Here’s how:
Smart investors took advantage of the Great Recession. Most of their wealth is in equities and real estate. Average investors panicked and secured their loses unnecessarily. Remember all the rhetoric about people who lost their retirement savings? In fact, there was no need for long-term investors to lose anything; quite the opposite in fact.
And while wealthy investors were making money, so were pension funds and IRA and 401k plans if the savers stayed the course.
And most significant, this growth in wealth does not come from taking anything from anyone else, but Old Bernie and friends sure make it appear that way. The problem is not that the wealthy grew their incomes, but that the economy over the last seven years has not grown sufficiently to generate demand for workers and hence create pressure for higher wages … and who is most responsible for that?
Old Bernie’s message is the system is rigged, big money buys elections and controls the rules while wealth flows to the top.
Voters still vote, voters elect politicians who make a career of Congress, who accept donations, who allow themselves to be influenced. The problem is not the wealthy or even the system, but uninformed, disinterested voters and corrupt and career politicians.
If Bernie and company were sincere and less naive, their cause would be term limits not class warfare.
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