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It is always a pleasure to read Prof. Stiglitz’s thoughts on economics. But this PS article is purely polemical, and, as such, a disappointment.



Trump is not the cause of the continued decline of the U.S. economy or its constitutional democracy. He is a symptom of these things. His election is the natural result of a process put in place by the Obama and Bush administrations that preceded him.



Bush ushered in lawlessness when he decided to prosecute a war of choice in Iraq, which only succeeded in enriching the military-industrial complex. Obama protected and held harmless the bankers that pulled off the most wanton pillaging of the U.S. Treasury ever seen. These administrations allowed a budding oligarchy – visible during the Clinton administration – to become firmly entrenched. This oligarchy is composed of the leaders of banking and industrial cartels (including big-tech), as it is in all failed states. It now controls the three branches of the U.S. federal government.



To the members of what used to be called the American middle class, it is all too apparent the so-called elites at the top of U.S. society and its cartels – trained and advised by academia and lauded by the media – not only make laws and regulations now, they control their enforcement. The leaders of these cartels are, as a result, literally above the law. This was stunningly on display during the Obama administration, when not a single banker was charged in the largest financial fraud in the history of the world. The U.S. became a full-fledged oligarchy at that point.



For those Americans who used to comprise the middle class – the ones who lost their jobs and homes in the financial crisis, who felt the full fury of the law directed at them and their families during their foreclosures – this was and remains all-too obvious. Trump’s election and continued support demonstrate this disenfranchised cohort is simply furious.



Trump is only the beginning. He will continue the evisceration of the American middle class put in motion by Obama and Bush. That a failed NYC real-estate developer – kept afloat by Russian oligarchs – is leading this revolt is beyond belief. Others will follow. Maybe academic economists can figure out how to reverse this, but that’s unlikely. The more certain bet is they’ll train the next generation of Trumps, and provide them the intellectual cover they need to stay in power.