Sorry dumb question... why do owners of hedge funds and private equity firms have so much power?

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It seems like they have a hugely disproportionate amount of power, far more than they should have. Why is this and what can be done to change it?

[HereSince1628]

1. Money = Power.

Has been and forever shall be.

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2. So politics and government have no meaning or power any more? The only power is in money?

[MichiganVote]

3. Has always been true. IMO.

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7. So then why bother with politics, elections and this web site at all?

If power is firmly entrenched in money, and that's set in stone, why bother with government and politics at all? It won't change anything. Why not effect change through economic means instead. Of what use is electing Democrats to public office, if nothing is really going to change? Wouldn't all this energy be better spent through other channels? If the only real power is in money, why not use money to effect the change, instead of protest marches and signs and grassroots meetings and all that, if those only lead to nothing?

[HereSince1628]

9. Simple, to destablize the order that controls the money.

Thereby to motivate the ruling class to loosen up the purse strings and to make the lives of 'Les Miserables' a bit less brutal.

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11. But if it doesn't work, then why? It only makes the ruling class strengthen their resolve?

Wouldn't it be more effective to cut off or block their incoming power stream (money)?

[The2ndWheel]

13. Correct on both counts

About the only thing that could actually change anything would be for everyone to stop going to work.

Then everyone would go back to work(after the revolution, with a new boss of course), and the cycle would start again.

[HereSince1628]

14. Yes, dear BW, you've fingered the nature of THE NATIONAL STRIKE.

Unfortunately, in the US, workers are not so willing to do this as they are in Europe.

We here in the US must wonder why that is, and to what extent our unwillingness to withhold PRODUCTIVITY, has left us behind other "developed" Republics with respect to worker compensation, health care, and opportunity for rest and recuperation from our labor.

Odd that in my lifetime a laborer's pay has gone backwards relative to executive pay, companies have dropped health care assistance, and workers are now afraid to take 2 consecutive weeks of vacation. Odd; odd indeed.

[MichiganVote]

19. Well let's start by examining a few of your assumptions...

First, you describe it as a "bother" to discuss, debate or otherwise intentionally act against some of the monied interests. I prefer to think of it as a challenge and it seems others do too.

Second, the fact that the maxim 'he who has the gold rules...' is undoubtedly true, it is not necessarily wholly true. Nor is it true to assume that the large or small efforts that folks make to effect change result in nothing.

Third, real power. Real power is just what is implied. Real power is about energy. Monied people have access to more energy for say, moving their money or their interests, satisfying what suits them...you get the idea. What they lack is numbers. Millions and millions of people all looking to do the same thing the rich do and they do it 24 hours a day. Imagine if you had millions, maybe billions of dollars and the only way you could be sure your would never lose it or lose what you want to do with it would be to suppress whatever you deem is a threat to you. Would you exercise a choice to remove the threat?

Fourth, using money to effect change is necessary for both the wealthy and the not so wealthy. However, no group can effect change without peers. The rich have them and so too do the poor or at least the middle class. At issue is whether Congress belongs solely to the wealthy or to a country called the United States. Some, myself included, question whether there even is a United States anymore except on paper or in the 'spirits' of its citizens. Hard call.

[The2ndWheel]

5. Can government exist without money?

[HereSince1628]

6. Money buys government and politics...

If you have enough money you are the government and you make the politics, such is feudalism.

Except for very brief periods it's pretty much always been this way in societies where "labor" is traded for tokens. The guy with the most tokens gets to control that portion of labor that controls everyone else. The guys with the most tokens argue and cut deals with each other to legitimize their asymmetric control of the tokens, and for only brief periods (the decades it takes to establish new barons) does control ever waiver.

[gravity]

4. What do you mean buy power?

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10. The capability to exert control over the thoughts or actions of another,

which is not an innate right granted by nature.

[gravity]

15. I don't think they have too much power in that regard

They can influence the markets and lobby the government, just like any other big player with billions in assets.

[KoKo]

8. They are the wizards keeping our Market afloat. Without them we'd

be in trouble like we haven't seen since the Great Depression. The Hedgies hide our "true" economy. They cover over the debt problems they perpetuate Bubbles that mask the reality.

That's why they have power.

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

12. Corporations make up 51 of the world's top economies.

Instead of trying to "democratize" governments, perhaps we should try "democratizing" corporations.

[A HERETIC I AM]

16. How exactly do owners of Hedge Funds and Private Equity firms exert power?

What is it exactly they are doing that concerns you?

You say they have a "hugely disproportionate amount of power". In what way? How does a hedge fund or PE firm affect you personally?

Just curious.

[Freddie Stubbs]

17. How much power do they have? How much is too much?

:shrug:

[Wiregrass Willie]

18. Our leaders aren't as intelligent as Charles 2nd

Either that or they have been bought out by the Corporations.

In 1664, the owners of the Massachusetts Bay Company protested when Charles II tried to investigate their company's operations. The Crown responded, "The King did not grant away his sovereignty over you when he made you a corporation.... When his majesty gave you authority over such subjects as live within your jurisdiction, he made them not your subjects, nor you their supreme authority."

http://www.thirdworldtraveler.com/Corporations/KnowEnemy_ITT.html

Could you imagine Dubya saying something like that to Exxon or Halliburton ?