The crisis of 2020 has created the greatest wealth gap in history. The middle class, capitalism and democracy are all under threat. What went wrong and what can be done?
In a matter of decades, the United States has gone from a largely benign form of capitalism to a neo-feudal form that has created an ever-widening gap in wealth and power. In his 2013 bestseller Capital in the 21st Century, French economist Thomas Piketty declared that “the level of inequality in the US is probably higher than in any other society at any time in the past anywhere in the world.” In a 2014 podcast about the book, Bill Moyers commented:
Continue readingHere’s one of its extraordinary insights: We are now really all headed into a future dominated by inherited wealth, as capital is concentrated in fewer and fewer hands, giving the very rich ever greater power over politics, government and society. Patrimonial capitalism is the name for it, and it has potentially terrifying consequences for democracy.
Filed under: Ellen Brown Articles/Commentary | Tagged: 2020 Lockdowns, Bill Gates, capitalism, Covid-19 Pandemic, Ellen Brown, Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos, Michael Hudson, Philanthrocapitalism, StarLink, Technofeudalism, Warren Buffet, Wealth Gap, Yanis Varoufakis | 23 Comments »
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The Coming Global Financial Revolution: Russia Is Following the American Playbook
No country has successfully challenged the U.S. dollar’s global hegemony—until now. How did this happen and what will it mean?
Foreign critics have long chafed at the “exorbitant privilege” of the U.S. dollar as global reserve currency. The U.S. can issue this currency backed by nothing but the “full faith and credit of the United States.” Foreign governments, needing dollars, not only accept them in trade but buy U.S. securities with them, effectively funding the U.S. government and its foreign wars. But no government has been powerful enough to break that arrangement – until now. How did that happen and what will it mean for the U.S. and global economies?
Continue reading →Filed under: Ellen Brown Articles/Commentary | Tagged: Global Reserve Currency, Gold Standard, Matt Ehret, Michael Hudson, Pepe Escobar, Petrodollar, Petroruble, Putin, Ruble, Russia, Russian Oil, Sergei Glazyev, Ukraine, Ukraine Conflict | 28 Comments »