Where are we heading?
One major question we are all facing is where are we heading as a country? The middle class is disappearing as income inequality continues to widen to the largest level it has been since the Great Depression. This is one of the most pressing and urgent political, moral and economic crises of our time.
Recent statistics on poverty show there are over 500,000 homeless in the United States with millions more worried about eviction. In addition, according to the Guardian, the top 1% have more wealth than the bottom 92%, and the 50 wealthiest citizens have more accumulated wealth than 50% of the entire U.S. population. With a 22% corporate tax cut during the former administration, about 610 new billionaires were created. The top 2% of U.S. corporations have about $310 trillion in cash on hand.
In comparison, in 2018, U.S. households held $113 trillion in assets which, if evenly divided per capita across the U.S. population would equate to about $343,000 per person. So, there’s plenty of money; it’s just concentrated among that small percentage of wealthy Americans.
This gets even more real when we see that life expectancy for the poor is nearly 15 years below that of the wealthy. Our poverty level has grown to about 11.4% overall with Hispanics at a poverty rate of 17%, and Blacks at the highest poverty rate of 19.5%. In all, this equates to the U.S. having 40 million people living in poverty in one of the wealthiest countries in the world.
In answer to a question about the United States standing in the world, Aaron Sorkin wrote the following speech about America’s place in the world for Jeff Daniels in the TV series, “The Newsroom,” in 2012. Unfortunately, not much has positively changed since then.
We’re seventh in literacy, 27th in math, 22nd in science, 49th in life expectancy, 178th in infant mortality, third in median household income, fourth in labor force, and fourth in exports.
We lead the world in … number of incarcerated citizens per capita … and defense spending, where we spend more than the next 26 countries combined, 25 of whom are allies.
What’s changed? The speech goes on about America’s past:
We stood up for what was right!
We fought for moral reasons; we passed and struck down laws for moral reasons.
We waged wars on poverty, not poor people.
We sacrificed, we cared about our neighbors, we put our money where our mouths were, and we never beat our chest.
We built great big things, made ungodly technological advances, explored the universe, cured diseases, and cultivated the world’s greatest artists and the world’s greatest economy. We reached for the stars.
We aspired to intelligence; we didn’t belittle it; it didn’t make us feel inferior.
We didn’t identify ourselves by who we voted for in the last election, and we didn’t scare so easy. And we were able to be all these things and do all these things because we were informed. By great men, men who were revered. The first step in solving any problem is recognizing there is one.
Are so many citizens angry because we are figuring out that just the very rich are winning? Only 20% of the $800 billion in COVID relief funds administered under the previous administration ever got to the people who needed it. The minimum wage in 2009 was $7.25, and average rent was $886. In 2019 the minimum wage was $7.25, and rent was $1,476 nationally.
Income inequality must be addressed. Our system has become warped by greed. Our politicians are dependent upon the big corporations and billionaires for the funding to be reelected.
How do we begin to fix this? Repeal Citizens United, correct gerrymandering, expose and stop dark money, and consider term limits. These few changes may begin to help.
Nick Jacobs of Windber is a health-care consultant and author of two books.