Are We a Managed Democracy...?

[5fish]

The elites of society have the politician's ear we do not...

Study: Politicians listen to rich people, not you

Vox is a general interest news site for the 21st century. Its mission: to help everyone understand our complicated world, so that we can all help shape it. In text, video and audio, our reporters explain politics, policy, world affairs, technology, culture, science, the climate crisis, money...

www.vox.com

Who really matters in our democracy — the general public, or wealthy elites? That's the topic of a recent study by political scientists Martin Gilens of Princeton and Benjamin Page of Northwestern. The study's gotten lots of attention over the past year, because the authors conclude, basically, that the US is a corrupt oligarchy where ordinary voters barely matter. Or as they put it, "economic elites and organized interest groups play a substantial part in affecting public policy, but the general public has little or no independent influence."

Specifically, if fewer than 20 percent of wealthy Americans supported a policy change, it only happened about 18 percent of the time. But when 80 percent of them were in support, the change ended up happening 45 percent of the time. There's no similar effect for average Americans.

This is an old article but it still holds true today... The richer the rich get the government makes them even richer but do not pay for a social program...

The Doom Loop of Oligarchy

Wealth becomes political power. Political power becomes more wealth. We see it happening right now.

www.vox.com

You might call this the Doom Loop of Oligarchy: wealth buys power, which buys more wealth. You can see it playing out over the last two weeks in American politics.

 

[5fish]

An Old article from the Trumper days...

Let’s Stop Pretending America Is A Functioning Democracy

A functioning democracy could easily dispatch Donald Trump and his doppelgängers. A failed democracy and bankrupt liberalism assures their ascendancy.

chrishedges.substack.com

The moment any segment of the population, left or right, refuses to participate in this illusion, the face of inverted totalitarianism resembles the face of classical totalitarianism, as Julian Assange is experiencing.

Our corporate overlords and militarists prefer the decorum of George W. Bush, Barack Obama and Joe Biden. But they worked closely with Donald Trump and are willing to do so again. What they will not allow are reformers such as Bernie Sanders, who might challenge, however tepidly, their obscene accumulation of wealth and power. This inability to reform, to restore democratic participation and address social inequality, means the inevitable death of the republic. Biden and the Democrats rail against the cultish Republican Party and their threat to democracy, but they too are the problem.

 

[5fish]

Here is a newer article Democracy vs Plutocracy the earth final days...

It’s democracy v plutocracy – this is the endgame for our planet | George Monbiot

The US supreme court is helping to destroy our climate. But it was a much smaller decision, closer to home, that was the final straw for me, says Guardian columnist George Monbiot

www.google.com

But even financial interests fail fully to explain what’s going on. The oligarchs seeking to stamp out US democracy have gone way beyond the point of attending only to their net worth. It’s no longer about money for them. It’s about brute power: about watching the world bow down before them. For this rush of power, they would forfeit the Earth.

All these cases expose the same political vulnerability: the ease with which democracy is crushed by the power of money. We cannot protect the living world, or women’s reproductive rights, or anything else we value until we get the money out of politics, and break up the media empires that make a mockery of informed political consent.

 

[5fish]

Here is some more missing money: the wealthiest among us not paying their taxes and not being held accountable... can you say "corruption" This is one of the signs of a society in decline the wealthy not paying their taxes and not going to jail. A sign of Plutocrat rule... It older article but it makes a point... We need to be wealthy to pay upfront and use Tax Farmers to audit the wealthy...

Richest 5% Of Americans ‘Choose Not To Pay’ $307 Billion In Taxes Each Year, Treasury Reports

The nation's tax gap is expected to total about $7 trillion over the next decade.

www.forbes.com

Key Facts. According to the Treasury's report, the top 1% of taxpayers, ranked by income, failed to pay about $163 billion in taxes last year, making up about 28% of total unpaid taxes, while the top 5% evaded about $307 billion, or nearly 53% of the overall sum.

"The United States collects less tax revenue as a percentage of [gross domestic product] than at most points in recent history, in part because owed but uncollected taxes are so significant," the Treasury Department's Natasha Sarin wrote in the report. "These unpaid taxes mean policymakers must choose between rising deficits, lower spending on important priorities, or further tax increase to compensate for lost revenue—which will only be borne by compliant taxpayers."

According to the Treasury's report, the top 1% of taxpayers, ranked by income, failed to pay about $163 billion in taxes last year, making up about 28% of total unpaid taxes, while the top 5% evaded about $307 billion, or nearly 53% of the overall sum.

The total underpayment of about $600 billion would translate to $7 trillion in lost tax revenue over the next decade—a "striking" sum equal to about 3% of GDP, or all the taxes paid by the lowest-earning 90% of taxpayers, the Treasury notes.

The Treasury says the wealthiest Americans account for the bulk of tax evasion because higher-income taxpayers have the financial resources to "tap into the services of accountants and tax preparers who help shield them from bearing their true income tax liability."

It also attributes part of the tax gap to the lack of reporting requirements on "opaque" income sources commonly utilized by high earners, with as much as 55% of noncompliance stemming from partnerships, proprietorship and rental income.

 

[5fish]

If you look at the first post the wealthy's taxes have been going down while their wealth has exploded and they still can not pay their taxes...

 

[5fish]

Here a video about a billionaire and how his wealth gives him undue influence...

 

[5fish]

We are a Plutocracy and this story proves it and it shows campaign financing has corrupted of Democracy... Wealthy men promising the Mayor campaign support he he cleared out the Columbia protestors... @rittmeister , @Wehrkraftzersetzer , @diane , @jgoodguy , @O' Be Joyful ...

A group of billionaires and business titans working to shape U.S. public opinion of the war in Gaza privately pressed New York City's mayor last month to send police to disperse pro-Palestinian protests at Columbia University, according to communications obtained by The Washington Post and people familiar with the ...

Pro-Israel billionaires urged New York crackdown on Gaza protests: Report

WhatsApp leaks reveal group of business leaders discussed ways to pressure officials to clear pro-Palestine protesters.

www.google.com

Some members also offered to pay for private investigators to assist New York police in handling the protests, the chat log shows — an offer a member of the group reported in the chat that Adams accepted.” The story states that city authorities denied that private investigators were used to help manage the protests.

The WhatsApp chat cited by the Washington Post included prominent businessmen such as former CEO of Starbucks Howard Schultz, Dell founder and CEO Michael Dell, hedge fund manager Bill Ackman and Joshua Kushner, brother of former President Donald Trump’s son-in-law and adviser on Middle East issues, Jared Kushner.

Other leaders, such as snack company founder Daniel Lubetzky, hedge fund manager Daniel Loeb, billionaire Len Blavatnik and real estate investor Joseph Sitt also said that they held a video meeting with Mayor Adams on April 26.

 

[jgoodguy]

We are a Plutocracy

We always have been. The unadvertised advantage to democracy is that when rich folks want to do something, they fund elections instead of buying arms for the peasants to fight for it.

 

[rittmeister]

We always have been. The unadvertised advantage to democracy is that when rich folks want to do something, they fund elections instead of buying arms for the peasants to fight for it.

exatly - by the rich, through the rich and for the rich

 

[Wehrkraftzersetzer]

exatly - by the rich, through the rich and for the rich

they alos steal $/€ and cs