What AOC and Bernie Sanders get wrong about the oligarchy

Bernie Sanders and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez have been packing arenas on their "Fighting Oligarchy" tour, but Matt Yglesias doesn't think the oligarchy is real. Jerusalem Demsas is more sympathetic: donors really do get access that regular people can't, and the discomfort with that is about democracy, not policy outcomes. But the discourse frustrates her too, since "the oligarchy" shifts from a cabal of billionaires to the entire top 10 percent, depending on the argument. They also get into why the study Bernie cites doesn't show what he thinks it shows, how the Republican donor class spent a fortune failing to stop Trump, Mark Zuckerberg's gold-chain era, and the self-interested class that actually has captured American government: homeowners.

Plus a peer review of a paper showing that immigration lowers mortality among the elderly, and what AI does to that argument.

(00:00) Is the oligarchy real?
(03:22) What donors actually buy: access and face time
(12:52) Mark Zuckerberg, the most destructive billionaire
(17:30) Citizens United and the money-buys-elections theory
(21:51) Tom Steyer and the billionaires who lose
(27:18) The real cabal: homeowners
(34:29) The study Bernie cites (and what it actually shows)
(41:04) Why small-d democracy is underrated
(43:17) Money, media, and public reasoning
(53:05) Peer review: Does immigration help the elderly live longer?

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The Argument is produced by Justin Zuckerman, fact-checked by Eli Richman, with music by Breakmaster Cylinder and art by Ben Tousley.