Page 22
Minority & Small Business Week
MCS Still in
Business
October 3, 2018
O PINION
Martin
Cleaning
Service
Carpet & Upholstery
Cleaning
Residential &
Commercial Services
Minimum Service CHG.
$50.00
A small distance/travel
charge may be applied
CARPET CLEANING
2 Cleaning Areas or more
$30.00 each Area
Pre-Spray Traffic Areas
(Includes: 1 small Hallway)
1 Cleaning Area (only)
$50.00
Includes Pre-Spray Traffic Area
and Hallway
Stairs (12-16 stairs - With
Other Services) : $30.00
Heavily Soiled Area:
$10.00 each area
(Requiring Pre-Spray)
Area/Oriental Rug Cleaning
Regular Area Rugs
$25.00 Minimum
Wool Oriental Rugs
$40.00 Minimum
UPHOLSTERY
CLEANING
Sofa: $70.00
Loveseat: $50.00
Sectional: $110 - $140
Chair or Recliner:
$25.00 - $50.00
Throw Pillows (With
Other Services) : $5.00
ADDITIONAL
SERVICES
• Auto/Boat/RV Cleaning
• Deodorizing & Pet
Odor Treatment
• Spot & Stain
Removal Service
• Scotchguard Protection
• Minor Water Damage
Services
Call for Appointment
(503) 281-3949
A Gilded America Returns to Unequal Past
Wealth is more
concentrated
now than ever
b ob l orD
It took 100
years, but Amer-
ica has returned
to its unequal
past. With a ven-
geance.
The year many
consider the height of the Gilded
Age, when John D. Rockefel-
ler’s wealth was at its peak, was
exactly a century ago, in 1918.
By that time, Rockefeller had
amassed about $1.2 billion — the
equivalent of $340 billion today.
America’s economy and aggre-
gate wealth were much smaller in
those days, which made Rocke-
feller a truly towering figure.
Just over a decade after Rocke-
feller’s fortune peaked, the Great
Depression put an end to Ameri-
ca’s first Gilded Age.
America eventually recovered
from the ruins of the Great De-
pression and made huge strides
toward economic equality.
Between 1945 and the ear-
ly 1970s, circumstances for all
by
Americans, rich and poor alike,
improved. The pace of improve-
ment for average Americans,
though, was greater than for those
at the top. The once yawning gap
between the rich and the rest of us
narrowed dramatically during
that period.
Eventually, though, Ameri-
ca’s economic and tax policies
changed, triggering a long,
painful process that’s increas-
ingly concentrated wealth and
income at the top.
Those egalitarian days of the
mid-20th century now are a dis-
tant memory. Jeff Bezos’ net worth
now fluctuates around $160 billion.
Bill Gates’ net worth sits within a
whisker of $100 billion, and would
be well over that had he not con-
tributed tens of billions to charity.
Warren Buffett, whose wealth now
equals $90 billion, is also closing
in on a 12-figure net worth.
Can we compare the concen-
tration of wealth today to the
height of the Gilded Age, when
robber barons sat on massive
piles of wealth while the masses
struggled?
In a word: Yes. And actually,
it’s worse.
Consider the ultimate topmost
slice of America: the top .000004
percent. That’s an incredibly elite
group; only one of every 25 mil-
lion households can claim mem-
bership. In 1918, when America
had just 25 million households,
that exclusive club had only one
member: the John D. Rockefeller
household.
Today, America has over 125
million households. So, Ameri-
ca’s top .000004 percent today
is comprised of its five wealthi-
est households: the Bezos, Gates,
Buffett, Mark Zuckerberg, and
Larry Page households.
Those five wealthiest Amer-
ican households are sitting on a
total of $470 billion — nearly 40
percent more than Rockefeller’s
2018 wealth equivalent of $340
billion.
But even that comparison un-
derstates how much more gilded
the America of 2018 is.
Rockefeller, you see, was
far more of an outlier in terms
of wealth than his 2018 coun-
terparts. So, once you get past
Rockefeller, the comparison of
1918 to 2018 is far more pro-
nounced.
According to Forbes, the sec-
ond .000004 percent of 1918
households — that of Henry
Frick — were worth $225 mil-
lion, the modern-day equivalent
of $63.7 billion. That was less
than 20 percent of Rockefeller’s
holdings.
Today, according to the
Bloomberg billionaires list,
America’s second .000004 per-
cent — the group consisting
of Sergey Brin, Larry Ellison,
Charles Koch, David Koch, and
Jim Walton — have combined
wealth of about $250 billion, four
times the modern-day equivalent
of Henry Frick’s wealth.
Indeed, no matter which of
1918’s titans of wealth you con-
sider, the corresponding slice of
America’s 2018 elite controls a
greater portion of the country’s
wealth.
The bottom line: America has
not just returned to Gilded Age
levels of wealth concentration: It
has very clearly surpassed them.
We now live in a country more
gilded than it’s ever been.
Popular movements are rising
to share the wealth. Hopefully it
won’t take another crash for them
to succeed.
Bob Lord is a Phoenix-based
tax attorney and an associate
fellow at the Institute for Policy
Studies. Distributed by Other-
Words.org.