We’ve lived so long under the spell of hierarchy—from god-kings to feudal lords to party bosses—that only recently have we awakened to see not only that “regular” citizens have the capacity for self-governance, but that without their engagement our huge global crises cannot be addressed. The changes needed for human society simply to survive, let alone thrive, are so profound that the only way we will move toward them is if we ourselves, regular citizens, feel meaningful ownership of solutions through direct engagement. Our problems are too big, interrelated, and pervasive to yield to directives from on high.
—Frances Moore Lappé, excerpt from Time for Progressives to Grow Up

Wednesday, December 17, 2014

Who Really Runs the United States? Jamie Dimon

Click here to access article by Bill Bonner from Bonner & Partners via Wolf Street

Some people in the financial industry are waking up to the fact that those who command great wealth in today's capitalist system really govern the society. In my terms they constitute a ruling class. This has always been the case in the US since its founding by early plantation and business owners in the 18th century. Only now with the evolution of capitalism, that is, the greater and greater concentrations of wealth in fewer hands has this become apparent to people in the financial industry. Well, to be more accurate, Bonner and others are recognizing individuals like Dimon as people who really run our government. They don't yet recognize a ruling class.


For some reason Dimon always gets publicity when most ruling class directors stay carefully out of sight. Our ruling class is much like an onion: there are many layers near the core. It's possible that Dimon is at the 2nd or 3rd layer. People like the Rockefeller family are at the core.

(See also this, this, this, this, and this for humor.)