The 9.9 Percent Is the New American Aristocracy

The divide between rich and poor is growing to become one of the defining factors of the 21st century. It is well-reported that the top 1% or the top 0.1% of the Earth’s population controls disturbingly large amounts of its total wealth. What is less talked about however are the divides amongst the remaining 99%.

It is not a case of us vs them, but rather several classes of ‘us’, trying (mostly in vain) to become one of ‘them’. Of these new classes, the upper 9.9% or so of the population, especially in America, have grown to become the chief enablers of the super-rich. In doing so, they have not just cemented the power of those above them, but also through a dizzying array of structures, managed to end – for the large part – any kind of social mobility for those below them. The American Dream lives on, but only for those who earn enough and live in the right places.

...inequality has reliably ended only in catastrophic violence: wars, revolutions, the collapse of states, or plagues and other disasters. It’s a depressing theory. Now that a third wave of American inequality appears to be cresting, how much do we want to bet that it’s not true?

Diving deep into this issue, Matthew Stewart from The Atlantic, examines this ‘New Aristocracy’ as he calls it, and how it has cemented its power over the decades. Profiling this class, he shows just how they are shaping life in America, and the world, and the disastrous political effects this is causing.