Listening to Richard D. Wolff this morning, I was interested in the
statistics he rolled out regarding the distribution of wealth among
five of the top Capitalist Nations.
I did not jot down the exact numbers, but here are the rough statistics.
Finland shows that about 12% of the nation's wealth is owned by the top 1%.
Canada shows about 14%.
France, about 18%.
Germany, a whopping 24%.
But the winner, if winner is the correct word, is the good old USA,
coming in with a bit over 41% of its wealth owned by the top 1%.
While Donald Trump charges out against the evil government, promising
to drain that murky swamp, the 1% go merrily along, looking for new
ways of plundering and pillaging.
Like the great P. T. Barnum, the Trumpster has managed to drive home
the old saying, There's a sucker born every minute". So, if you were
among those who believed the Trumpster was going to make your life
better, welcome to the Club, Sucker.
As usual, those most impacted by the upward flow of our nation's
wealth, are the chronically poor, the elderly, and the disabled.
This, it turns out, is the real Swamp that the Trumpster plans to
drain. We who have the least to give will be first to be "drained".
For years the 1% concentrated on bringing the labor unions to their
knees. Now, with less than 8% of workers holding union membership,
the Ruling Class can turn their attention to dismantling those Federal
Departments that have channeled so much of our tax dollars back into
providing Social Services to the 99% of the People.
The Trumpster has gathered about himself the very people capable of
destroying the center of what is left of our democracy.
And we, the people most affected, simply sit by shaking our heads. We
have watched without lifting a hand, the ransom of our children's
education, and the mounting attack on our Veteran's Administration.
Now watch the next move, most likely to be the theft of our retirement
pensions and the shift of our social security to the control of the
Profiteers.
In short, welcome back to those "Great Days" when America was truly
White! When we had no Queers. When the churches took care of the
Poor and Elderly. When our children walked barefooted to the one room
school houses...after working in the mills and the fields. Where the
6 day 12 hour work week was the rule. Where women knew their place,
and obeyed their Menfolk, and the "Colored" stayed on their side of
town.
Yes, we are looking down the barrel of those Good Old Days!
Carl Jarvis