There once was a television series called
The Waltons. It began with a Christmas story in 1971, then a weekly series that ran for nine seasons. This drama was about a small town rural family in the Great Depression and during World War II. With three generations living under one roof, they were poor but hard-working, with intimate connections to others in their town, and connections as well to the wider world. They remain the image of the American family.
A real life Walton grew up in the same era, and became the entrepreneur who created the Walmart empire, now a global empire. His family has reaped the benefits.
But this is a different America. Courtesy of the Rachel Maddow Show, consider just this one statistic: the net worth of the bottom third of the American population--some 93 million people--together equals the net worth of six members of the Walton family. So those three people there have more money than at least 47 million of their fellow Americans, put together.
No comments:
Post a Comment