Who exactly is the ruling class in the United States?

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[WindRavenX]

1. Collectively, it's white, christian males

Of which W does a very good job representing that ruling class.

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

2. I'd say the corporations

Remember in the US they are considered "people".

[ananda]

4. anything that looks or acts like..

.. white xtian conservative corporatist males.

God they're horrible, boring, mean spirited, and narrow.
No fun at all... and they do so much damage everywhere.

[UTUSN]

3. Same one it's always been (see, ZINN, "People's History" n/t

[Selatius]

5. The top half percent of the US population.

A few people can be found at the 99th percentile, but only a select few ever make it beyond 99.50 percent. That's where the dominion of the truly powerful people in America is found. These are the people who make 20, 30, 40 million a year or more by doing what they do, and that's just payroll income. Their income from dividends and investment activity is generally far in advance of their payroll income, and it is one of the lowest taxed under Bush's current tax code. I believe capital gains tax is now nothing but a 15 percent flat tax?

[jus_the_facts]

6. The TOP 2% of our country get over 50% of all the $$$$$$$$$$$$$ ......

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=102&topic_id=2156762

Number of billionaires surges TOO....LBN 3/9/06

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) - The number of billionaires surged this year, as did their collective pile of cash, according to Forbes magazine's annual billionaire list.

http://money.cnn.com/2006/03/09/news/newsmakers/billionaires_forbes/index.htm?cnn=yes

That's a fundamental misreading of what's happening to American society. What we're seeing isn't the rise of a fairly broad class of knowledge workers. Instead, we're seeing the rise of a narrow oligarchy: income and wealth are becoming increasingly concentrated in the hands of a small, privileged elite.

So who are the winners from rising inequality? It's not the top 20 percent, or even the top 10 percent. The big gains have gone to a much smaller, much richer group than that.

But income at the 99th percentile rose 87 percent; income at the 99.9th percentile rose 181 percent; and income at the 99.99th percentile rose 497 percent. No, that's not a misprint.

Just to give you a sense of who we're talking about: the nonpartisan Tax Policy Center estimates that this year the 99th percentile will correspond to an income of $402,306, and the 99.9th percentile to an income of $1,672,726. The center doesn't give a number for the 99.99th percentile, but it's probably well over $6 million a year.

To read the entire article go to this site, scroll down to find the article, then click on the comments (12) below the title.
http://www.pkarchive.org /

http://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=F50C1EFF3D550C748EDDAB0894DE404482&n=Top%2fOpinion%2fEditorials%20and%20Op%2dEd%2fOp%2dEd%2fColumnists%2fPaul%20Krugman

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Ranks of US millionaires worth over $5 million swell (26%)

http://go.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=domesticNews&storyID=11896299&src=rss/domesticNews

Wed Apr 19, 2006 06:25 PM ET

NEW YORK (Reuters) - The number of U.S. households boasting a net worth of at least $5 million swelled to an all-time high in 2005, according a report released Wednesday by consulting firm Spectrem Group.

The report, "Affluent Market Insights 2006," is based on data gathered through mail and surveys of 1,014 respondents from September 2005 to November 2005.

Spectrem, which specializes in the affluent and retirement markets, said a record 8.3 million U.S. households are worth at least $1 million, excluding the value of a primary residence. This is the second-consecutive year of record growth in the category, topping the 2004 mark of 7.5 million households.

The Ultra High Net Worth category, which is comprised of households worth at least $5 million, not including the value of a main residence, surged 26 percent in 2005 to 930,000.

[BuyingThyme]

7. The intelligence community.

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

8. 51 out of the top 100 economies in the world are corporations.

That should provide an answer to who the bosses are.

[Joanne98]

9. Top 2%, Wall Street, corps, politicos, military elites, intell.....

Of course most of them are in the top 2%, since they steal everything that's not tied down.

[treestar]

10. We the People are the rulers

But at times we can be lazy and that allows the bastards of the world to step in.

The price of liberty is eternal vigilance and at times we let ourselves down on that.

[Junkdrawer]

11. Remember the Robber Barons of the Gilded Age?

Basically, the Robber Barons got themselves PR fronts, bought politicians, shrank from view and reestablished their reign through Globalization.

Look at the owners of the banks and the oil companies and you'll find your rulers. Richard Scaife Mellon, David Rockefeller, etc. etc.

[vanlassie]

12. Take a look at the L-curve

http://www.lcurve.org/

It shows a VERY interesting graph of income distribution the US. I think it is unbelievable and compelling and has the power to change minds.

Vanlassie

[Eric J in MN]

13. CEOS and other managers at the Fortune 500. NT

NT

[Robbien]

14. Money

Those who have it.

[Raine]

15. Corporate Bussiness,

Wall Street.

[dkofos]

16. The billionaires club

[stillcool]

17. .........

The Rich and the Super-Rich: A Study in the Power of Money Today
by Ferdinand Lundberg

[Marr]

18. It's something more vague than a list of individuals.

Though certainly, there is a small number of elites with enormous influence. I'd say the "ruling class" is simply wealth, particularly corporate wealth. It's interests dominate and define the debate.

[sandyd921]

19. It isn't me.

n/t