The bullies in the cruel orphanage who forced Oliver Twist to go up after the evening meal and ask for more gruel inadvertently gave us a symbol of today's ultra-billionaires whose appetite for more gruel is never satiated. In this decade-long, top-heavy boom, the 1 percenters keep going back for more. Unlike Oliver, who falls under the influence of the evil Fagin, they become Fagin, using their power of the purse to keep their good times rolling.
In the words of some prescient sage of another time, the rich are not like you and me. After getting more than would satisfy you and me, they want more. Why would Tesla C.E.O. Elon Musk want to add to his accumulation of $23 billion by maintaining a work week of 80 to 90 hours?
"Elon, honey, do you want your eggs scrambled or fried?"
"Which is quickest?"
The distance between the wealth of the 1 percent and everybody else keeps growing but is not sustainable and the smartest of the upper group know it. An adjustment must come. I urge each of you to go on line and Google the Ted talk by Nick Hanauer, "The Pitch Forks Are Coming." Don't miss this.
Bob Dylan gets the last word:
Yes 'n' how many times can a man turn his head
And pretend that he just doesn't see?
The answer, my friend, is blowin' in the wind
The answer is blowin' in the wind
