I see Ken Langone, co-founder & CEO of Home Depot, suggested criticism of the current U.S. wealth disparity harkens back to Hitler’s rise to power: “…if you go back to 1933, with different words, this is what Hitler was saying in Germany. You don’t survive as a society if you encourage and thrive on envy or jealousy.”
Hmmm. Critics of wealth disparity are jealous and envious. Their words bring back memories of what Hitler said.
It’s one perspective, of course, but let’s see if it bears any resemblance to the truth.
Based on Census Bureau statistics, the average family income of four in 2011 was $50,054 a year, an 8% decline from what it was in 2008 just before the Great Recession hit.
In 1970 the average family income was $45,000 a year. This means that over the last 41 years the yearly average income for middle class families has risen a whopping $5000.
If you adjust figures for inflation, the average male worker made less money in 2010 than he did in 1978. This is why so many women entered the workplace to provide a second income for American families.
But when you look at how Langone and his wealthy friends have done over this same period of time, a very different picture emerges.
In 2013 the income of the CEOs of the top 500 corporations averaged 354 times the typical worker’s pay, as compared to 40 times in 1970. So, in 2013 these same CEOs made in one day what the average worker made in a year.
So what Langone said is, indeed, one perspective, but it turns out not to have any relationship at all to reality.
Which makes me wonder. Is it that he and those like him are simply so morally corrupted that they cannot see good from evil, or are they consciously trying to blur the distinction between the two?
Perhaps both?
If I were ever in a position to ask him that question, I am sure he would accuse me of promoting class warfare.
Well, he’d be right.
So let me be clear. I will always join the battle against Ken Langone and his ilk who see themselves as a privileged American elite who deserve everything they get.
But come to think of it, maybe they do, and maybe one day they will.
linnposts.com 
I hope that one day they will.
I wonder how long America can survive this disparity without open rebellion. All the while we have a Congress who cannot find it in their foggy wandering to approve an increase in the minimum wage or use the tax code to at least begin to address this issue..
I have wondered the same thing, Wally. I don’t believe such disparity can stand indefinitely.
I just read a Truth-Out article about how this disparity looks at the University level where these days about 75% of faculty are now part time, have less chance at ever being full time, let alone tenured, and receive few or no benefits while their presidents and staff are getting ever higher incomes and benefits. It’s a national mentality run amok! Such a society will either fall under its own misguided weight or changes will be forced from below; perhaps during a time of high scale stress, like the Great Depression was. Those are the two most historically repeated outcomes. No wonder history repeats itself. We are such a frustratingly slow species!
Bob,
I understand your view. My question is: What can be done to correct this & who is able, or willing, to do it?
Wally, when a majority of the most highly gifted among us, those born graced with the privileges of nature and nurture that allow them to lead others, become spiritually mature enough to understand a teaching such as when Christ said, in Luke 12:48, “Those to whom much has been delivered much will be demanded ….”, then will we see mankind intentionally choose to transcend natural law (leveraging innate traits to exploit others) in favor of spiritual attunement (aligning personal will with God’s). In my view this was Christ’s greatest lesson to us in the flesh; temporal life at its highest capacity to express truth, beauty and goodness by doing the will of God.
Unfortunately this also requires time, evolution and a repetition of errors policed by pain and suffering yet reassured by those grace-filled among us until we, collectively, have the epiphany which will deliver us triumphant and worthy as a true brotherhood.
That’s how I see it. Not my design, but, in faith, there must be transcendent wisdom in it.
Until our self-assisted deliverance evolves we who glimpse the light must do what we can to shine those rays into the darkness.
Thank you for your consideration of my thoughts. Stay …warm. 😉
Bob, No problem staying warm in AZ. Days are now in the low 80’s. I think the stay warm advice is more applicable to you than me.
I don’t expect “our self-assisted deliverance” to occur in my lifetime. My next question is: What can be done while we are waiting? I confess that I don’t know what “what we can” means. That is the question that I’m searching for answers to. And I don’t consider myself very “grace filled”, so I don’t have time to wait for an epiphany.
Wally, I hear your frustration as I too experience it. What I try to do internally, what I think each of us needs to do, is realistically accept the slow pace of our species ability to change quickly while still seeing signs among ourselves for evidence of that potential at work in the world. Externally, I try to do my small part, “what I can”, through my gifts or inclinations. I write (books, news articles, essays on Monica’s website etc.) from a spiritually attuned perspective as best I know how. I’ve taken to sharing my voice politically through a progressive website called RootsAction.com. This allows me to send messages to representatives galvanized through a group for greater impact. Since ’92, since H Bush, I’ve been very willing to vote for third party candidates and talk to others as to why. (I like Bernie Sanders for ’16.) I also try to be informed through alternative sources of news and online articles. In short, I act in small ways within my realm of influence with positive energy knowing the release of positive energy from all sources does attract and combine to combat negative energy. (Know that I do have my low times like everyone does.)
Jan’s blog, all his wonderful, prolific writings and speaking engagements, his and Joy’s home gatherings and town halls, their involvement with the Disciples Church leadership and mentoring are some of the ways they do this. Your own town halls, the inspiration for Jan and Joy’s, are a way to shine a light on current topics of consequence.
I think that how others, especially younger generations, share information on social media these days world wide is a positive development toward greater understanding across cultural divides. Personal involvement with a group leveraging their efforts for positive social changes works for some. That is what Occupy has morphed into. They have a subgroup that approaches banks to buy up delinquent mortgages for pennies on the dollar then destroys them; a type of modern “jubilee”.
Getting lengthy so I’ll stop. Hope this buoys you a bit. Be well and smile! God loves you!