John Oliver discusses the issue that cannot be said aloud for fear of causing “Class Warfare.” (gasp!)
It’s…Income inequality, also known as the wealth gap. There, I’ve said it. John breaks it down, and although it’s horrible news, he makes it thoroughly entertaining for Americans to face our baseless optimism, which is the reason we can’t see the Grand Canyon size wealth gap in this country sensibly. It is why we can watch the gap between the wealthy and the poor spread further apart than it was during the Roaring Twenties, without a murmur of protest.
The rich continue to score points, while the poor get poorer. John Observes, ” If our economy was a little league game, someone would have called it by now.” It’s just too brutal to watch. Not Americans, we introduce policies benefiting the wealthy. We cut their income tax, cut capital gains tax rates in half – and John is probably right about the bondage gear as well, it’s all tax deductible.
While most Americans rightly feel the system unfairly favors the wealthy, 60% of the sorry schmucks don’t speak out.
Why? I’ll tell you, they believe Marco Rubio. “We are a nation of haves and SOON to haves!” “We are a nation of made-its and soon-to-make-its!” Don’t ask the wealthy to pay their fair share, because I’m going to be one!
I’ve heard this many times. If we just work hard, we’ll be wealthy too. Do they mean wealthy like Mitt Romney, for instance? I mention Mitt, because – like Romney, most of the wealthy – 71 percent inherit their money.
Although Mitt Romney and his ilk are often successful in convincing the poor to protest estate tax (or death tax) – brace yourself, it doesn’t apply to 99.96 % of us! In fact, the first 5.3 Million is tax free! That didn’t stop crowds from getting worked up about the ‘unfair taxes’ which will never apply to them. So why do they care? It will happen to them some day – when they hit the lottery, or when their idea for electric salad tongs pays off. Someone has to have the winning lottery number, why not me? That is the good old American delusional thinking, that we also call optimism.
John sums it up, “When it comes to the wealth lottery, America is a nation of winners, and soon-to-be-winners!” So, let’s play America Ball!
If American wealth is a lottery, then we’re increasingly playing two different games. One game consists of those who inherited money. It’s glitzy, it’s easy, and the competition is sparse. Everyone is a winner.
The second, and largest group are those who were born poor or middle class. The set-up isn’t as glitzy, the odds are very bad, and the machine is broken…But technically you all had the hypothetical chance to win.