The Party Of Billionaires

Way back in the 1960's, the Democrats represented the working class and the Republicans were the party of the wealthy.
Not anymore. French political economist Thomas Piketty calls the Dems the "Brahmin Left".
But it's possible to attach actual numbers to this.

We cross-checked the Open Secrets list of the top 100 individuals donating to outside spending groups in the current election against the Forbes list of the world’s billionaires and found that, as of June 19, there were 22 individuals on the Open Secrets list who were billionaires. Of those 22 billionaires, 13 -- or more than half -- gave predominantly to liberal groups or groups affiliated with the Democratic Party. The other nine gave predominantly to conservative groups.

So 60%.
But it's skewed even more than that.
The top four richest Americans, and seven of the top nine, all give more money to Democrats than Republicans.

To put that into perspective, the top 3 billionaires have a net worth greater than almost the entire working class of America, and the world's eight richest men have a net worth equal to the bottom 50% of the entire world.

So if money is what matters in politics, what are the chances that the Dems will ever represent the working class ever again?
Who will the Dems listen to if there is a conflict of policy interests with their billionaire donors?
What are the chances of a two party system, both owned by billionaires, ever allowing a third party into the process?

Democratic voters are more wealthy too.

Interestingly the Democratic party as a whole skews towards the wealthy. The New York Times noted in October 2016 that in a recent poll 45% of households making over $100,000 were voting for Democrat Hillary Clinton opposed to 28% of Republicans voting for Trump. Those earning above $250,000 were even more skewed towards Hillary, with 53% planning to vote for her vs only 25% for Trump.

Let's not forget who's the Party Of Big Business.

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Song of the lark's picture

Fabulous! What could go wrong....Doh!

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@gjohnsit but will catch it tomorrow. Thank you for posting it.

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"We'll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false." ---- William Casey, CIA Director, 1981

"Can Joe Crowley Be Stopped Before He Sells The Rest Of The Democratic Party To Wall Street-- A Young Woman From The Bronx Is Trying"

Crowley is a corrupt New Dem hack and the #4 Dem in House Leadership, groomed to step in when Hoyer & Pelosi finally shuffle off this mortal coil. #Puke

“What Joe Crowley represents is the floodgate between Wall Street and the United States government. He’s the clearing house, he takes millions and millions of dollars in funding from them,” Ocasio-Cortez told The Voice. “We see how he’s come to power locally-- it’s totally undemocratic, machine-run, dynastic. He’s trying to spread this same model on the federal level.”

...While the Sanders wing of the party has derided much of the Democratic establishment as too beholden to the status quo, it’s hard to find a congressman more representative of that establishment than Crowley. The Blackstone Group is his second most prolific donor. Bank of America, Verizon, and Tishman Speyer, the powerful New York real estate developer, round out the top 20. He was an unflinching Hillary Clinton ally. Like many in his party, he supported the Iraq War and the Patriot Act.

https://downwithtyranny.blogspot.com/2018/03/can-joe-crowley-be-stopped-...

Blue America supports Alexandra. Wall Street and Blackstone Group supports Crowley.

@gjohnsit

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JVolvo2

k9disc's picture

Vanguard, Goldman Sachs, JP Morgan, and IIRC, Blackstone, are the largest investors BY FAR in major corporate institutions. It's crazy how much clout they got.

I remember searching some stuff on the ownership of the 4th largest print media company in the US (can't remember if it was print, or overall) and the first human that owned something was on page 2 of the document. 11,000 shares.

Vanguard had 20,000,000 shares, GS 14M, JP Morgan 10M. And the first human on the list sits real close at 11,000 shares.

It freaked me out. This trend continued with a few cursory looks into other companies.
@JVolvo2

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“Tactics without strategy is the noise before defeat.” ~ Sun Tzu

phillybluesfan's picture

My Gawd! The party of FDR has him tossing and turning in his grave. Your essay spotlights the Democrat's flight from The New Deal to the raw deal

new deal.jpg raw deal.jpg

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Few are guilty, but all are responsible.”
― Abraham Joshua Heschel, The Prophets

@phillybluesfan I'm afraid that FDR and the New Deal is being revised. According to TOP. FDR is an old white progressive racist and the New Deal was pretty much a racist program, aimed at 1930's style Trump voters.

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@Snode
Dems are now just another conservative party.

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@gjohnsit soon to be there right next to Jim Crow.

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in 2009 in order to defend Obama's lack of action + NeoLib agenda. All the Dem icons were savaged so that Dear Obama's results (and lack thereof) looked 'better'

@gjohnsit

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JVolvo2

Kingdom of Jordan.

His Majesty, foreign minister discuss ties, regional developments and anti-terror drive with US delegates headed by Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi

Representin' the "anti-terrorists" lol. Don't look at the streets of S.F., never mind.

In this regard, King Abdullah underlined the five-year Memorandum of Understanding that both countries have signed recently on economic and military cooperation, under which the US grants Jordan $1.275 billion a year through 2022, with the door left open for additional aid.

New laundromat franchise opening soon. D-Values hard work.
Panama to open embassy in Jordan as ties set to expand

His Majesty stressed the depth of relations between the two countries, and the importance of this visit in strengthening the Jordanian-Panamanian ties and building on them to expand cooperation and enhance economic exchange between the two countries.

King Abdullah expressed his appreciation for Varela’s participation in the Laureates and Leaders for Children Summit 2018 that started at the Dead Sea on Monday.

For his part, the Panamanian leader said he was pleased with his visit to Jordan, stressing his admiration for His Majesty’s leadership and efforts in achieving stability and peace as well as promoting dialogue worldwide and among followers of all religions, which is of great importance to Panama.

"enhance economic exchange" how brazen

If any of those fuckers gave one shit about Children, they'd stop dropping bombs on their heads. wtf

head choppers

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to find out what these wealthy democratic leaning donors really want? There's the public face, all do goody, for us peons, But at those black tie, $20,000 a plate sit downs, and later, when the demsters meet with them one on one, what are their wants? Because when you're that wealthy, you set your own agenda with foundations and non-profits. What do they really want that they need an outsized voice in government?

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@Snode The democrats did next to nothing to fight the tax cuts for the wealthy. My take is that the rich donors in this case, did not want to fight the tax cuts. Nancy Pelo$i openly said that the Warren does not represent the democratic party, and some leaked emails revealed rich donors complaining to Clinton about Warren, basically wanting Hillary to shut up Warren.

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Big Al's picture

around 40 million, putting her in the top .07% or so. From one One percenter to another I guess.
The democratic party is completely controlled by the monied class, the elite college liberals, etc, whether it be in the party or outside of it in the media and other organizations. Both parties are parties of the one percenters, which includes more than billionaires. Relative to wealth, 10 million or more puts someone in the 1% bracket.

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@Big Al He has been bashed to an English paper. Much like Sy Hersh.

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The elites voted for her, and not the scum of the earth. And she was damn proud of it.

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