When future historians study this period in American history—assuming the Supreme Court hasn’t outlawed literacy and the National Archives hasn’t been converted into a Kinkos —the central question will be:
What the hell got into rich people?
Why did the most privileged beings since the Big Bang use their immense power and resources to make the lives of average Americans even harder? Were they apathetic? Sadistic? Or just plain SOBs?
And while we’re asking questions, when exactly did the Lizard People take over the Republican Party?
For starters, modern economic philosophy can be summarized in one elegant equation:
Greed + “Personal Freedom” = “Screw Poor People, Just for Fun.”
After decades of tax cuts, deregulation, loopholes, subsidies, bailouts, and government favors disguised as free-market principles, the wealthy have become so rich that they can afford to ignore the other 99% of us.
To keep us in line, they created the following formula:
Keep wages low.
Keep education underfunded.
Keep healthcare expensive.
Keep government assistance weak.
Then tell struggling people they’re not working hard enough.
It’s like breaking someone’s legs and taunting them to “Suck it up” as they try to finish a marathon.
Republicans have long preached the gospel of self-determination—the idea that individuals, left free from government interference, regulations, morality, and reality, will naturally create unlimited prosperity, with liberty and justice for all.
Under this worldview, anyone who isn’t rich is either lazy or stupid.
Or both.
They should have taken greater care in selecting their parents and been born into a wealthy, well-connected family.
Silly poor people.
This philosophy conveniently absolves the wealthy of any responsibility to help or even have empathy for the less fortunate. If people are struggling, it’s because they deserve to struggle —they don’t WANT to be successful. Government assistance encourages dependency.
Funny how that works.
During the 2008 financial crisis, Steve Forbes reportedly suggested that economic collapse was actually beneficial because it “unleashed the entrepreneurial spirit of America” by giving unemployed people opportunities to start businesses…without health benefits or paid vacation.
This from a man who inherited a fortune and a publishing empire from his father.
That’s like saying the bright side of the sinking of the Titanic was that 1,500 passengers got the chance to learn how to swim.
As a friend of mine likes to say, Steve Forbes was a charter member of the “Sperm Club.”
So how did we get here?
If you don’t have a degree in Political Science, here’s the 90-second version:
During the Great Depression, FDR’s New Deal took an active interest in the nation’s well-being. (Dictatorships were all the rage in the 1930s, but he saved capitalism and the wealthy from the feeling the wrath of the ever-growing number of desperately poor people).
By the 1970s, the number of Americans living in poverty had shrunk dramatically as more people had more opportunities.
Oh, happy day, right?
“Not so fast,” exclaimed the nation’s blue bloods between their brandy and cigars, “If everyone is equal, where’s the fun in being rich? We’ll have to do something about this.” Actually, it was more like they hired someone to do something about this while they huddled in St. Tropez. It might take decades, but as with most things in life, they could “afford” to wait.
It’s easier to buy a government than to overthrow one.
Two events ushered in today’s culture of excess.
First. The casting of Ronald Reagan as President, whose administration gleefully cut social programs. They classified catsup as a vegetable to reduce funding for school lunches, which was ridiculous; tomatoes are a fruit. They also slashed the top tax rates on corporations and individuals, while tripling the defense budget and wildly increasing the national debt, theoretically making less money available to feed hungry children.
Money for jet fighters is good,
Money for hungry school children is bad.
Second. Citizens United is the 2010 Supreme Court decision that further tilted political influence toward wealthy donors and corporations. It reversed campaign finance restrictions, effectively enabling corporations and other outside groups to spend unlimited amounts on elections.
As with the Titanic, all that newly available money released America’s “entrepreneurial spirit.”
What could go wrong?
Well, surprise, surprise, 16 years later, and the wealthy have become so rich that they have run out of things to buy, and reality is now something that happens to other people. While ordinary Americans wonder how they’ll pay rent, buy groceries, or afford insulin, billionaires are using all that personal wealth for mega vanity projects.
Elon Musk launches rockets that blow up, along with an electric vehicle that looks like a refrigerator that aspires to be a DeLorean. He also wants to build a colony on Mars, but I think that’s just an excuse to return to his home planet.
Jeff Bezos is another member of the Billionaire Rocketry Club. His company, Blue Origin, sends celebrities into space, most notably he sent an all-female crew, that included pop star Katy Perry and journalist Gayle King, as well as Aisha Bowe, a former NASA scientist, Kerianne Flynn a film Producer, Amanda Nguyen a bioastronautics researcher, and Lauren Sánchez, a the partner of Blue Origin who said the purpose of the celebrity launches was to “inspire the next generation of explorers, but this time with fabulous hair and make up.”
Divas in space.
He also rented the city of Venice for his second (of course) wedding. He tried to rent Paris, but they dismissed him for not being French.
Other moguls have bought newspapers, social media platforms, television networks, and sports franchises, $500 million super yachts, $200 million islands, all at the same time they are downsizing their businesses by the thousands.
All of this against the backdrop of a Republican administration that continues to cut funding for food assistance, health care, education, and child care, while approving funding for a $400 million ballroom. The last time a President was this obsessed with the ballroom was when LBJ complained to his tailor about his inseam.
Nothing ruins a billionaire’s day quite like millions of people insisting on remaining alive. The ultra-rich increasingly behave as if the rest of us are inconveniencing them with our constant demands for food, shelter, healthcare, retirement security, clean water, functioning bridges, and other necessities for staying alive.
We’re just killing the vibe.
They love America while seemingly hating Americans.
The question remains: Why the total disregard for the welfare of average Americans?
Well, their wealth and power put them on another level, where they look down at the world from a hypothetical high-rise, multi-million-dollar condo.
From there, we all look like ants.