Plutocracy Rising

Matt Taibbi and Chrystia Freeland join Bill Moyers for a conversation on how far the 1 percent will go to keep themselves in charge.

“I think the shift really began with Clinton and the New Democrats,” said Taibbi, speaking of the Democrats’ shift away from representing the poor. “I think after, you know, Walter Mondale lost in 1984, the Democrats decided, ‘You know, we’re never going to lose the funding battle again.’ And they began this sort of imperceptible shift, where they continued to campaign on social issues the same way they had before.

“They retained their liberalism in that sense. But economically, they began to side more and more with Wall Street and more and more with the very rich. And they’ve, I think we’ve now reached the point where neither party really represents the very poor in the way that the Democrats maybe used to. And so, that there’s, that’s why, you know, you don’t see it in the debates, because neither party is really an advocate for that kind of left-behind class anymore.”

—Posted by Alexander Reed Kelly.

Moyers & Company: