Those of you (I’m not there yet) who subscribe to Amazon Prime—or who otherwise spend your hard-earned and/or studiously saved dollars in pursuit of helping Jeff Bezos topple his latest financial record in favor of building an even greater financial colossus—might find the following chart interesting. You may also find it interesting to know that Bezos, among the richest eight men in the world, is one three of the eight several super-rich individuals who have not signed the “Giving Pledge,” the commitment by many of the world’s richest people to dedicate their wealth to philanthropy. The other two who seem to eschew the idea of pledging their wealth to benefit humanity in general, as opposed to their own descendants exclusively, are Spanish billionaire Amancio Ortega and Mexican business magnate Carlos Slim Helú.
The second chart below illustrates the variations in wealth growth (or shrinkage), by “class,” in the USA. The chart reveals some pretty unpleasant disparities. But another chart I viewed this morning shows that the shrinkage in USA wealth among the middle class paralleled the dramatic growth in wealth among the world’s poorest populations. So, for example, the middle class in Asian countries grew at an astonishing rate, lifting millions upon millions of people out of poverty. But that glorious humanitarian success pales in comparison to the adjustment in the USA; it’s time to “Make America Great Again” by doing all we can to rip those hard-earned dollars from Asian families, boosting our own incomes and slashing Asians’ incomes to more appropriate levels. Or, at least, that’s what the narcissist-in-chief would have us believe.
