Time to face hard facts
about US wealth inequality
Even before Trump, we were inured to being lied to. Obviously, “How do I pay my bill” isn’t one of the Frequently Asked Questions, but the reason for its elevation is obvious, so we ignore the falsehood.
Misstatements about basic societal issues are less benign. On Memorial Day, we can overlook, in deference to the valor and motivation of our servicepeople, the oft-repeated notion that our veterans always fought to protect our freedoms, although our recent military forays dispute that.
The most pernicious lie — one at the crux of many political issues — is that the United States is a land of equal opportunity. Work hard and you can be a success! Or the obverse: The only reason many people are poor are that they are lazy and shiftless. That is, the poor merit their poverty and the (real, not the well-off who ostentatiously refuse the mantle of upper class) middle class deserves its hardship.
The staggering wealth inequality in our country is common knowledge, and the disparity is increasing; the amount of the country’s wealth owned by the top 1/10 of 1 percent, and by the top 10 percent, are at historic highs, and are aberrant among First World democracies. This disproportion would be more tolerable if it reflected a meritocracy, and thus was temporary, with new families capitalizing on their energy and talents to repopulate the gilded classes each generation.
But in fact our economic differences are virtually caste or class. The lack of economic mobility (change in economic status from generation to generation) in the United States is also at historic highs. Although Horatio Alger-type success stories are popular (like cancer cures from common spices), the statistics are clear: the primary determinant, or most accurate predictor, of one’s economic status is that of the parents. More than a letter is needed to explain how the strata are self-reinforcing, but in short, wealth creates opportunity while the concomitants of poverty deny it. Whatever the hyperbole, the U.S., the most capitalistic industrial country, statistically more resembles serfdom than the ideal of the Declaration of Independence.
Some reasons for the rigidity are obvious. When equal education including through college, universal medical care, affordable housing, or living-wage job security is denied or overlooked, the country reinforces the economic order (although, of course, isolated exceptions will occur).
Is a country of the wealthy, by the wealthy and for the wealthy “great”? If not, let’s dispatch the shibboleth to the realm of fairy tales, and work on actually creating a society where equal talent, effort and tenacity will create equal potential for success. This goal will be especially challenging as technology eliminates many non-professional jobs, but without a vision, we will simply perpetuate the status quo and have to live with the lie.
Jed Somit
Kapaa
Unless you’re Billy Kenoi, you go through the falsehood and get let off the firing line due to church group prayers over him. A ridiculous man was him. Who cares if he is stupid? The payer of more taxes. The richer people. As for his voters, this man was joke. Stupid man.
De-demystifing the hyperbole read and reread until you understand…..
HAWAIIANKINGDOM.ORG
An eloquent presentation of the dilemma facing us today. However, it’s one thing to point out the difficulties at hand and quite another to describe “a vision” that’s capable of alleviating the discrepancies. Listen carefully to the candidates running for office this year. Choose the ones who have “a vision” for the well being of the people of Kauai, Hawaii and the nation, not the elitist corporatocracy. Our government on all levels has been corrupted and controlled by special interests whose only concern is the bottom line. Until this stranglehold is eliminated, as Mr. Somit put it, “we will simply perpetuate the status quo”.
Good letter! And timely, with elections coming. Vote out candidates who have status quo written all over them. Vote for candidates for whom ending wealth disparity will be a guiding principle.
No one ever said working hard at a low-paying job would make you a fortune.
Compared to the Chinese, we make great money.
This letter is from the land of make-believe. Is is completely out of touch with reality.
In the real world, Asian Americans average $80,720 in household income while white Americans average $61,349 (wikipedia). Asian Americans include a high proportion of recent immigrants who came here with little or nothing. Yet, they (often with dark skin – Indian Americans have the highest incomes) are beating out the white Americans who have been here for generations.
Why? The answer is obvious: hard work, strong families, and an emphasis on education. This formula works for any ethnicity. It just happens to be the recent immigrants who are applying the formula. America is still the land of opportunity.
Individual luck may vary. But, any group of people of any color will succeed if they devote themselves to hard work, strong families, and education.
Not everyone has the same level of talent, smarts or sometimes luck. That’s life get used to it. People who produce more; earn more. Get it? If you don’t then that’s the primary reason why you get paid less.
Re: NY Times
In America, 40% of all people will experience at least one year below the poverty line between the ages of 25 and 60.
In America. 80% of all people will experience one, or all, of the following three events: welfare use, near-poverty and unemployment,
Then some brainiac comes along in TGI comments and sums all of them up in one short sentence!