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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsRobert Reich: Colleges, Churches and Non-Profits Doing the Wealthy's Dirty Work
It's bad enough that they've bought our politicians. Now the wealthy have bought off the only institutions that can counter their influence.Not long ago I was asked to speak to a religious congregation about widening inequality. Shortly before I began, the head of the congregation asked that I not advocate raising taxes on the wealthy.
He said he didnt want to antagonize certain wealthy congregants on whose generosity the congregation depended.
I had a similar exchange last year with the president of a small college who had invited me to give a lecture that his board of trustees would be attending. Id appreciate it if you didnt criticize Wall Street, he said, explaining that several of the trustees were investment bankers
It seems to be happening all over.
A non-profit group devoted to voting rights decides it wont launch a campaign against big money in politics for fear of alienating wealthy donors.
A Washington think-tank releases a study on inequality that fails to mention the role big corporations and Wall Street have played in weakening the nations labor and antitrust laws, presumably because the think tank doesnt want to antagonize its corporate and Wall Street donors.
A major university shapes research and courses around economic topics of interest to its biggest donors, notably avoiding any mention of the increasing power of large corporations and Wall Street on the economy.
More here: http://www.alternet.org/robert-reich-colleges-churches-and-non-profits-doing-wealthys-dirty-work
handmade34
(22,756 posts)hifiguy
(33,688 posts)THIS is the real road to serfdom.
2naSalit
(86,600 posts)it's already too late.
BrotherIvan
(9,126 posts)Brought to you in the Reagan Era. That was the plan.
jwirr
(39,215 posts)make it without better jobs etc. The institutions he is describing are totally dependent on donations. So they need the wealthy more than they need us.
When I left my church everyone there understood why I was leaving and secretly they did not blame me. (My daughter is disabled and they ignored her needs totally when it came to voting.) But they did nothing to change their ways either. One Christmas they gave her a small gift. That is how much they wanted to do.
I walked out and I have not looked back.
riderinthestorm
(23,272 posts)2naSalit
(86,600 posts)mountain grammy
(26,620 posts)1% of America with nearly all the money and afraid to lose a penny.. what a fucking shame.
daleanime
(17,796 posts)just the first wall that needs to come down.
PowerToThePeople
(9,610 posts)If they won't return to the commons through taxation, the millions of poor and starving proles will not sit and take it forever. There will be uprisings eventually. I prefer not to see that, but I have no ability to right the wrongs they have inflicted to this society.