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Old 03-06-2009, 02:01 PM
 
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I've read where those who oppose free markets oppose it based on the view that the more an economy becomes free or less regulated the greater the chances that this will lead to a plutocracy or a country that's ruled by the wealthy and for their interest. Since America is considered the freeist and least regulated economy has this in anyway lead to America becomming a plutocracy? If you agree that America is a plutocracy how does this play itself out in America?
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Old 03-06-2009, 04:30 PM
 
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There are going to be some that argue that, particularly on the internet. But I say no because of two factors:

1.) The free voting system in place. Yes we are not a true democracy, we are a republic, but still every man and woman has a right to vote and that right is very well protected.

2.) The upward mobility oppurtunities of this nation. Sure that's subject to debate as well but I know of no other country that gives a person the ability to change his profile from one of poverty to prosperity.

Surely we have plutocratic elements in place, but that goes for any form of government or financial system. Even the communists had their group of rich party members living the high life in their dacha's
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Old 03-06-2009, 05:29 PM
 
Location: North Adams, MA
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Call it what you want, but we are already largely ruled by the unregulated wealth in this country, which is why we are in such dire straits today.

Since the monied class has proven that they are as big a bunch of fools as the underclass, what we need is common sense, in whatever form that may take.
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Old 03-06-2009, 08:02 PM
 
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Dd714 View Post
There are going to be some that argue that, particularly on the internet. But I say no because of two factors:

1.) The free voting system in place. Yes we are not a true democracy, we are a republic, but still every man and woman has a right to vote and that right is very well protected.
I was thinking about that to. Do you or anyone else know if through history if most plutocracies have been dictatorships or authoritarian? Can you really have a plutocracy with a democracy?
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Old 03-06-2009, 08:21 PM
 
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Motion View Post
I was thinking about that to. Do you or anyone else know if through history if most plutocracies have been dictatorships or authoritarian? Can you really have a plutocracy with a democracy?
Hi Motion,

Not with this system. Whoever has the most money controls the propaganda. Even the minority that sees through is swamped by the oceans of apathy and the 5 minutes they spend thinking about it.
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Old 03-06-2009, 10:04 PM
 
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Yes of course we are a plutocracy. We are owned by the banks. Just look at what is going on:

1. 700 billion bailout rushed through congress to, "save" the banks.
2. Ideas of the US nationalizing the banks (ie. taking their loses and moving them to the Us tax payer).
3. The banking elite gets to live in areas such as the British Virgin Islands and US Virgin Islands where they pay zero income tax, zero estate tax and can effectively pass their wealth from generation to generation with no limitations. Those entities were set up, by the elite, to allow them to escape the tyranny of the government's they own. Meanwhile, the US citizens and citizens of many other nations pay upwards of 50% taxes and nearly 100% taxes when factoring in estate and death taxes.

Voting is just there to make you think you have a choice - you don't. Just look, we have dozens of candidates who want to run for president yet we single them out with corrupt primaries and are only left with two. Both Mccain and Obama were heavily financed by the financial industry. Prior to the financial collapse, our number one priority was to get out of the middle east - now obama is ramping up for yet another suicide mission in the middle east. What a disgrace to this nation and what a waste of human life.

Quote:
The upward mobility oppurtunities of this nation.
You are still taxed to death so it doesn't really matter in the grand scheme of things. The banks own everything, including you.

This will explain it for you:


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P772Eb63qIY
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Old 03-07-2009, 09:50 AM
 
7,512 posts, read 11,315,896 times
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I found this to be an interesting response to this question.

Quote:
If America wasn’t a plutocracy during the hated (by Progressives) Gilded Age, it isn’t now. Even if it were true that income inequalities are more pronounced now than in John D. Rockefeller’s day, there is simply no evidence that we are governed by a cabal of the wealthiest few. For one thing, many of our richest citizens are left-leaning. More to the point, politicians are still democratically elected, and fears about campaign finance notwithstanding, it remains the case that a rich person has as many votes as a poor person...

America Is Headed Toward Plutocracy? It Just Ain’t So! | The Freeman | Ideas On Liberty
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Old 03-07-2009, 12:18 PM
 
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^^^Too bad it's mostly excusatory chaff directed at fostering the currently existing shoulder-shrugging of the apathetic dispossessed, aka the average "citizen". America IS a plutocracy, the article is jut trying to appease the friction that creates with the proletariat by asserting that in the big scheme of things a plutocracy isn't all that bad. Nice try but no, it doesn't handle the question very well at all.
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