A key United States stat is ‘income share of top 1%’. The US IS TWO NATIONS. Rather as England was in Victorian times. Here’s what Disraeli said in “Sybil”:
“Two nations; between whom there is no intercourse and no sympathy; who are as ignorant of each other’s habits, thoughts, and feelings, as if they were dwellers in different zones, or inhabitants of different planets; who are formed by a different breeding, are fed by a different food, are ordered by different manners, and are not governed by the same laws. THE RICH AND THE POOR.”
When you average the rich and the poor you get numbers that are representative of neither. Many of us have seen the lifestyle of those Americans with money. Especially on the East and West coasts and in islands of wealth like Florida or Vegas. But go to the poorer parts of the great cities or the boondocks and it’s a different story.
The median family income in Massachusetts is $100k, in Mississippi it’s half that. With far more limited welfare support than in Europe there are Victorian levels of poverty almost everywhere. The conspicuous consumption of the rich, starting in the White House, would make Louis XVI blush ! Batten down the hatches you fat cats.
Paddy’s Blogs in a crazy world 