Scarcity and inequality

Most coverage about current events in the Arab world is about the people there trying to gain freedom. The untold story is the desire of those people to wrest a larger slice of their countries’ economic pies from the wealthiest families who own nearly everything.

This trend should be of great concern to the wealthiest among us. Studies show that the U.S. has become one of the most unequal countries in terms of ownership of wealth. One percent of our population owns more than 55 percent of the wealth. Twenty percent owns more than 85 percent.

Imagine a room with two potatoes and 100 people in it. One person in the room gets one potato for himself. The remaining potato must feed the other 99, with 19 of those getting the majority.

We are in an era of declining resources. Inequality doesn’t matter quite as much when there are 100 potatoes to share between 100 people. It matters a great deal when there are only two.

The people in our country who have an entire potato to eat are not only refusing to share it but haranguing the starving. We see class warfare unfolding across the world. Who started it?

Greg Presley

Spokane