America is the richest nation in the world, of which, those that are the founders of having created some of that immense wealth, inevitably will die. One might think that upon the death of anyone of a very large estate, that since they cannot take such wealth onto the world beyond, that therefore a very significant percentage of that wealth would as a matter of course, be distributed fairly to the peoples of America, by virtue of a meaningful estate tax; but alas, that in effect, is hardly ever the case. This thus means, that fortunes, that were initiated as long ago as 1802, in the case of the Du Ponts, or 1858, in the case of the Rockefellers, still exist, and not only do they exist, but have in many cases, increased considerably in the wealth of these family dynasties. Further to the point, corporations are artificial creations of the state, that are in the present state of laws, perpetual; so that corporations, will thereby continue to operate and to make money for its stockholders, as long as their business model is successful, in which then, some of these corporations therefore get so gargantuan, that the market capitalization of, for instance, Microsoft, now exceeds $1 trillion, which is in itself, greater than the annual GDP of all but fifteen nations. Additionally, in order to escape estate taxes, foundations are created by rich people, of which these foundations are often deliberately set up as perpetual; so that, as long as the money so drawn from those foundations, does not exceed the money being made or added into the foundation, such foundations, exist in perpetuity, such as the Rockefeller Foundation which was created, way back in 1913.
To state the very obvious, money matters, and those that have money are able to unduly influence all sorts of policies, especially when countries such as America, permit revolving doors, in which the regulators and enforcers of businesses and markets, often come from the highest offices of those companies, so being regulated. Not too surprisingly, when the fox is guarding the henhouse, then these corporations are going to be the beneficiaries of such, usually at the expense of the people as a whole. Further, legislative acts are always going to be influenced by the money that is brought to the table by lobbyists, as well as by sophisticated lawyers that are aiders and abettors of writing laws that are so convoluted and obtuse, that to the unenlightened, it really isn’t clear what the law is actually set to achieve, but those that have written it, have written it specifically to benefit the rich parties that they answer to.
America was supposed to never become an aristocracy, but rather to be an escape from European aristocracy, in which America was created to be a new country, demonstrating a new way, which would represent egalitarian principles in fit, form, and function. However, when immense amounts of monies are held in the hands of those that need not answer and will not effectively ever answer to the people, in which those monies are essentially above the law; then this country is no longer a country of, by, and for the people; but rather has devolved into being a country that serves almost exclusively those that have the power that money and good placement provides, for what they own, they therefore effectively run.