How Billionaire-Funded Culture Wars Keep Us Broke
It’s a tale as old as capitalism itself: while the “One-Percenters” are busy building rockets to Mars, the rest of us are left trying to figure out how to stretch a paycheck long enough to cover rent, groceries, and the occasional overpriced latte. The kicker? The culture wars — those headline-grabbing battles over issues that often don’t affect our daily lives — are the perfect smokescreen for the economic shell game, keeping the “99-Percent” firmly tethered to paycheck-to-paycheck living.
Healthy Capitalism Depends on the 99%
Let’s start with some economic common sense that even Henry Ford understood over a century ago: healthy capitalism doesn’t depend on billionaires stockpiling wealth like dragons in a fairy tale; it depends on average consumers having enough money to buy goods and services. Ford, no bleeding-heart socialist, revolutionized manufacturing and paid his workers enough so they could afford to buy the very cars they built. It wasn’t altruism; it was business acumen. Now, Ford is having a tough time selling $100,000 SUVs. It’s hard to make money if no one can afford your product.
Our billionaire-funded political class and greedy Wall Street traders love forgetting this economic lesson. Elon Musk’s litter of kids and Bezos’s 400-foot yacht won’t keep the economy humming. They also don’t employ as many Americans as small businesses — the backbone of the U.S. economy. Small businesses employ nearly half the private workforce, accounting for almost 44% of U.S. economic activity. Billionaires, meanwhile, hoard cash or use their fortunes to bankroll political influence rather than reinvest in their employees.
We ARE the Job Creators
And while we’re on the topic of jobs, let’s dispel the myth that billionaires are the ultimate job creators. They build their companies on efficiency and automation, employing fewer people relative to their size. Amazon might deliver your packages in record time, but the mom-and-pop shop on Main Street is more likely to give your teenager their first job or sponsor the local Little League team. Yet, policies that could support these small businesses and their workers often take a backseat to issues that generate more clicks and cable news ratings. These cultural hot-button topics get people shouting at Thanksgiving dinner but do little to address systemic economic inequality.
Why? Focusing on cultural divisions is a distraction — a magician’s sleight of hand that keeps us from noticing who’s pulling the strings. Instead of debating why Jeff Bezos pays a lower effective tax rate than his warehouse workers, we’re arguing whether Starbucks’ holiday cups are insufficiently festive. Instead of addressing the fact that a medical emergency can bankrupt an average American family, we’re obsessed with where less than one percent of the population pees.
Trust me: if you focus on this one percent, you’re worried about the wrong thing.
Cultural wars thrive on emotional outrage and leave little room for rational conversations about economic justice. The cultural issues that divide Americans — left vs. right, red vs. blue, black vs. white — are less consequential than the financial divide between top and bottom. With these distractions, we don’t just miss the forest for the trees; we ignore that the forest is on fire. Meanwhile, the billionaire class and their political lackeys — with their tax breaks, offshore accounts, and political influence — are thrilled to let us argue amongst ourselves. At the same time, they rewrite the rules of the economy in their favor.
Reframe Our Thinking to Top vs. Bottom
Imagine if we reframed our political thinking from left vs. right to top vs. bottom. What if, instead of being distracted by whether we’re “woke,” we focused on why we’re all broke? If the bottom 90 percent of Americans had the same income growth rate as the top one percent over the past few decades, the average household would earn tens of thousands more annually. That’s not a partisan issue; that’s a paycheck issue.
Let’s start by demanding policies that put more money into the pockets of working Americans. Higher wages, stronger unions, and a fairer tax system aren’t radical ideas; they’re practical solutions for an economy that’s failing too many and will implode without intervention. Think recession and depression. And, yes, we can afford it. When billionaires like Peter Thiel can use loopholes to amass billions in tax-free retirement accounts, it’s clear the system isn’t broken — it’s rigged.
Culture Wars: The Junk Food of Political Discourse
As long as we allow ourselves to engage in cultural dustups, we’re not paying attention to our more serious economic realities. The culture wars aren’t just a diversion; they’re a deliberate strategy to keep us emotionally engaged and economically disengaged. They’re the junk food of political discourse — satisfying at the moment but ultimately leaving too many of us starving and homeless.
We must ask better questions and demand better solutions to break free from this cycle. Stop getting trapped in the latest tweet storm. Instead, ask why the rise in median income hasn’t kept pace with the cost of living. Stop debating whether a celebrity’s Oscars speech was too political and ask why healthcare is still tied to employment in the wealthiest country on earth. Stop allowing politicians to exploit our emotions and demand answers about who benefits from the status quo — and who pays the price.
We Fight For Crumbs. They Feast at the Table
The billionaire class and its political minions would love nothing more than for us to keep fighting over crumbs while they feast at the table. But the truth is, we have more in common than we do with them. Our collective power lies in recognizing our shared struggle and demanding a fairer economic system. Because at the end of the day, the culture wars won’t pay your rent, put food on your table, or pay for your aging parents’ long-term care. Only systemic change can do that.
So, the next time you feel your blood pressure rising over a cultural controversy, take a deep breath and follow the money. Chances are, the real story isn’t about what’s dividing us; it’s about who’s profiting from our division. And spoiler alert: it’s not us.
