The Shape of the Pyramid: Unprecedented Concentration of Wealth
America’s founding vision—of a land of opportunity, widespread ownership, and a robust middle class—is now a mirage. The reality, as exposed by economists like Thomas Piketty and data from the World Inequality Database, is stark:
- The Top 1%:
As of 2022, the richest 1% of U.S. households own 35% of all U.S. wealth—from cash to real estate to investment portfolios. This is not just “a lot”—it’s over a third of everything of value in the world’s largest economy. - The Middle 40%:
The broad “middle class”—about 40% of U.S. households—holds less than 28% of the nation’s wealth. They’ve seen their share stagnate or shrink for decades, squeezed by rising costs and falling protections. - The Bottom 50%:
The entire bottom half of America owns about 1.5% of national wealth. For many, debts (credit cards, student loans, medical bills) outweigh assets, producing a net negative. Their “ownership” may extend to a used car, meager savings, or partial home equity—offset by ever-rising liabilities.
Globally, the picture is even bleaker:
- The richest 1% of all households own roughly 40% of global wealth.
- The bottom half? A pittance—often less than 2%.
This is not a result of “free markets” or “hard work.” It is the product of systematic policy choices, legal engineering, and, above all, a rigged system designed to funnel wealth upward.
The Gilded Age 2.0: How the Oligarchs Live
Just as Dickens described pre-revolutionary France—where armies of servants delivered chocolate to a single duke—today’s American and global oligarchs live in a world apart:
- Insane Luxuries: Private jets, yachts, “family offices” with hundreds of staff, personal chefs and security, palatial homes on multiple continents. A New Yorker writer dubbed them “the richest and the richest” for good reason.
- Blinding Waste: While the working poor struggle to afford eggs or insulin, the super-rich squander resources on things like “trophy assets”—multi-million dollar paintings, rare jewels, and “citizenships” in a half-dozen countries.
But this is not just about excess. It is about power—the power to shape policy, law, and even the story we tell ourselves about what is “normal.”
The Global Mobility of the Ruling Class: Supranational Oligarchy
The most dangerous transformation of our era isn’t just inequality. It’s the emergence of a truly global oligarchy:
- Vaults Full of Passports:
The super-rich buy “golden visas” and citizenships around the world. For the price of a luxury car, you can gain EU residency or even a new passport in Portugal, Spain, Greece, or the Caribbean. Many oligarchs hold 3, 4, or more passports, enabling them to escape taxes, regulation, or political blowback at a moment’s notice. - Legal Arbitrage:
Their armies of lawyers move money, assets, and even “residence” across borders to avoid scrutiny and maximize profit. The Panama Papers and similar leaks revealed networks of shell companies, hidden accounts, and “special” arrangements available only to the super-rich. - Tax Havens & Secrecy:
Trillions are parked in offshore accounts—from the Caymans to Switzerland to Singapore—shielded from taxation and public accountability.
This mobility, as noted, is unattainable to the working class or even most professionals. It is a modern version of feudal privilege—a citizenship of the elite, above and beyond any nation-state.
How Did We Get Here? The Upward Transfer of Wealth
The modern era—since the Gilded Age of the 1880s—has witnessed:
- Systematic Upward Redistribution:
Through tax cuts for the rich, “free trade” that hollows out local industry, corporate bailouts (remember 2008? Or 2020?), and endless financialization, wealth is extracted from the bottom and consolidated at the top. - Financialization:
The real economy (making and growing things) is overshadowed by the financial sector—derivatives, private equity, asset-stripping, and speculation. - Monopoly Power:
Once-competitive markets are dominated by a handful of global giants—Amazon, Google, BlackRock, JPMorgan, etc.—which dictate terms to workers, governments, and even entire nations. - Bipartisan Corruption:
Both “left” and “right” parties, in America and elsewhere, are funded by the same billionaire class. Both pass laws that protect the system and perpetuate the upward siphon.
This is not a “market outcome.” It is engineered, enforced, and constantly rationalized by media, academia, and political “experts.”
Consequences: The Shrinking Middle, the Working Poor, and the Illusion of Democracy
- A Collapsing Middle Class:
Median incomes have barely budged in 40 years, while productivity and profits soared. Home ownership is out of reach for the young. Real upward mobility is lower than in “Old Europe.” - Precarity and Despair:
Working people face stagnant wages, insecure work, mounting debt, and unaffordable healthcare and education. - A Democracy in Name Only:
Princeton’s Martin Gilens and Benjamin Page (2014) found U.S. government policy reflects the interests of the rich—not the majority. When the wealthy want something, it passes; when the people want something and the rich do not, it fails.
The Oligarchy’s Weakness: Their Rootlessness Is Their Achilles Heel
The global oligarchy’s mobility—hailed as “freedom” by their class—may also be their undoing:
- No Loyalty, No Roots:
Their wealth is global, but their home is nowhere. They have abandoned real community for gated bubbles. - Public Anger Is Rising:
As awareness spreads (thanks to data like that from the World Inequality Database and leaks like Panama Papers), populist movements, left and right, are targeting this rootless elite.
Where Do We Go From Here?
- Demand Transparency:
End the secrecy—make the real ownership of wealth, companies, and property public. - Rebuild Progressive Taxation:
Tax wealth, not just income. End loopholes, tax havens, and inheritance dodges. - Support Real Democracy:
Reform campaign finance, limit lobbying, restore the power of the people over the oligarchy. - Rebuild the Commons:
Invest in public goods—education, healthcare, infrastructure—to lift up the bottom and middle. - Reject Oligarchy’s Divisions:
Refuse the bread-and-circuses of “left vs right.” See the system for what it is—a plunder machine.
Conclusion: The New “Ancien Régime”
We live in an age that would be instantly recognizable to Dickens and the revolutionaries of old. The faces change—kings are replaced by billionaires—but the game is the same: a few live in unimaginable splendor while the many struggle and hope.
The good news? History teaches that such systems are not sustainable. Awareness, solidarity, and courage can break the cycle.
The first step is to see the pyramid clearly—and to call it by its true name: Oligarchy.
