Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous
It's ingrained in our DNA, and that is why income inequality is so bad
We have been raised to “want the mansion, the multiple-car garages, boats, and vacation homes.” As children, we are surrounded by the conversations of envious adults: “Did you see their new car? Their house has 12 bathrooms!” Parents, uncles, and aunts, the news people, and the movies all tell us that an American should strive to super-size everything in life.
Having a lot is good, and wanting even more is better.
A comment last week by a fairly loyal reader set me off on one topic that most angers me about Pax Americana: income inequality in the U.S. The commenter blamed the Democratic Party for the income inequality in our country today. To quote General Anthony McAuliffe, the acting commander of the surrounded 101st Airborne in Bastogne, Belgium: Nuts! It is the epitome of lunacy to blame Democrats for the current economic despair that has been fed by Republican policies for decades. These policies were designed to bring about the present fascist moment we are trying to survive today.
All of the policies that fostered this situation were put forth by Republican politicians and supported by their voters — misinformed Americans ever voting against their own economic interests. When people begin to take notice, or when that sneaky little cat peeks its head out of the bag, Republicans launch assaults on social issues like gay marriage, pedophile rings run by Hillary Clinton, etc. — lunacy that is unquestioningly supported by right-wing media.
When misinformed Americans blame Democrats for this, I can’t remain silent. Are there complicit Dems out there? Absolutely, there are. Nonetheless, the majority of policies put forth by Democrats are against the above scenario. It has become so common to despise labor unions and to shout stupid things like “a right to work” that careless observers of this moment fail to understand how significant the Republican war on unions, which commenced under Reagan, was.
Joe Biden has done more than most presidents to reset the scales of income inequality, but the entirety of the Republican Party and their not-so-clever voters do everything they can to prevent his good work from sticking. Blaming Democrats for the crisis of value and income inequality is lunacy. All we need do is look at what bills the Republicans have passed in the last 20 years, and we will see nothing for the American middle or working classes.
In one of the first articles, I wrote back in August of 2020, I took on the subject of income inequality. Because I only had four followers then, no one read the piece. What was said then can’t be better expressed today. I invite you to take a look. Here are some excerpts from the article.
If you do a Google search for the words “crisis of value,” you will find a lot of smart and even whiny stuff about “crisis of values.” In a nutshell, the articles are chock full of pontificating by people who believe that their “values” and their “preferred methods for surviving life” are better than those used by others.
I am willing to bet a lot of money that penning long-winded treatises about values is a luxury of the financially secure. These folks definitely aren’t losing sleep over how they will make ends meet. They aren’t living in the land of “Or.” Will I pay my rent? Or, put food on the table? Or buy my child medication? There are so many “ors, yet in 2020 America, this should not be the case.
I can pay for this OR that — but I can’t cover the cost of both. This infamous decision, so well known and dreaded by more than half of American families, revolves around the ubiquitous “or.” This harmless little word has become subtly more powerful and deceptively destructive than many other words in our society today. Economists and linguists fail to comprehend the full magnitude of letters 15 (O)and 18 (R) in the American-English lexicon.
Returning to our crisis of value, though, please Google search these words: “America’s crisis of value.” The search results surprised me — no one is talking about this obvious problem. Scroll down and find a 2016 Time magazine article about a “crisis of confidence.” Here, they are referring to capitalism — yes, the eternally holy “ism” that supposedly makes the world go round (and hotter, but this discussion is for a different day). The author in the Time article writes about a “disaffected middle-class — ” A lot of really unnecessary words are used by the author, like green kindling, resulting in a large amount of smoke and so distracting us from the obvious: Our current economic system is failing the majority of Americans (The Origins of the Crisis of Value).
Perhaps missed by many Americans today is Walmart’s role in creating income inequality in the country.
Made in 30 years and dismantled in less
At the outset of the 1980s, the American middle class felt pressure from a rapidly expanding world labor supply. Finding it cheaper to offshore manufacturing to developing countries, the jobs that had long sustained such steady and positive growth for so many Americans and for our communities slowly disappeared. At the same time, the “big-box” retail concept was taking hold. Walmart, a regional success story confined to Southern states, made inroads all across the American retail landscape.
The “Walmart effect” has had a truly devastating impact on the middle class. Before a Walmart in Any Town in the USA opened, a locally manufactured bike cost $100 at Mary’s Bike Shop. Mary sells only American-made bikes. The shop gainfully employs 12 people and pays living wages — the bike manufacturer employs around 100 and provides living wages. One fine day, the local Walmart started selling bikes similar to the ones Mary sells, but made in Asia, it only cost the consumers $39.99.
The first impression in Walmart is that the consumer has lucked out — and we have all felt the same way the first time a bundle was saved at Walmart, $61 in this case. This savings is added to a family’s budget. The saved money might be good. Some of it will go back into the community; some savings will be plowed back into Walmart (The Origins of the Crisis of Value).
The article can be found here. Have a look.