Income inequality.
You may not have paid much attention to this concept amid the noise of clashing political agendas. Or you may think it’s just a thing the libs are always whining about as they try to convince you to give your hard-earned money to lazy poor people who don’t want to work.
In fact, income inequality in the US today is among the highest in the developed world: the top 1% of earners control a disproportionately large share of our national income and wealth.
The tremendous gap between the billionaires and the rest of us is partly responsible for the re-election of Donald Trump. Despite his being a billionaire himself, Trump projected the image of a disrupter of the status quo and appealed to many voters who were struggling, who wanted a change, and who didn’t really investigate, or care, about the details.
As a result of Trump’s return to office, income inequality in the US seems destined to become even more extreme. The disproven “trickle-down” economic theories touted by conservatives since the days of Ronald Reagan continue to enrich the wealthy through tax cuts for high earners, which are expected to be made permanent next year. What trickles down to the rest of us will be benefit cuts; the social safety net for the most vulnerable among us will continue to fray. Billionaire Elon Musk has vowed to find trillions of dollars of savings by slashing government spending, as we undergo cuts to Medicare and Social Security that will be proposed by people who don’t need them (though I bet they collect their personal benefit checks).
I noticed that I held a consistently negative view of billionaires as a group, so I did some research to refine my understanding. What I found was neither encouraging nor particularly surprising: less than a quarter of our billionaires can be categorized as focused on philanthropy and helping to alleviate conditions of poverty, ill health, and suffering, both in the US and the world as a whole.
The other 75% are working hard to enhance their power and earn more money. Some, like Jeff Bezos, who owns Amazon and the Washington Post, give far less to charity than their income would lead one to expect; while others, like Bezos’ ex-wife MacKenzie Scott, donate billions to charities that often target communities lacking access to traditional philanthropic funding. Makes you wonder how much money a person needs before they decide they can afford to give some away. Maybe MacKenzie wondered that as well?
You might want to try a thought-experiment in which you imagine that you have suddenly become a billionaire. When I tried this, at first all I could think about was my own wants and needs. I’m embarrassed to admit it but, again, not really surprised, since the limitations and difficulties we experience in life are often financial (or so it seems). Money may not guarantee you won’t get sick, but it sure helps when the medical bills start rolling in. And don’t get me started on our healthcare system, the most costly and inefficient in the world, where a procedure by an out-of-network physician can consume your life savings (if they’re under a billion). Or you can’t afford insurance at all.
Returning to my thought-experiment, I quickly realized that I could build substantial charitable contributions into my billionaire budget and not have to cut anything of true importance.
Yet the billionaires proposed for Trump’s cabinet and other positions in his administration are not among the 25% group of philanthropic billionaires (surprise!). They are the seekers of power, influence and control. They want government to stop interfering with their profits by getting rid of all those annoying regulations over pollution, safety, and the environment. If they’re not literally joining the administration, they’re making million-dollar donations to Trump’s inauguration, just to be sure they’re on Trump’s “nice” list and not on his “nasty” list.
I remember while watching the hit series, “Succession”, reportedly modeled after billionaire Rupert Murdoch’s family dynamics, I used to wonder about the blatant waste, the view of poor people and servants as not fully human, the detachment from the reality of what life is like for the other 99% of us. Childcare? Groceries? Rent? What are those things?
The irony of all this is that “ordinary” humans, despite struggling to pay bills and feed their families, are often kind and generous to those in need. They know what it feels like not to have enough. This is part of what disturbs me about Trump’s misleading descriptions of immigrants, designed to create fear and distrust, when in fact the majority of immigrants are productive and law-abiding members of their communities, who have undergone hardships most of us cannot even imagine.
I don’t believe Donald Trump, or his new BFF Elon Musk (himself an immigrant), have even a tiny clue about the lives they are preparing to disrupt. If they are aware of us at all, they figure we little people will go find some crumbs out by the dumpster.
Susan Hull is a retired clinical psychologist, a horse trainer and an Independent voter. She is deeply grateful for the luck that has allowed her to make ends meet, so far, but knows how life can change in the space between heartbeats, for better or for worse.
