Demonstrating Wealth Inequality with Analogies
Money is a boring subject, and so is math, but I’ll try and make this both entertaining and relatable.
We don’t talk enough about wealth inequality and what that means.
I want to break down some simple math for y’all.
Ten billionaires in the US have more than the bottom half (165.5 million) of people in the US.
If, like me, you’re in the bottom half, you have an average net worth of $23,086. Now, that figure can be dramatically different in lived experience. Some of the people in that bottom half own a home that increases their net worth. Some have equity in cars and things.
But, the people in the bottom half are not different enough in their circumstances to have much impact at all on other people in the bottom half.
I’m going to illustrate the difference in those numbers.
Ten people in America have more wealth than the bottom 165.5 million. The ratio of wealth is 1:58,000,000.
Keep in mind, they got their money from you. It didn’t materialize out of thin air.
Don’t worry. I’ll remind you.
That means they have 58 million dollars to every dollar the bottom half of the country gets.
They can buy an island in the Bahamas or the Maldives with a full staff and luxurious villas with that kind of money.
You can buy a pack of ramen noodles.
They can buy a mega yacht with a landing pad for their helicopter, multiple pools, and a mini submarine.
You can buy one fudge round.
They can buy a centuries-old historic European castle with a moat.
You can buy a bottled water.
They can buy an original Van Gogh and erect a museum around it.
You can buy a blank poster board.
You can get a subscription to YouTube TV for a season with NFL RedZone for $389.
The full $389 would be equivalent to $22.5 billion for them. They could buy 5 NFL teams.
Keep in mind, they got their money from you. It didn’t materialize out of thin air.
Let’s look at the difference in terms of effort.
It would take you (on average) 20 minutes to walk a mile.
It would take 2,207 years to walk 58 million miles, if you were an adult who never slowed down or took a break.
To carry one gallon of milk is 8 pounds of pressure. Carrying 58 million gallons of milk is equal to carrying 116,000 large elephants.
Let’s say you walk to the top of mount Everest one time. Multiply that by 58 million, and you’d be ascending until you are half way between Mars and Jupiter, in the outer regions of the asteroid belt.
Doing a Sudoku puzzle takes you about ten minutes. It would take 11 million people working for an hour to solve 58 million Sudoku puzzles.
The median income for the bottom half of Americans is approximately $39,300. The median for all Americans is $50,200.
At a 5% interest rate on $58 million is equivalent to an hourly pay rate of $1,035.71. That’s how much they would make in an hour if they worked 350 days a year for 8 hours.
At a 5% interest rate on $1, the equivalent hourly pay rate would be $0.000018 if you worked 350 days a year for 8 hours per day.
It would take 20 years of working 8 hours a day, 350 days a year, to earn $1 at that rate.
In 200 years of effort, you can buy a meal at McDonald’s at that rate.
It would take the person making $1,035.71 an hour 34.76 seconds to buy a meal at McDonald’s.
If Elon Musk did nothing to expand his wealth and collected 5% interest on his wealth, he would have an hourly pay of $5,357,142.86 at 350 days a year for 8 hours a day.
He could buy 149 McDonald’s meals per second while you work 200 years for one meal.
Pulling yourself up by the bootstraps is no longer equal to surmounting Everest. Now, you’re pulling yourself all the way up outer bounds of the asteroid belt on the way to Jupiter.
People getting welfare or food stamps do not have the power or capital to make a dent in your check. It’s not taxes. It’s not government spending. It’s the concentration of wealth in the hands of a few.
The top 1% hold more than 30% of the nation’s wealth. The bottom 50% hold only 2.5%.
One person has 30 meals, and 50 people have to divide 2.5 Big Macs, 2 medium order of fries with a few extra in the bottom of the bag, and 2 large Cokes (equal to 2.5 medium Cokes) amongst themselves.
That means that one person is getting 67,200 calories of McDonald’s food and drink, and 50 people are getting 56 calories of McDonald’s food and drink.
It’s patently absurd for anyone in that bottom 50 to get angry at or blame any person among those other 49 people.
The math ain’t mathing on the “pull yourself up” myth.