Updating All Hail the Oligarchy!, (Part 2), 7-26-2010

 Strange to think what I wrote 12 years ago and posted under All Hail the Oligarchy!, (Part 2), 7-26-2010 remains relevant. I guess my vanity ought to find solace in its Bernie Sanders sounding off about American oligarchs. See Bernie Sanders: ‘Oligarchs run Russia. But guess what? They run the US as well’ from The Guardian, which includes these bits:

“One of the points that I wanted to make,” he says, “is yeah, of course the oligarchs run Russia. But guess what? Oligarchs run the United States as well. And it’s not just the United States, it’s not just Russia; Europe, the UK, all over the world, we’re seeing a small number of incredibly wealthy people running things in their favour. A global oligarchy. This is an issue that needs to be talked about.”

There are plenty of others. Sanders writes, likably, as he talks – straight to the point, low on personal digression, high on public policy. A keen admirer of his once observed how “Bernie’s the last person you’d want to be stuck on a desert island with. Two weeks of lectures about healthcare, and you’d look for a shark and dive in.” In this determination, he says, he wants to be an antidote to the oligarch-owned American media, which would have its audience think and talk about anything else – celebrities, the ballgame, the latest “woke” meme – than the stuff that might loosen their control of politics and the economy. “We don’t talk about our dysfunctional healthcare system. We don’t talk about income and wealth inequality. We hardly talk significantly about the existential threat of climate. The purpose of my book is to begin that discussion.”

My heart does not quite lighten thinking on the damage these people can do to us.

sch 2/19