As the wealth gap continues to increase at an ever-accelerating pace, and elites enjoy the excesses made possible by a new gilded age, the average Joe or Jill is increasingly priced out of the game. I’ve been monitoring this dynamic for the past several years.
Prices for all luxury goods, not just high-end audio equipment, have become patently absurd. From shoes priced at several thousand dollars per pair to luxury watches costing more than a million to exotic automobiles priced at several million, and everything in between, luxury item pricing is up. Way up. Yet mega-yachts and hyper-mansions are being snapped up by the ultra-wealthy as fast as they can be built. In fact, many luxury products have extensive wait lists, and entire production runs for new ultra-exotic sports cars are often sold out before the first vehicle ever rolls off the assembly line. All the while, fewer and fewer young families can afford to buy a home, and the American Dream is dying a painful death right before our eyes.
This situation is an increasing source of frustration and anger for the less privileged that needs to be addressed, preferably before the streets are running red with blood. The ruling class are continually inventing novel ways to dig deeper into our pockets for necessities like food, health care, and housing, and this needs to stop. Enough is enough!
Back when I attended college and grad school, my state charged residents zero tuition. We paid a modest registration fee each semester, and that was it. And rightfully so. They were, after all public universities built and funded by our tax money. Now, my state, charges in-state college students a tuition of $8K per semester. This certainly isn’t because the tax base has dried up, because my state’s population is many times what it was back then, and the tax rate has continually increased. Yet, the state claims it can no longer afford to provide a college education with only tax money. Really???
The rich like to spout silly platitudes, in the vein of "a rising sea raises all boats" (the argument behind supply-side economics). This is nothing but gaslighting. The truth of the matter is that, left unchecked, money goes where money is. I must, however, agree with one favorite banality of the rich, which is that a million bucks just doesn’t go as far as it used to. Yep, true words. And just exactly who’s to blame for THAT?
