Binghamton University professor emeritus James Petras sums up the new growing problem this way in “Canadian Dimension” (April 7, 2011): “The current concentration of wealth exceeds any previous period in history; from King Midas, the Maharajahs, and the Robber Barons to the Silicon Valley–Wall Street moguls.” Petras argues that in most countries, including the United States, the sudden emergence of a large, super-rich class of billionaires has been significantly promoted by nation-states and lower-level governments, conspiring with the wealthiest classes to serve their interests over all others:
“What is striking about the recovery, growth, and expansion of the world’s billionaires is how dependent their accumulation of wealth is based on pillage of state resources; how much of their fortunes are based on neo-liberal policies which led to the takeover at bargain prices of privatized public enterprises . . . that the state—not the market—plays the essential role in facilitating the greatest concentration and centralization of wealth in world history . . . The sources of billionaire wealth are, at best, only partially due to ‘entrepreneurial innovations.’ ”
(...)
There is a mountain of data on the amazing growth of extreme inequities in both the United States and the rest of the world, during the last few decades. One is seriously tempted to do a whole book of just these astounding numbers, because they so exquisitely reveal the state of things these days. Author and filmmaker Koohan Paik is seriously thinking of doing exactly that. She says she may call it The Plutonomy Fun Book.
But the mind boggles when poring through too much of this stuff. So we decided to reduce the citations to just a dozen of our top favorites, and we will take it from there, as follows: Full story...
Related posts:
“What is striking about the recovery, growth, and expansion of the world’s billionaires is how dependent their accumulation of wealth is based on pillage of state resources; how much of their fortunes are based on neo-liberal policies which led to the takeover at bargain prices of privatized public enterprises . . . that the state—not the market—plays the essential role in facilitating the greatest concentration and centralization of wealth in world history . . . The sources of billionaire wealth are, at best, only partially due to ‘entrepreneurial innovations.’ ”
(...)
There is a mountain of data on the amazing growth of extreme inequities in both the United States and the rest of the world, during the last few decades. One is seriously tempted to do a whole book of just these astounding numbers, because they so exquisitely reveal the state of things these days. Author and filmmaker Koohan Paik is seriously thinking of doing exactly that. She says she may call it The Plutonomy Fun Book.
But the mind boggles when poring through too much of this stuff. So we decided to reduce the citations to just a dozen of our top favorites, and we will take it from there, as follows: Full story...
Related posts:
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