Prof Jeffrey Winters

Opinion | A Road Map for Undoing the Damage of the Big, Awful Bill

www.nytimes.com/2025/07/05/o...
Jason Furman has no clue how oligarchy works. The richest win massive tax benefits but somehow they're powerless because Musk didn't get his wishlist. Over $50 trillion transferred upward to richest since 1975 but "oligarchy is the wrong lens." Stuff just happens.

The #UnitedStates and #China are obviously very different. But I have studied #protest and state response in #authoritarian contexts for more than 25 years.

Here are some basic thoughts on current events, #repression, bargaining, and state strength 🧵:

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Excellent analysis!

Donald Trump’s Politics of Plunder The greed of the new Administration has galvanized America’s aspiring oligarchs—and their opponents.

www.newyorker.com/magazine/202...

Great analysis by Evan Osnos on oligarchy in the US.

'Oligarchy' is being used more to describe American society. We ask one professor why NPR's Ailsa Chang talks to Northwestern University political science professor Jeffrey Winters about what some have called the oligarchy shaping American politics and society.

Interviewed today on NPR's All Things Considered about oligarchy in America.

www.npr.org/2025/01/22/n...

Oligarchy - the politics of wealth power and wealth defense - is more apparent now than it has been in over a century.

Bernie Sanders issues "oligarchy" warning about Elon Musk The Vermont senator criticized the billionaire's influence over Congress as it tries to pass a spending bill and avoid a shutdown.

Oligarchy in the US is not new. What has changed since 2010 and Citizens United is how dominant it is in American democracy.

www.newsweek.com/bernie-sande...

Even the Koch Brothers Weren’t This Brazen Tech billionaires such as Jeff Bezos and Marc Andreessen aren’t even trying to mask their politics anymore.

We are in an era of in-your-face oligarchy in the US. Upwards of 80% of the US population believes representatives respond to the powerful few, not them. This view spans the political spectrum from Bernie's supporters to Trump's base.

www.theatlantic.com/technology/a...