The US’s and UK’s high levels of economic inequality are the result of political choice. The two main UK political parties have used rhetorical devices to hide or justify high inequality, claiming to support ‘fairness’ or championing the meritocratic ideal of personal improvement. With the encouragement of sections of the popular media, blaming and shaming language was used to demonise the poor and unemployed. The capture of power over economic and political life by a small section of society is seen by many as centrally important. Power has been theorised as having several ‘faces.’ It can be exercised openly and undisguised; or by controlling what is discussed and the language in which it is talked about; or, most effectively and hidden from view, instigating acceptance of how things are by influencing people’s own attitudes and beliefs. The latter is, in effect, a form of thought control or ‘cognitive capture.’ The operation of powerful vested interests, the chapter concludes, is one of the most significant sources of our confusion about economic inequality, constituting an important part of the explanation for the continuation of high-level inequality.