McCutcheon, and the Vicious Cycle of Concentrated Wealth and Political Power
https://www.commondreams.org/view/2014/04/04
If wealth and income werent already so concentrated in the hands of a few, the shameful McCutcheon decision by the five Republican appointees to the Supreme Court wouldnt be as dangerous. But by taking Citizens United one step further and effectively eviscerating campaign finance laws, the Court has issued an invitation to oligarchy.
Almost limitless political donations coupled with Americas dramatically widening inequality create a vicious cycle in which the wealthy buy votes that lower their taxes, give them bailouts and subsidies, and deregulate their businesses thereby making them even wealthier and capable of buying even more votes. Corruption breeds more corruption.
That the richest four hundred Americans now have more wealth than the poorest 150 million Americans put together, the wealthiest 1 percent own over 35 percent of the nations private assets, and 95 percent of all the economic gains since the start of the recovery in 2009 have gone to the top 1 percent all of this is cause for worry, and not just because it means the middle class lacks the purchasing power necessary to get the economy out of first gear.
It is also worrisome because such great concentrations of wealth so readily compound themselves through politics, rigging the game in their favor and against everyone else. McCutcheon merely accelerates this vicious cycle.