If you feel like our leaders have let you down, you’re far from alone, because countless Americans from all walks of life are suffering under an untenable status quo: Millions of Americans live in poverty, and millions more have tons of money but also seem sad and negative all the time.
Shameful. Rich or poor, Americans deserve better than this!
You’d never know that America is the richest country in the world looking at the vast number of citizens just barely scraping by and going to bed hungry, and to make matters worse, just as many affluent Americans still seem gloomy and morose in spite of their absurd amounts of wealth. Our country has let these people fall through the cracks, abandoning them to either eke out desperate lives on the margins of society or look completely fucking miserable picking at the lobster tail their personal chef made for them. The food insecure single mother living out of her car may not outwardly resemble the blinged-out finance mogul slumped listlessly over his jet ski, but in their downcast, distant expressions lies a unifying trauma: the broken promise of the American Dream.
What makes these systemic breakdowns so deeply infuriating is the ample evidence that it doesn’t have to be this way. Plenty of European countries have redistributive tax policies to facilitate government programs alleviating poverty, and their active, way healthier-looking rich people also seem genuinely psyched to be buying Formula 1 teams and strutting around in Armani suits. Hell, even the America of days past had some robust social safety nets and an upper crust that looked like they were riding high on one never-ending, champagne-soaked bacchanal, but a couple decades of indifferent politicians plus bad vibes at the country club and that all slipped away. You’ve got to wonder how our elected officials can sleep at night when somewhere out there a homeless veteran is freezing to death in the streets, and somewhere else a pissed off Fortune 500 CEO is having a loud argument with his wife courtside at a Lakers game, but the sad fact is, our leaders stopped caring about those people a long, long time ago.
The poor work 80+ hour weeks just to stay alive, and the people exploiting them are still always in a terrible mood. Some fucking country we are!
“You see so many tents out there under the overpasses, and so many rich people acting incredibly bummed out and pessimistic all the time,” said Kevin Gertler, an LA limo driver whose occupation offers him a sobering view of the troubles plaguing both ends of the American wealth spectrum. “I drive this real estate magnate who doesn’t even seem to taste the caviar he’s eating, who gives rueful little laughs and mutters ‘Fat fucking chance’ when I tell him to have a good day, but nobody in the government ever does anything about it or tries to cheer him up. He’s as invisible to the system as the people he evicts. Our school books, our movies, they always told us that having all that money is supposed to be fun, but in the end, I guess the America where anyone can make it and those who make it really big are super fulfilled and upbeat was just another lie.”
Damn. It seems like this country is fundamentally broken. It’s time for our leaders to realize that no American should ever be wondering where their next meal is going to come from or looking bored and unhappy with their cartoonish accumulation of wealth!
