A constant mantra of those who are trying to sell us on socialism is that we need an economy that works for everyone, not just the rich. Presidential candidate Bernie Sanders is one who is constantly saying “We need an economy and government that works for all, not just the one percent.”
But he is wrong. We are living in an economic system that does work for anyone willing to work hard and smart.
Let’s look at Sander’s life as an example. Most people are aware that Sanders is a wealthy person. His net worth in 2019 is $2.5 million, as reported by Forbes magazine — not part of the one percent.
So I guess the system is not working for him, or is it?
As reported in Politico, Sanders didn’t grow up with money. He grew up hearing his parents argue about money all the time. When he was a young adult he struggled to make ends meet. At 23, he and his first wife, Deborah Sanders, lived in a property that was a “maple sugar shack.”
Before becoming a politician Sanders had several odd jobs — he worked as an aide at a psychiatric hospital, taught preschoolers for Head Start, registered people for food stamps and more. In the 1970s, he lived in a small duplex with his son and sometimes worked as a carpenter. Friends told Politico that the home was sparse and “stark and dark.” One friend said, “The electricity was turned off a lot. I remember him running an extension cord down to the basement. He couldn’t pay his bills.” In 1971, Sanders received unemployment benefits for a few months.
Now Sanders is a multimillionaire. From unemployed and poor to $2.5 million. From having his electric shut off because he didn’t have enough money to pay his bills, now Sanders and his wife Jane Sanders, own three homes: one in Burlington, Vermont, one in Washington, D.C. where he works, and then a third vacation home they purchased in 2016.
Did he acquire his wealth while living in a socialist country like Venezuela or was it while he was a citizens of the United States of America?
You may be thinking that this is just a fluke. You may think that most millionaires inherit their wealth, or win it in the lottery, but you’d be wrong.
Dr. Tom Stanley, author of The Millionaire Next Door, found through his research that only about 20 percent of millionaires became rich by inheritance. The other 80 percent are first generation millionaires, like Sanders. That means they started from nothing, worked hard, spent less than they earned, invested their money wisely, and over a period of many years became wealthy.
I was surprised, the top five careers for millionaires are engineer, accountant, teacher, management and attorney, according to a study by Dave Ramsey. Notice that politician was not on this list (neither was journalist).
There are approximately 11 million millionaire households in the U.S. (and growing), according to Spectrum Group’s Market Insights Report 2017.
This is strong evidence that our economy works for anyone.
Another one of Sanders’ statements he frequently makes is this, “We need an economy that expands the middle class and reduces poverty and not one that makes the very rich much richer.” When anyone says the middle class is shrinking they are correct, but it’s because Americans are moving up in income not down.
Quoting Mark Perry, a professor of economics and finance at the University of Michigan’s Flint campus: Measuring middle-class income ($35,000 to $100,000 in 2016 dollars from Census Bureau data) it’s true that the share of US middle-class households has been declining, from 53.2 percent of US households in 1967 to 42.1 percent in 2016.
In 1967, only 8.1 percent (slightly less than one out of 12) US households earned $100,000 or more, but by 2016, 27.7 percent (more than one out of 4) of US households were in that high-income category. At the same time, the share of low-income US households earning $35,000 or less decreased from 38.7 percent in 1969 to 30.2 percent in 2016.
More evidence that our economy is working.
To read Perry’s full article Google: Yes, the US middle class is shrinking.
The next time you hear someone on a stump speech telling you that our economic system only works for the rich, remember, that’s a lie. They are spreading that lie to bring division and jealousy in order to get votes.
Instead of telling everyone how the system is rigged against them these politicians should relate to their constituents how and why the system can work for them. They should encourage everyone without putting down the greatest political/economic system in the history of the world.
But of course there are those that do, more often than not they are Republicans.
