Tag: Oligarchy

THE TRUMP FAMILY’S SAUDI ARABIAN CONNECTIONS Part 1

SUMMARY: The Trump administration’s recent deal to support Saudi Arabia’s development of a nuclear energy program represents a major shift in U.S. policy and risks accelerating the nuclear arms race in the Middle East and globally. It is in stark contrast with Trump’s position on neighboring Iran’s nuclear energy program. It has again put a spotlight on the Trump family’s relationship with Saudi Arabia and its ruler Mohammed bin Salman (MBS). This friendly relationship highlights the hypocrisy of Trump’s and other Republicans anti-Muslim rhetoric and policies.

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The Trump administration’s recent deal to support Saudi Arabia’s development of a nuclear energy program has again put a spotlight on the Trump family’s friendly relationship with Saudi Arabia and its ruler Mohammed bin Salman (MBS). President Trump, son Eric, and son-in-law Jared Kushner have conflicts of interest, present national security risks, and face ethical dilemmas in their relationship with MBS and Saudi Arabia.

It’s important to give this relationship some context. Saudi Arabia is an autocratic, Islamic country that uses Sharia law for parts of its society and places severe restrictions on women. MBS is also widely believed to have ordered the murder of Jamal Khashoggi, the Washington Post columnist. Saudi Arabians were the planners and most of those who executed the 9/11/2001 terrorist attack on the U.S.

Trump’s friendly relationship with MBS and Saudi Arabia highlight the hypocrisy of his anti-Muslim rhetoric and policies. The silence of other Republicans in the face of this nuclear technology deal, sales of military hardware, and other dealings with Saudi Arabia highlight their hypocrisy in their vilification of Muslims and vocal opposition to supposed efforts to implement Sharia law in the U.S.

This most recent example of the cozy relationship between Trump and MBS is an unprecedented, 30-year agreement to support Saudi Arabia’s development of nuclear energy and related technology. The deal gives a monopoly worth billions of dollars to U.S. companies, benefiting Westinghouse in particular (which was bailed out by Trump after it filed for bankruptcy in 2017). Notably, the deal does NOT include monitoring and inspections by the International Atomic Energy Agency to ensure that nuclear fuel isn’t enriched into weapons grade material, despite MBS’s statement that if Iran builds a nuclear weapon, Saudi Arabia will too. The agreement must be approved by Congress, although a veto-proof two-thirds majority in both the House and Seante would be required to reject it, which is unlikely.

The deal’s transfer of nuclear technology presents a clear risk of nuclear weapons proliferation and a stark contrast with Trump’s position on neighboring Iran’s nuclear energy program, which Trump has gone to war to destroy. Saudi Arabia and Iran are long time Middle East rivals, and this deal will strengthen Iran’s claim that it should have nuclear technology. The agreement, whose text has not been made publicly available, is being described differently by different parties (which is not unusual with Trump’s deals) and may allow Saudi Arabia to build and operate its own uranium enrichment facilities. Such facilities, which Iran has, can enrich nuclear power fuel to make weapons grade nuclear material. [1] Note: A day after the Saudi Arabia nuclear deal was signed, President Trump apparently added a new condition: that Saudi Arabia normalize diplomatic relations with Israel. Saudi Arabia has clearly stated in the past that it would not do so without a path to a Palestinian state, something Israel has rejected. [2]

Providing nuclear technology to Saudi Arabia is a major shift in U.S. policy, a reversal of 50 years of U.S. nuclear nonproliferation efforts, and risks accelerating the nuclear arms race in the Middle East and globally. Other U.S. allies are likely to ask for similar arrangements, in particular the ability to enrich nuclear fuel on-site, which the U.S. has prohibited for decades. It also opens the door for China and Russia to share nuclear technology with their allies because the U.S. has done so. [3]

Back in 2016, Trump’s campaign rhetoric included support for building nuclear power plants in Saudi Arabia. At that time, son-in-law Kushner and others formed a company to engage in such a project. During Trump’s first term as president, White House ethics and national security officials warned that selling nuclear technology to Saudi Arabia might violate the Atomic Energy Act and that it presented national security risks. [4]

My next posts will review U.S. sales of military equipment and artificial intelligence (AI) technology to Saudi Arabia. They will also describe the real estate and financial deals between Trump family members and Saudi Arabia.

For lots of good news see Jess Craven’s Chop Wood Carry Water blog’s most recent good news Sunday posts here.

[1]      Hjelmgaard, K., 7/23/26, “Saudi Arabia gets nuclear deal. Iran gets bombed. What’s in the pact?” USA Today (https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/world/2026/07/23/us-saudi-nuclear-deal-iran-raises-regional-arms-race-fears/91020032007/)

[2]      Sanger, D. E., & Demirjian, K., 7/24/26, “Trump makes Saudi-Israel ties a must for nuclear deal,” The Boston Globe from the New York Times

[3]      Schwartz, F., Wu, J., & Ewing, G. R., 7/22/26, “Trump’s Saudi nuclear deal risks igniting a Middle East arms races, lawmakers warn,” Politico (https://www.politico.com/news/2026/07/22/saudi-nuclear-pact-fears-regional-enrichment-01009142)

[4]      Cox Richardson, H., 7/22/26, Letters from an American blog (https://heathercoxrichardson.substack.com/p/july-22-2026))

Is Trump the Real Communist in American Politics?

SUMMARY: Trump is the only politician calling for and taking government control of private companies and resources. At his direction, the government has taken stakes in at least nine companies. On the other hand, democratic socialists in the U.S. today are in the mainstream of our history, not outliers, let alone communists.

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Despite Trump and the Republicans calling Democrats communists, – especially the progressive ones and the ones who identify as democratic socialists – Trump is the actual communist. Really. [1] Let’s review definitions of socialism and communism, and then look at Trump’s actions.

Democratic socialism was eloquently defined by Senator Bernie Sanders in the fall of 2015 when he was running for president. You can watch and listen to his two-minute definition here. (My post about Sanders’ speech with more detail is here.)

His definition builds on President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s (FDR) proposed economic bill of rights and notes that true individual freedom cannot exist without economic security. Democratic socialism includes:

  • Decent jobs at decent pay with time off and the ability to retire with dignity;
  • The ability to have adequate food, clothing, health care, and housing;
  • A right to a good education; and
  • The opportunity for small businesses, including farmers, to operate without domination by large corporations.

Sanders noted that Martin Luther King, in 1968, echoed FDR’s call for economic rights and stated that the US provides “socialism for the rich and rugged individualism for the poor.” By the way, while “socialism” may be a politically negative label to older Americans, 67% of young Americans have a positive or neutral association with the word “socialism” compared to 40% who are positive or neutral about “capitalism.”

Historian Heather Cox Richardson states that the democratic socialists in the U.S. today are in the mainstream of our history. Their policy proposals echo the 1860s, when the Republicans established public colleges; the 1900s, when Theodore Roosevelt called for public health insurance; the 1930s with FDR’s New Deal and proposed economic bill of rights; Eisenhower Republicans of the 1950s; and Republican President Nixon in the late 1960s and 1970s. (See my previous post for more details.)

Cox Richardson notes that today’s American democratic socialists are not communists or even hardcore socialists. [2] Communists and some hardcore socialists advocate for eliminating all private property. Today’s American democratic socialists call for a robust system of private ownership and enterprise, alongside government control of essential societal functions required for people to survive and for the economy to work for the good of everyone. (See my previous post for more details.)

Communism calls for government or communal ownership of all resources as well as all means of production, meaning the state, rather than private individuals or corporations, owns factories, farms, mines, etc. None of the Democratic or Democratic Socialist candidates is proposing anything akin to this.

The only politician calling for state takeover of private industries and resources is Trump. At his direction, the government has taken stakes in at least nine companies at a cost of at least $10 billion in taxpayer money. These companies are in the steel, minerals, nuclear energy, and semiconductor industries. [3] Trump claims he’s done this for national security reasons, but increasing his power, control, wealth, and influence seem to be the real reasons. Notably, the arrangements his regime has made leave power and control, as well as money, in his hands, not under the control of some group or entity that is committed to the public good. Trump has used tariffs (and exemptions from them), regulatory actions (e.g., approval or denial of mergers and acquisitions), and trumped-up lawsuits (no pun intended) to coerce business leaders into complying with his requests for control of their businesses.

For example, in August 2025, the Trump administration converted $9 billion in federal grants to Intel into a 10% ownership share in the company. The grants were made under President Biden’s 2022 CHIPS and Science Act to boost domestic semiconductor manufacturing and research. The U.S. government is now Intel’s biggest shareholder. Intel had been struggling financially and this, along with other actions by Trump requiring other companies to buy Intel products or invest in it, bailed Intel out. (Imagine what Trump and Republicans would have said if the Obama administration had converted its bailouts of Wall Street and automakers in the 2008 Great Recession into government ownership of those companies!)

Apple got an exemption from Trump’s 100% tariffs on semiconductor imports (essential to iPhones and many other Apple products) by promising to buy Intel chips and collaborate with it.

Nvidia got Trump’s approval to sell its artificial intelligence (AI) chips to China (which he had said and others believe is a national security risk). Nvidia agreed to give 25% of the profits from Nvidia’s China sales to the government and to invest $5 billion in Intel.

The U.S. government has also become the largest shareholder in MP Materials, the only rare earth mining company in the country, after a $400 million investment of taxpayers’ money.

When the Japanese company, Nippon Steel, acquired U.S. Steel in 2025, Trump conditioned government approval on his receiving a “golden share” in U.S. Steel. This golden share allows him to veto key business decisions including decisions on changing U.S. Steel’s name, moving its headquarters out of Pittsburgh, or closing production facilities. [4]

These actions are not capitalism. Establishing government control over private companies is nationalized socialism or communism. Nothing at all close to this has happened in U.S. history except during the true national emergency of World War II. This is oligarchic communism in that it’s making Trump and wealthy executives and investors in these companies even richer. And it’s concentrating ever more power over a broader range of the U.S. economy and society in Trump’s hands. That’s authoritarianism.

For lots of good news see Jess Craven’s Chop Wood Carry Water blog’s most recent good news Sunday posts here.

[1]      Sonnenfeld, J.A., Pepper, J., Mulcahy, A., George, B., and Tyson, L.D., 8/21/25, “MAGA’s march toward a command economy,” Yale Insights (https://insights.som.yale.edu/insights/magas-march-toward-command-economy)

[2]      Cox Richardson, H., 7/5/26, Letters from an American blog (https://heathercoxrichardson.substack.com/p/july-5-2026)

[3]      Cox Richardson, H., 6/26/26, Letters from an American blog (https://heathercoxrichardson.substack.com/p/june-26-2026)

[4]      Kimball, S., 11/24/25, “Trump appoints two Commerce officials to oversee U.S. Steel under ‘golden share’ agreement,” CNBC (https://www.cnbc.com/2025/11/24/trump-us-steel-nippon-golden-share.html)

ARE THE NATIONAL DEMOCRATS LISTENING?

SUMMARY: I hope the national Democrats are listening. The grassroots are yelling and voting based on the unaffordability of daily life and the corruption in our politics and economy. In recent elections across the country, progressive, grassroots candidates are beating incumbents and winning even in conservative, Republican districts. Many of these candidates are young, female, multicultural, and/or new to politics.

(Personal note: I didn’t post the last two weeks because of the combination of a scramble to get signatures to put a question on the November ballot and a ten-day visit by an out-of-town grandson.)

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I hope the national Democrats are listening. The people and the voters are sending a loud, clear message. I worry that many of the Democrats in Washington are too entrenched with the oligarchs who spend big money to support their campaigns to hear the grassroots voices. The grassroots are yelling and voting based on the unaffordability of daily life and the corruption in our politics and economy.

In recent elections across the country, from Maine to Florida, from New York to Ohio to Colorado and Montana, from Arizona to California to Washington State, progressive, grassroots candidates are winning. They are beating incumbents and winning even in conservative, Republican districts. [1]

These candidates are winning by calling out monopolistic, corporate America, by attacking the political corruption of big money, and by addressing the everyday problems of ordinary Americans. [2] They are advocating for:

  • Guaranteeing health care for everyone
  • Making housing and child care more affordable
  • Increasing the minimum wage and easing the path to union membership
  • Reforming the corrupt campaign finance system
  • Requiring that wealthy individuals and corporations pay their fair share in taxes
  • Addressing climate change
  • Ensuring AI benefits all of us and not just the oligarchs
  • Ending wars and bloated military spending

The majority of the American people support these policies in poll after poll – and now in election after election. The public is sick and tired of status quo politics and corrupt campaign finance and economic systems that benefit only the rich and powerful.

Many of these winning candidates are young, female, multicultural, and/or new to politics. Some of them are Democrats and some are Democratic Socialists – not that many voters know what that means or care. What unites these candidates is that they are committed to making people’s everyday lives better and our society fairer. They are calling out the greed of the American oligarchy and their control of our economy and policy making. They make the case that our private enterprise system cannot survive unless the government ends huge monopolistic companies and dramatic wealth and income inequality through regulation and taxation. They call for an end to monopolistic price gouging like that of the food and gas and oil companies. They oppose private for-profit ownership of societal functions that people need to survive and that should serve the public good, such as health care, education, mail delivery, utilities, detention facilities, and roads, bridges, and public transportation. [3]

Ironically, Republicans supported many of these policies from the 1950s through the 1970s – ones they are now calling dangerous socialism or communism (without knowing or caring what those terms really mean). (More on the meaning of these terms in a future post.)

In 1969, Republican President Richard Nixon proposed the Family Assistance Plan, which would have provided a universal basic income to all families, effectively ending poverty. But it didn’t get enacted. In 1971, Congress passed legislation creating a universal, federally subsidized child care system that President Nixon was about to sign until pressured by right-wing political forces to veto it. In 1974, Nixon proposed universal health care with cost controls and financial assistance for those who couldn’t afford insurance. This also didn’t get enacted.

Back in the 1950s, Republicans and President Eisenhower supported workers, unions, and increasing the minimum wage; the expansion of social security and unemployment insurance; as well as improved housing and health care. The Republican Party platform called for equal pay for equal work and the elimination of discrimination in employment. [4]

It’s amazing to review how American politics and policies have changed over the last 75 years. What were centrist policies, supported by Republicans, in the 1950s through 1970s, are now called far left, socialist (or even communist) policies.

For lots of good news see Jess Craven’s Chop Wood Carry Water blog’s most recent good news Sunday posts here, here, and here.

[1]      Sanders, B., 7/1/26. “Last night in Colorado,” (https://www.facebook.com/reel/1517611133169096)

[2]      Reich, R., 7/6/26, “Why is he using the communist trump card,” Blog post (https://robertreich.substack.com/p/trumps-communist-trump-card)

[3]      Cox Richardson, H., 6/26/26, “Letters from an American blog (https://heathercoxrichardson.substack.com/p/june-26-2026)

[4]      Cox Richardson, H., 6/26/26, see above

THE DANGERS OF MEDIA CONSOLIDATION AND BILLIONAIRE OWNERS

The creation of huge mega-companies is harmful, in part because they have monopolistic powers. It is particularly concerning in the media and news industry because they control the information we receive. Recent and proposed mergers and acquisitions in the media industry have heightened concerns about politically slanted “news” due to billionaire owners. A citizenry that’s well informed is essential to a well-functioning democracy and there’s a growing danger that these huge media companies and their billionaire owners are not providing citizens and voters with the information they need.

(Note: If you find a post too long to read, please just skim the bolded portions. Thanks for reading my blog!)

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The consolidation of companies through mergers and acquisitions to produce huge mega-companies is harmful for consumers, workers, small businesses, innovation, our economy, and our country. Huge companies have monopolistic powers over prices, product quality, and jobs because of limited competition.

Huge companies, owned by billionaires, are particularly concerning in the media and news industry because they control the information we receive and, therefore, what we know. A citizenry that’s well informed with important and truthful information is essential to a well-functioning democracy. Disinformation and a lack of information are what allow authoritarians and dictators to rule.

Because of consolidation and limited local competition, the costs of Internet access and cable TV have been going up. Costs have been increasing too for content providers and streaming services because of consolidation in those areas as well.

Recent and proposed mergers and acquisitions in the media industry have heightened concerns, not only about competition and prices, but also about politically slanted “news” as directed by billionaire owners. There are concerns about Trump’s influence on the owners and bias in reporting on him and his administration. For example, Paramount, owner of CBS and lots of other media companies, and its new billionaire CEO David Ellison have already installed a right-leaning journalist with limited experience as editor in chief of CBS news. Ellison has also gutted CBS’s diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) policies and installed a right-winger as “ombudsman” to (supposedly) ensure the fairness of news coverage. Paramount and Ellison are bidding to acquire Warner Brothers, which owns CNN among other entities, and are reportedly soliciting money from the Saudis and other Mideast sovereigns to help fund their bid. Ellison’s father, Larry Ellison, billionaire owner of Oracle and the world’s second richest person, has reportedly told President Trump that Paramount would fire CNN personnel that Trump doesn’t like if a deal for Warner Brothers is made and Trump’s regulators approve it. [1]

Billionaire owners of media companies generally have strong biases that are likely to affect the news and information (or disinformation) their companies report and spread. For example, billionaires (and other wealthy people) want public policies that allow them to make and keep great wealth. They often view democratic governance as a threat because it holds equal opportunity and equity as foundational principles. Billionaires may well want to suppress information on and criticism of their great wealth and the actions of their companies, or the private sector and unregulated markets in general. They may want to hide the ways they influence public officials and public policies, as well as the favorable policies they get.

The goals of billionaire media owners are not to provide valuable information to the citizens of a democracy, but rather to enrich and protect themselves. They also know that President Trump can and will support their companies (e.g., with government contracts and subsidies, by approving their proposed acquisitions) if they are on good terms with him. However, if they have a bad relationship, he can wreak havoc on their companies with regulations, tariffs, selective law enforcement, suits, penalties, or by using antitrust laws to block their acquisitions. [2]

Billionaire media owners include:

  • Elon Musk, the richest person in the world, who bought the major social media platform, Twitter, and rebranded it, X. He has allowed and encouraged it to become a purveyor of right-wing disinformation, hate speech, and dangerous rhetoric.
  • Larry Ellison, the second richest person, who, with his family, owns Paramount, CBS and many other media companies as described above. They are big supporters of Trump and Republicans. CBS paid Trump $16 million to settle a frivolous lawsuit and canceled Stephen Colbert’s show because he was often critical of Trump. (Some senior CBS staff, including at 60 Minutes, resigned because of presumably because they were told to treat Trump favorably.) The Trump administration then approved a multi-billion-dollar merger of Paramount and Skydance.
  • Mark Zuckerberg, the third richest person, who owns Meta, which includes Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp. He has allowed his companies to spread disinformation, hate speech, and messaging dangerous to the health and safety of children. He has also been a Trump supporter.
  • Jeff Bezos, the fourth richest person, who owns The Washington Post and Amazon, including all its media entities. He blocked the publishing of an editorial endorsing Kamal Harris in 2024 and has directed the Post’s editorial and opinion writing to support “personal liberties and free markets.” (The billionaire owner of the Los Angeles Times also blocked an editorial endorsing Kamal Harris.) Bezos is a Trump supporter and paid Melania Trump (the President’s wife) a staggering $40 million for the right to make a documentary about her.
  • Billionaire Rupert Murdoch and his offspring, who own Fox, The Wall Street Journal, and the New York Post. It’s widely recognized that Fox spreads disinformation favorable to Trump and Republicans, up to and including false election fraud disinformation that led to a court decision requiring Fox to pay nearly $800 million for defamation of an electronic voting machine company.

It’s impossible to know how these billionaires have skewed coverage of President Trump and his administration, as well as the criticism and protests of them, but it’s hard to believe they haven’t had considerable influence. There is a growing danger that these huge media companies and their billionaire owners are not providing citizens and voters with the information they need to have a well-functioning democracy.

More on the effects of billionaire ownership and media consolidation in my next post, as well as what can be done about it.

[1]      Myerson, H., 11/20/25, “Ellisons tap Saudis to fund news media takeover,” Today on The American Prospect (https://prospect.org/2025/11/20/ellisons-tap-saudis-to-fund-news-media-takeover/)

[2]      Reich, R., 11/26/25, “The billionaires destroying our media system and what to do about it,” Common Dreams (https://www.commondreams.org/opinion/billionaire-ownership-media)

PUBLIC POLICIES TO REDUCE ECONOMIC INEQUALITY IN AMERICA

Economic inequality is at record breaking levels in the U.S. The American oligarchy is powerfully wielding its economic and political power. Public policies can stop and reverse the growing economic inequality. See examples below. If Democrats or others want to garner support and votes, they should support policies to reduce economic inequality and create a secure economic future for working Americans.

(Note: If you find a post too long to read, please just skim the bolded portions. Thanks for reading my blog!)

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Economic inequality is at record breaking levels in the U.S. America now has 916 billionaires whose combined wealth is $8 trillion (yes, trillion). Their wealth has increased by over $1 trillion in the first nine months of 2025. Since the passage of the Republican tax cut bill in 2017, it’s increased from $3 trillion to $8 trillion. For comparison, the least wealthy 167 million Americans (half the population) have combined wealth of just $3.6 trillion. In other words, the combined wealth of 167 million Americans is less than half the wealth of the 916 billionaires. The rise in billionaires’ wealth reflects the transfer of profits of economic activity away from workers and to owners and investors.

A big part of this is the increase in the value of the stocks of companies these billionaires own and in which they invest. Provisions in the 2017 Republican tax cut bill (that were continued by the GOP’s Big Ugly Bill in July 2025) give huge tax breaks to corporations. For example. Alphabet (Google’s parent) gets $17.9 billion, Amazon gets $15.7 billion, and Microsoft gets $12.5 billion.

With their great wealth, these billionaire oligarchs have great political power, especially given the laws and court decisions allowing unlimited spending in political campaigns. This basically allows them to buy our elected officials, as Elon Musk bought Trump with the over $250 billion he spent on Trump’s campaign. “Highly concentrated wealth leads naturally to concentrated political power.” [1] As Supreme Court Justice Louis Brandeis wrote almost 100 years ago, “We may have democracy, or we may have wealth concentrated in the hands of a few, but we can’t have both.”

The oligarchs have been wielding their political power very effectively for the last 45 years, and especially in the last ten years. They’ve succeeded in getting policies enacted that enrich themselves and leave American workers not just short changed, but shafted. Public policies to provide economic security for working Americans will never happen if the oligarchs retain their political and economic power. (This previous post presented policies to increase workers’ incomes and this post highlighted policies to reduce the cost of living for them.)

Therefore, the policies that allowed economic inequality to grow over the last 45 years, and to explode in the last 25 years, need to be changed. A group called Patriotic Millionaires has proposed “The Money Agenda,” a set of policies that would reduce economic inequality and “permanently stabilize the economic lives of working people, stimulate wide-spread economic growth, and ensure prosperity and stability for America’s next 250 years.”

The Money Agenda includes four pieces of legislation. Here’s a quick overview of them:

  • The Equal Tax Act
    • Increase tax rates on income from wealth (e.g., capital gains) so they are the same as the tax rates on income from work
    • Close the loophole that allows the wealthy to give away appreciated assets and dodge anyone having to pay tax on their increase in value (i.e., the stepped-up basis loophole)
  • The Anti-Oligarch Act
    • Phase 1: Stop the growth of economic inequality by putting a reasonable tax on the true income of the wealthy (e.g., including increases in wealth) and on the intergenerational transfers of wealth
    • Phase 2: Reduce economic inequality by implementing a wealth tax on the ultra-rich
  • The “Cost of Living” Tax Cut Act
    • Establish a Cost of Living Exemption of about $45,000 in order to eliminate income tax on income up to a reasonable cost of living for a single adult without children
    • Pay for the lost revenue by putting a surtax on incomes over $1 million
  • The “Cost of Living” Wage Act
    • Raise the minimum wage to a living wage for a single adult with no children, or about $21 per hour (roughly $45,000 per year for full-time work) and index it to inflation
    • Protect workers from loss of income due to automation or AI

The Economic Policy Institute recently issued a report titled “Raising taxes on the ultrarich: A necessary first step to restore faith in American democracy and the public sector.” It states that if “policymakers are unwilling to raise taxes on income derived from wealth, the tax system can never be made as fair as it needs to be.” Its recommendations echo the provisions of The Equal Tax Act and The Anti-Oligarch Act above.

It also proposes:

  • Replacing the estate tax with a progressive income tax on those receiving an inheritance.
  • Raising the top marginal income tax rate back to its pre-2017 level (i.e., from 37% to 39.6%). This would generate revenue of over $30 billion a year. (Note: In 1980, the top rate was 70% and it was over 90% in the 1950s.)
  • Returning the corporate tax rate to 35% (where it was before the 2017 Republican Tax Cut Act reduced it to 21%). This would generate over $250 billion a year in revenue.
  • Closing tax loopholes that the ultrarich and corporations use to evade taxes.
  • Strengthening the IRS’s capability to enforce tax laws. The IRS estimates that $600 billion in taxes that are owed are not paid each year. However, in recent decades it has lacked the resources to enforce the laws and collect those taxes because Republicans have underfunded it.

If Democrats, or another party such as the Working Families Party, want to garner support and votes, they should support these policies to reduce economic inequality and the economic and political power of the American oligarchy. These and related policies would also provide economic security for working Americans. Democrats should be unequivocal in embracing economic populism and stop cozying up to the oligarchy and their PACs for campaign contributions. [2] To consistently win elections, Democrats need to loudly and unequivocally promote a vision of a more economically secure future for working Americans.

[1]      Bivens, J., 11/17/25, “Raising taxes on the ultrarich,” page 5, Economic Policy Institute (https://www.epi.org/publication/raising-taxes-on-the-ultrarich-a-necessary-first-step-to-restore-faith-in-american-democracy-and-the-public-sector/)

[2]      Reich, R., 11/3/25, “What the Democrats must do. Now!” (https://robertreich.substack.com/p/what-the-democrats-must-do-now) /

SIGNS OF A RESURGENCE OF DEMOCRACY AND PROGRESSIVE POLICIES

An American oligarchy has battled for control of our country since its founding. Today, there are signs of a resurgence of democracy and a third progressive policy era. These signs include a resurgence of unions, campaign finance reforms at the state and local levels, and the growing public and private protests and pushback against the Trump administration. We, the American people, must stand up for democracy. We can defeat the oligarchy.

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(Note: Please follow me and get notices of my blog posts on Bluesky at: @jalippitt.bsky.social. Thanks!)

An American oligarchy based on wealth and privilege, with race and religion lurking behind them, has battled for control of our country since its founding. Two progressive eras have pushed back against oligarchy, heralded a resurgence of democracy, and made progress toward the founding principles of America. These efforts relegated and regulated the oligarchy to the back seat, putting we the people back in control of America. (See this previous post for more details.)

Today, there are signs of a resurgence of democracy and a third progressive policy era. After 45 years of dramatically increasing income and wealth inequality, shrinkage of the middle class, and workers’ wages not keeping up with inflation or increases in productivity, many Americans are ready to throw the oligarchy out. They recognize that:

  • Unrestrained capitalism is not good for consumers, workers, communities, or our planet.
  • Huge corporations tend to engage in monopolistic behaviors.
  • Oligarchs are anti-democratic and are focused on feathering their own nests.

One sign of surging democracy and progressive politics is the resurgence of unions. Collective bargaining by unionized workers levels the balance of power between oligarch business owners and workers. Unions improve workers’ compensation and working conditions. Evidence of the union resurgence includes:

  • The number of union elections has more than doubled since 2021.
  • Workers have won 70% of those elections, the highest win rate in 15 years.
  • Petitions for union elections increased by 27% in 2024.
  • Public support for unions is at 70%, the highest level since the 1960s.
  • 60 million non-union workers (40% of the workforce) report they would vote to join a union if they got the chance.

Another sign of surging democracy and progressive politics is the passing of campaign finance reforms in multiple states and municipalities. Although reforms to enhance disclosure of campaign donations are very important, and election reforms to make it easier to register and vote are important, the most impactful reforms are ones that provide public financial support to candidates. There are multiple ways to do this, including giving vouchers or tax credits to voters to use to support the candidates of their choice. More than 14 states and 25 municipalities have enacted campaign finance reforms with some form of public financial support.

Perhaps the most effective way to level the playing field between candidates with access to big sums of money and everyday people running for elected office is a public financing system like the ones in New York City and more recently in New York State. These systems require the candidate to opt into the public financing system, which means the candidate agrees to restrictions on the size of donations and the use of one’s own funds that would otherwise be prohibited by the Supreme Court’s Citizens United decision. (As you probably know, the Supreme Court’s 2010 Citizens United decision equated the spending of money on election campaigns with speech. Therefore, freedom of speech means there can be no limits on campaign spending or donations.) [1]

In these public financing systems, small donations (generally less than $200) from constituents (i.e., residents of the candidate’s district) are matched by public funds (up to 8 to 1) for candidates who agree to limits on the size of donations and other restrictions. A candidate must qualify for public financing by garnering a certain number or dollar amount of small donations from constituents. Studies of campaign public financing systems find that they have many benefits including increased diversity of candidates (by class, race, and gender), increased civic engagement and voting, and increased focus of candidates on issues (as opposed to fundraising).

Another sign of the resurgence of support for democracy is the growing resistance to the Trump administration. Institutions from the mainstream media to colleges and universities to law firms are starting to stand up and push back. Elected officials at the state and local levels are pushing back more and more. Democrats in Congress are becoming more organized and effective in pushing back. The courts for the most part, except for the Supreme Court and certain other very right-wing judges, have been pushing back.

Various elections all around the country have also quite consistently shown that voters are standing up and voting against those who are undermining our democracy and supporting the oligarchy. We need to keep up this momentum in statewide elections in Virginia and New Jersey and state and local elections elsewhere this fall. And we need to continue to work to build a strong wave in support of democracy in the 2026 elections for Congress and other offices.

Most importantly, a growing segment of the public is standing up and pushing back. The millions of Americans who engaged in the Oct. 18 No Kings protests sent a strong, unequivocal message in support of democracy. The many, many other smaller protests that are occurring daily reinforce that message. The pushback on media executives, who were compromising freedom of speech by taking Jimmy Kimmel off the air, sent out shock waves that made those media executives change their minds. We’ll need to continue to do these things again and again to put democracy back in the driver’s seat.

Thank you for all you’re doing! Please keep up the great and important work to save our democracy! We, the American people, as citizens, consumers, and workers, must stand up for democracy. We can defeat the oligarchy, and its authoritarianism and fascism.

For lots of good news on the fight for democracy see Jess Craven’s 10/12 Chop Wood Carry Water post.

[1]      Brennan Center for Justice, retrieved from the Internet on 10/17/25, “Reform money in politics,” (https://www.brennancenter.org/issues/reform-money-politics)

THE AMERICAN STRUGGLE BETWEEN OLIGARCHY AND DEMOCRACY

An American oligarchy has battled for control of our country since its founding. In 1980, the American oligarchy re-emerged and has been undermining democracy and skewing government policy. Defenders of democracy are fighting back, including with growing protests against and resistance to King Trump and his administration. Please find and participate in an Oct. 18 No Kings protest near you.

SPECIAL NOTE: We need millions of Americans at the No Kings protests on October 18 in defense of democracy. Please support this however you can. You can find an event near you here.

(Note: If you find a post too long to read, please just skim the bolded portions. Thanks for reading my blog!)

(Note: Please follow me and get notices of my blog posts on Bluesky at: @jalippitt.bsky.social. Thanks!)

An American oligarchy based on wealth and privilege, with race and religion lurking behind them, has battled for control of our country since its founding. The southern plantation owners were the first American oligarchy. The businessmen and industrialists of the late 1800s and early 1900s, who were dubbed the Robber Barons, were the second American oligarchy.

The first American progressive era from the 1890s through 1945 pushed back against oligarchy and the Great Depression, which was caused by the greed of the oligarchs. President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s New Deal and the growth of government and government power due to World War II relegated and regulated the oligarchy to the back seat. This put democracy and we the people in the driver’s seat and in control of America.

The period after World War II, from 1945 to 1980 was the second progressive era. An unwritten post-war social compact framed American society and the economy. It was based on three pillars:

  • Corporations served all stakeholders: workers, customers, communities, and shareholders;
  • Workers had a right to unionize and receive fair wages and safe working conditions; and
  • Government provided a safety net, managed capitalism, and leveled the playing field.

The result was an economy and society where, from 1945 to 1980, the rising tide did lift all boats. Economic inequality narrowed and America moved toward its promise of equal opportunity for all. Workers’ wages increased in accordance with their increases in productivity. The middle class grew along with economic security. Each generation was better off than the previous one. Democracy was working well.

In 1980, with the election of President Reagan, the American oligarchy re-emerged. For the last 45 years, it has been undermining democracy and skewing government policy in its favor. (See this previous post for more details.) Although Republicans have been the driving force, Democrats have contributed to this shift by supporting business deregulation and unconstrained globalization. Democrats also failed to support unions and failed to reform our campaign finance system. Moreover, they have come to rely on campaign contributions from wealthy individuals and corporations.

All this has led to 45 years of dramatically growing income and wealth inequality. The middle class has shrunk, and workers’ wages have increased much less than their increases in productivity. Many Americans have lost their economic security. The public’s faith in government and democracy has declined dramatically.

However, there are signs that a third American progressive era and a resurgence of democracy may be emerging. There is increasing acknowledgement and public awareness that:

  • Wealth and income inequality have grown to unacceptable levels.
  • Huge corporations tend to engage in monopolistic behaviors such as price fixing and price gouging; decreasing quality, choice, and customer service; and poor treatment of employees in terms of compensation and safety.
  • Unrestrained capitalism is not good for consumers, workers, communities, or our planet.
  • The oligarchs have rigged our economic system in their favor so that the rising tide is lifting only their yachts.
  • Oligarchy is anti-democratic and tends to turn into authoritarianism and fascism, i.e., white, male, Christian nationalism.

Bob Kuttner, a long-time, very astute and thoughtful observer and analyst of American politics and policies, has concluded that American democracy’s efforts to balance capitalism are doomed to fail. The incentives and power of huge corporations and huge wealth are too great and will inevitably overwhelm America’s brand of democracy. He concludes that significant public ownership of key sectors of the economy, i.e., democratic socialism, is necessary to keep capitalism in check. [1]

As Bob Reich recently wrote, “Capitalism is compatible with democracy only if democracy is in the driver’s seat. … [Otherwise] It fuels despotism.” [2] This is reminiscent of the quote from Supreme Court Justice Louis Brandeis back in the 1930s: “We can have democracy in this country, or we can have great wealth concentrated in the hands of a few, but we can’t have both.”

In many sectors of our economy there’s a clear need for strong regulation or public ownership including in health care, communications (including media and the big technology platforms), utilities and energy, the transportation system, banking and finance, housing, and food and agriculture. In these areas, a publicly owned option would be more effective and efficient because it wouldn’t have to cover the costs of profits, big executive pay packages, and advertising. For example, in the health care sector, when the Affordable Care Act (ACA, aka Obama Care) was being developed, health care providers and insurance companies vehemently opposed a public option in the health care market place (basically Medicare available to everyone) because they knew it would be more effective and efficient. This is also why they oppose Medicare of All and are working feverishly to undermine Medicare with their privatized Medicare Advantage plans. We need public Medicare for seniors and a public option for everyone else to stop the rapacious, for-profit health care businesses that put profits before patients. (See previous posts here, here and here for more details.)

The growing protests against and resistance to King Trump and his administration’s actions and policies are signs of a resurgence of democracy and an emerging progressive era. The successes are many, on the streets and in the courtrooms, sometimes small but nonetheless important, and are underreported by the mainstream media. Forcing media executives to put the Jimmy Kimmel show back on the air was a huge and very visible success. (For lots of current good news see Jess Craven’s Chop Wood Carry Water blog here.)

In this vein, please find an October 18th No Kings event near you here and participate and support it in whatever way you can. We, the American public, as citizens, consumers, and workers, must stand up for democracy, otherwise, we’ll continue down the slippery slope to oligarchy, authoritarianism, and fascism. We can stop the anti-democracy slide, as we did in the Jimmy Kimmel case.

We need millions of Americans engaged in the No Kings protests and in the many, many other smaller protests that are occurring daily. Thank you for all you’re doing! Please keep up the great and important work to save our democracy!

My next post will identify additional signs of a resurgence of democracy and the beginning of a third progressive era, including a surge in unionization, campaign finance reforms, and actions and elections at the state and local levels.

[1]      Kuttner, R., 12/1/21, “Capitalism vs. liberty,” The American Prospect (https://prospect.org/politics/capitalism-vs-liberty/)

[2]      Reich, R., 9/26/25, “Why are we so polarized? Why is democracy in such peril?” Blog post (https://robertreich.substack.com/p/why-are-we-so-polarized)

CORPORATE OLIGARCHS HAVE BEEN UNDERMINING DEMOCRACY FOR 45 YEARS

Trump is the culmination of decades of work by wealthy individuals and CEOs (America’s oligarchs) undermining democracy & skewing government policy. This has led to high income & wealth inequality. Many Americans have lost their economic security, as well as their faith in government & democracy.

Trump is the culmination of decades of work by wealthy individuals and corporate CEOs (i.e., America’s oligarchs) undermining democracy and skewing government policies. This has led to dramatic income and wealth inequality. Many Americans have lost their economic security, as well as their faith in government and democracy.

SPECIAL NOTE: We need millions of Americans at the No Kings protests on October 18 in defense of democracy. Please support this however you can. You can find an event near you at: https://www.mobilize.us/nokings/map/?tag_ids=27849.

(Note: If you find a post too long to read, please just skim the bolded portions. Thanks for reading my blog!)

(Note: Please follow me and get notices of my blog posts on Bluesky at: @jalippitt.bsky.social. Thanks!)

I’ve been surprised at how little spine corporate Chief Executive Officers (CEOs) (supposed “leaders”) have shown in the face of Trump’s behavior and attacks. They know that unpredictability and chaos in government, as well as uncertainty, polarization, and unrest in society (in America and globally), are bad for the economy and for their businesses, at least in the long run. They know that an autocrat’s lack of respect for the rule of law, for property rights, and for freedom of speech are bad for business.

However, the CEOs of large corporations (aka corporate oligarchs) tend to be pragmatic and short-sighted. They value having political power and influence to the point that they seem to care little about politicians’ ethics or actions on issues that don’t conflict with their corporate interests. They know their large corporations are dependent on the government for many things, e.g., approvals of mergers, government contracts, tax breaks and subsidies, and licenses to operate. And they know their corporations are affected by many other things government does, e.g., writing and enforcing regulations, tax laws, and export and import policies (e.g., tariffs). [1]

President Trump has been leveraging (generally illegally) these many interrelationships between the government and corporations to pressure CEOs to do what he wants them to do, to support his policies, and to support him personally (sometimes financially). CEOs know Trump is arbitrary, unpredictable, and vindictive. They know that if he is irritated by a company or its CEO that he will use the powers of the government in a punitive fashion against them. Therefore, they capitulate.

However, Trump and his anti-democratic, autocratic, and fascist behavior and administration are the culmination of decades of work by wealthy individuals and corporate CEOs (i.e., America’s oligarchs). They have been undermining democracy and skewing government policies and our economy in their favor for at least 45 years. They have quadrupled their political spending (after adjusting for inflation) over the last 40 years. [2] In the 2023-2024 federal election cycle, $5.3 billion was spent on the presidential race and $9.5 billion was spent on congressional races. The overwhelming majority of this money came from American oligarchs. One hundred billionaires alone spent $2.6 billion. The seven highest spending individuals spent $930 million, all for Republicans, with Elon Musk leading the way with $291 million in spending, almost exclusively for the Trump campaign.

In addition to spending on election campaigns, corporations are also spending over $4 billion a year lobbying the federal government. [3] Furthermore, they engage in an extensive “revolving door” cycle of personnel (tens of thousands of them) who move between government regulatory agencies and positions in corporations the agencies regulate. [4]

All of this is in the interest of skewing government policy to favor American oligarchs, i.e., wealthy individuals and their large corporations. They have been very successful; their return on investment has been extraordinary.

My next post will provide specific examples of their successes, along with the effects and implications of them.

In the meantime, please make plans to stand up for democracy and against the oligarchs. I hope you can participate in and/or support the No Kings protests on October 18 – and the many, many other smaller protests that are occurring daily. Thank you for all you are doing! Please keep up this great and important defense of democracy!

Find a No Kings October 18th event near you here.

[1]      Edelman, L., 9/23/25, “Why corporate leaders are appeasing Trump,” The Boston Globe

[2]      Reich, R., 9/26/25, “Why are we so polarized? Why is democracy in such peril?” Blog post (https://robertreich.substack.com/p/why-are-we-so-polarized)

[3]      Open Secrets, retrieved from the Internet 9/29/25, “Lobbying data summary,” (https://www.opensecrets.org/federal-lobbying/)

[4]      Open Secrets, retrieved from the Internet 9/29/25, “Revolving door overview,” (https://www.opensecrets.org/revolving-door/)

THE PERVERSION OF CAPITALISM BY TRUMP

President Trump is perverting capitalism and the free market by asserting unprecedented influence over the private sector. His actions are not a coherent economic policy. They’re all about centralizing power and control. This is what fascism and oligarchy look like.

President Trump is perverting capitalism and the free market by asserting unprecedented influence over the private sector. His actions are not a coherent economic policy and make the U.S. economy look like China’s. They’re all about centralizing power and control, while undermining the rule of law and democracy. This is what fascism and oligarchy look like.

(Note: If you find a post too long to read, please just skim the bolded portions. Thanks for reading my blog!)

(Note: Please follow me and get notices of my blog posts on Bluesky at: @jalippitt.bsky.social. Thanks!)

President Trump is perverting capitalism and the free market by asserting unprecedented personal influence over and taking government ownership in private sector companies. His actions do not reflect a coherent economic policy. It is the power grabbing of a tyrant and bully who wants to control others and wants them to be subservient. Trump is using largely illegal financial (e.g., import tariffs and export fees), regulatory, and court-based actions to do this. He wants to influence the decisions of other countries and American businesses, including media corporations, financial institutions, law firms, and  universities. He wants countries and companies to come to him begging for exemptions from his actions and threats. [1] This is, of course, a breeding ground for corruption and bribery.

Nothing even approaching this level of government interference in the private sector has occurred since the emergency mobilization of the private sector for World War II. This government interference in private companies, which is a type of state-controlled capitalism, has until now always been anathema to Republicans and the business community. If any president prior to Trump had attempted any of this, Republicans, business executives, and the mainstream media would be screaming about it being socialism or communism. The actions by Trump are making the U.S. economy look like that of China, where the government owns a stake in companies or has considerable influence over their decision making. [2] [3] Or like Leninist capitalism where the Communist Party controlled the state’s ownership of businesses. [4]

This alignment of an authoritarian leader and a nominally capitalist economy is classic fascism. While Republicans and business executives are supportive or mute, the Wall Street Journal simply calls it inefficient. The business executives and other wealthy investors that facilitate and participate in Trump’s actions are the American oligarchy.

Examples of Trump’s actions include:

  • Allowed Nvidia and Advanced Micro Devices, makers of artificial intelligence (AI) computer chips, to export them to China on the condition that the companies pay the United States 15% of their profits. This poses risks to the U.S. AI industry and to U.S. national security (in part due to the chips’ use by the Chinese military). These payments are, for all intents and purposes, an export fee, which is unprecedented in U.S. history. Moreover, the Constitution explicitly bans export taxes (Article I, Section 9, Clause 5). [5]
  • Demanded that Intel’s CEO resign and then negotiated 10% government ownership of the company. This makes the U.S. government one of Intel’s largest shareholders. [6]
  • Proposed that the Defense Department take a 15% ownership stake in MP Materials, which mines minerals critical for chips and electronics.
  • Allowed Nippon Steel of Japan to take over U.S. Steel on condition that Nippon pay a “golden share” of the proceeds to the government and give Trump control over elements of corporate governance.
  • Reserved the right to personally direct some the $1.5 trillion in promised investments in the U.S. to be made by America’s trading partners as part of tariff negotiations.
  • Sued media corporations and negotiated approval of media corporation mergers to get money and influence over media content.

The government ownership in and influence over the private sector asserted by Trump has nothing to do with promoting the public interest, the well-being of American workers, or protecting national security. In fact, they undermine all these principles. They’re all about centralizing power and control in Trump’s hands as part of his efforts to undermine the rule of law and democracy. [7] Moreover, who holds the ownership stakes and who exercises the related rights is unclear.

Despite Trump’s bluster about being tough on China, his actions have been quite favorable to China. He has illegally extended the deadline for the sale of Chinese ownership of TikTok if it wants to do business in the U.S. He has shut down Radio Free Asia, which countered Chinese propaganda. He’s allowed the export of artificial intelligence computer chips to China, which was a key request from China in trade negotiations.

Please contact your members of Congress and ask them to assert their oversight of these deals Trump is making. Ask them to clarify who holds the ownership stakes, who is exercising ownership rights, and where the funds received are going. Ask them to ensure that the Trump administration’s economic policies and actions further the public interest, benefit workers, promote national security, and comport with the rule of law and democratic principles.

You can find contact information for your US Representative at  http://www.house.gov/representatives/find/ and for your US Senators at http://www.senate.gov/general/contact_information/senators_cfm.cfm.

[1]      Dayen, D., 8/11/25, “Tariffs to import and fees to export,” The American Prospect (https://prospect.org/blogs-and-newsletters/tap/2025-08-11-tariffs-to-import-fees-to-export-nvidia-chips-china/)

[2]      Reich, R., 8/12/25, “Trump’s ‘state capitalism’,” Blog post (https://robertreich.substack.com/p/trumps-state-capitalism)

[3]      Cox Richardson, H., 8/11/25, Letters from an American blog post, (https://heathercoxrichardson.substack.com/p/august-11-2025)

[4]      Meyerson, H., 8/18/25, “When l’etat c’est Trump, the U.S. goes in for state capitalism,” The American Prospect (https://prospect.org/economy/2025-08-18-when-letat-cest-trump-us-goes-in-for-state-capitalism/)

[5]      Dayen, D., 8/11/25, see above

[6]      Liedtke, M., & Kurtenbach, E., 8/20/25, “US vying to own a big stake in Intel,” The Boston Globe from the Associated Press

[7]      Reich, R., 8/12/25, see above

MUSK AND TRUMP ARE ENGAGED IN CORRUPT SELF-ENRICHMENT

Musk and Trump are corruptly lining their own pockets by ending or weakening investigations, enforcement, and regulation of Musk’s companies, as well as providing them with new government contracts. They’re also endangering workers, the public, and our national security.

Musk and Trump are corruptly lining their own pockets by ending or weakening investigations, enforcement, and regulation of Musk’s companies, as well as providing them with new government contracts. They’re also endangering workers, the public, and our national security.

(Note: If you find a post too long to read, please just skim the bolded portions. Thanks for reading my blog!)

My previous post provided an overview of the 32 (or more) ongoing investigations of Elon Musk’s six companies when Trump was sworn into office. It also noted that Musk has obtained much of his enormous wealth through government subsidies and contracts – over $38 billion in the last 20 years. In 2023, Space X and Tesla got almost $3 billion from 100 contracts with 17 federal agencies. [1] These include substantial contracts with the Department of Defense (DOD). Space X has a multi-billion-dollar contract to build a classified spy satellite network for the DOD. It also has contracts for communication services through Space X’s subsidiary, Starlink.

Needless to say, Musk’s role with the so-called Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) presents huge conflicts of interest that are illegal. He would be swiftly barred from this work and/or prosecuted under any president other than Trump. Instead, Trump and Musk are systematically undermining the agencies that regulate businesses, including Musk’s, to keep workers, consumers, and the public safe. This deregulation results in windfall profits for Musk, Trump, members of Trump’s cabinet, and other wealthy business executives and investors. This is outright oligarchic corruption with wealthy business people funneling government money and benefits to themselves and their cronies.

Musk is lining his own pockets as a government contractor and businessman in two main ways:

  • Dismantling or emasculating agencies that regulate his business activities, often ending on-going investigations and enforcement actions, and
  • Having the Trump administration award his companies billions of dollars in new contracts, while continuing to pay billions of dollars to his companies under existing contracts.

Actions by Musk, DOGE, and Trump to block or weaken regulation, investigations, and sanctions of Musk’s companies include:

  • Firing members of the National Labor Relations Board, the Equal Opportunity Employment Commission, and others at the Department of Labor in order to hobble their 24 investigations into violations of workers’ rights at Musk’s companies.
  • Cutting staff at the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration that was investigating fatal crashes of Tesla vehicles and had ordered recalls of hundreds of thousands of Tesla vehicles due to safety issues.
  • Emasculating the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) that
    • Was reviewing over 300 complaints about Tesla’s financing entity, and
    • Would have oversight of the digital payment service Musk wants to add to his social media platform, X.
  • Slashing the workforce at the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) that is suing Space X over worker safety and investigating it for violations related to its rocket launches.
  • Firing workers at the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) that was investigating Musk’s Neuralink company for violations of the Animal Welfare Act.
  • Eliminating USAID that was reviewing its contract with Space X subsidiary, Starlink, for communication services in Ukraine.
  • Firing over a dozen Inspectors General, which has reduced oversight of government contractors, among other negative effects. The firings of Inspectors General at the Defense Department most likely disrupted or ended an investigation into Space X’s contracts.
  • Presumably ending the three DOD investigations of Musk’s and Space X’s repeated failures to file mandatory national security reports of contacts and involvement with foreign entities. This is one small effect of Trump’s politicization of the DOD, e.g., his appointments of political loyalists such as Hegseth as Secretary of Defense and Caine as Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

Musk and Space X have significant contacts and engagement with Chinese leaders and investors. This is one reason that their failure to make required national security reports is a matter of serious concern. Space X has sizeable investments from Chinese investors, but because of its contracts with the DOD, Space X does not want its investments from Chinese investors to be public knowledge. Therefore, it actively works to make sure those investments are laundered through intermediate entities in the Cayman Islands and elsewhere, which keeps investors anonymous. [2]

Roughly half of Musk’s Tesla vehicles are built in China and China is Tesla’s largest market. Tesla’s largest factory is in Shanghai and its construction received a $2.8 billion investment, major tax breaks, and special permissions from the Chinese government. Musk regularly meets with Chinese government and Communist Party officials due to his multiple business interests, current and future, in China.

Needless to say, Musk is considered a significant national security risk by DOD and intelligence officials and experts. Nonetheless, Musk had scheduled a private meeting with Secretary of Defense Hegseth and others for a briefing on top secret U.S. preparations for conflict with China. The briefing was apparently scrapped after knowledge of it became public. [3]

Notwithstanding all the above, the Trump administration has awarded or announced plans to award (it’s sometimes hard to tell the difference due to Trump’s and Musk’s frequent distortions of facts) Musk’s companies multiple new contracts. The FAA recently announced its intention to engage Space X subsidiary Starlink in a $2 billion contract to upgrade air traffic control systems. There were plans for the State Department to order $400 million worth of armored Teslas. The contract was backdated to make it look like it was awarded before Trump took office. The contract is apparently now on hold.

It’s abundantly clear that Musk, Trump, and their cronies are lining their pockets at taxpayers’ expense and at significant risk to the public. I urge you to contact your US Representative and Senators and ask them to call out and take whatever actions they can to stop the corrupt self-enrichment of Musk and Trump. You can find contact information for your US Representative at  http://www.house.gov/representatives/find/ and for your US Senators at http://www.senate.gov/general/contact_information/senators_cfm.cfm.

[1]      Elordi, M., 10/21/24, “Elon Musk’s companies have faced at least 20 federal probes,” Daily Wire (https://www.dailywire.com/news/elon-musks-companies-have-faced-at-least-20-federal-probes-report)

[2]      Kaplan, J., & Elliott, J., 3/26/25, “How Elon Musk’s Space X secretly allows investments from China,” ProPublica (https://www.propublica.org/article/elon-musk-spacex-allows-china-investment-cayman-islands-secrecy)

[3]      Reich, R., 3/21/25, “Is the Muskrat working for China?” Robert Reich blog (https://robertreich.substack.com/p/is-the-muskrat-working-for-china )

MUSK AND DOGE ARE ALL ABOUT CORRUPT SELF-ENRICHMENT

Musk, DOGE, and Trump do not care about efficiency & reducing waste. They’re not targeting for-profit contractors, which is where the bulk of fraud & waste occurs. They’re focused on ending investigations & enforcement actions against Musk’s companies, letting Musk corruptly line his own pockets.

Musk, his Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), and Trump do not care about efficiency and reducing government waste. They’re not targeting for-profit government contractors, which is where the bulk of fraud and waste occurs. Instead, they’re focused on ending investigations of and enforcement actions against Musk’s companies, and providing them with new government contracts. Musk is corruptly lining his own pockets.

(Note: If you find a post too long to read, please just skim the bolded portions. Thanks for reading my blog!)

I’m sure I don’t need to tell you that Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) is not focused on efficiency and reducing government waste. DOGE’s haphazard actions of laying off workers and dismantling government programs, processes, and agencies that Musk and Trump don’t like are actually decreasing efficiency. (See previous posts here and here for more detail.) Musk and Trump are focused on lining their own pockets, i.e., on corrupt self-enrichment.

Contrary to Musk’s and Trump’s claims that the government workforce is bloated, the federal government had fewer employees before Trump took office (3 million) than at its peak in 1990 (3.1 million), despite significant growth in the responsibilities of the government. Federal government employees were 4.3% of the U.S. workforce in 1960; they’re just 1.9% of the workforce today. In general, government agencies are understaffed, due to budgetary restrictions.

If Musk, Trump, and DOGE were serious about increasing government efficiency, they would be targeting for-profit government contractors – like Musk’s companies. Before looking specifically at Musk’s companies, overall, the major sources of waste, fraud, and abuse in government spending are contractors for military hardware and services, and insurance companies that are contractors providing Medicare coverage through so-called Medicare Advantage programs. It’s estimated that 40% of the people working for the federal government are contractors and not employees. For example, in 2019, in Iraq and Afghanistan, there were 50% more U.S. contractors than U.S. soldiers.

Between 2013 and 2023, spending on government contractors grew by nearly 63%. This reflects the mistaken belief by many that private, for-profit contractors are more efficient than government employees. A 2011 study found that contractors are overpaid in comparison to government workers and that when waste and fraud are identified in government programs it is often for-profit contractors that are the culprits. A 1994 Defense Department Inspector General’s report had similar findings.

For-profit contractors are seeking to maximize profit. They do this by maximizing their prices and minimizing their costs, which generally means minimizing the quality of services and products delivered. Contractors are exempt from transparency and accountability laws that cover government programs, making waste, fraud, and abuse hard to identify, eliminate, and punish. Contractors also violate the law with shocking regularity and repetitiveness. Defense contractor RTX (formerly Raytheon) averages over five sanctions per year for illegal activities. Insurance companies operating Medicare Advantage programs regularly and repetitively engage in fraudulent billing of the government. (See this previous post for more detail.)

To feather their own nests, government contractors spend millions lobbying the government and send employees through the revolving door to work in government roles often overseeing their contracts or work. In 2024, the ten largest federal government contractors spent $71 million lobbying the hand that feeds them. They also spent $8.5 million in the 2023-24 election cycle on contributions to federal candidates’ campaigns, although this is technically illegal. They circumvent laws banning contractors contributing to campaigns by setting up supposedly independent political action committees (PACs).

Musk is lining his own pockets as a government contractor and businessman in two main ways:

  • Dismantling or emasculating agencies that regulate his business activities, often ending on-going investigations and enforcement actions, and
  • Having the Trump administration award his companies billions of dollars in new contracts, while continuing to pay billions of dollars under existing contracts.

Musk has obtained much of his enormous wealth through government subsidies and contracts. His companies have received over $38 billion in government funding over the last 20 years. Currently, among other things, Musk’s Space X company is receiving billions of dollars a year from NASA for rocket launches and from the Department of Defense (DOD) for satellite launches and Starlink communications services. Musk’s Tesla vehicle company got significant funding from the Department of Energy for its development of electric cars. (Note: This support was called wasteful by Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney.) [1] In 2023, Space X and Tesla got almost $3 billion from 100 contracts with 17 federal agencies. [2]

When Trump was sworn into office, Musk’s six companies were the subject of more than 32 ongoing investigations by at least 11 federal agencies. The agencies conducting these enforcement actions are being emasculated by Musk, DOGE, and Trump. Therefore, these investigations and potential penalties from them are now likely to be ended. This means Musk’s companies are now worth far more than before because they are no longer threatened with government penalties or constraints on their operations. As their major shareholder, Musk is a huge winner. [3]

The enforcement actions against Musk and his companies included: [4]

  • A Securities and Exchange Commission lawsuit accusing Musk and his companies of violating federal securities laws.
  • A lawsuit by the Federal Aviation Administration accusing him and his rocket company, Space X, of violating worker safety.
  • 24 separate investigations by the National Labor Relations Board into violations of workers’ rights.
  • Over a dozen investigations of Tesla and Space X for unfair labor practices, safety violations, and workplace discrimination by various agencies of the Department of Labor.
  • Several open investigations by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration into safety issues with Tesla vehicles.
  • An investigation by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), which had fined Space X for previous violations, for issues with its rocket launches, including post-launch explosions that had interrupted air traffic and spread debris and toxic pollution in the atmosphere.
  • At least three investigations by the DOD of Musk and Space X for repeatedly failing to meet reporting requirements aimed at protecting national security, including reporting information on Musk’s meeting with foreign leaders. This non-compliance with national security protocols has led to investigations by the DOD Inspector General (now fired), by the Air Force, and by the Under Secretary of Defense for Intelligence and Security.

My next post will discuss actions by Musk, DOGE, and Trump to block regulation, investigations, and sanctions of Musk companies; Musk’s and Space X’s China connections; and new government contracts for Musk’s companies.

[1]      Heinz, B., 4/1/25, “Rule by contractor: DOGE is not about waste and efficiency – it’s about privatization,” The American Prospect (https://prospect.org/power/2025-04-03-rule-by-contractor-doge-privatization/)

[2]      Elordi, M., 10/21/24, “Elon Musk’s companies have faced at least 20 federal probes,” Daily Wire (https://www.dailywire.com/news/elon-musks-companies-have-faced-at-least-20-federal-probes-report)

[3]      Reich, R., 2/11/25, “Fraud and Musk,” Robert Reich blog (https://robertreich.substack.com/p/fraud)

[4]      House Committee on the Judiciary, 2/13/25, “Fact Sheet: Trump administration, DOGE punish agencies investigating Elon Musk’s companies,” (https://democrats-judiciary.house.gov/uploadedfiles/2025.02.13_fact_sheet_re_musk_investigations.pdf