>"Don't forget that most men with nothing would rather protect the possibility of becoming rich than face the reality of being poor."

I think about this quote from the musical 1776 a lot. It explains American conservative voters pretty well. How else to explain how people living in impoverished states were pushing to end the Estate tax when Trump took office.

I hate when I have to disagree with someone who I think I fundamentally agree with. But this is that case.

We live in a country far from “unadulterated capitalism.” The sheer number of regulatory agencies whose sole job is to regulate capitalism is astounding. We have social programs like Medicaid, Medicare, Social Security. In NYC, we tax people making even $200k a year (not exactly wealthy in this city) almost 50% between federal, payroll, state and city taxes. Again - not exactly unchecked capitalism.

That said, I absolutely agree with you that the wealth disparity in this county is unsustainable. The difference between the bottom 99% and top 1% is greater than at the time of the French Revolution. Federal tax cuts under the GOP mostly go to corporations and the ultra rich. Taxing passive income different than W2 income is a scam. But as long as the GOP has their base fooled to vote against their economic interests - this is not changing any time soon.

We don't have pure, unadulterated capitalism. We have plenty of government regulation. We're also top five in the world for median income and median wealth. The average American is doing fine.