http://sociology.ucsc.edu/whorulesamerica/power/ (retrieved November 21, 2009)
As argued in Who Rules America?, the owners and top executives of the largest corporations, banks, investment firms, and agri-businesses come together as a corporate community. Their enormous economic resources give them the "structural economic power" that is the basis for dominating the federal government through lobbying, campaign finance, appointments to key government positions, and a policy-planning network made up of foundations, think tanks, and policy-discussion groups. The CEOs and biggest owners in the corporate community, along with the top executives at the foundations, think tanks, and policy-discussion groups, work together as a leadership group that I call the power elite. However, they do fight among themselves sometimes, leading to moderate-conservative and ultra-conservative factions in the power elite. This class-domination theory developed out of Power Structure Research, going back to the 1950s.
This document presents details on the wealth and income distributions in the United States, and explains how we use these two distributions as power indicators. Some of the information, especially the numbers showing the ratio of the average CEO's paycheck to that of the average factory worker, is downright shocking.
This document uses new archival research to show that corporate moderates and their hired experts created the old-age social insurance program now known simply as "social security." Contrary to popular belief, the liberals and unions of the 1930s had little or nothing to do with its formulation. The conclusion explains why it would be a huge rip-off of the people who paid social security taxes over the past 30 years if they did not receive their full pensions or had to wait to collect them.
To provide an overview of the corporate community, I've gone into more detail about the network that is created by interlocking directorates, i.e., the connections among corporations that are created by corporate directors who sit on two or more boards of directors.
As an example of the many ways that the power elite directly involve themselves in government, I show how unpaid federal advisory committees give advice to various departments of the executive branch, including an in-depth study of one of these committees based on the minutes of its meetings.
To demonstrate the social cohesion of the power elite, I've assembled a document (including photos) on the Bohemian Grove, a playground for the powerful that serves as their summer camp for the last two weeks of July in the redwoods of Northern California.
This document examines the claim that public employee and union pension funds have acquired power over corporations, concluding that there is no substance to the idea.
The power elite and the growth coalitions do not have all the power. They do face opposition from a liberal-labor coalition at the national level and from neighborhoods, environmentalists, and left activists at the local level.
All content ©2009 G. William Domhoff, unless otherwise noted. Unauthorized reproduction prohibited.