receive preventive services.
via Federal TANF Funding Shrinking While Need Remains High — Center on Budget and Policy Priorities.
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But there was second hypothesis: Maybe a good chunk of the political class is just so insulated from the realities in the report that they don’t feel the same sense of urgency that most Americans do. Things are terrible on Main Street, but on Wall Street, Pennsylvania Avenue, and K Street, they don’t look so gloomy. How else can we explain why everyone in Washington was talking about deficit reduction (at least until they decided to blow another hole in the budget), even while polls show that Americans ranked it way, way below fixing the economy?
It’s not clear which is scarier — that our leaders don’t think they can lead, or that they don’t want to.
Either way, the middle-class economy keeps falling, and no one is there to hear it.
via Jacob S. Hacker and Paul Pierson: The Great Disconnect.
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According to the report, more than 90 percent of Americans experienced at least one major economic “shock” during these 18 months: a substantial drop in wealth or income, a large increase in nondiscretionary spending (such as medical costs), or similar dislocation. Even if you ignore big wealth losses — ubiquitous because of the fall in the housing and the stock markets — roughly 7 in 10 Americans saw their earnings substantially decline or their nondiscretionary expenses substantially rise. Nearly a quarter saw their income fall by 25 percent or more.
via Jacob S. Hacker and Paul Pierson: The Great Disconnect.
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While family health insurance premium costs grew 131% over the past 10 years, inflation over that same period rose just 28.8% and hourly earnings rose by 38.1%. Since health insurance premiums are often shared between workers and their employers, this disproportionate rise in the cost of health insurance helps illustrate why it is increasingly difficult for both employers and their workers to afford.
via State of Working America preview: A staggering rise in health insurance costs.
Here is an article by the AFL-CIO on the same data.
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Another important article from Robert Reich with his solutions for a true economic recovery.
This is not a recovery. It’s a continuing jobs emergency and it demands action
via Robert Reich (The American Jobs Emergency Requires Action).
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