Congrats 'Mericuh, we're officially an Oligarchy!

Great job guys, keep up the good work!

As if you have a choice anyway

http://www.bbc.com/news/blogs-echochambers-27074746

http://www.deathandtaxesmag.com/218858/the-duh-report-study-says-america-is-an-oligarchy-not-a-democracy/

From the study:

  Quote

Abstract

 

Each of four theoretical traditions in the study of American politics – which can be characterized as theories of Majoritarian Electoral Democracy, Economic Elite Domination, and two types of interest group pluralism, Majoritarian Pluralism and Biased Pluralism – offers different predictions about which sets of actors have how much influence over public policy: average citizens; economic elites; and organized interest groups, mass-based or business-oriented.

 

A great deal of empirical research speaks to the policy influence of one or another set of actors, but until recently it has not been possible to test these contrasting theoretical predictions against each other within a single statistical model. This paper reports on an effort to do so, using a unique data set that includes measures of the key variables for 1,779 policy issues.

 

Multivariate analysis indicates that economic elites and organized groups representing business interests have substantial independent impacts on U.S. government policy, while average citizens and mass-based interest groups have little or no independent influence. The results provide substantial support for theories of Economic Elite Domination and for theories of Biased Pluralism, but not for theories of Majoritarian Electoral Democracy or Majoritarian Pluralism.

Also, does anyone else find it kinda ironic that as we come upon the 25th anniversary of Back to The Future that we're now more like the alternate, then-present Biff Tannen world rather than the 2015 depicted?

Y DONT U GO 2 SOME COMMIE SHIT WHOLE LIKE SWEDEN IF U HATE AMERICA SO MUCH.

*weeps*

edit: This is only going to get worse, and it doesn't seem like Americans are capable of political action or anger in the 21st century.

Kinda related:

http://america.aljazeera.com/opinions/2014/4/water-managementprivatizationworldbankgroupifc.html

Dark times ahead.

heyy, thanks science, been saying this for ages now, others have been saying it much longer.

but will this change policy? I'm betting on a big fat No. how can we affect change? please for the love of glob tell me.

Is it me or does it seem like more and more corporate entities of wealth are trying to punish the poor for continuing to populate the earth?

  On 4/18/2014 at 4:44 PM, soma said:

Is it me or does it seem like more and more corporate entities of wealth are trying to punish the poor for continuing to populate the earth?

No, actually less and less do; but they're increasingly wealthy and powerful, and they're raising the stakes and getting away with it because class struggle somehow became a taboo word somewhere along the way (but of course class struggle is exactly what the wealthy are doing.)

We're headed towards feudalism - the established mentality is that politics should benefit wealthy people because they "create" jobs/wealth and we should thank them for it. Paying tithes so you can get the right to a job/to live is just the next step (the head of an employer's organisation from a region near where I am recently went on record saying that employers shouldn't pay for their worker's social security, but that workers should pay their employers for giving them a job - unbelievable.)

Another problem is that we've been slagging the more cultural aspects communism off for 50 years because of shitty reasons like "no innovation" or "people want to choose their brand of shoes", so now everybody has bought into the "aspirational entrepreneur" bollocks and frankly it makes me barf. Dictatorship, gulag, yes; there's more to it than that, and when you lose that you get wimpy Labour parties where everything is vibrant and aspirational and everybody is flexible and and entrepreneur.

Anyway, it's kind of hilarious "experts" need to do "research" on something that everybody already knew...

  On 4/18/2014 at 4:27 PM, luke viia said:

heyy, thanks science, been saying this for ages now, others have been saying it much longer.

 

but will this change policy? I'm betting on a big fat No. how can we affect change? please for the love of glob tell me.

These things are good though because many people won't believe things until they are put in a neat package by an official institution.

Conglaturation!

you win one kim jong un.

In before Eugene bikes in to say that it's bullshit and just tinfoilhattery.

We did it! Always knew we had it in US!

  On 4/18/2014 at 5:22 PM, azatoth said:

In before Eugene bikes in to say that it's bullshit and just tinfoilhattery.

lol

This is an interesting study. It won't change anything though.

  On 4/18/2014 at 5:26 PM, chim said:

 

 

 

  Reveal hidden contents

You can come to commie Sweden and crash if you wanna jump ship and have a say in government policy.

 

  On 4/18/2014 at 5:42 PM, delet... said:

 

  On 4/18/2014 at 5:26 PM, chim said:

 

 

 

  Reveal hidden contents

You can come to commie Sweden and crash if you wanna jump ship and have a say in government policy.

 

 

 

  Reveal hidden contents

Unless you want to have a say on immigration. ;-p Not just because it would be hypocritical, but because many Swedes don't like it apparently, and i can understand why given the losers that are being allowed to move there to ruin your lovely country. So there's this understanding that they don't like it and yet it still happens. Correct me if i'm totally wrong.

 

 

given the fact that at least 50% of americans are absolutely retarded it's kinda reassuring that more successful, intelligent and entrepreneurial people are the ones calling the shots. thanks, scientific study.

¹⁰⁰⁰

lol

too bad rich and emotional intelligence seem to have a strong negative correlation in the us.

  On 4/18/2014 at 6:15 PM, eugene said:

given the fact that at least 50% of americans are absolutely retarded it's kinda reassuring that more successful, intelligent and entrepreneurial people are the ones calling the shots. thanks, scientific study.

Surely you've heard some of the shit that's uttered by our elected officials. They're as retarded as the rest.

lol

So these intelligent people want to pollute the land, don't believe in global warming, want to go to war with everybody all the time just to sell more guns and keep the petrodollar going. I don't think that other than drive and street smarts, and that's for the entrepreneurs not those that inherited it, that you have to be intelligent to have ended up rich. You just got lucky and your furniture sales business was the one that sold more sofas, or you happened to enter the burger flipping franchise market at the right time.

  On 4/18/2014 at 6:30 PM, doublename said:

 

  On 4/18/2014 at 6:15 PM, eugene said:

given the fact that at least 50% of americans are absolutely retarded it's kinda reassuring that more successful, intelligent and entrepreneurial people are the ones calling the shots. thanks, scientific study.

Surely you've heard some of the shit that's uttered by our elected officials. They're as retarded as the rest.

 

nah, they just say retarded things because their voters like it.

what do you get out of trolling a thread like this? you're either the son of titt romney or you just want to suck dicks wrapped in dollars. either way please let us have a discussion about america without waving your shitty fingers all over the thread for once, it would be much appreciated.

I'm always going to think of shitty fingers when i think of eugene now, thanks.

  On 4/18/2014 at 7:00 PM, delet... said:

I'm always going to think of shitty fingers when i think of eugene now, thanks.

Not about dicks wrapped in dollar bills?

highly ineffective contraceptive fyi tbh imo gtfo byob

Perhaps the thing that frightens me the most is that it's no longer a matter of if, but a matter of when the whole shit hits the fan, and we the ppl are more or less completely impotent to do anything about it. I guess this proves that the masses are cool with a brazenly corrupt, unjust, and hypocritical system so long as we're not deprived of our basic needs and opiates (cell phones, march madness, etc.).

FBI Uncovers Al-Qaeda Plot To Just Sit Back And Enjoy Collapse Of United States