IMO, this excerpt gets to the heart of the problem of the extraordinary and widening wealth gap in the USA:
Wealth begets power, which begets more wealth. During the savings-and-loan scandal of the 1980s?a scandal whose dimensions, by today?s standards, seem almost quaint?the banker Charles Keating was asked by a congressional committee whether the $1.5 million he had spread among a few key elected officials could actually buy influence. ?I certainly hope so,? he replied.
The Supreme Court, in its recent Citizens United case, has enshrined the right of corporations to buy government, by removing limitations on campaign spending. The personal and the political are today in perfect alignment.
Virtually all U.S. senators, and most of the representatives in the House, are members of the top 1 percent when they arrive, are kept in office by money from the top 1 percent, and know that if they serve the top 1 percent well they will be rewarded by the top 1 percent when they leave office.
