Is the U.S. (now, a) "Kleptocracy"??
It was during the 1984 election: my daughter, in a private school on the Palos Verdes Peninsula, in California, was assigned, along with her classmates, to collect voter information in the South Bay.
Not about to allow my teenage daughter to walk those streets without protection, I went along. I was not the only parent that felt that way. One was a Billionaire Oil Man, who gave me my PhD in the economics of public elected office in this country! He stated, flat-out, that there was a "price" for elected office in the U.S., from Mayor, all the way up to the Presidency. Those who could pay the price were considered "candidates" for the office. The "figure" he gave me for the Presidency in 1984 (Reagan/Bush v. Mondale/Ferraro) was "peanuts" compared to the price, today.
I miss those days living on the Peninsula. The people there knew a LOT about the Reagans and how they clawed their way up from Trash to Wealth. I owned property there, was "horse-poor", but thoroughly enjoyed getting up before sunrise and riding the canyons on horseback! I sold that property, and my horses, and bought property on Capitol Hill in Seattle. A very different life, but, remember, I escaped Missouri, in 1959 to land in San Francisco! There was not a better place on Earth, I'm convinced, than the Bay Area, in the late 50's and early 60's. Californians, then, saw themselves as quite different from the "Birchite-knuckle-draggers" of Southern California! Even the Blacks, then, who migrated to the "Coast" from different parts of this country, were "different" (better educated, wealthier, on average), than those in Southern California!
Back to our Billionaires and the latest Forbes Report: (Google it!):
http://www.forbes.com/sites/kerryadolan/2015/03/02/inside-the-2015-forbes-billionaires-list-facts-and-figures/
You will find a great deal of facts and figures about who is and who ain't; who is new; who "used-to-be", and what may be considered "peculiar" about this bunch! Reagan, ever the "suck-up" to Big Money, I am sure, ushered us into an era of KLEPTOCRACY. While living in P.V. Peninsula, I worked as a young executive in an office on Century Blvd. I learned a lot about how Ron and Nancy got their house in Bel Air, and about the "hostile-take-overs" that were rampant as "Junk-Bond" money made possible the forced demise of long-standing and highly reputable American Companies. With the transition to Hedge Funds, we have, today, the "life-and-death" dramas of "going-concerns" in this country; played out daily!
The number of WOMEN who are now Billionaires, increased almost 100%! Only 14% of them, however, EARNED the money! The remaining 86% either "inherited" or "bedded" their money -- from husbands, lovers, etc! We don't have a custom of viewing the wealth of MALE Billionaires in that light! Wonder what we'd find; if we did ??
Stay Vigilant! There's Money, BIG Money; and, then, there's FUNNY Money??
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