No Surprise - Study Says U.S. Is An Oligarchy

The more money you have, the more say you get in how things get run:

A new study by researchers from Princeton and Northwestern Universities finds that America's government policies reflect the wishes of the rich and of powerful interest groups, rather than the wishes of the majority of citizens. 

The researchers examined close to 1,800 U.S. policy changes in the years between 1981 and 2002; then, they compared those policy changes with the expressed preferences of the median American, at the 50th percentile of income; with affluent Americans, at the 90th percentile of income; and with the position of powerful interest and lobbying groups.

The central point that emerges from our research is that economic elites and organized groups representing business interests have substantial independent impacts on U.S. government policy, while mass-based interest groups and average citizens have little or no independent influence. Our results provide substantial support for theories of Economic Elite Domination and for theories of Biased Pluralism, but not for theories of Majoritarian Electoral Democracy or Majoritarian Pluralism...

Recent research by Larry Bartels and by one of the present authors (Gilens), which explicitly brings the preferences of "affluent" Americans into the analysis along with the preferences of those lower in the income distribution, indicates that the apparent connection between public policy and the preferences of the average citizen may indeed be largely or entirely spurious.

The theory of Economic Elite Domination is fairly self-explanatory. The theory of Biased Pluralism holds that policy outcomes "tend to tilt towards the wishes of corporations and business and professional associations." In essence, the researchers found that government policy changes are correlated with the wishes of the wealthy and with interest groups, but not with the wishes of the average American—even though the whole idea of "Democracy" is to ensure that the wishes of the majority tend to carry the day.

In short, we live in a "fake democracy" that is really an oligarchy run by our economic elites.

Are Americans Waking Up From Their Self-Induced Comas?

Washington Post polls finds many Americans no longer believe in the fantasy of the "American Dream:

Four years into an economic recovery in which most of the benefits have flowed to the top earners, a majority believe that the American Dream is becoming markedly more elusive, according to the results of a Washington Post-Miller Center Poll exploring Americans’ changing definition of success and their confidence in the country’s future.

Although most Americans still think hard work and education breed opportunity, their faith in a brighter tomorrow has been eroded by intensifying struggles on the job and at home that have led some to conclude that the United States has emerged from the Great Recession a fundamentally changed nation.

Among the poll’s findings:

Bloomberg Bloats His PAC With Cash

He's got money to burn and boy is he burning it:

Michael Bloomberg’s national political spending has skyrocketed during the first quarter of 2013. But it is unclear whether his company, Bloomberg LP, has had any parallel increase in spending on federal lobbying activity.

In the first quarter, New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg contributed over $2 million to his Super PAC, Independence USA, for independent expenditures in federal political races. He also announced he has committed $20 million to push for tighter gun laws. His group, Mayors Against Illegal Guns Action Fund, has registered for federal lobbying, effective April 1st.

$22 million to be used to bludgeon politicians who don't agree with Herr Bloomberg on gun laws.

You can bet he's going to do something similar with education reform in the near future.

Isn't it swell we live in a fake democracy where a billionaire bully like Bloomberg gets to use as much money as he wants to hammer pols who hold beliefs different than his own on various issues?

Because we are all created equal and we all have the right to free speech, but those of us with billions of dollars are just a little more equal than the rest of us and enjoy lots more speech than us as well.

An Overwhelming Majority Of New Yorkers Support The End Of Mayoral Control

So finds the latest Quinnipiac poll:

 When Michael Bloomberg leaves office, do you think that the next mayor should retain complete control of the public schools or share control of the public schools with other elected leaders?

                     Tot    Rep    Dem    Ind
 
Retain control       22%    23%    21%    26% 
Share control        68     68     70     65 
DK/NA                10      9     10     10 
 
                   

 This will make the editorial boards at the NY Times, the NY Daily News, the NY Post, the Wall Street Journal and Newsday very, very sad - New Yorkers want the next mayor to share control of the school system, 68%-22%.

That is an overwhelming majority that wants the mayor to share control of the school system.

This won't happen, of course, because Our Dear Leaders in Albany and the businessmen and businesswomen who own this state won't allow this to come to pass.

But if we lived in an actual democracy as opposed to a fake democracy where we have the illusion of democratic choice, we would get a school system with shared controlled between the mayor, the borough presidents, and a duly elected school board or something along those lines.

Instead we get autocracy.

And remember, this is promoted at not just the city and state level, but by the feds too.

Arne Duncan, in a rare moment of honesty, went on record saying he would consider his tenure at the USDOE a failure if he did not increase the number of municipalities with mayoral control of the schools.

Who cares if 68% of city voters oppose mayoral control?

This is about the kids!

Mayors first!

Bloomberg Buys Himself A Congressional Seat

From The Guardian:

Robin Kelly, a Democrat who wants to ban assault weapons, has effectively become Jesse Jackson Jr's replacement in Congress for the Illinois second district after winning a primary for the party's nomination – all but ensuring she will win the 9 April special election in what is a heavily Democratic district.

Kelly, a former member of the Illinois state legislature, was backed by the New York mayor, Michael Bloomberg, in a campaign dominated by a gun control debate that is burning strongly after the Connecticut elementary school massacre.

In the Democratic primary race Kelly emerged early as a leader on gun control issues, a central theme during the race that helped her win support from Independence US, Bloomberg's super political action committee (super-Pac). It poured more than $2m into the race by airing anti-gun ads supporting Kelly, who favours an assault weapons ban and other gun measures proposed by President Barack Obama.

The ads targeted another frontrunner, Debbie Halvorson, a former congresswoman who is against banning assault weapons. The result was a setback for the National Rifle Association, which backed Halvorson and campaigned against Kelly.

"We worked really really hard," Kelly, a former state representative from Matteson, a south Chicago suburb, told the Associated Press. "We were on the right side of the issue and our message resonated."

Oh sure - you worked really hard and you were on the right side of the issue and Bloomberg gave you $2 million dollars to savage your opponent with ads.

So far, Bloomerg's PAC has spent more than $12 million nationwide on races over the gun control issue, donating to candidates who back Bloomberg's policies.

Bloomberg plans to do the same on education reform as well.

Unless the Little Mayor inexplicably goes bankrupt, he's going to have an undue influence on politics for a long, long time.

What A Difference Four Years Makes

In 2008, I stayed up late into the night watching the election coverage.

This year, I won't be watching it at all.

I voted Green today.

No Obama for me.

No pro-privatization, pro-hedge fundie, pro-drone bomber for me.

And tonight, I really don't care who wins.

Obam, Romney - what's the difference?

Think about all the things that haven't changed since we elected Mr. Change We Can Believe In Man.

Bailouts for bankers?

Still the same.

Tax cuts for wealthy people, austerity for the rest?

Still the same.

Surveillance state being used against American citizens?

Even worse under Obama than it was under Bush.

Bloodthirsty foreign policy?

Ask the drone bomb victims how better things are under Obama.

Oh, wait - you can't.

They're all dead and Obama is thumping his cock on the ground and pounding his chest like a tough guy over it all - just like Bush and Cheney.

Why do you think they lick their lips as they leak this stuff to the NY Times?

But what about torture?  Is that still going on?

Just ask Bradely Manning about that.

Kill list?

Oh, yeah - Obama 's got one of those.

Sorry, folks, but it doesn't matter who wins tonight - at all.

In the short term, an Obama win means things go from bad to worse to worst a little slower.

But he's still taking us to a very bad place - a neo-feudal, surveillance state.

Make no mistake about that.

So don't lose any sleep tonight over this election.

We live in a fake democracy and the results are all rigged for the 1%.

Whoever wins tonight, you and I and lose.

And forget the Supreme Court jive.

Have you seen who Obama put on the Supreme Court?

These aren't exactly the liberal justices I remember growing up.

When John Paul Stevens, the Ford appointee, retires as the most liberal justice on the court, you know something's really, really wrong.

So don't sweat it.

We're already fucked regardless.

If you don't believe that, just replay the last week of Sandy recovery and take a look at how much "they" care about you.