"This is not governing. Trump and the Republicans are not a governing party.

What’s the back story to all this? It’s the oligarchy that put Trump into the presidency. …

Today the great divide is not between left and right. It’s between democracy and oligarchy."

~ Robert Reich

#Trump #ElonMusk #EconomicElites #oligarchy
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https://robertreich.substack.com/p/the-american-oligarchy-is-out-of

The American oligarchy is back, and it’s out of control

It’s the third time in the nation’s history that a small group of hyper-wealthy people have gained political power over the rest of us. Here’s what we must do.

Robert Reich

"So far, Trump has picked 13 billionaires for his administration. It’s the wealthiest in history, including the richest person in the world. They and Trump are part of the American oligarchy, even though Trump campaigned on being the 'voice' of the working class. …

In 2022, Elon Musk spent $44 billion to buy Twitter and turn it into his own personal political megaphone."

#Trump #ElonMusk #EconomicElites #oligarchy
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"Then, in 2024, he spent $277 million to get Trump elected, also using Twitter (now X) to amplify pro-Trump, anti-Harris messages.

These were good investments for Musk. Since Election Day, Musk’s fortune has increased by $170 billion. That’s because investors in Tesla and SpaceX have pushed their value into the stratosphere."

#Trump #ElonMusk #EconomicElites #oligarchy
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"Trump has put Musk (and another billionaire, Vivek Ramaswamy) in charge of gutting government services in the name of 'efficiency.' Musk’s investors assume that Musk will eliminate the health, safety, labor, and environmental regulations that have limited the profits of Musk-owned corporations, and that Trump will put more government money into SpaceX and xAI (Musk’s artificial intelligence company)."

#Trump #ElonMusk #EconomicElites #oligarchy
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"The oligarchs want lower taxes, which is what Trump, Musk, and other oligarchs are planning — an extension of the 2017 Trump tax cut, with an estimated price tag of at least $5 trillion.

They want no antitrust enforcement to puncture the power of their giant corporations. Instead, their corporations will grow larger, able to charge consumers even more."

#Trump #ElonMusk #EconomicElites #oligarchy
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@wdlindsy And people continue to be distracted by circuses. Netflix, YouTube, Instagram, sports TV, etc.