AMERICAN OLIGARCHS CAN’T STAY BEHIND THE CURTAIN
American oligarchs have tried to stay behind the curtain and to distract the public and the mainstream media from their schemes to get richer at the expense of the rest of us. The recent process of funding for the federal government opened the curtain a bit. The greed and power-lust of the oligarchs made their schemes hard to hide.
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As you probably know, Congress just passed a continuing resolution (CR) to fund the federal government for the next three months. The Republicans have made Congress so dysfunctional that is has been unable to pass a normal budget since Clinton was President. Instead, it passes continuing resolutions to fund the government for a relatively short period of time. CRs typically extend previous programs and spending levels without any significant changes. Often this process unfolds with significant drama as a shutdown of the government due to lack of funding looms.
On December 21, 2024, Congress again ran right up to the shutdown deadline before passing a three-month CR. An earlier version of the CR (which had the bipartisan support needed to pass) was scuttled at the last minute by oligarch Elon Musk (and then 13 hours later by president-elect Trump). Musk threatened to fund opposition to any member of Congress who voted for the painstakingly negotiated CR. [1] (Musk, as you probably know is the multi-multi-billionaire who largely funded Trump’s 2024 presidential campaign and that Trump has named to head the “Department of Government Efficiency” (DOGE). DOGE is not a real department, but rather a private advisory group. This means Musk has no accountability and is not covered by any of the ethics or disclosure laws that cover public employees.)
Musk’s opposition to the original CR was supposedly because it spent too much money. He falsely criticized it for including, among other things, a 40% pay raise for Congress (it’s actually 3.8%). However, good journalists have uncovered other motives for his opposition, in part by comparing the CR that finally passed with the one the Musk blocked.
The original CR included a provision that restricted American investments in technology businesses in China. This was a bipartisan measure targeted at keeping sensitive, national-security-related technology such as artificial intelligence (AI) and advanced “quantum” computing capability out of the hands of the Chinese government. However, Musk is investing in businesses in China and wants to build an AI data center there. This investment restriction would have limited Musk’s ability build and profit from his businesses in China. The provision was removed and was not in the final version of the CR that was passed. [2] [3]
Also not included in the final CR was a provision of the original version that would have reined in pharmacy benefit managers. These middlemen for drug sales were supposed to save consumers money but instead have figured out how to negotiate with drug makers and insurance companies to generate huge profits for themselves. (See this previous post for more details.)
Also dropped from the original CR were five provisions to tackle childhood cancer. Although at least some of this funding was approved in separate bills, there was widespread outrage that the victims of the first cuts to government spending driven by Musk were children with cancer.
These are examples of the things that were going on behind the curtain as Musk, Trump, and other Republicans were diverting everyone’s attention with a government funding crisis. This is how the oligarchs will wield their power – cutting funding for children with cancer and increasing what we pay for drugs while letting Musk and other billionaires make money investing in China while transferring sensitive technology there. This is how the rich get richer while the rest of us pay the costs and suffer the consequences. This is how oligarchy becomes a kleptocracy as the powerful use the government to take the public’s money and, directly or indirectly, put it in their own pockets.
This continuing resolution is just one small example of how this happens. More examples will be shared in future posts.
[1] Cox Richardson, H., 12/21/24, “Letters from an American,” (https://heathercoxrichardson.substack.com/p/december-21-2024)
[2] Dayen, D., 12/20/24, “The government is shutting down because Elon Musk has factories in China,” The American Prospect (https://prospect.org/politics/2024-12-20-government-shutting-down-elon-musk-factories-china/)
[3] Kuttner, R., 12/21/24, “How Musk outmaneuvered Trump,” The American Prospect (https://prospect.org/politics/2024-12-21-how-musk-outmaneuvered-trump-government-funding-china/)