21st Century Nihilism
“Millions who should be ranged against the American oligarchy are distracted and divided – just as their leaders want. The biggest beneficiaries of [the four years of] Trump’s charade are the party’s biggest patrons – the billionaire class, including the heads of the nation’s largest corporations and financial institutions, private-equity partnerships and hedge funds – whom a deeply divided nation serves by giving them unfettered access to the economy’s gains. Their heist started four decades ago. According to a recent Rand study , if America’s distribution of income had remained the same as it was in the three decades following the second world war, the bottom 90% would now be $47tn richer. A low-income American earning $35,000 this year would be earning $61,000. A college-educated worker now earning $72,000 would be earning $120,000. Overall, the grotesque surge in inequality that began 40 years ago is costing the median American worker $42,000 per year. Th