Panel: Democracy v. Plutocracy

Since the founding of the U.S., a core battle has raged between two irreconcilable forces—democracy and plutocracy. Wealth in the U.S. today is over “two times as concentrated as in imperial Rome, which was a slave-and-farmer society.” If billionaires were a nation, they’d be the world’s 3rd largest economy. Today, mammoth monopolies have once again captured the government and rewritten the law to amass the greatest concentrations of wealth and power in American history, but strong anti-trust movements are rising to break up monopolies, change the law, democratize the economy, and institute democratic governance. Along with efforts afoot in Congress, some of the most important and successful initiatives are now happening at local and state levels. Come learn about the deeper history of this clash that has led us to today’s plutocracy and about the movements and political strategies now gaining momentum to reclaim democracy and distribute power and wealth building. With: Thom Hartmann, author, broadcaster and scholar; Stacy Mitchell, Co-Director of the Institute for Local Self-Reliance, author, and formidable campaigner to break up Amazon; Maurice BP-Weeks, Co-Executive Director of ACRE (Action Center for Race and the Economy) who works with community organizations and labor unions to create equitable communities by dismantling systems of wealth extraction that target Black and Brown communities. Hosted by Kenny Ausubel, Bioneers CEO and co-founder.

December 6th | 12:30 pm to 12:50 pm

Panelists


Thom Hartmann
Progressive Talk Show Host
Kenny Ausubel
CEO and Founder
Bioneers
Maurice BP-Weeks
Co-Executive Director
ACRE (Action Center on Race and the Economy)
Stacy Mitchell
Co-Director
Institute for Local Self-Reliance
Bioneers 2019 Conference - Seeding the Field: Growing Transformative Movements
Bioneers 2020 Conference - Beyond the Great Unraveling: Weaving the World Anew
Bioneers 2020 Conference - Beyond the Great Unraveling: Weaving the World Anew