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Category: plutocracy

  • Trump Is Turning the White House Into a Billionaire Time-Share

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    Original article by Bob Burnett republished from Common Dreams under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0). 

    President-elect Donald Trump and Elon Musk talk ringside during the UFC 309 event at Madison Square Garden on November 16, 2024 in New York City. (Photo: Chris Unger/Zuffa LLC)

    It appears that Trump has entered into a power-sharing agreement with Musk and several other wealthy individuals including Vivek Ramaswamy, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., and David Sacks.

    Democracy decays into oligarchy when a few individuals accumulate most of the political power.

    The reelection of Donald Trump has accelerated the decline of the United States into oligarchy. Trump has had billionaire donors for each of his presidential campaigns, but in 2024 the role of these wealthy donors expanded. Donors such as Elon Musk made gigantic contributions to Trump’s campaign; in return for this they are taking an active role in the Trump White House. Perhaps, this time around, Trump turned the oval office into a time-share.

    On December 19, Elon Musk led the call for House Republicans to repudiate a continuing resolution they had just negotiated to keep the federal government running through the end of the year. Perhaps Musk’s charter includes coordination with Congress.

    When Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy speak of increasing government efficiency, they usually start with services for the unfortunate.

    It appears that Trump has entered into a power-sharing agreement with Musk and several other wealthy individuals including Vivek Ramaswamy, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., and David Sacks. However this arrangement works, it’s likely that the Trump administration will cater to billionaires—Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) observed that the 13 billionaires chosen by Trump to serve in his administration have a combined wealth of at least $383 billion.

    What do these billionaires want? The oligarchs and billionaires want lower taxes and reduced government regulations. Of course, each billionaire has a particular set of interests; for example, David Sacks, Trump’s “AI and crypto czar,” is a venture capitalist with heavy investment in AI and crypto. Sadly. most of the oligarchs are climate-change deniers.

    The oligarchs want more wealth. Robert Reich observes:

    Since [1980], the median wage of the bottom 90% has stagnated. The share of the nation’s wealth owned by the richest 400 Americans has quadrupled (from less than 1% to 3.5%) while the share owned by the entire bottom half of America has dropped to 1.3%… The richest 1% of Americans now has more wealth than the bottom 90% combined.

    The oligarchs share a fiscally conservative agenda. They intend to shrink the size of the federal government. The particulars vary but the oligarchs are not concerned with the size of the defense budget; their cost-cutting focus is on programs that service the poor and disadvantaged—such as Medicaid. When Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy speak of increasing government efficiency, they usually start with services for the unfortunate.

    What are the practical consequences of this shift to oligarchy? It’s unsettling to be in a political situation where we do not understand who is in charge at the White House. We don’t know how power-sharing will work. The relationship between Trump and Congress has been fraught. The shift to oligarchy will make this relationship even more difficult.

    Will the oligarchs fix the economy? Trump was elected because he promised to fix the economy. Most Americans believed he would drive down inflation; they thought Trump would reduce the cost of food, housing, and household and medical expenses. Since November 5, Trump has given no indication of how he plans to do this. Perhaps he has lost interest.

    During the presidential campaign, Trump said his inflation-fighting agenda would rely upon tariffs, but it’s likely that the oligarchs will influence how Trump’s tariff strategy plays out. Musk has huge business interests in China, and it’s unlikely that he would support a tariff policy that would hurt his relationships with the country.

    Trump has appointed a “czar” for immigration (Tom Homan), energy (Doug Burgum), and AI & Crypto (Sacks). Trump has not appointed a czar for inflation. With much fanfare, Trump has appointed a commission on “government efficiency;” they’ve already started meeting. Trump has not appointed to a commission to curb inflation.

    After January 20, Trump will own inflation and the economy. Trump’s immigration “purge” will drive up the cost of food. Trump’s tariffs will drive up the cost of household expenses.

    Trump’s trying to ignore inflation. Or turn it over to an oligarch co-president. Stay tuned.

    Original article by Bob Burnett republished from Common Dreams under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0). 

  • US business leaders set to break record on donations to Trump inaugural fund

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    https://www.theguardian.com/business/2024/dec/25/us-business-leaders-trump-inaugural-fund

    Meta, led by Mark Zuckerberg (left), and Amazon, led by Jeff Bezos, gave $1m each. Photograph: Getty Images

    Donations, not restricted by campaign finance laws, come as industries seek favor with incoming administration

    US business leaders are spending big on Donald Trump’s second inaugural fund, which is predicted to exceed even the record-setting $107m raised in 2017.

    The donations, which are not restricted by campaign finance laws, come as industries and business leaders seek to curry favor with the incoming administration after the president-elect decisively won a second, non-consecutive term in November.

    Some of the planned donations reportedly include $1m each from Jeff Bezos’s Amazon, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman and Facebook parent company Meta, led by Mark Zuckerberg.

    Hedge-fund manager Ken Griffin has said he plans to donate $1m, Bloomberg reported; Uber and its CEO Dara Khosrowshahi are reported to be chipping in $1m each; and Toyota, Ford and General Motors are each peeling off $1m. Ford is also reportedly coupling its donation with a fleet of vehicles.

    “EVERYBODY WANTS TO BE MY FRIEND!!!” Trump wrote in a post on Truth Social on Thursday.

    Many senior executives in US industries and finance have already made the trip to Mar-a-Lago, Trump’s transition team headquarters, or are planning to, according to reports, as they seek to gain influence and access to the incoming administration that’s threatening to shake up international trading norms.

    …

    https://www.theguardian.com/business/2024/dec/25/us-business-leaders-trump-inaugural-fund

  • Bernie Sanders Says Defeating Oligarchy Now Most Urgent Issue

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    Original article by Jon Queally republished from Common Dreams under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0). 

    Bernie Sanders attends during “Bernie Sanders: It’s OK To Be Angry About Capitalism” at Royal Geographical Society on February 22, 2024 in London, England. (Photo by Joe Maher/Getty Images For Fane)

    “My friends, you don’t have to be a PhD in political science to understand that this is not democracy. This is not one person, one vote. This is not all of us coming together to decide our future. This is oligarchy.”

    Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont is escalating his fight against the U.S. oligarchy with a new campaign directed at the nation’s wealthiest individuals—including Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos, and Mark Zuckerberg—who he says are key culprits in a global race to the bottom that is stripping people worldwide of political agency while impoverishing billions so that the rich can amass increasingly obscene levels of wealth.

    Announcing a new series that will detail how “billionaire oligarchs” in the U.S. “manipulate the global economy, purchase our elections, avoid paying taxes, and increasingly control our government,” Sanders said in a Friday night video address that it makes him laugh when mainstream pundits talk openly about the nefarious oligarchic structures in other places, but refuse to acknowledge the issue in domestic terms.

    “Strangely enough, the term ‘oligarchy’ is very rarely used to describe what’s happening in the United States or in fact, what’s happening around the world,” said Sanders. “But guess what? Oligarchy is a global phenomenon, and it is headquartered right here in the United States.”

    While rarely discussed in the corporate press or by most elected officials, argues Sanders, the reality is that a “small number of incredibly wealthy billionaires own and control much of the global economy. Period. End of discussion. And increasingly they own and control our government through a corrupt campaign finance system.”

    Since the the victory of President-elect Donald Trump in November, Sanders has been increasingly outspoken about his frustrations over the failure of the Democratic Party to adequately confront the contradictions presented by a party that purports to represent the interests of the working class yet remains so beholden to corporate interests and the wealthy that lavish it with campaign contributions.

    In a missive to supporters last month, Sanders bemoaned how “just 150 billionaire families spent nearly $2 billion to get their candidates elected” in this year’s elections, which included giving to both major political parties. Such a reality, he said, must be challenged.

    As part of his new effort announced Friday, Sanders’ office said the two-time Democratic presidential candidate would be hosting a series of discussions with the leading experts on various topics related to the form and function of U.S. oligarchy and expose the incoming Trump administration’s “ties to the billionaire class,” including their efforts to further erode democracy, gut regulations, enrich themselves, and undermine the common good.

    “In my view,” said Sanders, “this issue of oligarchy is the most important issue facing our country and world because it touches on everything else.” He said the climate crisis, healthcare, worker protections, and the fight against poverty are all adversely effected by the power of the wealthy elites who control the economy and the political sphere.

    “My friends, you don’t have to be a PhD in political science to understand that this is not democracy,” he said. “This is not one person, one vote. This is not all of us coming together to decide our future. This is oligarchy.”

    Original article by Jon Queally republished from Common Dreams under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0). 

  • ‘The Next Recession Starts Here’: Trump Team Weighs Abolishing Bank Regulators

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    Original article by Jake Johnson republished from Common Dreams under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0). 

    The president-elect’s advisers are reportedly discussing plans to shrink or eliminate key bank watchdogs, including the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation.

    President-elect Donald Trump and his advisers are reportedly considering plans to weaken—or abolish altogether—top bank regulators, including the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation and Office of the Comptroller of the Currency.

    The Wall Street Journal reported Thursday that members of Trump’s transition team and the new Elon Musk-led Department of Government Efficiency have asked nominees under consideration to head the FDIC and OCC if the bank watchdogs could be eliminated and have their functions absorbed by the Treasury Department, which is set to be run by a billionaire hedge fund manager and crypto enthusiast.

    “Bank executives are optimistic President-elect Donald Trump will ease a host of regulations on capital cushions and consumer protections, as well as scrutiny of consolidation in the industry,” the Journal reported. “But FDIC deposit insurance is considered near sacred. Any move that threatened to undermine even the perception of deposit insurance could quickly ripple through banks and in a crisis might compound customer fears.”

    The Trump team’s internal and fluid discussions about the fate of the key bank regulators broadly aligns with Project 2025’s proposal to “merge the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, the National Credit Union Administration, and the Federal Reserve’s non-monetary supervisory and regulatory functions.”

    The FDIC, which is primarily funded by bank insurance premiums, was established during the Great Depression to restore public trust in the nation’s banking system, and the agency played a central role in navigating the 2023 bank failures that threatened a systemic crisis.

    Observers warned that gutting the FDIC and OCC could catalyze another economic meltdown.

    “The next recession starts here,” tech journalist Jacob Silverman warned in response to the Journal‘s reporting.

    Eric Rauchway, a historian of the New Deal, wrote that “even Milton Friedman appreciated the FDIC,” underscoring the extreme nature of the incoming Trump administration’s deregulatory ambitions.

    Musk, the world’s wealthiest man, is also pushing for the elimination of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, an agency established in the wake of the 2008 financial crisis.

    The Journal noted Thursday that “Rep. Andy Barr, a Republican from Kentucky and Trump ally on the House Financial Services Committee, has backed the plan to eliminate or drastically alter the CFPB and said he wants to get rid of what he calls ‘one-size-fits-all’ regulation for banks.”

    Barr has received millions of dollars in campaign donations from the financial sector and “introduced many pieces of pro-industry legislation, including significant rollbacks of protections stemming from the 2008 financial crisis,” according to the watchdog group Accountable.US.

    Original article by Jake Johnson republished from Common Dreams under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0). 

  • ‘Make Polio Great Again’: Alarm Over RFK Jr. Lawyer Who Targeted Vaccine

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    Original article by Jessica Corbett republished from Common Dreams under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0). 

    Former U.S. President Donald Trump welcomes Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to the stage at a campaign rally at the Gas South Arena on October 23, 2024 in Duluth, Georgia. (Photo: Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)

    “So if you’re wondering if Donald Trump is trying to kill your kids, yes, yes he is,” said one critic.

    Public health advocates, federal lawmakers, and other critics responded with alarm to The New York Times reporting on Friday that an attorney helping Robert F. Kennedy Jr. select officials for the next Trump administration tried to get the U.S. regulators to revoke approval of the polio vaccine in 2022.

    “The United States has been a leader in the global fight to eradicate polio, which is poised to become only the second disease in history to be eliminated from the face of the earth after smallpox,” said Liza Barrie, Public Citizen’s campaign director for global vaccines access. “Undermining polio vaccination efforts now risks reversing decades of progress and unraveling one of the greatest public health achievements of all time.”

    Public Citizen is among various organizations that have criticized President-elect Donald Trump’s choice of Kennedy to lead the Department of Health and Human Services, with the watchdog’s co-president, Robert Weissman, saying that “he shouldn’t be allowed in the building… let alone be placed in charge of the nation’s public health agency.”

    Although Kennedy’s nomination requires Senate confirmation, he is already speaking with candidates for top health positions, with help from Aaron Siri, an attorney who represented RFK Jr. during his own presidential campaign, the Times reported. Siri also represents the Informed Consent Action Network (ICAN) in petitions asking the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) “to withdraw or suspend approval of vaccines not only for polio, but also for hepatitis B.”

    According to the newspaper:

    Mr. Siri is also representing ICAN in petitioning the FDA to “pause distribution” of 13 other vaccines, including combination products that cover tetanus, diphtheria, polio, and hepatitis A, until their makers disclose details about aluminum, an ingredient researchers have associated with a small increase in asthma cases.

    Mr. Siri declined to be interviewed, but said all of his petitions were filed on behalf of clients. Katie Miller, a spokeswoman for Mr. Kennedy, said Mr. Siri has been advising Mr. Kennedy but has not discussed his petitions with any of the health nominees. She added, “Mr. Kennedy has long said that he wants transparency in vaccines and to give people choice.”

    After the article was published, Siri called it a “typical NYT hit piece plainly written by those lacking basic reading and thinking skills,” and posted a series of responses on social media. He wrote in part that “ICAN’s petition to the FDA seeks to revoke a particular polio vaccine, IPOL, and only for infants and children and only until a proper trial is conducted, because IPOL was licensed in 1990 by Sanofi based on pediatric trials that, according to FDA, reviewed safety for only three days after injection.”

    The Times pointed out that experts consider placebo-controlled trials that would deny some children polio shots unethical, because “you’re substituting a theoretical risk for a real risk,” as Dr. Paul A. Offit, a vaccine expert at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, explained. “The real risks are the diseases.”

    Ayman Chit, head of vaccines for North America at Sanofi, told the newspaper that development of the vaccine began in 1977, over 280 million people worldwide have received it, and there have been more than 300 studies, some with up to six months of follow-up.

    https://twitter.com/greenhousemd/status/1867639259567731149?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1867639259567731149%7Ctwgr%5E7e48f49e770c41569c1cc4056fd12b7ed80473b6%7Ctwcon%5Es1_c10

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    Trump, who is less than six weeks out from returning to office, has sent mixed messages on vaccines in recent interviews.

    Asked about RFK Jr.’s anti-vaccine record during a Time “Person of the Year” interview published Thursday, the president-elect said that “we’re going to be able to do very serious testing” and certain vaccines could be made unavailable “if I think it’s dangerous.”

    Trump told NBC News last weekend: “Hey, look, I’m not against vaccines. The polio vaccine is the greatest thing. If somebody told me to get rid of the polio vaccine, they’re going to have to work real hard to convince me. I think vaccines are—certain vaccines—are incredible. But maybe some aren’t. And if they aren’t, we have to find out.”

    Both comments generated concern—like the Friday reporting in the Times, which University of Alabama law professor and MSNBC columnist Joyce White Vance called “absolutely terrifying.”

    She was far from alone. HuffPost senior front page editor Philip Lewis said that “this is just so dangerous and ridiculous” while Zeteo founder Mehdi Hasan declared, “We are so—and I use this word advisedly—fucked.”

    Ryan Cooper, managing editor at The American Prospect, warned that “they want your kids dead.”

    Author and musician Mikel Jollett similarly said, “So if you’re wondering if Donald Trump is trying to kill your kids, yes, yes he is.”

    Multiple critics altered Trump’s campaign slogan to “Make Polio Great Again.”

    U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) responded with a video on social media:

    https://twitter.com/SenWarren/status/1867576860571287653?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1867576860571287653%7Ctwgr%5E7e48f49e770c41569c1cc4056fd12b7ed80473b6%7Ctwcon%5Es1_c10&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.commondreams.org%2Fnews%2Frfk-jr-polio-vaccine

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    Without naming anyone, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), a polio survivor, put out a lengthy statement on Friday.

    “The polio vaccine has saved millions of lives and held out the promise of eradicating a terrible disease. Efforts to undermine public confidence in proven cures are not just uninformed—they’re dangerous,” he said in part. “Anyone seeking the Senate’s consent to serve in the incoming administration would do well to steer clear of even the appearance of association with such efforts.”

    Original article by Jessica Corbett republished from Common Dreams under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0). 

    Alarm Over Trump Choosing ‘Extreme, Conspiratorial’ RFK Jr. to Lead HHS