Michael Lind of the New America Foundation offers "Are the American people obsolete?" (link) which basically claims that the rich (or what I think would be more accurately called the superrich) no longer really need Americans to obtain money or to defend them.

I'm not a fan of that Foundation and I'm not exactly 100% sold on his ideas, but I will recommend reading the link.

What I won't recommend is the tea parties response, which would consist of the usual child-like behavior such as waving loopy signs, throwing tantrums, or playing dress-up games.

Instead, if you think there's a grain of truth in the article, you have to strike back in smart and effective ways. See the question authority plan and see our guide to reducing illegal immigration. Those who encourage you to engage in useless or counter-productive activities aren't helping you.

Excerpts follow:

In every industrial democracy since the end of World War II, there has been a social contract between the few and the many. In return for receiving a disproportionate amount of the gains from economic growth in a capitalist economy, the rich paid a disproportionate percentage of the taxes needed for public goods and a safety net for the majority.

In North America and Europe, the economic elite agreed to this bargain because they needed ordinary people as consumers and soldiers. Without mass consumption, the factories in which the rich invested would grind to a halt. Without universal conscription in the world wars, and selective conscription during the Cold War, the U.S. and its allies might have failed to defeat totalitarian empires that would have created a world order hostile to a market economy.

Globalization has eliminated the first reason for the rich to continue supporting this bargain at the nation-state level, while the privatization of the military threatens the other rationale.

Not only that, but the super-rich are able to hire their own private security details, including foreign companies. For instance, this post-Katrina report: mercenaries from companies like DynCorp, Intercon, American Security Group, Blackhawk, Wackenhut and an Israeli company called Instinctive Shooting International (ISI) are fanning out to guard private businesses and homes, as well as government projects and institutions. Within two weeks of the hurricane, the number of private security companies registered in Louisiana jumped from 185 to 235. Some, like Blackwater, are under federal contract. Others have been hired by the wealthy elite, like F. Patrick Quinn III, who brought in private security to guard his $3 million private estate and his luxury hotels, which are under consideration for a lucrative federal contract to house FEMA workers.

Back to the Lind article:

Wealthy liberals and wealthy conservatives agree on one thing: the need for more unskilled immigration to the U.S. This is hardly surprising, as the rich are far more dependent on immigrant servants than middle-class and working-class Americans are... just as much of America's elite is willing to shut down every factory in the country if it is possible to open cheaper factories in countries like China, so much of the American ruling class would prefer not to hire their fellow Americans, even for jobs done on American soil, if less expensive and more deferential foreign nationals with fewer legal rights can be imported.