A Few Completely Unconnected Thoughts

People generally seem to be catching on that the imbalance of wealth and power in this country is unhealthy, unfair, and dangerous. As Senate candidate Talarico so effectively stated it, 'Our division is not Left vs Right – it is Top vs Bottom.' History is full of examples where this kind of imbalance became the norm; such societies correct or crash. In many ways, we have been here before. Robert Reich recently did a thoughtful column on this history and our current imbalance. Note this data point: Agents of Reason is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. 'A third American oligarchy emerged starting around 1980. Since then, the share of the nation's wealth owned by the richest 400 Americans has quadrupled (from 0.8 percent to 3.7 percent). Or think about these numbers: The richest 130,000 Americans and their immediate families now own as much wealth as the bottom 90 percent — 117 million — combined. The three richest Americans own as much as the entire bottom half of the population. Three people own more than half the entire country. The only other country with similarly high levels of wealth concentration is Russia.' The blogTanglenotes that in the 1960s, the 400 richest Americans paid more than half their income in taxes. But by 2018, America's billionaires were paying just 23% of their income in taxes,according to an analysisby Gabriel Zucman. As Zucman explained, billionaires now have a lower effective tax rate than working-class Americans, because America's super-rich have started living off their wealth, which is much harder to tax, rather than their income. We've been levying much smaller taxes on wealth, corporations, and the rich; at the same time, the super wealthy have gotten even wealthier, and workers across the country are watching their wages stagnate and benefits deteriorate. This is all fixable. It takes a Congress and a White House not owned by big money. Which takes us to political donations and campaign costs – topics for another day. Republicans are desperately trying to convince Americans that Democratic Socialism is just plain Socialism, which is just another term for Communism. They surely will frighten some voters, but the inaccurate labelling does not seem to be catching on. By the way, they said pretty similar things against FDR and Truman – did not work then, either. Heather Cox Richardson, in herLetters from an Americanblog, notes that 'Unlike Communism, the sort of government both Democrats and Republicans embraced from 1933 to 1981 was very popular, and those opposed to the Trump administration appear to be starting to demand such a government again. Their views are a response to the extremes of wealth in today's United States. Mary Cunningham of CBS News reported in January that the third quarter of 2025 showed the top 1% of households in the U.S. owning 31.7% of all U.S. wealth. That's the highest share they've had since the Federal Reserve started tracking household wealth in 1989. That means the wealthiest 1% held roughly as much in assets as the bottom 90% of Americans combined: about $55 trillion. At the same time, according to a Gallup poll released earlier this month, fewer than half of Americans say they can afford health care. Since the Republicans cut Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) funds in last July's so-called One Big Beautiful Bill Act, 4.7 million Americans have lost food assistance, about 11% of those previously enrolled in the program.' Classic Socialism and Communism were miserable failures. Capitalism is broken too now but can be fixed if properly regulated. One of America's challenges in all this is that we have young generations who have only known the corrupt version of Capitalism that is now dominant in America. People think Socialism must be better - they have not experienced its failures. Get capitalism back on track or suffer the consequences, America. As we noted last week,a remarkably diverse slate of Democrats won in the primaries. A mix of center right and agitated left have won across the country – neither component dominates nationally. The question has been raised for those divided Democrats, especially those now threatening to withhold votes from a candidate in the general election because candidate values may not align perfectly and vocally with theirs. The thought of the day, which I read in another source: People need to figure out if they want to make a statement, or do they want to make a difference? Either the candidate with whom you disagree on some issues (important issues, granted) will win, or the candidate who stands against everything you believe in will win. Figure out which candidate on your side has the best chance of winning and support them. Fortunately, a lot of Americans have figured this out, including almost all former candidates who lost in primaries and promptly expressed support for the winner. So, Trump takes a magic marker to the map of the world again and Lake Ontario is called something else in government documents. No one outside the government has to pay any attention to this silly remapping, but Google and Apple (disappointing that Apple rolled so easily) quickly changed their map to the Trump model. MapQuest refused to do so and overnight became the most popular map program in America. More than 1 million users left Google and Apple maps in protest. Good for them. I joined in with MapQuest and expressed my disappointment to Apple. You would think by now that companies and their leaders would know by now that caving in to a bully just gets you more abuse. Universal health care feels like it is nearly at the tipping point, and almost surely will be there in the 2028 elections, as the full effect of Republican health care cuts take effect. Immigration was a winning issue for Trump, but the deliberate cruelty, loss of lives, and disruption of local communities are taking a toll among a wide range of voters. We know how to do this right – we just need a few Republicans to do the right thing in partnership with Democrats. Finally, national defense. We have talked about this recently – the US defense posture is as weak and endangered as I have ever seen it. Horrendous risks are at the door. We may finally get rid of Hegseth before long, but as imperative as that is, it is not enough. This administration and its congressional lackeys put us and the world in danger. Democrats need to call it out specifically and lay out a get well plan. With just a few days of work under their belts after the August recess, House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) has canceled votes planned for the last two weeks in September, leaving the House with only another four days in Washington between now and the midterms. Leaving town will protect Republicans from having to weigh in on Trump's wild AI posts that he has won the war in Iran, his threats to sic the Federal Communications Commission on journalists who report his tanking job approval ratings, or his claims that the economy is thriving. Seemingly most important to them, shutting down the House avoids new legislation on the Epstein files being forced to the floor by petition. Amazing – all that is before us and the Republicans are going home to hide from the public just to protect Trump. As thoughts are ruminating in my head at the moment, we likely will talk next week about the Pledge of Allegiance, the raging debates over public area cameras, and reflections on the passing of Dolly Parton and Gloria Steinem. Speaking of memorials, the solemn annual memorial for 9/11 is almost here. Every living former president will attend, as always. Only one president will be missing – Donald Trump. For the first time ever, a sitting president will skip this memorial, opting to attend a smaller ceremony at the Pentagon. Why? Because the event coordinators would not let him make a speech. The ceremony has always been about those we lost and those who tried to save them. Only Trump would be shallow enough to reject attending because he would not be the center of attention. The man-child shames our nation once again. Bill Clontz If you find this blog worthy of your time and curiosity, I invite you to do three things: (1) Join the conversation. Your voice counts here. (2) Share the word about this post with friends and colleagues. Share a link in your emails and social media posts. (3) You are welcome to share this post with anyone. It is easy to pass on via email, of course, but also onFacebook, Blue Sky, LinkedIn, Reddit,or other social media.Let's grow our circle. Agents of Reason is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.