On the American Economy Being “Rigged”

“The evidence is overwhelming; the American economy is rigged in favor of the government-business elite and has become more so over time.”

The election is done. Its results embarrass both pollsters and media pronouncements. The United States appears to be more conservative than many had thought. Its minorities have voted less as a bloc than was expected or as the grievance industry would like. People are less inclined to crash into the brave new world outlined for them by large sections of elite opinion. Well, they might have reservations about following the elite’s lead. Vast parts of this country’s population—some leaning left, some leaning right—have genuine grievances that this elite agenda fails to address. Until those grievances are addressed, the nation’s politics will get no relief.

An especially powerful contributor to this dissatisfaction is the revulsion against what has come to be called the “rigged” economy and financial markets—the sense that a government-corporate elite runs the economy for its own advantage with little regard for the public weal. Resistance to such arrangements impels both supporters of President Donald Trump and those who cheer Senators Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren. They cut across demographic groups, as well. It brought President Trump to prominence and has pulled the Democratic Party towards the Left. And it is well-founded. The evidence is overwhelming; the American economy is rigged in favor of the government-business elite and has become more so over time.

Ironically, this highly inequitable system seems to have emerged from what many would describe as the best intentions. When politicians, corporate executives, pundits, journalists, academics, and activists alike propose ways to make society more just or efficient or globally competitive, they invariably call for some kind of government-corporate cooperation. Though well-meaning, these arrangements invariably drift from their original purposes into a self-serving collusion among those charged to cooperate. It would be an overstatement to describe the colluders as conspirators. They may, in fact, believe earnestly that the arrangements that serve them so well also serve the greater good. These arrangements may even occasionally advance that greater good. But because this collusive system benefits mostly the colluders, it should be no wonder that citizens—Left and Right—resent it and feel ignored if not abused outright.