Five Ways that Financial Elites are Destroying Democracy

[xchrom]

http://www.alternet.org/news/153169/five_ways_that_financial_elites_are_destroying_democracy_/

Is democracy compatible with a financial system run by billionaires? Maybe not. Here are five ways that high finance is undermining democracy:

1. Billionaires replace one person, one vote.

Ask any American what’s wrong with our country and they will say that money rules politics. And they are correct. It’s obvious that major political donors and lobbyists for the super-rich have more political influence than we do. As the top 1 percent gains more and more of the nation’s income, the 99 percent effectively become disenfranchised. And of course, the Citizens United Supreme Court decision makes it even easier for the rich to buy political power. Lopsided campaign contributions by and for the super-rich are making a mockery out of elections. In 2010, for example, business outspent labor by a factor of 14 to 1.



2. The stock market exercises an instant veto.

Virtually every economic decision in our democracy is now subject to an instant stock market veto. The first question asked by the White House and Congress before making a policy decision is “How will the markets react?” When the House of Representatives rejected the first TARP bailout bill on Sept. 29, 2008, the stock market fell by a record 777 points. After it passed, the markets were “calmed.”

Now, the New York Times reports that if the deficit “supercommittee” doesn’t get its act together by its Thanksgiving deadline, markets won’t like it:

Some fear that such a failure could lead to the kind of stock market slide and loss of investor confidence that accompanied stalled efforts to raise the federal debt limit earlier this year.

[Demeter]

1. What do they mean "destroying"?

It's dead, Jim.

[xchrom]

4. indeed. i would have used the past tense.

post democracy america.

[Uncle Joe]

6. I beg to differ,

it's only mostly dead.

[Demeter]

7. "It would take a miracle!"

Happy Thanksgiving, Uncle Joe. I'm thankful for Occupy America. I fully intend to keep on keeping on.

[Uncle Joe]

8. We might get one.

[Demeter]

9. (Confidentially, I think we already have)

(but don't tell ANYONE, not even Obama).

[Uncle Joe]

10. My lips are sealed.

:)

Check out the video on RollingStone's link, if you haven't seen it yet, as to what happened after the spraying incident re: the actions of the protesters and the C.U. Police.

I believe the C.U. Police lost the moral high ground and they knew it.

To recap for those who haven’t seen it: police in paramilitary gear line up in front of a group of Occupy protesters peacefully assembled on a quad pathway. Completely unprovoked, police decide to douse the whole group of sitting protesters with pepper spray. There is crying and chaos and panic, but the wheezing protesters sit resolutely in place and refuse to move despite the assault.

Finally, in what to me is the most amazing part, the protesters gather together and move forward shouting “Shame On You! Shame On You!” over and over again. You can literally see the painful truth of those words cutting the resolve of the policemen and forcing them backwards.

Read more: http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/blogs/taibblog/uc-davis-pepper-spray-incident-reveals-weakness-up-top-20111122#ixzz1eTphCY00

Peace to you, Demeter.:hi:

[PETRUS]

2. K&R - Did you see this thread yesterday?

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=103x639251

It links to an article here http://www.the-american-interest.com/article.cfm?piece=1048

The article discusses a theory of oligarchy in democracy using something called the "Material Power Index" to weight political influence. Those in the bottom 90% have an MPI of one, those at the very top have an MPI in the tens of thousands.

[xchrom]

3. i did not. thanks for the link --

that is fascinating.

[JohnWxy]

5. recommended.

[katty]

11. it's destroyed...where to from here? who knows....