These stories were side by side on my news feed recently. One of them is data, actual facts. The other? Well, do you feel like Trump is delivering a “prosperous America”?
Granted, it is an opinion piece, and we all have the right to express our opinions. But let’s focus on the chart on the left. Quarterly data, since 1989, showing the percentage of consumer spending in our country split into two groups of people. The top 20% of earners in blue, and the bottom 80% in red. So as you look at that chart, keep this in mind. The red line represents 4 households for every one household in the blue line. So keeping things very simple, for every $100 dollars spent by one household in the bottom 80%, that’s you and me, a household in the top 20% spent almost $600, on average. And look at the trend of those lines, getting further and further apart over time.
So yes, maybe the headline on the right is in fact true. For the chosen few. And that was the plan all along wasn’t it? Cutting taxes for the rich, so they can spend more, and cutting everything else for all of us, so we end up spending all of our income just to get by. When will the millions of people under the MAGA spell realize they are just pawns, being lied to about how immigrants or trans people or radical left lunatics are somehow to blame for everything, while the wealthiest among us steal it all? Probably never. But for those of us who do know, it’s just one more reason to keep fighting the good fight.
Source: Substack
Author: Todd Warren
About the author: Todd Warren is a lead organizer with Indivisible QC, helping plan local actions, support coalition work, and connect new volunteers to meaningful ways to participate. He writes about organizing, democracy, economic fairness, and how communities build power through sustained, nonviolent action.
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