This Week in Income Inequality - Jan. 24, 2025

‘Suck-up’ economics is here

Think of the oligarchy as a giant sponge that’s sucking up everything we have and squeezing us dry. (Photo by Michelle Teheux)

All those oligarchs sharing the stage during the inauguration sent a message, and that message is support of “suck-up economics.”

It is the exact opposite of “trickle-down economics,” which of course was always a myth. “Suck-up economics” is real, though. Think of it as a giant sponge the billionaire class presses down on us to soak up every bit of money we have.

You can earn millions of dollars in a lot of different ways, but there is only one way to become a billionaire, and that is to exploit people. Ever since Ronald Reagan, we’ve been transforming the U.S. into a highly effective machine that extracts money from the lower classes and transfers it to the wealthy. This isn’t limited to the U.S., either. Oxfam explains.

Those oligarchs are not just rich men

Many of them have unprecedented control over news and information thanks to their ownership of social media platforms or legacy media. They’ve all proven recently that they are quite comfortable censoring at will (sometimes while claiming to support free speech). What they offer isn’t news; it’s propaganda.

Maybe that’s why so many journalists have recently fled their legacy media jobs in favor of Substack, where theoretically we can all speak more openly.

But make no mistake: If a big news organization doesn’t have your back, you have to be more careful about what you report. Being sued for libel, even if you did nothing wrong, could destroy you. Plus, a Substacker does not have the resources an entire traditional newsroom used to have.

A few people are earning very good money here, but most of us don’t earn enough to live on. So if you value the work of any Substacker and can afford to buy a subscription to help support them, please do.

Dumb money mistakes

Keris Fox of The Ladybird Purse ran an interview with me this week and I revealed the dumbest money mistake I’ve ever made. And yes, it was super-dumb. You can read it here.

How to prepare financially for what’s coming

Lindsey Stanberry of The Purse interviewed me, too, and if you want to read my advice for how to prepare for what’s coming in the next few years, you can read it here.

And now, here’s the roundup.

If you have some hot income inequality-related news you don’t see shared here, please add it in the comments or shoot me a message! I intend this round-up to be a one-stop shop for everyone who cares about this topic.

Are we still saving for retirement like it’s going to work?

Dana Miranda, Healthy Rich

As of 2024, boomers, the first generation to have access to 401(k)s for their whole working lives, have saved on average 12% of what they expect to need in retirement, according to Northwestern Mutual 2024 Planning & Progress Study. Note that the youngest boomers turned 60 last year; this generation is well into their retiring years.

No one is very surprised that millennials and Gen Z are worried about retirement. We’ve inherited a top-heavy economy that leaves most of us little room to plan the future. Many of us, however, imagine baby boomers to have inherited a miracle economy and benefited from their generation’s corporate pilfering of America. But this generation is as unprepared for retirement as the rest of us.

We’re In a New Era Now

Jonathan V. Last, The Bulwark

Trump won. He controls all three branches of government. And the forces that mobilized against him last time aren’t even putting up token opposition this time. Heck, a lot of them have actually switched sides and thrown in with the new regime.

Look at Jeff Bezos. Look at Mark Zuckerberg. For that matter, look at the Democratic former presidents yukking it up with Trump and acting like everything’s normal and five by five.

Here’s the thing—it isn’t. Our job is to spend the next four years reminding people of these facts.

Truth. Freedom. Democracy. That’s the mission.

These aren’t separate things, obviously. You can’t have democracy without freedom. And you can’t have freedom without truth. That’s why the first thing authoritarians do to try to undermine society is wage war on the idea of truth.

7 money tips for surviving the Trump Administration

Leo Aquino, Queer & Trans Wealth

I meet with a lot of clients who believe they don’t deserve to start saving until they’ve paid off all their debt completely. I’m here to tell you: That’s completely untrue, friend! I urge you to prioritize putting at least one month's expenses in your emergency savings fund, no matter how much debt you’re in.

Hopefully, things don’t get this bad… but if you suddenly have to leave the country, or evacuate from a neighborhood on fire, having cash on hand can be a lifesaver.

A Fair Shot …

Joan DeMartin, The Poverty Trap

I’ve not seen much substantive analysis written about former President Biden’s farewell address — most reporting and commentary noted his reference to President Eisenhower’s final address to the nation and its warning about the military-industrial complex, versus Biden’s “tech-industrial complex” admonitions and the potential dangers of unchecked AI.

But President Biden also issued a warning to the American people that evening, about growing inequality caused by the “concentration of power and wealth”. He warned that this stark disparity among our citizens can and will cause division, distrust and unrest. How a growing oligarchy can lead otherwise hardworking people to give up, to sink into complacency, because they see their chance at a “fair shot” disappearing. The playing field in front of them is no longer level, or there is no playing field at all.

Time to prepare

J.P. Hill, New Means

Labor needs to see this as its work immediately, because fascism presents an existential threat to the entire union movement. Elon Musk, the most prominent Trump surrogate in the latter part of this election, is already one of several oligarchs suing the National Labor Relations Board and seeking to dismantle the whole institution. He in turn is propped up by those who are unwittingly opposing their own self-interest, and direly need political education — education that unions could, should, and sometimes do provide their members. I recently got to speak to some union leaders in Illinois and Wisconsin and every one emphasized the conversations they were having with members, telling their fellow union siblings that a Trump administration threatened their livelihoods directly. But there is much more to be done. Labor as an anti-fascist force requires deeper organizing, more resources, more conversations, and a shift in how unions see their role in society. It’s time to shift into being a more comprehensive force for good, breaking out of narrow lanes and building transformative power rather than aiming for limited objectives.

Takers, not makers – living in a two-tier world

Equals Bulletin

A fantastic year for 10 men. The wealth of the world’s ten richest men grew on average by almost $100 million a day —even if they lost 99% of their wealth overnight, they would remain billionaires. What if you saved $1,000 every day since the first humans, 315,000 years ago? You still wouldn't be as rich as these 10 blokes.

The Root of All Evil

Michelle Teheux, Untrickled

… money isn’t the root of all evil

Love of money is.

The problem isn’t money, it’s greed. I’m not aware of any spiritual tradition other than the GOP’s weirdly perverted form of Christianity that doesn’t frown on greed.

(Oligarchs will) be the real powers behind the throne, and the policies they’ll favor will result in more money going into the pockets of the few and less money going into the pockets of the rest of us.

The money those American oligarchs are hoarding would be enough to fix any number of issues, and I don’t mean by simply seizing their fortunes and giving the money away to one good cause or another.

About Michelle Teheux

I’m a writer in central Illinois. If you like my work, subscribe to me here or on Medium. My latest non-fiction book is Strapped: Fighting for the soul of the American working class. My latest novel is The Trailer Park Rules.

All wealthy families are alike; each poor family is poor in its own way.
— Leo Tolstoy, if he had written about a trailer park

For residents of the Loire Mobile Home Park, surviving means understanding which rules to follow and which to break. Each has landed in the trailer park for wildly different reasons.

Jonesy is a failed journalist with one dream left. Angel is the kind of irresponsible single mother society just shakes its head about, and her daughter Maya is the kid everybody overlooks. Jimmy and Janiece Jackson wanted to be the first in their families to achieve the American dream, but all the positive attitude in the world can’t solve their predicament. Darren is a disabled man trying to enjoy his life despite a dark past. Kaitlin is a former stripper with a sugar daddy, while Shirley is an older lady who has come down in the world and lives in denial. Nancy runs the park like a tyrant but finds out when a larger corporation takes over that she’s not different from the residents.

When the new owners jack up the lot rent, the lives of everyone in the park shift dramatically and in some cases tragically.

Welcome to the Loire Mobile Home Park! Please observe all rules.