United States | News & Politics

The reason there isn't a revolution in the USA is mostly down to atomization. Suburban growth directly leads to insular communities with no sense of responsibility to the rest of their brothers and sisters. Working class families in the burbs have functionally 0 ability to organize.

To add that on, I like to underscore the gravity of the situation here with details:

1. The top 10% of earners starts at ~170k/yr
2. The top 1% start at ~820k/yr
3. The top 0.1% start at ~3,300k/yr (3.3 million)
4. If Elon Musk had 100% of his net worth in really basic bonds giving 5%/yr he'd be pulling in 22 BILLION dollars per year, forever.

The interest on his earnings alone is equivalent to 130,000 workers at the start of the top 10%. That's the entire workforce of American Airlines for comparison.

If the average person was paid like the 0.1% for 1 year they could retire and live off 65k/yr forever.

This chart is broken down by quintiles but it illustrates the disparity well imo.

Half of the wealth of the top 20% here (excluding top 1%) is in businesses or real estate they own. Most of that will be their own house and a small business, though ~~leeches~~ "landlords" mostly fall in this category too.

For the top 1% that's more like 20% of their net worth.