The Cultural Side of Economic Inequality

The debate swirling about income inequality reflects a tension drawn on simplistic conclusions from discredited conservative talking points, which upon deeper reflection are little more than cheap potshots against the “welfare state.” This flock of canards detracts us away from obvious truths. The Republicans and Democrats are flip sides of the same coin. And the body politic is rife with unbridled corruption by both.

A more important issue that is sadly missed in flawed analyses by both liberals and conservatives is a race and class divide that pits poor and working class Whites against working and middle class Blacks, who should be natural allies. They have more in common than not. Case in point, Scott Walker in Wisconsin was allowed free reign to engage in union busting activities by unilaterally eliminating collective bargaining for public sector workers.

Instead of working class Whites joining in the campaign to oust Scott, they cynically voted against their own best interest enviously figuring they did not enjoy what they mistakenly perceived as overly generous benefit packages and competitive salaries that some public sector workers did (interestingly, a labor pool where Blacks are over-represented), why should they care about collective bargaining.

Emboldened by Walker’s success, which was funded in large measure by rich vested interests through various PACS, Kasich in Ohio and Rick Snyder of Michigan both attempted to enact and push through similar legislation in their home states. Fortunately for public sector workers in those states, both Kasich and Snyder were soundly defeated.

Historically, union success in collective bargaining benefited all workers. However, this oligarchy cleverly employed an old divide and conquer strategy to prevent these two groups from aligning, effectively leveraging their resources to push back against race-to-the-bottom type wage concessions.

Through conservative think tanks hawking policy papers couching a conservative agenda in a far more palatable libertarian perspective, White working class Americans have for 40 years been indoctrinated by a false narrative vilifying the Social Security Act of 1935 as a communist inspired social experiment all dressed up in socialist garb, which was successfully expanded under every subsequent Democratic administration except Clinton's. Social engineering in the form of entitlements (read that: "hand-outs") had run its course. And these programs now needed to be reigned in under the guise of balancing the budget right on the backs of those least able to sustain such a devastating blow.

We have always had income redistribution in one form or the other in this country. Eliminating already slashed-to-the-bone entitlement programs funded by the Social Security Act would cause immense hardship for many vulnerable populations lacking the means to share resources or resources to stave off inflation, health care, energy and food costs, and daycare - all of the programs that are subsidized by the so-called "welfare state."

Widespread elimination of collective bargaining would have a similar disastrous effect in driving down wages, allowing employers to terminate employment with little or no cause, which would also be an unintended consequence of creating a hostile work environment, and increased participation costs for fringe benefits. We see significant evidence of worker protection erosion by looking at discouraging employment data from “right-to-work” states.

So, discussing economic inequality from a purely political perspective overly simplifies a complex problem, which is that Whites - especially males - are more concerned with being card carrying members of the White race than they are with realigning their worldview to appreciate that a rising tide lifts all boats... 

The documentary 740 Park Avenue illustrates this fact poignantly by virtue of exposing certain economic truths - e.g., Powell Memo - hitherto unknown to many folks. It reads like a manifesto to concentrate wealth in the hands of very few: an outrageously wealthy oligarchy who have methodically rigged the game against the average Joe who still naïvely buys into the individualistic, "lone hero" ethos characterized in Toni Morrison's classic 1997 novel "Paradise," which is an intrinsic component of the American psyche.

It is a spurious rallying cry that heroically calls us to pull "yourself up by your bootstraps…" "America is the land of opportunity..." We hardly have any bootstraps left, frayed as they have become - practically threadbare - from futilely trying to do so. 

Through an insidious strategy, really brilliant political maneuvering using Powell’s memo as a blueprint, a very small group of exceptionally wealthy people have taken a huge piece of the American pie leaving virtually nothing but crumbs for everyone else successfully masking the illusion that there is still something left for the average American.

The rich have gotten richer decimating the middle class in the process, while the have not’s, have practically nothing now... All the while in an ostentatious display of conspicuous consumption the top 1% of the 1% amasses more palatial estates, real estate holdings, investments, luxury vehicles, yachts, and jets. White males, who tend to vote overwhelmingly Republican, vicariously look on likened to a child outside of a candy shop irrationally believing social mobility exists because they are of course “White”.

They lash out angrily in frustration at groups that should be their natural allies when reality hits home. Race means a great deal, but class even more. The top 1% of the 1% (laughing all the way to the bank at the collective ignorance and naiveté) cynically exploits this racism, which is aggravated by parochialism knowing that this largely male group encouraged by White privilege can be easily duped because they vote aspirationally, not reasonably. The growth of the “Tea Party,” “take back my country” movement, huge mid-term defeats in 2010 and 2014 speak loudly to this disturbing trend.

News flash: Koch & Ilk hardly empathizes or identifies with working or even middle class Whites. It is counterintuitive. If they did they would not continue vehemently opposing a jobs bill proposed by Pres. Obama. It is an initiative similar in size and scope to Roosevelt's "New Deal" WPA providing "shovel ready" jobs benefiting a huge swath of down-on-their-luck working and middle class Whites - as well as Blacks and other Americans - by repairing a deteriorating infrastructure, which is crumbling all around us. America is becoming a third rate if not third world power as a direct consequence. Our infrastructure used to be the envy of the world, now it lags near the bottom.

But this same group demands approval of the Keystone pipeline, which would (contrary to their claims sell extracted crude oil on an open market) add very few jobs in comparison. But it would instantly impact their bottom lines. A jobs bill would not. Approving the pipeline would hold out the potential to do considerable environmental damage when - not if - a pipe bursts releasing thousands of gallons of highly toxic, viscous tar sands that would be virtually impossible to clean up contaminating the ground water in the affected area for a millennia leaving it uninhabitable with countless displaced residents uncompensated.

It is why I read with dismay writers who insist on coming at this issue from a purely political perspective. It is disingenuous. They know it.  The problem is socio-cultural with a generous dollop of venality thrown in for extra measure and, as such, can only be remediated by socio-cultural solutions. It is why I am not as fixated on politics, a given party, or anything but the "big picture," which is inevitable revolution. (“Let them eat cake…”)

If policy makers and stakeholders continue to wholesale our body politic with these compromised and, thereby, co-opted brought lock, stock and barrel politicos, we will have revolution in this country. Corrupt, venal demagogues are deeply in the pockets of special interests - i.e., lobbyists - paid for by the ultra-rich to promote their selfish interests driving us headlong like mindless lemmings toward the edge of a steep cliff. 

We see evidence of this inevitability playing out daily with rioting and social unrest in Baltimore recently capturing the nation's eye for a three week news cycle with the promise of more violence simmering restlessly in other disaffected communities throughout the country. 

We have to outlaw lobbying - Citizens United notwithstanding. It incentivizes corruption that inhibits the little man from getting a fair shake. Insurers use to only be allowed to go back and check your driving record for three years with no credit check. Now they are allowed to go back practically indefinitely using poor credit as a risk indicator to boost your premium - irrespective of the fact you may not have had a chargeable accident ever simply to unethically increase their bottom line with your "profitable account..."

Poor saps caught up in this shell game pay double what they ought to with far less coverage than they would like. This unfair business practice is directly attributable to sold out politicians letting the insurance lobby write minimum qualification standards in legislation lawyers for the insurance lobby actually draft... Here we can comfortably substitute any special interest for "insurance" because all lobbyists engage in the same corrupt practices.

The only way we can push back effectively against this entrenched corruption while leveling the playing field for every American is emblemized by our nation's motto E pluribus Unum. We need to set aside silly cultural differences. Irrelevant social constructs manifesting in White superiority to unite against bogus "job creators": Greedy ass billionaires who have taken America down a ruinous path for their own self-serving ends while finger wagging at critics who see their hegemonic agenda for what it is though they try hypocritically finger pointing at everyone else for the country's slow decline.