Host Cecil Prescod speaks with Professor Jeffrey Winters, author of the new book "Oligarchy," Winters says: "By choosing Wall Street as the origin of their action, and by focusing on the gap separating the 1% from 99%, the Occupy movement has hit upon the chronic problem of oligarchy and democracy in America. The power of concentrated wealth has overwhelmed and effectively disenfranchised the majority of American citizens. One person/one vote will be meaningless in U.S. politics unless the distorting power of wealth is addressed. Failing to do so could result in a deep crisis of legitimacy in American democracy."
Winters is professor of political economy at Northwestern University and just wrote the piece "Oligarchy and Democracy" in the new issue of the American Interest, which states: "Measured by income, oligarchs at the very top of American society have an MPI [Material Power Index] just over 10,000, which happens to approximate the MPI of Roman senators relative to their society of slaves and farmers. ..."