T-shirt: "Blinded by Culture Wars as our government allows widening inequality and shareholder primacy"

Economic frustrations can easily be channeled into racism and xenophobia. This is not new. For 150 years, demagogues have taken economic frustrations and actually pointed to what are essentially scapegoats: the other, people who look different, foreigners, people who have different skin pigments, people who have different religions. This is one of the oldest tricks in the demagogue’s playbook.

Oligarchy can be defined when political power is concentrated into a small number of hands, typically wealthy people, monopoly, oligopoly, or corpocracy. It is the concentration of economic power within the marketplace and not the political sphere. It is hotels on every property of the monopoly board owned by one player.

There are plenty of reasons for the majority of Americans to feel frustrated. The game is rigged. Washington is awash in money, and that money is coming from big corporations and wealthy people. Unions are no longer a major force in politics because they have been busted or made irrelevant or companies have moved to non-union states.

The financial crisis of 2008 illuminated much for Americans. It revealed the great unfairness in the United States. This unfairness has been happening for many years. A small group at the top was basically raking in more and more power and wealth.

1) Bankers got bailed out 

2) No executives went to jail. 

3) Home owners didn’t get help. 

4) Millions of people lost their savings and their jobs.  

The groundwork was laid for a great sense that the bailout in 2008 was fundamentally unfair. This unfairness is that the government had betrayed the people by getting too close to corporations, big banks, and big business. The American people now feel this deep-seated sense of betrayal.

Great Gift for anyone who wants to vote for politicians who won't get in bed with corporations. 

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https://provokoloko.com/blogs/news/something-woke-up-dragon-and-flowers

https://provokoloko.com/blogs/news/provokoloko-commentary-10-01-22-of-americas-great-divide-robert-reich-interview