Why not formulate this in the way Thomas Ferguson has done in his marvelous research? Those who rule coalesce into investor blocs during election cycles. The rest of the time they destroy the planet and undermine humane values in any number of ways, but perhaps that would be a decent starting point?
Bill On Monday, November 13, 2006 at 10:21:06 (-0500) Doug Henwood writes: >On Nov 13, 2006, at 9:41 AM, Jim Devine wrote: > >> at any given time, the US ruling class is that part of the class >> structure that owns financial claims to means of production based in >> the US. It rules the economy, but not necessarily the government > >That's not what a ruling class has usually meant; it sounds like >you're describing capitalists. To be a ruling class, doesn't it have >to be formed socially and act politically? > >And much of the "financial claims to the means of production," by >which I suppose you mean stocks and maybe bonds, are owned by pension >funds on behalf of workers. They're managed by professional money >managers, but does that make the portfolio managers the ruling class? > >I'm in the early stages of a book on this topic, so I'm not going to >let anyone get away with easy formulas! > >Doug
