WEALTH INEQUALITY

Sometimes a long explanation of a topic is unnecessary.  Adequate documentation of the issue already exists.  It is only necessary to organize it into a review document.

Forbes documents the expansion of the income inequality during the pandemic, as "operation warp speed":  https://www.forbes.com/sites/randalllane/2021/04/06/operation-wealth-speed-what-a-record-number-of-new-self-made-billionaires-says-about-capitalism/

How is it possible that during a period of economic contraction, executive compensation increased?  Don't the boards of for profit companies read the newspapers? https://www.newyorker.com/news/daily-comment/inequality-has-soared-during-the-pandemic-and-so-has-ceo-compensation    

And by the way, the stimulus during the pandemic was mostly absorbed by large banks. https://www.newyorker.com/news/our-columnists/wall-streets-pandemic-bonanza

Even the in-between middle classes have done worse overall: https://www.vox.com/the-goods/22673605/upper-middle-class-meritocracy-matthew-stewart

We are talking about billionaires now.  https://www.nytimes.com/2022/04/07/magazine/billionaires.html

And this is not just about buying big houses or yachts.  Very rich people think they should tell everyone else what to do and buy up control of things.  https://www.nytimes.com/2021/11/02/opinion/tax-elon-musk-billionaire.html 

Is Thiel a stimulus or a destructive element? https://www.nytimes.com/2021/09/21/books/review/the-contrarian-peter-thiel-max-chafkin.html

And it matters how the money was made. The Sacklers accelerated a vast expansion of addiction in the US. And personally walked away with little penalty:  https://www.nytimes.com/2021/09/11/opinion/purdue-sacklers-opioids-oxycontin-settlement.html

Politicians depend too much on the very rich for campaign financing:  https://www.newyorker.com/news/our-columnists/how-not-to-tax-billionaires

And the very wealthy have arranged the rules to benefit them: https://www.propublica.org/article/the-secret-irs-files-trove-of-never-before-seen-records-reveal-how-the-wealthiest-avoid-income-tax

This is not just about the US,  though it shows that the determination of Britain to stay British is an illusion: https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2022/03/28/how-putins-oligarchs-bought-london

Perhaps the most toxic feature is the way in which money is being made by not rebuilding the infrastructure,  not improving schools,  and making crippling interest off students.  The rich are getting richer by damaging the future of both the material world,  and our children: https://www.nytimes.com/2021/08/27/opinion/school-debt-economy.html

What to do about this?  Should we create sanctions on the wealthy in the US, the way they  are (supposed to be) sanctioned in Russia due to the Ukraine invasion? https://www.newyorker.com/news/daily-comment/turning-the-focus-on-americas-oligarchs

Politically that will never happen.  The Trump presidency showed the inability of the current political system to challenge the status quo.  The extreme Right protestors and the Black Lives Matter protestors share a common problem: they are getting sucked dry by the system.  Fighting each other keeps both sides from looking at the economic issue.

Is the answer just to have better Facebook contact between rich and poor? https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2022/08/01/upshot/rich-poor-friendships.html

This seems a truly naive and limited answer.

Should we create a large group of organizations to address the needs of the poor and homeless?  Who will decide how the money is spent? https://www.nytimes.com/2021/10/03/nyregion/jack-brown-homeless-nyc-core-services.html

Can the solution come by legal actions against those exploiting others for housing? https://www.newyorker.com/business/currency/a-promising-court-victory-for-mobile-home-residents

Pikety tells the interviewer that the US is "primed" for redistribution of wealth.  https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2022/04/03/magazine/thomas-piketty-interview.html

But how will this happen?