Inequity Baked Large: Our New Gilded Age, In Two Stats

 

<Class War CD: 2000

The Dils, helpfully reminding us
why the 1% deserve our undivided
love, attention, and gratitude...
[YouTube capture, plus all other images here]>

I hate the rich

They should dig a ditch

I hate the rich

Got a life without a hitch, 

life without a hitch

<Chorus>

I hate the rich, I don't want their money

I hate the rich, so it ain't so funny

<The Dils: "I Hate The Rich,"
What Records? single, 1977>

<i.>

We've all heard the saying, "One picture is worth a thousand words," right? There's a similar drive in journalism, where you're also looking for that "one thing" -- one bullet point, one fact, one figure, one quote -- that sums up the essence of what you're trying to tell the reader.

Well, when it comes to describing inequity in America, I've found two facts, on both sides of that divide, that really summarize the shit sandwich that most people are forced to eat right now. I found them via a survey that I filled out recently, and they're striking enough to post here. So, without further ado, here we go:

According to the most recent estimates from the Federal Reserve, the wealth distribution in the United States looks like this:

The bottom 50% of Americans own 2.5% of total wealth.

The middle 40% of Americans 

own 30.6% of total wealth.

The top 9.9% of Americans 

own 53.3% of total wealth.

The top 0.1% of Americans

 own 13.6% of total wealth.

Above: The sleeve that launched

a thousand air guitar dreams -- punk-rock style (1977)

Below: Not part of the 

original single release,
but I loved the effect...amazing 

what you can do,
with a YouTube dissolve... The Reckoner

Look at the poor, crawling on the floor

Look at the poor

Always wanting more

Always wanting more

<Chorus>

Look at the poor, all they need is money

Look at the poor, no, it ain't so funny

<"I Hate The Rich">

<ii.>

And here's another stat that really summarizes the Great American Divide. Remember all the hullabaloo about the wealth tax? Probably not, even though Congress pondered making such a move in 2021. Here's how it would have worked, had they actually gotten around to passing it:

The tax would have been 2% on the net worth above $50 million, with an additional 1% tax on net worth above $1 billion.

100,000 American households (less than 1 out of 1,000) would have been liable
for the wealth tax in 2023.

This is less than 0.1% of the American population.

The tax would have raised around
$3.0 trillion from 2023-2032,
contributing around 1%
of US GDP per year.

Congress didn't, of course. In 2021, we were treated to such unforgettable images as Senator Joe Manchin, the West Virginia Gremlin, preaching about the joys of austerity from the comfort of his 65-foot houseboat -- so he and his mainstream media ablers describe it, though it's really a yacht -- and his Arizona counterpart, Kirsten Sinema, signaling thumbs down to the $15 an hour minimum wage.

There you go, then. There you have it. Forget all the maunderings and mutterings you've heard about "class warfare," unless somebody's referencing one of those other great songs by the Dils, featured above. Stats become -- consisting mainly of those at the very top, and those being shoved toward the very bottom. No more, no less.

Grotesque as those images undoubtedly came across -- reeking from every pore, of the smugness of privilege, and the endless 20/20 hindsight of entitlement -- they did much to rebut the traditional lament of orthodox liberals everywhere: "This is not who we are."

But as these two stats tell you, this is who we are. And what we are. And what we've become. Three decades of adjunct professorships, temp agencies, and No-future, No-benefit McJobs, have eaten away at the core fibers of our democracy. With so many millions slipping through the cracks, it shouldn't surprise anybody to see so many demagogues around the globe gain so much traction. Trump is hardly the only one, as the Hungarians, Israelis and Turks will be quick to remind you.

The only ones surprised, it seems, are the normies who never saw it coming. Go figure, eh? But, in response to the proposition put forth by the Dils' sibling songwriters, Chip and Tony Kinman, I'll say it plain:

I, too, hate the rich.

I hate them for their ravenous, runaway self-indulgences that they expect us to subsidize indefinitely. I hate them for their moral bankruptcy, and the utter lack of accountability it thrusts in our faces. I hate them for their never-ending attempts to bend the rest of us to their will.

And most of all, I hate them for their unforgiving and unflagging kung fu grip on the power and privilege that they pass down, with ticktock regularity, from generation to generation. Nothing personal, as you guys always claim. Just business.

Even if we survive the threatened return of Trump, and the white Christian nationalist police state he promises to impose, the million dollar question remains. How do we navigate back to some sense of proportion? Your guess is as good as mine, at this point, honestly. --The Reckoner

<"I Hate The Rich": Rear sleeve,

with some strategic alterations
by Yer Humble Narrator..

Neither of these versions 

graced the original sleeve,

but YouTube's dissolve effect felt
too good to resist!
The Reckoner>

Links To Go (A Little Slice Of Punk History
Really Goes A Long Way...)

CNBC: Five Alarming Stats On US Economic Inequality:
https://www.cnbc.com/2023/03/28/5-alarming-stats-on-us-economic-inequality.html

LAist: This SoCal Punk Band Is Back
To Save Music At A Chinatown School:
https://laist.com/news/entertainment/the-dils-back-together-to-play-in-chinatown

Summer Of Hate:
Massive Three-Party Retrospective,

Interviews W/Dils Drummer John Silver, Guitarist Chip Kinman:
https://www.accum.se/~samhain/summerofhate/johndil.html#johndil

(Some of the best "deep dive" pieces I've ever read, on any underdog bad: suffice to say, even if you've only heard those singles, you're in for a treat here!)

Urban Institute: Nine Charts
About Wealthy Inequality In America:
https://apps.urban.org/features/wealth-inequality-charts/