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VAULT · ISSUE 03 OF 09

Published by Langhorne P. Breedlove

MONDAY, NOVEMBER 9, 2026 · 1:20 AM ET

Tags: Concentrated Wealth · Monopoly · Political Influence · Banking · Debt · Economic Democracy

Dear fellow American proletariat: The nation has been assured, for generations, that the economy rewards hard work. Frequently it does. It also rewards ownership, inherited advantage, market power, favorable accounting rules, and the ability to hire someone whose entire occupation is explaining why your profits should be taxed somewhere else. The rest of us are invited to admire the efficiency.

American Proletariat uses THE EPSTEIN CLASS as a political shorthand for networks of concentrated, insufficiently accountable power across finance, corporations, politics and major institutions. The phrase does not establish that a particular person committed a crime, participated in Jeffrey Epstein's misconduct, or bears guilt through wealth, fame, acquaintance or organizational affiliation. Our inquiry is structural: who controls the rules, how did that control develop, and what evidence would justify reform?

THIS IS NOT A NEW AMERICAN ARGUMENT

On July 2, 1890, Congress enacted the Sherman Antitrust Act, the first federal law prohibiting monopolistic business practices. It later enacted the Federal Trade Commission and Clayton Acts in 1914 to address competition and unlawful market conduct (Sources 01, 02). The United States was already arguing over monopoly, private influence and whether economic liberty meant freedom to compete or freedom for the dominant firm to eliminate competitors.

The banking story is equally complicated. Following the Panic of 1907, lawmakers considered how to prevent financial emergencies from depending on private financiers. President Woodrow Wilson signed the Federal Reserve Act on December 23, 1913, establishing a central-bank system that combined federal oversight with regional Reserve Banks (Source 03). Its history invites serious questions about monetary governance and public accountability; it does not establish that the Federal Reserve is simply a secret private cartel.

Money also shapes elections. In Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission, decided January 21, 2010, the Supreme Court held that restrictions on certain independent political expenditures by corporations and unions violated the First Amendment; it did not eliminate every campaign-finance disclosure or contribution limit (Source 04). Understanding what the decision actually held is the first requirement for anyone proposing to change its consequences.

The story is not reducible to a conspiracy in which everyone with a large bank account attends the same sinister dinner. Institutions can act in parallel because incentives, statutes, market conditions and shared interests encourage it. Some concentrations arise from successful competition, and some arrangements confer useful economies of scale. Others present risks to consumers, workers, small businesses or democratic accountability. Our task is to distinguish those cases with evidence—not a mood board of villains.

FOURTEEN QUESTIONS ABOUT POWER & MONEY

The following fourteen essays examine particular mechanisms and historical choices. Each has one canonical home in the VAULT, and each connects to Justice policies without pretending the investigation itself resolves what Congress should enact.

WHY SHOULD WORKING PEOPLE PAY INCOME TAX WHILE GIANT COMPANIES KEEP THE PROFITS?

Compare individual and corporate tax bases, deductions, effective tax burdens and incidence. Ask who actually bears a tax and why nominal rates cannot be compared without defining income and year.

→ Explore Why Should Working People Pay Income Tax While Giant Companies Keep the Profits?

END CORPORATE MONOPOLY, OLIGARCHY, & KLEPTOCRACY

Distinguish lawful market success from unlawful monopolization, politically captured institutions and theft of public resources. Investigate antitrust enforcement and which forms of concentrated power the law can address.

→ Explore End Corporate Monopoly, Oligarchy, & Kleptocracy

FEDERAL RESERVE, CURRENCY & FINANCIAL REFORM

Trace banking crises, the Federal Reserve's creation, monetary policy authority, supervision, and credible proposals for reform. Explain what central banks can and cannot accomplish before prescribing abolition or redesign.

→ Explore Federal Reserve, Currency & Financial Reform

UNIVERSAL PUBLIC BANKING ACCESS

Examine who lacks affordable transaction accounts, how deposit insurance and payment systems operate, and whether postal, public or cooperative options could widen access without creating unmanaged financial risk.

→ Explore Universal Public Banking Access

BIBLICAL JUBILEE: AN END TO MEDICAL & PUBLIC EDUCATION DEBT

Investigate medical and public-education debt cancellation, creditors, public costs, moral hazard and the difference between ancient religious ideas and a modern enforceable program.

→ Explore Biblical Jubilee: An End to Medical & Public Education Debt

ABOLISH PRIVATE EQUITY COMPANIES

Explain private-equity ownership structures, leveraged buyouts, pension investments, business outcomes and documented harms or benefits. Distinguish a proposal to prohibit an entire ownership form from narrower rules governing conduct.

→ Explore Abolish Private Equity Companies

MOM & POP COMPANY MANDATE

Ask whether small and regional businesses can survive competition, regulatory costs, financing barriers and large-scale purchasing power, and which legally workable policies could strengthen independent ownership.

→ Explore Mom & Pop Company Mandate

ANTITRUST, MARKET CONCENTRATION & WORKER OWNERSHIP

Examine merger review, labor-market concentration, buyer power and employee ownership as separate but connected tools. Compare where competition policy and workplace democracy reinforce or conflict with each other.

→ Explore Antitrust, Market Concentration & Worker Ownership

WHY CAN'T EVERYONE BANK AT THE POST OFFICE AGAIN?

Investigate the history of U.S. postal savings, the modern Postal Service's legal authorities and the tradeoffs of offering accounts, payments or cash services through public facilities.

→ Explore Why Can't Everyone Bank at the Post Office Again?

BIBLICAL JUBILEE: THE FIFTIETH-YEAR RELEASE & MODERN DEBT RESTORATION

Trace the scriptural jubilee tradition and its later interpretations, then test which ideas could survive constitutional, contractual and economic analysis in a secular debt-relief program.

→ Explore Biblical Jubilee: the fiftieth-year release & modern debt restoration

WHAT WILL THE $80,000 SWITCHBOARD GUARANTEE COST—& HOW CAN IT SCALE?

Interrogate the arithmetic of combined employer wages and public supplements, eligibility, labor supply and a ten-year fiscal ledger. Identify what must be measured before the program expands.

→ Explore What Will the $80,000 Switchboard Guarantee Cost—& How Can It Scale?

FICO, CREDIT SCORES & THE WHITE SUPREMACY BEHIND IT

Study credit scoring, exclusion, reporting errors and documented racial disparities. Test whether specific historical practices or model outcomes support claims of discrimination rather than treating a provocative headline as a proven origin story.

→ Explore FICO, Credit Scores & The White Supremacy Behind It

DONALD JOHN TRUMP IS A COMMUNIST

Define communism historically and analytically, examine documented state interventions and economic policies, and test the label rather than using it as an insult or an established characterization of a political figure.

→ Explore Donald John Trump Is A Communist

REPLACE ALL PEOPLE FEATURED ON US CURRENCY

Examine how portraits became symbols of national memory, who selects them, and what legal, production, historical and democratic questions a redesign would raise.

→ Explore Replace All People Featured On US Currency

WHAT THE VAULT IS HERE TO DO

We will ask who made the rule, when it was written, who could challenge it, whose interests were protected, and what happened after implementation. We will compare primary records, audited data and credible opposing interpretations. If a policy title is an accusation, the essay must distinguish evidence from allegation and identify any actual legal findings. If a reform demands public money, its Justice companion must account for the costs over ten years.

Some readers will prefer smaller government, some stronger public institutions, some more worker ownership, and some aggressive enforcement of competition law. Those differences are legitimate subjects of factional disagreement. This issue does not require unanimity on every proposed solution. It requires an honest account of the institutions we inherited and the alternatives we can responsibly evaluate.

A nation is not obliged to accept every economic arrangement simply because it has survived a century of lobbying. Nor should it demolish a functioning institution because the name sounds ominous. We are going to read the contracts, follow the statutes, inspect the evidence and ask the question powerful institutions least enjoy hearing: who authorized this, and why?

SOURCES & FURTHER READING

01 · National Archives — Sherman Anti-Trust Act (1890); enacted July 2, 1890.

https://www.archives.gov/milestone-documents/sherman-anti-trust-act

02 · Federal Trade Commission — The Antitrust Laws; Sherman Act, Clayton Act and FTC Act historical overview.

https://www.ftc.gov/advice-guidance/competition-guidance/guide-antitrust-laws/antitrust-laws

03 · Federal Reserve History — Federal Reserve Act Signed into Law; December 23, 1913.

https://www.federalreservehistory.org/essays/federal-reserve-act-signed

04 · Supreme Court of the United States — Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission, 558 U.S. 310; decided January 21, 2010.

https://www.law.cornell.edu/supremecourt/text/08-205

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