The Power Elite: Who do they make decisions for?

 

Julián A. Clivillés Morales

Mills writes: “If the bankruptcy rate among the top five hundred corporations were as high as the general divorce rate among the thirty-seven million married couples, there would be economic catastrophe on an international scale” (6-7). 

I was reminded of the 2008 Financial Crisis when reading this quote. Because, as Mills argues, “as each of these domains becomes enlarged and centralized, the consequences of its activities become greater” (7).  In the case of 2008, the banks and financial institutions had to survive because the financial well being of American society depended on it.

As you can see with the image above, the Treasury Department spent approximately $439.6 billion buying bank stock in order to revitalize the economy. Here we see two of the three interlocking dominant hierarchies at work: the political and economic forces. This money did not directly go to the unemployed, but rather the elites and their associates. We saw something similar with COVID for the past two years. A stimulus package was much harder to come to terms with than an airline bailout, for example.

In short, we can use Mills’ argument to examine how governments act in times of crisis. It is not just a matter of who makes the decisions but who they make the decisions for. Whereas individuals have to pull themselves up by their bootstraps, the elite cannot afford to because of how large their stake is in society. As mentioned at the beginning, if bankruptcy rates were as high as divorce rates, it would be a great economic catastrophe.

https://www.thebalance.com/2008-financial-crisis-3305679