Welcome to the Oligarchy

"You know, Mr. President, we went to school, and we used to read in the textbooks about Latin America, for example, and they used to refer to some of the countries there as what they call banana republics, countries in which a handful of families control the economic and political life of the nation. Well, I don’t want to get the American people too upset, but we are not all that far away from that reality today. Top one percent has seen a tripling of the percentage of income they earned since 1970s. Top one percent owning 23 percent of all income, more than the bottom 50 percent. Top one percent now owns more wealth than the bottom 90 percent. That’s not the foundation of a democratic society; that’s the foundation for an oligarchic society." -- Senator Bernie Sanders (I-VT), Senate floor