"People say we have an uncontrolled free market but we have the opposite," says Barry C. Lynn, senior fellow at the New American Foundation. "What we have today is a laissez faire American version of feudalism; a private government in the form of private corporations run by private individuals who consolidated power to govern entire activities within our political economy."
I believe many people would have already agreed that the American way of life was not that much different from that during the Middle Ages when lords held vassals and serfs to supply labor which generally kept or increased the lords' power. We have made great strides in medicine, and we can watch all sorts of awesome things on the television. We can buy our own cars, houses, clothes, and toys. We have working toilets (well, most of us do), running water, and climate-controlled enclaves. Modern Americans have much more than European serfs ever did.
However, as Don says in the linked article, we cannot buy just any car, house, etc. Our choices are controlled and limited by large private corporations that work things so that they can increase their wealth and power. We provide the labor...well at least we used to do that. Now the labor is leased from other countries.
We are beholden to these corporations. How many people can actually walk away from their job and find something more meaningful or rewarding -- and expect to maintain their current lifestyle? I can't. My wife can't.
We're serfs, plain and simple.
