The Wealth Train
Imagine there are only 100 Americans and they all live on a train with 100 cars. The cars are distributed by the amount of wealth that each person holds.*
The front HALF of the train – First class
ONE person lives on the entire first half of the train. Yes, ONE person has FIFTY cars. It’s very roomie up there. They even have a hanger car for their Gulf Stream and a dry dock car for the yacht. But don’t worry, the cars are large and there’s still room for the rest of folks on the train.
The next 38 cars – Business class
The next 9 people share 26 cars. This part of the train is spacious and clean. Not surprisingly, the schools are quite good.
The 10 people behind them get to share the next 12 cars. It’s still pretty cushy in this part of the train. Which makes sense considering only twenty people get the first 88 cars.
The back of the train – Coach
10 cars go to the next 30 people. That takes care of wealthiest half of Americans. 50 people get 98 cars on the train.
The last two cars – fully HALF of the people on the train
The last 2 cars are shared by the remaining 50 people, although the poorest 20 people aren’t even inside the train. They are hanging on to that last car from the outside. They are non-passengers.
Where are you on the train?
If your net worth (total assets minus total debt) is less than around $500,000, you are not in the first 88 cars on the train. If your net worth is less than $200,000 you’re in the last two cars of the train. If you have more debts than assets, you are outside the train hanging on. You are a non-passenger.
Why this matters
In this country everyone, even non-passengers, gets a vote. But the people in the front of the train tend to make all the big decisions. Often, someone from the back of the train gets elected. They move toward the front of the train, decide it’s a nice place and then do whatever they can to stay, all the while forgetting the people back in the last two cars.
People in the front of the train don’t want to give up their cars. They don’t want the people in the back of the train to know there are 98 cars where there’s plenty of room. The front of the train people need the back of the train people to produce the wealth to keep the train going. They need the people in the last two cars to produce the food, make their clothes and keep the Gulf Stream running. The people in the front make sure food and entertainment get to the back. Although the further back you go the lower the quality of the food.
The people in the last two cars don’t want to give up their cars either. It’s all they’ve ever known. The people in the front constantly remind the people in the back that there are 20 people out there, trying to get on the train. If the non-passengers get on the train, those last 2 cars will be even more crowded.
The 50 people in the last two cars don’t often think of looking to the 98 cars in the front of the train for a little more space. Many of the people in the front of the train have convinced them it would be wrong to do that. They go so far as to demonize the people on the train who want the train to be more equitable. There are also plenty of people in the front of the train who want it to be more equitable.
Many of the people on the back of the train are convinced that their problem is the 20 non-passengers wanting on the train – not that there are 50 cars in the front with ONE person. Or that half of the people on a 100 car train are stuck in TWO cars.
Why care about this train?
Access to health care
The people in the back of the train can’t afford health care. Actually, no one on the train can afford health care except the one guy who has the first 50 cars. If everyone on the train got together, they could afford to help the sick people on the train. Although the guy in the front might have to give up a car or two.
He and those in the front of train who got there by making a profit from health insurance don’t want to give up anything. They want more cars, not less. They don’t want all the people on the train to get together to help the sick. They have convinced many people in the back of the train that it’s a bad idea. However, the people in the back are catching onto this one.
Education
Only 10 people in the front of the train can afford college. Maybe fewer. Once again, if all the people on the train decided to get together and fund college education the whole train would get shinier. Although the 10 people in the front might have to give up part of a car. Maybe they could just put all their Gulf Streams in the same hanger car.
Taxes
Remember that there is one guy in the front of the train with 50 cars. Fifty cars is not enough for him. He wants more. He has proposed “tax reform” which will give him more cars. He will take them from the last 12 cars. He says that if the people in the last 12 cars of train agree give him yet another car, he’ll add some cars to the train. He has never added cars to the train even though he has been promising to add cars since 1980. He is lying. The people in the back of the train are catching on to this too.
See for yourself
The next time a congressman passes a bill or a president makes a proposal, try to figure out who on the train benefits from that bill. Is it good for the whole train or just the people in the front? There are ways to make the train better for all of us. We can make the train more equitable. Our system is set up to allow us to do this but it demands our time and attention.
Fix the Train
If you’re reading this, you already know how to fix the train. Pay attention, show up, get involved, vote, call your congressman, call your senator, run for office and do not give up. We cannot fix the train, or anything else, with apathy or cynicism.
Hat Tips and Gulf Streams
The idea for this article started with the movie Snowpiercer. The repeating reference to Gulf Streams comes from seeing the Aspen airport over a holiday weekend. It looks like a Walmart parking lot, except with Gulf Streams. If you want to see the front half of the train, go to Aspen. They won’t let you in the private cars, but you can see them from the outside.
*Data
I used the 2013 Federal Reserve Data to distribute the train cars among the 100 people. You can see how the train has changed since 1989.
| Bottom 10 Percent | Decile | Top 10 Percent | ||||||||
| 11th to 20th | 21st to 30th | 31st to 40th | 41st to 50th | 51st to 60th | 61st to 70th | 71st to 80th | 81st to 90th | |||
| 1989 | -0.2 | 0.0 | 0.3 | 0.9 | 1.9 | 3.2 | 5.0 | 7.8 | 13.6 | 67.5 |
| 1992 | -0.3 | 0.1 | 0.4 | 1.1 | 2.0 | 3.3 | 5.2 | 7.8 | 12.9 | 67.5 |
| 1995 | -0.3 | 0.1 | 0.5 | 1.1 | 2.1 | 3.3 | 4.9 | 7.4 | 12.4 | 68.5 |
| 1998 | -0.3 | 0.1 | 0.4 | 1.0 | 1.9 | 3.1 | 4.7 | 7.4 | 12.5 | 69.3 |
| 2001 | -0.2 | 0.1 | 0.3 | 0.9 | 1.7 | 2.7 | 4.4 | 7.2 | 12.7 | 70.2 |
| 2004 | -0.2 | 0.1 | 0.3 | 0.8 | 1.6 | 2.7 | 4.3 | 7.2 | 13.2 | 70.0 |
| 2007 | -0.2 | 0.1 | 0.3 | 0.8 | 1.6 | 2.7 | 4.3 | 6.7 | 11.7 | 72.1 |
| 2010 | -0.7 | 0.0 | 0.2 | 0.5 | 1.1 | 2.1 | 3.6 | 6.1 | 12.1 | 75.0 |
| 2013 | -0.7 | 0.0 | 0.2 | 0.5 | 1.1 | 2.0 | 3.6 | 6.0 | 11.7 | 75.7 |