THE RATIONIST

Property monopolized, or in the Possession of a Few is a Curse to Mankind. We should preserve not an Absolute Equality – this is unnecessary, but preserve all from extreme Poverty, and all others from extravagant Riches.

John Adams

A Genuine Republican Measure: Ten Thousand to One.

In 1776, America’s top household owned less than 1,000x the national median household net worth. By 1950, that figure increased to around 40,000x. In 2022, it exceeded 2,000,000x. Since World War II, over $30 trillion has been diverted from labor to capital relative to the 1947 labor share run-rate. The richest 1% is wealthier than the entire middle class. The middle third of American households own less than 10% of American wealth; the middle 60% owns barely 25%. Such extreme wealth concentration subsists at the expense of ordinary workers: After 50 years of stagnation, wages fast fall behind living expenses. The median bank account balance is $5,000. Most Americans live paycheck-to-paycheck and have under $1,000 in savings.

This rising financial insecurity of ordinary households, united with their growing awareness that markets are rigged and the government is inept, creates America’s greatest political challenges: The middle class declines. Upward mobility dwindles. Pessimism intensifies. Political faction escalates. Elections lose credibility. The people turn against capitalism. Socialism gains appeal. Violence looms. Crime festers. Mob rule and demagogues and authoritarianism come to destroy democracy, just as the ancient Greeks and Romans experienced, just as the Founding Fathers warned.

To revive our middle class, promote upward mobility, restore law and order, reduce racial disparities, depolarize society, redeem capitalism, silence demagogues, avert socialism, prevent authoritarianism, repatriate capital, protect labor, free our markets of parasitism and corruption, and preserve the democratic-republican model of government, WE SHOULD BENCHMARK OUR ECONOMY AGAINST THE NATIONAL MEDIAN HOUSEHOLD NET WORTH THROUGH ENFORCEMENT OF AN IMPARTIAL AND INCORRUPTIBLE MATHEMATICAL HOUSEHOLD WEALTH RATIO. 

Going forward, we should roll back America’s wealth aspect ratio to 10,000:1, capping future household wealth at 10,000x the median ($120k/$1.2bn). This will ensure that America’s top households enjoy no future gains except in rational proportion to those enjoyed by America’s middle households. For where the top is anchored to the median, rising and falling lockstep with the median, those controlling the market must cause the median to be raised in order to raise their own outcomes. Under this 10,000:1 median-top wealth aspect ratio, enterprise shall be unfettered by regulations and taxes, the billionaire class shall be aligned with the middle class, the financial interest shall be deployed in the service of the general interest, and the genius of pecuniary minds shall be focused upon nullifying all forces which depress workers and the middle class. In the middle class republic thence recovered, capitalism and democracy shall flourish together, distant from the frontiers of extreme Poverty and extravagant Riches.

In 1776, America’s rallying cry was: No taxation without representation. Today, let it be: NO GAINS FOR THE MIDDLE, NO GAINS FOR THE TOP. 

Let us proceed accordingly, by the numbers:

THE RATIONIST

TWELVE ESSAYS INTRODUCING A PROPOSED AMENDMENT TO THE CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA TO PRESERVE THE DEMOCRATIC-REPUBLICAN MODEL OF GOVERNMENT.

ADDRESSED TO THE PEOPLE OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA.

BY GRACCHUS, A LOYAL CITIZEN.

I.

NUMBER ONE:
NO GAINS FOR THE MIDDLE, NO GAINS FOR THE TOP.

II.

NUMBER TWO:
THAT MANKIND IS PROGRAMMED FOR POLITICAL REVOLUTION.

III.

NUMBER THREE:
THE CYCLE OF POLITICAL REVOLUTION: ANACYCLOSIS.

IV.

NUMBER FOUR:
THAT AN INDEPENDENT MIDDLE CLASS IS THE CONDITION PRECEDENT OF AUTHENTIC DEMOCRACY.

V.

NUMBER FIVE:
THAT THE SOCIETY OF THE MIDDLE CLASS IS BEST.

VI.

NUMBER SIX:
THAT EXTREME WEALTH CONCENTRATION IS THE GRIM REAPER OF DEMOCRACY.

VII.

NUMBER SEVEN:
THAT EXTREME WEALTH CONCENTRATION DESTROYED THE ROMAN REPUBLIC.

VIII.

NUMBER EIGHT:
THAT THE CONSTITUTION IS POWERLESS TO PRESERVE THE DEMOCRATIC-REPUBLICAN MODEL OF GOVERNMENT.

IX.

NUMBER NINE:
THAT AMERICA’S AUTHORITARIAN POLITICAL TRAJECTORY ARISES FROM MIDDLE CLASS INSECURITY.

X.

NUMBER TEN:
THAT CORRECTING EXTREME WEALTH CONCENTRATION REQUIRES THE ADOPTION OF A NEW MARKET INCENTIVE.

XI.

NUMBER ELEVEN:
A GENUINE REPUBLICAN MEASURE.

XII.

NUMBER TWELVE:
THE AMERICAN IMPLEMENTATION: TEN THOUSAND TO ONE.

THE RATIONIST

Property monopolized, or in the Possession of a Few is a Curse to Mankind. We should preserve not an Absolute Equality – this is unnecessary, but preserve all from extreme Poverty, and all others from extravagant Riches.

John Adams

A Genuine Republican Measure: Ten Thousand to One.

In 1776, America’s top household owned less than 1,000x the national median household net worth. By 1950, that figure increased to around 40,000x. In 2022, it exceeded 2,000,000x. Since World War II, over $30 trillion has been diverted from labor to capital relative to the 1947 labor share run-rate. The richest 1% is wealthier than the entire middle class. The middle third of American households own less than 10% of American wealth; the middle 60% owns barely 25%. Such extreme wealth concentration subsists at the expense of ordinary workers: After 50 years of stagnation, wages fast fall behind living expenses. The median bank account balance is $5,000. Most Americans live paycheck-to-paycheck and have under $1,000 in savings.

This rising financial insecurity of ordinary households, united with their growing awareness that markets are rigged and the government is inept, creates America’s greatest political challenges: The middle class declines. Upward mobility dwindles. Pessimism intensifies. Political faction escalates. Elections lose credibility. The people turn against capitalism. Socialism gains appeal. Violence looms. Crime festers. Mob rule and demagogues and authoritarianism come to destroy democracy, just as the ancient Greeks and Romans experienced, just as the Founding Fathers warned.

To revive our middle class, promote upward mobility, restore law and order, reduce racial disparities, depolarize society, redeem capitalism, silence demagogues, avert socialism, prevent authoritarianism, repatriate capital, protect labor, free our markets of parasitism and corruption, and preserve the democratic-republican model of government, WE SHOULD BENCHMARK OUR ECONOMY AGAINST THE NATIONAL MEDIAN HOUSEHOLD NET WORTH THROUGH ENFORCEMENT OF AN IMPARTIAL AND INCORRUPTIBLE MATHEMATICAL HOUSEHOLD WEALTH RATIO. 

Going forward, we should roll back America’s wealth aspect ratio to 10,000:1, capping future household wealth at 10,000x the median ($120k/$1.2bn). This will ensure that America’s top households enjoy no future gains except in rational proportion to those enjoyed by America’s middle households. For where the top is anchored to the median, rising and falling lockstep with the median, those controlling the market must cause the median to be raised in order to raise their own outcomes. Under this 10,000:1 median-top wealth aspect ratio, enterprise shall be unfettered by regulations and taxes, the billionaire class shall be aligned with the middle class, the financial interest shall be deployed in the service of the general interest, and the genius of pecuniary minds shall be focused upon nullifying all forces which depress workers and the middle class. In the middle class republic thence recovered, capitalism and democracy shall flourish together, distant from the frontiers of extreme Poverty and extravagant Riches.

In 1776, America’s rallying cry was: No taxation without representation. Today, let it be: NO GAINS FOR THE MIDDLE, NO GAINS FOR THE TOP. 

Let us proceed accordingly, by the numbers:

THE RATIONIST

TWELVE ESSAYS INTRODUCING A PROPOSED AMENDMENT TO THE CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA TO PRESERVE THE DEMOCRATIC-REPUBLICAN MODEL OF GOVERNMENT.

ADDRESSED TO THE PEOPLE OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA.

BY GRACCHUS, A LOYAL CITIZEN.

I.

NUMBER ONE:
NO GAINS FOR THE MIDDLE, NO GAINS FOR THE TOP.

II.

NUMBER TWO:
THAT MANKIND IS PROGRAMMED FOR POLITICAL REVOLUTION.

III.

NUMBER THREE:
THE CYCLE OF POLITICAL REVOLUTION: ANACYCLOSIS.

IV.

NUMBER FOUR:
THAT AN INDEPENDENT MIDDLE CLASS IS THE CONDITION PRECEDENT OF AUTHENTIC DEMOCRACY.

V.

NUMBER FIVE:
THAT THE SOCIETY OF THE MIDDLE CLASS IS BEST.

VI.

NUMBER SIX:
THAT EXTREME WEALTH CONCENTRATION IS THE GRIM REAPER OF DEMOCRACY.

VII.

NUMBER SEVEN:
THAT EXTREME WEALTH CONCENTRATION DESTROYED THE ROMAN REPUBLIC.

VIII.

NUMBER EIGHT:
THAT THE CONSTITUTION IS POWERLESS TO PRESERVE THE DEMOCRATIC-REPUBLICAN MODEL OF GOVERNMENT.

IX.

NUMBER NINE:
THAT AMERICA’S AUTHORITARIAN POLITICAL TRAJECTORY ARISES FROM MIDDLE CLASS INSECURITY.

X.

NUMBER TEN:
THAT CORRECTING EXTREME WEALTH CONCENTRATION REQUIRES THE ADOPTION OF A NEW MARKET INCENTIVE.

XI.

NUMBER ELEVEN:
A GENUINE REPUBLICAN MEASURE.

XII.

NUMBER TWELVE:
THE AMERICAN IMPLEMENTATION: TEN THOUSAND TO ONE.

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