The Rising Tide

Today, America stands closer to 1890 than 1950. Three people  — Bezos, Musk, and Buffett — own more wealth than the bottom 50% combined. Corporations write the laws through lobbyists. Healthcare, education, and housing are luxuries, not rights. Billionaires like Elon Musk fund political campaigns while paying less in taxes than you. What we see isn't failure. It’s success — for the wealthy. The system was redesigned to make sure they win, and we lose. But history offers hope: Workers rose up before. Laws were changed before. Power shifted before. It can happen again — if we act together. No kings. No lords. No masters. Sources and Further Reading: Wealth Inequality in America — Institute for Policy Studies The Divide: American Injustice in the Age of the Wealth Gap  by Matt Taibbi Recommended Books: Occupy the Economy: Challenging Capitalism  by Richard Wolff and David Barsamian Winners Take All  by Anand Giridharadas Action Steps: Join labor, tenant, and activist mo...

Starting in the 1970s, billionaires plotted their comeback. The "New Deal Order" — where workers had power — scared them. So they fought back through  neoliberalism : Deregulation  — tearing down financial and environmental protections. Union-busting  — crushing organized labor. Privatization  — selling public goods to corporations. Tax cuts for the rich  — draining government revenue. Globalization  — shipping jobs overseas. Figures like  Ronald Reagan, Margaret Thatcher , and corporate think tanks like the  Heritage Foundation  led the charge. Today, we live with the consequences: Skyrocketing inequality. Crumbling public services. Endless wars and corporate bailouts. A government serving donors, not voters. The neoliberal counterattack was no accident. It was  class war, fought from the top down. Sources and Further Reading: Neoliberalism Explained  — The Guardian The Shock Doctrine  by Naomi Klein Recommended Books: Underst...

Unchecked greed triggered the collapse of 1929 — the Great Depression. Banks gambled and failed. Businesses shuttered. Unemployment hit 25%. Millions lost homes and farms. The system had failed the people. The elites tried to hold on to power, but mass suffering forced change. Franklin D. Roosevelt’s New Deal  wasn’t born from kindness. It was born from fear: fear that without reform, revolution would come. The New Deal brought: Social Security Unemployment insurance Public jobs programs Banking regulations The right to unionize It didn't dismantle capitalism — but it  reined it in. It showed that massive public investment  for  the people could stabilize society. The lesson? Change happens when elites fear the people more than they fear losing profit. Sources and Further Reading: FDR and the New Deal — U.S. National Archives A People’s History of the United States  by Howard Zinn (Depression-era chapters) Recommended Books: The New Deal: A Modern History  ...

As robber barons tightened their grip, working people realized that survival meant solidarity. From the ashes of crushed strikes grew powerful labor organizations: The Knights of Labor  (founded 1869) welcomed workers across race and gender. The American Federation of Labor  (1886) focused on skilled trades. Later,  Industrial Workers of the World  (IWW) fought for all workers, “One Big Union.” Workers organized  strikes, boycotts, sit-ins , and political campaigns. They demanded: 8-hour workdays Safe conditions Living wages An end to child labor Despite relentless violence from private armies like the Pinkertons, and government crackdowns, the labor movement won key victories: Laws mandating minimum wages Workplace safety regulations Social Security The right to collectively bargain Labor unions proved a simple truth: When the many organize, they can defeat the few. But every win was fought for, and every gain was — and still is — under constant threat. Sources...

  In the late 19th century, America was a democracy on paper — but an oligarchy in practice. The so-called  Gilded Age  (roughly 1870–1900) saw titans like  John D. Rockefeller, Andrew Carnegie, J.P. Morgan, and Cornelius Vanderbilt  seize enormous wealth and power. They monopolized industries, from oil to steel to banking. They bought politicians wholesale. They bent the courts to their will. They used violence against workers demanding fair pay. This was not "free enterprise." It was government and business fused together, serving the few at the top — while farmers, immigrants, factory workers, and small business owners sank deeper into poverty. The media largely acted as cheerleaders, convincing everyday Americans that the wealthy deserved their fortunes because of "hard work" and "genius" — ignoring the bribery, price-fixing, and brutal exploitation beneath it all. Resistance was met with deadly force: The Great Railroad Strike of 1877  — crushed by mi...

Introduction: A Broken Promise For decades, Americans were sold a dream: if you worked hard, followed the rules, and played fair, you could have a good life. A home, a family, a future. That dream is dying — and it wasn't by accident. Today, housing is unaffordable. Health care is rationed by insurance companies. College means a lifetime of debt. Wages stagnate while billionaires hoard record profits. We are living through America's  Second Gilded Age  — a deliberate return to the days when corporations openly ruled the government and ordinary Americans were treated as disposable. But history shows us something else, too: The people have risen before. And we can rise again. I. The First Gilded Age: Corporate Kings In the late 1800s, a handful of men — Rockefeller, Carnegie, Morgan — built empires of oil, steel, and finance. They didn't do it fairly. They bought politicians, crushed competitors, broke unions, and turned the government into a tool for private profit. The Chic...