Every six months Forbes releases a list displaying the top 400 richest Americans, and this year it hit an all-time record of total net worth. Although this may motivate some to start the next Facebook, the reality is that this list signifies a threat to democracy: rule by the wealthy is gaining traction.
The recent edition of Forbes 400 put the total net worth of these 400 at a record $2 trillion, which is more than the bottom 150 million people combined. Being a billionaire isn’t even enough to be on the list. Sixty-one billionaires don’t make the cut.
With all of this growth in wealth and more than 30 years of trickle-down economics, indebted students may wonder if all of this wealth has trickled down to them. It hasn’t.
Since 2009’s recession, 95 percent of all new income has gone to the top 1 percent. This is not a recovery. For college students, this means there is no guarantee of a comfortable middle class life after college.
With student debt at a historic high of $1 trillion, wealth inequality increasing almost past the 1920s level and the middle class phasing out, our future looks grim.
Class mobility will be a thing of the past. With so many holders of a bachelor’s degree and a shrinking job market, what we dive into so much debt for is worth nothing more than a high school diploma.
While I criticize wealth inequality, you may ask yourself what’s a better solution.
Before Reaganomics, when Nixon was president, the top 1 percent only controlled 9 percent of the wealth. At that time, the top income tax rate was 70 percent and the rich were still rich. In that period, the middle class grew instead of shrunk as it is doing today.
The minimum wage was $1.60 per hour in 1968, that’s $10.64 per hour in today’s dollars. All of this change in public policy isn’t by accident of some natural political evolution, but the growing influence the affluent have in Washington.
This problem of wealth and income inequality doesn’t just affect economics, but politics. Especially since the Citizens United Supreme Court ruling in 2010 which allowed for unlimited political contributions to Super PACs, the influence of the top 1 percent over politics has increased drastically.
The more wealthy that support politicians, the more their views will become public policy. Take the budget battle. Based on polls conducted by the Russell Sage Foundation, the elite believe that the problem with the economy is the deficit while the general public believes that it’s jobs.
Since current government policy reflects the views of the donors, it doesn’t surprise me that the deficit is a top priority instead of job creation.
These polls show a paradox in our society and makes one wonder about democracy in America. If the government is supposed to represent the people, then it is failing.
So far, especially in the past 33 years, the interest of Wall Street and the affluent seems to be priority while everyone else is left behind with the decline in wages, the loss of benefits, the slashing of pensions, the rise of tuition, the cuts in welfare and the gutting of public services.
If the trends continue, there may only be two classes in the near future. According to a leaked Citigroup memo in 2005, this country isn’t even a democracy anymore but a “plutonomy” with a “managerial ruling class” owning 40 percent of the wealth, which is more than the bottom 95 percent of Americans combined.
This level of wealth and income inequality hasn’t been seen since the Roaring ’20s and we all know how that ended.
This level of political power by the top 1 percent echoes what former Supreme Court Justice Louis Brandeis once said, “We can either have democracy in this country or we can have great wealth concentrated in the hands of a few, but we can’t have both.”
Joshua Hajiakbarifini is a 24-year-old political science and economics senior from Baton Rouge.
Every six months Forbes releases a list displaying the top 400 richest Americans, and this year it hit an all-time record of total net worth. Although this may motivate some to start the next Facebook, the reality is that this list signifies a threat to democracy: rule by the wealthy gaining traction.
The recent edition of Forbes 400 put the total net worth of these 400 at a record $2 trillion, which is more than the bottom 150 million people combined. Being a billionaire isn’t even enough to be on the list. Sixty-one billionaires don’t make the cut.
With all of this growth in wealth and more than 30 years of trickle-down economics, indebted students may wonder if all of this wealth has trickled down. It hasn’t.
Since 2009’s recession, 95 percent of all new income has gone to the top 1 percent. This is not a recovery. For college students, this means there is no guarantee of a comfortable middle class life after college.
With student debt at a historic high of $1 trillion, wealth inequality increasing almost past the 1920s level and the middle class phasing out, our future looks grim.
Class mobility will be a thing of the past. With so many holders of a bachelor’s degree and a shrinking job market, what we dive into so much debt for is worth nothing more than a high school diploma.
While I criticize wealth inequality, you may ask yourself what’s a better solution.
Before Reaganomics, when Nixon was president, the top 1 percent only controlled 9 percent of the wealth. At that time, the top income tax rate was 70 percent and the rich were still rich. In that period, the middle class grew instead of shrunk as it is doing today.
Even when the minimum wage was $1.60 per hour in 1968, that’s $10.64 per hour in today’s dollars. All of this change in public policy isn’t by accident of some natural political evolution, but the growing influence the affluent have in Washington.
This problem of wealth and income inequality doesn’t just affect economics, but politics. Especially since the Citizens United Supreme Court ruling in 2010 which allowed for unlimited political contributions to Super PACs, the influence of the top 1 percent over politics has increased drastically.
The more wealthy that support politicians, the more their views will become public policy. Take the budget battle. Based on polls conducted by the Russell Sage Foundation the elite believe that the problem with the economy is the deficit while the general public believes that it’s jobs.
Since current government policy reflects the views of the donors, it doesn’t surprise me that the deficit is top priority instead of job creation.
These polls show a paradox in our society and makes one wonder about democracy in America. If the government is supposed to represent the people, then it is failing.
So far, especially in the past 33 years, the interest of Wall Street and the affluent seems to be priority while everyone else is left behind with the decline in wages, the loss of benefits, the slashing of pensions, the rise of tuition, the cuts in welfare and the gutting of public services.
If the trends continue, there may only be two classes in the near future. According to a leaked Citigroup memo in 2005, this country isn’t even a democracy anymore but a “plutonomy” with a “managerial ruling class” owning 40 percent of the wealth, which is more than the bottom 95 percent of Americans combined.
This level of wealth and income inequality hasn’t been seen since the Roaring ’20s and we all know how that ended.
This level of political power by the top 1 percent echoes what former Supreme Court Justice Louis Brandeis once said, “We can either have democracy in this country or we can have great wealth concentrated in the hands of a few, but we can’t have both.”
Joshua Hajiakbarifini is a 24-year-old political science and economics senior from Baton Rouge.