Are we about to become, not Greece as the Republicans would have it, but Venice, specifically Venice as it was in the 14th century?

America’s Serrata also takes a more explicit form: the tilting of the economic rules in favor of those at the top. The crony capitalism of today’s oligarchs is far subtler than Venice’s. It works in two main ways.

The first is to channel the state’s scarce resources in their own direction. This is the absurdity of Mitt Romney’s comment about the “47 percent” who are “dependent upon government.” The reality is that it is those at the top, particularly the tippy-top, of the economic pyramid who have been most effective at capturing government support — and at getting others to pay for it.

[snip]

The second manifestation of crony capitalism is more direct: the tax perks, trade protections and government subsidies that companies and sectors secure for themselves.

I think, as does the essayist, that we’re heading that way. Romney’s disdain for the 47% was a manifestation of the contempt the 1% hold the rest of us in, just stated more clearly than that gang would like to hear it said. The weakening of unions, the rise in compensation levels for the top, the increasing use of arbitration requirements as a substitute for lawsuits; all those things are meant to entrench the 1%-ers to the disadvantage of the rest of us.

The first thing we can do is elect people whose party history has been to stand up for the little guy. Not people who have historically been on the side of corporations and capital.