Thorstein Veblen, in his socioeconomic treatise, "Theory of the Leisure Class" (1899), described the behavior of the late 19th century industrialists as evidence of feudal-tribal behavior and "conspicuous consumption." The "Gilded Age" was a time, according to Veblen, that was a throw-back to the feudal period (9th-15tgh centuries) when status was achieved by the public display of wealth. Possessions, gold, marble, grand homes and estates, and all-things-bling were all evidence of earned superiority above others. He wrote that the abuses of the early 20th century were more feudal in nature as the wealthy class exhibited their "wealth" in visible ways more typical of central practices of tribalism. These include subjugation of women (can you say multiple wives, misogyny, and treating women as chattel?), popularity of sport (so, who owns the NFL, Major League Baseball teams?), visible devout observances ( the Christian Coalition, Liberty University, Faith and Freedom Coalition, etc.), and reverence to "social formality" or respect for social "betters" (Hail to the Chief!). Surely, one cannot name someone who has a gold toilet, places their name on everything they touch - women and buildings, is a misogynist, feigns christian devout behaviors, and insists on formal recognition and deference. Or, is the Trump tribe the epitome of Veblen's "conspicuous consumption" insisting that the lower classes bow down, courtesy, and display deference to Trump's superiority as demonstrated by his claimed wealth? One might say that President Trump is the epitome of "conspicuous consumption."
Meanwhile, in the Gilded Age, miners worked double shifts deep in the earth in Pennsylvania, Kentucky, West Virginia and other places, trying to make ends meet, pay the bill at the company store, and emerged each night covered in black dust. Women in the needle trades worked extended hours hunched over their sewing machines and cutting tables to create the garments that adorned the daughters of wealth at their "coming out parties" at the Plaza Hotel or in the Mansions of NYC, Boston, Newport, or Richmond. Children - some as young as 4 - labored 16 hours a day for pennies in factories, mines, mills, or just selling newspapers on the streets of cities, to help keep a roof over the heads of the families of the working poor.... And, then, came the calamities....
*Miners, working long hours for pennies in horrible conditions, without legally required safety measures, were subject to long hours, mine floods, and tunnel collapses. Workers strike for better working conditions and are shot by private "security" firms like the new Pinkerton Agency hired by the Mine Kings as strike -breakers.....
*600 young teen women working 12 hours a day for $15 a week at the Triangle Shirtwaist Company factory on Greene Street in NYC are trapped on the 8th floor of a building with no safety features, locked doors, broken elevators, and a rusted fire hose and fire escape when a fire breaks out. Within 18 minutes, 145 die - burned alive, through smoke inhalation, or jumping from windows to escape the flames.
* In mines, factories, mills, in shops and on the streets, children - some as young as 4 - who could work in small spaces, were paid less than adults, were less unruly than their adult counterparts, were exploited and denied access to educational advancement. After the depression, when public policy wanted jobs directed to adults and education advocates pressed their case, education for children made advances. Paid pennies for their sweat and pain, the laws would finally change in 1938 (amended in 1949) to regulate child labor and allow boys and girls to get an education before joining the ranks of working Americans.
Ah..... the glories of Gilded Age..... a time when the disparity in income and in wealth, the gap between the rich and the rest of us was the greatest in US history.... until today. In fact, the gap between the top 10% of income earners and the bottom 10 % has never been greater.... and, continues to grow as CEO's gain massive pay increases and bonuses, while the minimum wage has been frozen for nearly a decade. Adjusted for inflation over time, today's minimum wage at $7.25 p/h is lower than it was in 1968, nearly 40 years ago. Clearly, back then, as well as today, the rich have gotten richer, and the poor, poorer.... with the middle class stressed and shrinking.
Fast forward to 2017 - and what do you see? The "Citizens United" 5-4 Supreme Court decision in January, 2010 unleashed the use of unlimited money by individuals and corporations (corporations are people???) in political campaigns, undoing decades of reforms that attempted to limit the influence of big money - corporate or individual - in our electoral system. Enter the role of "dark money", Super PACS, and BILLIONS being spent to influence elections and create governing bodies on the state and federal levels that will reflect the funders never-ending want for advantage and opposition to taxing their wealth. In just a few short years, the "wealth gap" has increased, taxes on wealth - individual and corporate - have been slashed, and social programs for the aged, the poor, the sick, and the middle class have been threatened or reduced. This approach has become so ingrained that the national debate surrounding reducing the federal deficit no longer includes increasing taxes by 1 or 2 % on the wealthiest in the country who can easily afford to contribute back to the national well-being, but is focused only on cutting, cutting, slashing, reducing, and/or eliminating programs supports for struggling Americans of modest income and working families - the stressed middle class. Instead of removing the income ceiling on Social Security contributions at 6.2% withholding (currently at $118,000) which would fund full Social Security for the next 100 years, the entire debate is just how much to cut benefits to retirees or to put off retirement to... say, 70 from the current 66. And, instead of having wealthy corporations pay a bit more, lets cut food stamps, school lunch programs, Meals on Wheels for shut-in seniors, PELL Grants for low-income students, and deny 23 MILLION working Americans access to healthcare by taking them off of Medicaid - a 47% reduction in 10 years! Studies show that 74 million Americans get health coverage through Medicaid - the largest source of health insurance in the entire country! And, then take those savings and send the wealthy yet ANOTHER TAX CUT!
The proposed Trump Budget goes even further. The new budget seeks $1.5 TRILLION in discretionary cuts PLUS another $1.4 TRILLION in Medicaid cuts over 10 years. Half a TRILLION goes to Defense spending, $1.6 Billion for the Trump Southern Border Wall, and another $1.4 Billion for border security.. Here are a few or the more than 60 programs slated for extinction.
- the Economic Development Administration and the Minority Business Development Agency;
- Literacy Development Grants and International Education funds;
- Advanced Energy research Projects; Community Services Block Grants;
- Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program;
- Transportation Security Administration Law Enforcement Grants;
- Community Development Block Grants, the HOME Investment Partnership Program and the
Self-Help and Assisted Homeownership Opportunity Program (affordable housing generators);
- Abandoned Mine Grants; National Wildlife Refuge Fund;
- Senior Community Service Employment Program;
- National Infrastructure Investments;
- Corporation for Public Broadcasting; Legal Services Corp. ; National Endowment for the Arts;
and the National Endowment for the Humanities;
- the US Trade and development Agency and the Woodrow Wilson Int'l Center for Scholars.
Other massive cuts include:
- Cuts of $193 Billion (25%) to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP);
- $21 Billion cut to Assistance for Needy Families;
- A $72.5 Billion reduction to programs for disabled people including substantial reduction in Social
Security Disability benefits (SSDI) and Supplemental Security Income (SSI);
- $40.4 Billion cuts to the Earned Income Tax Credit and Child Tax Credit over 10 years.
On top of this horror show, the entire budget is based on a GDP growth assumption of 3% a year - an estimate that no economists at all agrees with, and an assumed tax reduction down to 15% for upper in come earners. And, even worse, a $2.1 Trillion credit is taken twice by mistake!
So, will it be back to the Gilded Age of Robber Barons who buy elections, votes, and office holders? The "wild west" of government by influence by cash payments and cash benefits on the other end through tax relief? The shredding of the social safety net to re-direct tax relief into the pockets of large corporations and the highest income earners in the nation? Are we to become a nation ruled by wealthy Oligarchs - the men and women behind the curtain - like the Koch brothers, the Mercers, and the DeVos clan? Serfs to the lords of the manor? Or, will we be a government "by the people and FOR the people" that Lincoln hoped would not "vanish from the earth." Congress holds the power of the purse. The Federal budget year comes on October 1st. By fall, 2017 we will know the answer to this question. Where do YOU stand? Stay tuned. Meanwhile, stand up, speak out, march on!
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