The myth of the American Dream is the dominating factor in keeping people complacent in the United States. You know it -- work hard, and your life will improve. Well, maybe not your life, but your kids', or at least your grandkids'. If that doesn't work, it is the fault of immigrants, or the darn Chinese, or those welfare freeloaders.

Donald Trump, a billionaire who opposes raising the minimum wage, now at the poverty level of $7.25 an hour, is holding himself out to working people as the man who will stand as a dam against that torrent.

David Brooks, one of the most prominent of Republican elites in the country, who has even been touted as President Obama's "favorite pundit," is calling on the donor class to rescue the party from the rabble. Game's over, voters: The oligarchs will decide this election. For that's what they are: a small, unbelievably wealthy group of the powerful and privileged who already have a tighter grip on our nation, its government, politics and economy than the rapacious robber barons of our first Gilded Age. Brooks and like-minded elites believe they must be trusted to do the right thing. Let them be the Deciderers.

Skyrocketing CEO pay has been much in the news for some time. Sky-high paychecks are identified as one of the principal causes of the explosion in inequality over the past 40 years.