Pick any country and a small number of people have hoarded most of the wealth for themselves. Let’s consider the USA because the government is more open than most about the inequality. In short, in Q3 2025, the wealthiest 10% of Americans had hoarded 68% of all the US wealth, leaving the poorest 50% of Americans to share just 2.5% between them.
So, the US is obviously doing very well for the wealthy, but if you’re one of the poorest 50%, what has your country done for you?
They gave you roads, railways and air travel. Of course, the wealthy need all those to transport workers and the goods that they make their money from.
There’s healthcare. Though voters in every Western nation will tell you that their health services are underfunded and essential treatments can be difficult to get in a timely manner. At least they don’t have the situation of US voters who are expected to organise and fund their own health care.
Sanitation and essential utilities. Yep, you can rely on water, sewage and power in most parts of every Western nation. The wealthy see the risk to them if diseases are allowed to flourish in their workers. Besides, many countries let private companies run these services and profit from them. Because apparently companies that have to pay for workers, equipment and shareholder dividends cost less than companies that only have to pay for workers and equipment.
Food. We can buy pretty much anything all year round, often shipped from the other side of the world. Assuming we can afford it. In the US, it’s reported that more than 50 million people a year turn to food charities to help feed them. The British government’s own figures say 4% of Britons use charities for food support.
Housing. The US and UK are both suffering from “housing shortages”, despite the ratio of housing units to households being higher today than in 2000. But since then, both countries have seen ever more housing being bought by the wealthy to rent, allowing them to convert the income of the poor into more wealth for the wealthy.
In 1944, with global war threatening the long-term wealth of the wealthiest Americans, they paid 94% income tax to fund the war and protect their future. America’s poorest paid an even higher price, with more than a million killed of injured fighting that war.
Yet, just 16 years later, President Kennedy was already shaming America’s poor into asking what they could do for their country.
Assuming you’re one of the poorest 50% of Americans sharing just 2.5% of your nation’s wealth, what has your country done for you lately? And if you live in another Western nation, the same question applies to your country.
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