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.
