Well, I had to chuckle watching Oprah yesterday, when she had all of these folks on talking about how America isn’t a classless society, and that the “American Dream” that any little boy or girl can grow up to be President (or better still a CEO who resigns for $210M) is dead.
Doesn’t Oprah read this blog? I posted an article a while back about how the gap between the RICH and the POOR (in Canada at least) is definitely widening. Oprah’s glances of shock and surprise about how 1% of Americans control 40% of the wealth and that these rich folk, live lives that most Americans would never dream of, were classic “Theatre Fou”. She had a Johnson & Johnson heir who makes films (and is supported by his family) about how this Class Gap exists, and Oprah asked, “Do you think you’ll get cut out of the will for this?”, I almost fell off my couch laughing. At least this heir was honest enough to say, “I hope not”.
The fact that Oprah was talking about this was the “Coup de Grace” on this, one of the richest women in America and most powerful, talking about how folks can’t get ahead. She did it, yet she laments others can’t? There is a dichotomy there, but I am not sure what it is. Is she saying she was “lucky”, and that she is an exception? Not sure.
Truth: There are incredibly rich People in Canada and America, who have never had to work a day in their lives to “earn” it. CEO’s in most fortune 500 companies make more in 1 day than a great deal of average households do all year. The working poor are increasing as a percentage of the total population.
I think most folks “get” this, but I didn’t really get the sense that their was a resolution to the expose that Oprah was doing, it was simply exposing that their is a Class Society in America (wish that was the Daily Double question).
How can you change it? Give opportunities to the less fortunate? Make sure our education system gives kids opportunities, instead of frustrating them and causing them to drop out? Make Universities available and affordable for EVERYONE? These are a start, but not pious rants about how TERRIBLE it is, that is for sure (much like this one). There is your dichotomy from me (he complains yet does not offer any concrete solutions). I should run for office.
Great post. I watched Oprah yesterday, too, and just posted on this topic. Oprah said she didn’t believe in luck, but that she did believe in hard work. That’s a little naive, I think. I, too, found it ironic that the richest woman in America was going on an on about this topic. However, I was impressed that she covered it period, because her show is terribly fluffy and generally not worth watching anymore.