DEPARTMENT OF OLIGARCHIES. America’s toughest policy in condemning Russian President Vladimir Putin’s aggression has been to impose banking sanctions on Russia’s oligarchy – the dozen Russian businessmen personally close to Putin, such as such as billionaire Gennady Timchenko, whose Gunvor company trades most of Russia’s oil and who has major interests in gas pipe-building companies, and Arkady Rotenberg, Putin’s former judo partner, whose construction company benefited from the $50 billion Sochi Olympics. The share prices of companies associated with these billionaires have been badly hit. America isn’t a Russian-type oligarchy, but our own billionaires are gaining huge influence. A new study by Princeton’s Martin Gilens and Northwestern University’s Benjamin Page finds that a proposed policy change with low support among America’s economic elite is rarely adopted while a proposed change they support is adopted about 45% of the time. On the other hand, when a large majority of Americans disagrees with economic elites and their organized interests, the majority usually loses. The professors’ conclusion: “When policy making is dominated by powerful business organizations and a small number of affluent Americans, Americas claims to being a democratic society are seriously threatened.” Do you think were already an oligarchy?
Posted on: Fri, 18 Apr 2014 15:09:11 +0000