Author: We Live in an Oligarchy that Is Not Allowing Wealth to Spread Across Society
About 20% of Americans are white nationalists, Ricks adds
While the US economy appears good, with record-low unemployment — and it seems like some Americans are simply choosing not to work — that's the case because of wages, according to author and two-time Pulitzer Prize journalist Thomas Ricks.
Meanwhile, Ricks estimates that about 20 percent of the American population are white nationalists.
“People are choosing not to be paid these lousy wages. If you offer them $25 or $35 an hour people would come out and work. But billionaires are holding on the too much cash in American society,” Ricks told the co-hosts of MSNBC's Morning Joe Wednesday, in an indictment of the nation's severe income inequality. “They’re not allowing the wealth to be spread and they've, I think, bought the political system.”
The federal minimum wage has remained a paltry $7.25 per hour since 2009.
“I think we live in an oligarchy now that is not allowing wealth to spread across society. If they paid their fair share of taxes, we’d have a very different society,” said Ricks, whose latest book, Waging a Good War: A Military History of the Civil Rights Movement, 1954-1968, will soon be published.
Meanwhile, some 20 percent of the American people are white nationalists, but that minority has been emboldened by former president Donald Trump and his allies, Ricks added.
“I think that there is a 20 percent of America that basically is white nationalists. That in recent years felt permission to act out on that, and were given permission by the president and the Republican Party,” he said. “I think the large bulk of Americans don’t like white nationalism, especially violent white nationalism, and they are reacting to it now and saying enough is enough. You people go back under your rock.”
Please consider supporting our work by joining our Patreon for as little as $5…
Also, please subscribe…