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Banana Republic, USA

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THOMAS FERGUSON, thomas.ferguson at umb.edu
Ferguson is professor emeritus at the University of Massachusetts, Boston and the author of many books and articles on money and elections. Short recent pieces include “Big Money — Not Political Tribalism — Drives U.S. Elections” and “The 2020 Election in Three Graphs.”

He said today: “Suddenly all the jokes about the U.S. income distribution looking more and more like Latin America’s aren’t funny. The first member of the Forbes 400 ever to sit in the White House survives impeachment after his lawyers and followers argue that what he did in the Ukraine wasn’t a high enough crime or misdemeanor. Meantime, rival oligarchs are laying siege to the official opposition party and denouncing proposals for modest rises in their taxes and Medicare for All as ‘socialism.’ Amid a frenzy of political money without precedent, they are pushing to change the Democratic Party’s rules to make sure one of them or somebody just as safe is the only alternative offered to voters in November. And the first time any voters were officially asked what they think, democracy itself inexplicably goes down for the count in Iowa. Whether or not he really said it, the famous claim ascribed to Justice Brandeis that a country can have either democracy or lopsided disparities in wealth but not both seems right on target.”

Ferguson’s books include Golden Rule: The Investment Theory of Party Competition and the Logic of Money-Driven Political Systems (University of Chicago Press). He emphasizes that his views are his own and not that of any institution he is affiliated with.