This is the Wealth Inequality Election

As a professional speaker about the future I give speeches all over the worldamp160 The majority of my speeches are in the United Statesamp160 It is the reaction to my speeches and the question and answer sessions that follow that provide insights into audiences and to some degree the countryLast July in a column about the 2016 campaign I wrote about how the audience reactions to my speeches in 2014 and 2015 fully prepared me for the unprecedented and unusual way that this campaign has unfoldedSince around 2012 if time allows me to field more than fiveamp160questionsamp160I have known that one of them will be about wealth inequalityamp160quotWhat do you think can be done about wealth inequalityquot or quotWhat are the solutions in the future that can solve wealth inequalityquot amp160I have probably been asked that question 100plusamp160times in the last four years triggering necessary reflection on the issueThe issue is a very complex one so there is no single solutionamp160A complete transformation of the tax code is obviously part of the answeramp160I leave that to others with greater knowledge of tax dynamicsamp160 As a futurist I seek to discern trends and much of that effort comes from looking at historyamp160 Often overarching trends of the past provide insight to present and near future possibilitiesI have found myself with a multifaceted answer to the above questionsFirst I mention that there has to be some completely revamped tax policySecond I mention that frequently when wealth inequality is extreme there is revolution revolt social upheaval and spontaneous and rapid growth of populist movements that rise upamp160 Revolutions occur when the quotrulingquot class is dismissive of the larger populationThird and this is specifically the American part of the answer I point out that the last time that wealth inequality was as bad as it is now in the United States was October 1929 when the stock market collapsed and the Great Depression beganSo let39s look through the lens of these last two points at the current presidential campaignThough the politicians in Washington are not the quotrulingquot class they are clearly not serving the American people in ways that the people are requestingamp160 There hasn39t been an audience I have addressed that has not had some negativity to quotWashington DC and the donothing professional politiciansquotamp160 The Occupy Wall Street movement had one very significant effect on the world it created the meme quotWe are the 99quotamp160 Ever since it has been impossible not to read or hear about the top 1 and the other 99Bernie Sanders frequently uses the word quotrevolutionquot which within historical context is exactly the right word to useamp160 Donald Trump speaks about the bought and sold politicians who serve the wealthy and their lobbyistsamp160 Both are leading populist effortsDonald Trump largely represents the disenfranchised mostly white voters from the bottom 70 of the 99 amp160He is the Howard Beale candidate For those who are too young to know this cultural reference from the movie quotNetworkquot Exasperated news anchor Howard Beale had millions of people yell quotI am mad as hell and I am not going to take it anymorequotA billionaire who uses his own money and quottells it like it isquot is clobbering professional politicians who have ambitiously worked their ways up the political ladder consistently taking large contributions at every stageSanders is a selfproclaimed quotdemocratic socialistquot Of course in America the world socialist has lingering negativity from the Cold Waramp160That is why he always emphasizes the word quotdemocraticquotamp160 So going back to the reality that the current wealth inequality is equal to what it was in 1929amp160provides an appropriate historical precedent for 2016Recently I spoke to an audience of retired or largely retired people all in their 60s 70s and 80samp160 I was asked about the current campaign between a socialist and reality star billionaireamp160 I explained the 19292016 parallel and then asked the audience for a show of handsamp160 How many of you receive Social Securityamp160 All the hands went upamp160 How many of you are on Medicareamp160 All the hands went upamp160 So I pointed out that all are beneficiaries of the democratic socialism of the New Deal amp160FDR was frequently called quota socialistquotSanders and Trump have defined the campaignamp160 Clinton and most of the Republican candidates are in the 1 so they totally missed the single largest dynamic that would shape this election overwhelming wealth inequalityamp160Everything else is policyamp160Policy is now seen as what professional politicians always promise to do but never really accomplishamp160 The elephant in the room is being addressed by only one candidate amp160Sanders amp160and exploited by one other TrumpIf the wealth inequality in America weren39t what it is today the election would be entirely differentamp160 This is the wealth inequality electionamp160 As a futurist it is clear to me that how this campaign unfoldsamp160and how this issue is successfully dealt with will determine much of what occurs in America from now through the 2020 electionImageamp160courtesy of Corbis The opinions and points of view expressed in this commentary are exclusively the views of the author and do not necessarily represent the views of MediaVillageMyersBizNet management or associated bloggers

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This is the Wealth Inequality Election

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