Frustration Builds As Gap Between The Rich And The Poor Is Larger Than Ever
By Michael Snyder/Economic Collapse Blog May 21, 2024
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Have you ever felt like you can never seem to get ahead no matter how hard you try? If so, you are definitely not alone. The gap between the ultra-wealthy and the rest of us has never been greater, and more wealth is being transferred to the top of the pyramid with each passing day.
Unfortunately, our economy has evolved into a highly centralized system that is designed to drain wealth from those that do not own wealth-producing assets and transfer it to those that do own wealth-producing assets.
Sadly, even most of our homes and most of our vehicles have been turned into wealth-producing assets by the elite. Every month when you make your mortgage payment and your vehicle payment, you are making the wealthy even wealthier. The entire system is designed to get you deep into debt and keep you paying on that debt until you die.
As we have seen in recent years, those that manage the system will do whatever it takes to protect the wealth of the elite.
The Federal Reserve pumped trillions of dollars into the system to prop up the value of financial assets, and it worked.
Right now, the Dow Jones Industrial Average is hovering around 40,000 and those that own stocks are living the high life.
But who owns most of the stocks?
According to Federal Reserve data, the wealthiest 10 percent of all Americans own a record high 93 percent of all the stocks...
The wealthiest Americans have never owned so much of the stock market, with the top 10% now holding a record 93% of US equities, according to Federal Reserve data.
On the flip side, the poorest 50 percent of all Americans own just 1 percent of all the stocks...
Still, stock ownership is skewed toward the top: by comparison, the bottom 50% of Americans owned just 1% of all stocks and mutual fund shares in the third quarter, central bank data shows.
Of course stocks are just one form of wealth.
But when you add in all other forms of wealth, the bottom 50 percent of the U.S. population still only owns just 2.6 percent of all the wealth.
Tens of millions of Americans have lost faith in the system and are becoming increasingly restless, and our politicians have been trying to keep them pacified with handouts.
At this point, a whopping 42 million Americans receive food stamp benefits each month, and much of that money is spent on junk food...
An alarming study has spotlighted how 42 million food stamp recipients spend their welfare handouts on ultra-processed junk food.
Coca-Cola, Sprite and other soft drinks are the most commonly-bought items via the $135 billion-a-year Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), a new study says.
Candy, potato chips, frozen pizza, ice cream, cookies, and other ultra-processed food dominates the top 20 items, says a report from the Economic Policy Innovation Center (EPIC).
A lot of those that are receiving government assistance are actually employed.
But the cost of living has become so oppressive that even people working for some of the biggest companies in America can't afford the basics...
Five years after Amazon.com Inc. raised wages to $15 an hour, half of warehouse workers surveyed by researchers say they struggle to afford enough food or a place to live.
The national study, published Wednesday by the University of Illinois Chicago's Center for Urban Economic Development, asked US employees about their economic wellbeing, including whether they'd skipped meals, went hungry, or were worried about being able to make rent or mortgage payments.
Fifty-three percent of respondents reported that they'd experienced one or more forms of food insecurity in the prior three months, and 48% experienced one or more forms of housing insecurity. Workers who said they took unpaid time off after getting hurt on the job were more likely to report trouble paying their bills, the researchers found.
Today, approximately 40 percent of the entire U.S. population is either living in poverty or is considered to be among the ranks of "the working poor".
In order to maintain the same standard of living as it did in January 2021, it now costs the average American family $12,000 more per year.
If your income has not increased by $12,000 a year since January 2021, you are falling behind.
And now that economic conditions are starting to deteriorate at a frightening pace, Americans are becoming increasingly pessimistic about where the economy is heading next...
After a spurt of optimism, Americans are feeling a little more glum about the economy -- again.
Consumer sentiment, a gauge of Americans' economic perceptions, is at a six-month low, according to a closely watched index by the University of Michigan. The measure notched its biggest drop since 2021, reflecting the persistent tug of inflation on household budgets and fueling fears that rising prices, unemployment and interest rates could all worsen in the coming months.
That pessimism is altering consumers' spending habits. McDonald's, Home Depot, Under Armour and Starbucks all recently reported disappointing earnings, as people cut back on fast food, kitchen renovations, sneakers and afternoon lattes.
Frustration with the economy is going to be a major theme during the next few years here in the United States.
Of course the entire world is grappling with a system that is leaving way too many people behind.
According to Oxfam, most of the global population has gotten poorer since the turn of the decade...
Oxfam's new report, Inequality Inc., explores the disparity between the uber-wealthy and the rest of society. Since 2020, five billion people have become poorer, while the world's five richest men have more than doubled their fortunes--at a rate of $14 million per hour.
Just like in the United States, the gap between the wealthy and the poor globally has reached a level we have never seen before.
Since 2020, Oxfam says that billionaires have gotten "$3.3 trillion richer"...
Hundreds of millions of people are struggling to keep up with the cost of living; meanwhile, billionaires are $3.3 trillion richer than they were in 2020. This is not a coincidence. When we analyzed the world's largest corporations, we found that a billionaire is running or the principal shareholder of 7 out of 10 of them.
Such a system is not sustainable.
If most of the global population is steadily getting poorer and a tiny sliver of the global population is becoming fabulously wealthy, it is only a matter of time before the entire system comes crashing down.
Hundreds of millions of people are becoming deeply angry and deeply frustrated, and civil unrest will erupt in major cities all over the planet during the period of great chaos that we are entering.
Today, the world is dominated by ultra-powerful governments, ultra-powerful banks and ultra-powerful corporations.
The little guy is being absolutely crushed, but it won't be too long before the deeply corrupt system that the ultra-wealthy have created suddenly implodes right in front of their eyes.
Originally published at The Economic Collapse Blog
