Against Oligarchy, Part I: Progressive Taxation

Forbes

America is becoming increasingly oligarchic.

Today’s post is the first in a series on the economics of oligarchy in the United States, where wealth and power are increasingly concentrated in the hands of a small group at the top, and government policies have reinforced that concentration of wealth and power.

Saying that America is experiencing the creation and entrenchment of a tiny oligarchy of hyper-wealthy individuals is no longer controversial. The truth is that this process has been proceeding for several decades, largely via a concerted effort by extremely wealthy right-wing families such as the Koch Brothers. Until recently, however, the undermining of America’s republican vision largely flew under the radar of observers other than those tracking the changing landscape of campaign finance and the Supreme Court nomination process.

However, under the second presidency of Donald Trump, the rise of the tech billionaire broligarchs, who openly and lavishly supported Trump while enriching his family members, has put the dynamics of American oligarchy in the spotlight.

Moreover, today’s billionaire class is far more tightly linked in its interests and interactions than the earlier generation of hyper-wealthy – such as the Koch Brothers (fossil fuel), the Adelsons (Las Vegas casinos) and the Walton family (Walmart). As Henry Farrell notes, right-wing tech billionaires like Peter Thiel themselves

depict the tech industry as a place where everyone who counts knows everyone else. Venture capitalists are closely interconnected. Founders and CEO’s look at each other with a mixture of respect and jealousy.

Thiel describes how you want to build your company around a ‘mafia,’ and Silicon Valley is organized in ways that are not entirely unlike its Sicilian predecessor in its golden era. There is no central organization, but there are central cliques. You need to be connected to get things done.

A few hundred billionaires, around 0.0002% of the adult populatio…