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Comment by lumost | Hacker News Reader

I am curious at what point concentrated wealth would allow an oligarch to dictate Fed policy through specific company policies. Want the fed to print more money? Lay off a bunch of workers and move a little too much money between banks. Want prices to rise? go on a hiring binge.

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Enter BlackRock. https://theconversation.com/these-three-firms-own-corporate-...

Isn't that already happening? And isn't that what caused all this mess in the economy. Every time Fed wanted to end quantitative easing Wall St threw a hissy fit and they didn't dare to do it.

Also, the fed kept saying employment was too high

and wages and wage growth were too high

The markets are certainly too large for any one player to consistently change them. But there is probably a lot of group think going on.

It can be interest alignment. If it's in the vested interest of the independent players, you essentially get orchestrated collusion so long as all players follow their interest.

Most of the stock market is held by passive investors. So it takes comparably less to make a difference. In other words the ‘groupthink ’ isn’t think at all

Post-COVID, it was termed the "K-shaped recovery" where the rich landed windfall profits and the comfortable Beltway journalist class have no concept of how difficult inflation has been for the average 80% of Americans.

The power of concentrated capital goes beyond corporate regulatory capture: lobbyists are the tools of billionaires executing overt corruption. Campaign finance reform couldn't be had by McCain in 1999-2003, so it won't be had now. There is zero possibility of effective or lasting reform from within because the rich run America.

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