What do I mean by this term? An Aristocracy is a ruling elite that holds its power by inherited wealth. It uses this power to restrict the access of others into this elite.
Update: Mark made this comment - Oligarchy, not aristocracy. An aristocracy has public spirit, patriotism and noblesse oblige going for it.
So how well does this term now fit? The data about who is this group is in the clip below.
No doubt surely that those at the top have most of the pie. So how then does birth play a role? First of all, when you have this kind of money, marriage becomes a very serious business indeed. You rarely marry outside your group. Why? To avoid Gold Diggers!
Also you tend to meet only your own kind.When you have billions you don't fly with the plebs or even the senior officials. You trade private jets. You don't stay with the plebs. You don't vacation with the plebs. You live in your bubble.
This extends to the true gateway of the American Aristocratic Clas - the Education system. School is the filter. The first barrier is sheer cost. Good Prep Schools and Ivy League are designed to filter out by sheer cost most Americans. If you are very very clever you can get access but not if you are only clever. Secondly, and here is the birth angle, if you are the child of an almun you have a fast track to a place that those who are not do not have. Lastly if you parents are major donors you are in even if you are dumb.
Then there is the whole job/career/work entry system. Your parents have a network like no other America can have. This is how you get onto the ladder. I look after your son, you look after my daughter. That is of course if your child wishes to work.
Here is the kicker. If you have billions, you can't really not end up with more. You hire clever men, the Emperors hired ex slaves, to make you more.
Here is the clincher - when you have this scale of wealth, you can buy the political system. This group has rigged and is rigging the political system of America to protect its interests. It's interests trump the interests of the people as a whole and the nation. This is why all true reform is blocked. This is why tax cuts for them are likely and so is state bankruptcy and a collapse of programs that help the less well off. This is why there is no national energy policy - no reform of education - no investment in jobs etc. This is why the banks were protected and not you.
I prefer Mark's term "Oligarchy" on reflection - An Aristocracy goes to war with its people - Has a shared sense of community and knows it has Obligations - These people have none of this. They care ONLY for their own interest.
So what about the Dream? This situation is OK I suspect for many Americans so long as they believe that they could rise too. But is this possible for many people? It is still for a few - start Google or eBay and you are in. But with the middle class being impoverished cut off and excluded by cost from the filter schools - with the working class being slaves - I see social mobility being less. I suspect that the Dream is no more than a Lottery idea now. Yes it happens but the odds are very very very small.
The richest 1% of Americans take home 24% of all the income up from 9% in 1976. Looking ahead to say 2010, as now 4/5ths of the total increase in incomes went to the top 1%, what will it by like when the Aristocrats have 50% of all the income? http://amplify.com/u/eq8s
