The US has a fascist, authoritarian, "Monopoly Capitalism" problem.
State Monopoly Capitalism
“The main Marxist–Leninist thesis is that big business, having achieved a monopoly or cartel position in most markets of importance, fuses with the government apparatus. A kind of financial oligarchy or conglomerate therefore results, whereby government officials aim to provide the social and legal framework within which giant corporations can operate most effectively.” - Wikipedia
Basically this is favoring the rich and not holding them accountable, even for egregious crimes, while controlling the people using low wages, prison for non-violent crimes and small infractions, and while suppressing their vote and protests. And also, using the people, especially their children, to fight their wars to gain the resources of other countries. Either wealth will be regulated for the benefit of the people or the people will be regulated to serve wealth.
Monopoly Capital
An Essay on the American Economic and Social Order is a 1966 book by the Marxian economists Paul Sweezy and Paul A. Baran. It was published by Monthly Review Press. It made a major contribution to Marxian theory by shifting attention from the assumption of a competitive economy to the monopolistic economy associated with the giant corporations that dominate the modern accumulation process. Their work played a leading role in the intellectual development of the New Left in the 1960s and 1970s. As a review in the American Economic Review stated, it represented "the first serious attempt to extend Marx’s model of competitive capitalism to the new conditions of monopoly capitalism." It attracted renewed attention following the Great Recession." - Wikipedia
Example
“This is monopoly capitalism in action,” said Marion Nestle, author of Food Politics and professor of nutrition, food studies and public health at New York University. “Whenever Amazon takes over more and more and more of any consumer area, that gives consumers less choice. And now it’s food.” - [truthout.org]
List of mergers and acquisitions by Amazon [en.wikipedia.org]
Political implication
“Ever since monopoly capital took over the world, it has kept the greater part of humanity in poverty, dividing all the profits among the group of the most powerful countries. The standard of living in those countries is based on the extreme poverty of our countries.”
— Che Guevara, 1965 -Wikipedia
"Republicans will try to blame Biden and the Democrats, but it’s Republicans on Capitol Hill who refuse to consider a windfall tax, refuse to raise taxes on corporations and the wealthy, and won’t give Medicare the power to negotiate (and thereby reduce) the prices of prescription drugs. Meanwhile, Biden has little or no control over most of the factors behind today’s inflation. Nonetheless, today’s report is bad news for Democrats in the upcoming midterm elections, since a president always gets blamed (or credited) for an economy." - Robert Reich
By the late 1980s into the early 1990s raygun's horrible influence on the middle class was a favorite topic of discussion for me and my Dad. My twin didn't agree but she was already tying her identity to the gop party and any negative comments about raygun and Shrub 1 she took personally and would get very unset.
There simply is no way to convince the republicans I know that the gop policies are at the root of Americans situation.
To be clear we did not get here without the Dems. Too many of them take corporate money and have gladly helped to create the problem.
There is NO DOUBT that corporations are price gouging consumers, and Republicans (and some Democrats) in Congress are enabling that behavior.
Support of this unfair system, favoring the rich and corporations, is fully bipartisan, and Reich needs to say the Dems are equally to blame. Both parties have pretty much the same corporate donors, so the Dems are equally guilty of not wanting to do windfall profits taxes, they just blame the Repubs for blocking what they themselves don't want to do. Vote Blue all you want to, it won't change anything for things related to class warfare against us or the rigged economy. All Dems will do is say they will improve things, but their actions are no different than the Repubs. Don't listen to what they say, look at their inaction....
Funny how many things than be traced back to Reagan. The God of the Republicans!
Er, Raygun's been supplanted by Trumpty..