Listen to ABBA's Money, Money, Money again. . .

 An American Oligarch

I drew this cartoon back when I didn't know America even had any oligarchs.  Crazy me. I guess we've always had them, but no one talked about them much. I also think they lived in the shadows when it came to politics, too. Discretion was the better part of valor in those days. 

Today, however, most Americans know the names of the oligarchs who help politicians get elected and politicians seem proud as punch that they were handed the money. The voters, on the other hand, are left wondering what the oligarch is going to get from the politician for his money. . . and how much is it going to cost the taxpayers!

 The 801 billionaires in the United States have as much wealth as 65,000,000 US households. Those 801 billionaires have a combined wealth of $6.22 trillion. 

No one I know has any problem with how rich a person is, nor, in most cases, how they got it. The problem comes in two cases: Do they pay their fair share in taxes and do they spend it to do harm?

It is often reported  that oligarchs are guilty of both. Actually, I have not heard that the very rich in America are even called oligarchs. But, if they have a bank vault as big as Ft. Knox and, ironically, they do all of their banking off-shore, I'd say they are oligarchs.

Oligarch definition: A very rich business leader with a great deal of political influence.

There you have it. A powerful reason why our political scene is getting more flummoxed by the day. When you pour politicians, corruption, and generous amounts of money into the blender, you will get a very potent - and toxic - potion.