In capitalist societies money is power. What share of the total wealth pie you have matters because it dictates your influence and authority in your society. Wh

In capitalist societies money is power. What share of the total wealth pie you have matters because it dictates your influence and authority in your society. When individuals wield wealth equal to tens of millions of people, their influence - political and economical - is represented as such. This is why in both theaters you see trends towards oligarchy - the will of the people has no demonstrable influence on the behavior of congress, whereas wealthy interests have correlation. The demands of the many (cheaper housing, accessible healthcare, strong transit infrastructure) are ignored for the wants of the few (real estate investment bubbles and stock buybacks) because the few have so much more influence than they did before in the form of their wealth.