Advancements in communication and computer technologies, medicine, transportation, and other fields are testaments to the immense power of the creative human mind. Humanity has accomplished what was once deemed possible only in the imaginations of visionary science fiction writers just a few decades ago. However, too little creativity has been applied where it is most needed, on ways to reverse our ominous social decline trends and create economic and political systems that best serve the majority of people.

Discussions on the root causes of our social problems and possible solutions in the media and academic institutions have been too narrow in scope. University political science and economics departments commonly adhere to outdated ideologies that restrain policy recommendations within boundaries that do not significantly disturb the status quo. This is due to the elites’ influence.

Almost any institution or person has a price for acting in the service of elites; however high it is, they have it. If income inequality did not grow from unjust to grotesque from 1975 to 2023, the lowest income 90% would have over $50 trillion more; instead, it went to the top 1%.^[1]

The top 1%’s power to corrupt our political system to serve them at the expense of the majority is overwhelming. In 2010, the Supreme Court’s “Citizens United” decision also gave corporations the rights to do so, and their ability to destroy democracy is even more extreme. In 2022, corporate profits totaled $11.6 trillion. Each year since the “Citizens United” decision, a small fraction of corporate profits funded the election campaigns of our “representatives.  After elections end, corporate elites also direct massive amounts of money to lobbying campaigns of elected and regulatory officials and to the “revolving door” between them and high paid corporate positions. As a result, policymakers have done little or nothing in response to many social decline trends threatening our nation’s survival or instituted public policies that contributed to the decline, such as tax cuts for the rich and corporations. We have a government of the 1%, by the 1%, and for the 1%.

 The political system determines economic outcomes through a wide variety of government policies of which our corporate elite is well aware. So they devote immense resources to corrupting it to serve them at the expense of the rest of us. The policies include subsidies to businesses and sectors, policies on taxation, trade, and business regulation, including antitrust laws and their enforcement, the funding and character of social welfare programs, and investments in education, infrastructure, and R&D.

Corporate elite’s political system investments have brought high returns. For example, from 1975 to 2023, tax rates on corporate profits dropped from 48% to 21%. This 27% difference is highly significant for two reasons: corporate profits are huge, and corporate ownership is extremely concentrated in an economic elite. The total value of corporations listed on U.S. stock exchanges owned by the top 1% is more than 16 times the value held by the bottom 80% and more than the bottom 99%.^[2] Corporate profits for the four quarters ending April 1, 2023, totaled $13.9 trillion, so the 27% was a staggering $3.75 trillion reduction in public funds in just one year.^[3]

Let’s see what we could have had for the $3.75 trillion instead of a more obscenely wealthy corporate elite whose additional wealth empowered them to be more socially destructive:

1. The total of all tuition and fees paid by students at 2- and 4-year colleges and universities in the 2020-21 academic year was $81.9 billion—easily paid for out of the $3.75 trillion, leaving $3.67 trillion and making colleges and universities tuition and fee free.
2. The average monthly payment the 62.8 million Social Security recipients receive is $1,707/month. 40% of older Americans rely solely on Social Security for retirement income. Americans 65 and older are the fastest-growing age group who are homeless; by 2030, their numbers will triple. Homelessness is devastating for all, but older adults face additional risks and harm from the experience.^[4] (Approximately half of homeless single adults are ages 50 or older.) The Supplemental Security Income (SSI) program provides an average of $676/month to 7.45 million recipients.^[5] 53% of them rely on it for 90% or more of their income.^[6] A $500/month increase in Social Security and SSI benefits to everyone in these programs would substantially improve the lives tens of millions of them. It would cost $446 billion/year, leaving $3.23 trillion for immense improvements in the lives of tens of millions more Americans.
3. The average benefit per person for the 42 million receiving the USDA’s Supplemental Nutrition Assistance (SNAP) in fiscal year 2024 will be $189 per month, an $84 per person per month decline from the emergency allotments during the Covid-19 pandemic.^[7] Despite the SNAP program, 44.2 million people lived in households that had difficulty getting enough food to feed everyone in 2022.^[8] A doubling of 2022’s $119.4 billion SNAP budget would likely eliminate or nearly eliminate food insecurity in the U.S. The additional funds can both increase benefits per household and the number of households receiving them by increasing the maximum income threshold for eligibility. $3.11 trillion remains.
4. $48.5 billion in federal funds provided 10.2 million people in 5.2 million households rental assistance of all types.^[9] Due to underfunding, only 1/4 of eligible households receive rental assistance.^[10] An additional $146 billion will be sufficient to serve all eligible households and eliminate or nearly eliminate homelessness. $2.96 trillion remains.
5. 8 million K-12 public school teachers receive an average annual salary of $59,000. In total, they receive $224 billion.^[11] Public K–12 teachers are paid 19.2% less than similar workers in other occupations.^[12] Their salaries, stressful working conditions, and long hours are causing many teachers to leave their jobs and is making recruitment difficult. Nearly 9 in 10 public school districts are finding it difficult to hire the number of teachers they need.^[13] Increasing teacher pay by 50% would bring it up to 21% higher than similar workers in other occupations and end the teacher shortage. This pay disparity is appropriate considering the extraordinary social importance of their role. Above all, our society needs a well-educated citizenry best able to contribute to it. A 50% teacher pay increase will cost $112 billion. $2.85 trillion remains.
6. Broadband internet’s average monthly cost is $61.07.^[14] Assuming we can extend broadband to all 131.2 U.S. households at the same average cost per month the total would be $96.1 billion. The U.S. pays close to double the average broadband costs of OECD nations, so $96.1 billion is unnecessarily large.^[15] It would best serve our nation if we used eminent domain laws to purchase broadband infrastructure from current internet providers and offer broadband free as a public service at a much lower cost. However, let’s assume that in the short term we use public funds to pay the private internet providers their exorbitant fees totaling $96.1 billion so we can offer broadband as a public service to all households for no charge. $2.75 trillion remains.
7. The annual operating expenses of mass transit agencies nationally totals $50 billion; 36.2% or $18.1 billion is sourced federally.^[16] Eliminating local governments and users’ costs would require $31.9 billion in additional federal funding per year. With their savings, local governments’ can add to or extend bus or rail lines or increase hours of operation. It’s in the national interest to make mass transit free because it will encourage more people to use it. It’s more efficient mode of transportation significantly reduces energy consumption and the associated pollution. Free mass transit fares will also benefit car users by reducing traffic congestion. $2.72 trillion remains.

After beneficially transforming the lives of tens of millions of Americans and significantly improving the lives of tens of millions more through the above federal expenditures, we have only tapped into 28% of the $3.75 trillion that we would have collected with the corporate tax rates of 1975. Instead, we let elites have more money to move further beyond what they need to live a lifestyle of historic extravagance. Below is how we can use the remaining $2.72 trillion for a radical social advancement that will benefit all Americans immensely, either directly or through its economic stimulus effect

8. We can give everyone over 18 years of age $878 per month ($10,536 per year) as a “Universal Basic Income.” Universal Basic Income (UBI) systems have all citizens receive the same constant amount of public funds monthly to help protect them from extreme economic hardship. UBI can be a potential solution to various social and economic problems. Here are some of its benefits:

• UBI will serve as a safety net for those displaced by the widespread alteration in the character and amount of work that will occur due to advancements in automation and artificial intelligence.
• It will significantly reduce poverty levels and income inequality by most benefiting those in lower-income brackets. Poverty has high economic and social costs. Accounting for the lower economic productivity, increased health and crime costs, and increased costs resulting from child poverty yields a total cost of $1.03 trillion per year.^[17]
• UBI will also enable some lower-income people to save money, so it will reduce wealth inequality.
• A basic level of financial security will motivate more people to pursue education, training, or start their own businesses, which will advance their and national productivity.
• Alleviating financial desperation will lead to a reduction in crime and foster a greater sense of community and social cohesion, and increase civic engagement.
• UBI will reduce the stress and anxiety due to financial insecurity, which will improve mental and physical health. This will further improve people’s productivity.
• UBI supports socially valuable unpaid work, such as caregiving and volunteer work.
• During periods of economic downturn or crises like the COVID-19 pandemic, UBI will help to provide financial stability to individuals and families and maintain the consumer spending needed for economic stability.
• Since UBI would boost consumer spending, it would increase demand for workers and, consequently, wages. UBI will also increase low wages by giving people enough security to have bargaining power. Workers would not have to accept unjustly low-paying jobs because they have a guaranteed income to fall back on.

The $878 monthly UBI would not be taxed or accounted for in determining the amount of or eligibility for other government benefit payments. $878 monthly is about 86% of a full-time minimum wage worker’s income after paying Social Security and Medicare taxes.

Some may claim the above analysis may not be valid because higher corporate tax rates would reduce economic growth and the associated corporate profits. However, many people have debunked this tenet of “trickle-down” economics, including economists at The Economic Policy Institute. Their study of corporate tax rates and economic growth since 1947 found a positive correlation between the two—growth tends to be higher in response to higher tax rates.^[18]

The main objections to instituting a UBI on a national level is its high cost and potential to reduce people’s motivation to be economically productive.  We have seen that we can easily support an $878 per month UBI.

People cannot achieve their life’s goals with just an $878 per month income, so they will seek employment, and the UBI will help them do so in ways that best serves their interests and uses their abilities. No one wants to be or wants to be seen as a useless member of their community.

Several localized UBI pilot programs have demonstrated that economic productivity will not be negatively affected; most show positive effects:

A pilot program in Stockton, Ca, found an increase in full-time employment of people receiving UBI. In February 2019, 28% of the people in the program had full-time employment. One year later, 40% of UBI recipients were employed full-time. Researchers found several reasons for the increase: UBI increased recipients’ ability to reduce the number of part-time shifts or gig work in order to apply for better employment. It also enabled some to complete internships, training, or coursework that led to full-time employment or promotions.  Furthermore, alleviating constant financial strain generated increased bandwidth for goal-setting and risk-taking, both previously limited by scarcity. The increase in full-time employment and their average improved productivity due to improved skills and emotional health increased recipients’ overall productivity.^[19]

Manitoba, Canada, also had a UBI experiment. It demonstrated that providing a guaranteed income did not significantly discourage primary household income earners from working full-time. It also showed positive impacts on mental health. There was a decrease in hospital visits related to mental health issues due to the alleviation of financial stress. Also, their experiment showed that by reducing financial barriers, individuals were better able to pursue higher education, leading to long-term benefits for both individuals and society.^[20]

Analysis of Finland’s UBI program also revealed that a basic income positively impacts employment. People on their basic income were more likely to be employed than those in the control group. Researchers found that their productivity was also enhanced by UBI recipients’ higher level of confidence in their cognitive skills, including their ability to remember, learn, and concentrate, than the control group. Research has found that people experiencing scarcity and uncertainty tend to suffer from reduced bandwidth, shortened time horizons, and feelings of inadequacy or helplessness.^[21]

After learning of the immense benefits enabled by returning the corporate tax rate to the level of 1975 to our nation and almost everyone in it, do you think our nation’s elite will welcome the increase? No, they won’t. And any proposal to do so will result in a rabid and robust response to destroy it. Given their wealth and power, they will succeed unless we fundamentally advance our political system.

Above all, almost all elites want not just to maintain their immense wealth and power but to increase it, regardless of the effect on the rest of us. They think their taxes are too high, and their political and mass media system influence resulted in one of their own, Donald Trump, in the presidency whose major accomplishment there was a reduction in taxes on corporate profits and very high-income individuals. He cut the corporate tax rate from 35% to 21% and the highest income tax rate on individuals from 39.6% to 37%, and doubled the amount that the wealthiest households can pass on tax-free to their heirs, from $11 million per couple to $22 million.^[22] Since 1975, marginal tax rates on very high-income individuals have dropped from 70% to 37%.

Despite the huge tax reductions on top incomes and corporate profits, most elites think their taxes remain too high.  To express their dissatisfaction with the reductions, corporate elites deploy elaborate schemes to hide profits from tax authorities. And the highest-income Americans also hide much of their income from tax authorities. The top 5% of income earners’ elaborate tax avoidance and evasion schemes have succeeded in hiding more than 20% of their earnings from the Internal Revenue Service. The top 1% of earners account for more than a third of all unpaid federal taxes, and as a result, just from this 1% alone, federal revenues are reduced by $175 billion annually.^[23]

However, the abuses of and injustices in our tax code are most extreme in a smaller segment of our population than 1%. For example, Jeff Bezos, in 2007, then a multibillionaire and has been the world’s richest man and now is the third richest, paid $0.00 in federal income taxes. He achieved the feat again in 2011. In 2018, multibillionaire Tesla founder Elon Musk, who in 2023 was the richest person in the world, also paid no federal income taxes.^[24]

The tax cuts elites have accomplished for themselves in the United States have global implications. The United Nation’s Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights described them in his report after his mission to the United States in December 2017: “The tax cuts will fuel a global race to the bottom, thus further reducing the revenues needed by Governments to ensure basic social protection and meet their human rights obligations… the United States remains a model whose policies other countries seek to emulate.” He also wrote that our “high child and youth poverty rates perpetuate the intergenerational transmission of poverty very effectively, and ensure that the American dream is rapidly becoming the American illusion. The equality of opportunity, which is so prized in theory, is in practice a myth, especially for minorities and women, but also for many middle-class White workers.”

Our nation’s most rapacious and ruthless pursuers of personal wealth and power are those most dedicated to capturing our political system, which has radically diverged from a democratic one, to protect and advance their wealth and power regardless of the social consequences.

Elections give the impression we have a democratic political system, but this is far from reality. Princeton University political scientists quantified how far. In their words, “The preferences of the average American appear to have only a minuscule, near-zero, statistically non-significant impact on public policy…Policymaking is dominated by powerful business organizations and a small number of affluent Americans.”^[25]

The difference in your ability and wealthy individuals’ and corporations’ ability to influence public policies is like the difference in the ability of a stone and a yacht to float on water. The amount the top 1% had in 1975 gave them sufficient influence in our political system to start the wealth transfer process; the 1%’s additional $50 trillion and historically high corporate profits have them now with far more than enough to continue it. We have a democracy in form only, not substance; like a dinosaur in a museum, that’s not a real dinosaur. As a result, our society is in the process of destroying itself.

Elites are setting the agenda for humanity’s future through their dominant role in economic, political, and media systems, and their influence on academia. As a result, they gain more wealth and power as our social safety nets are shredded. The rest of us want the opposite, but our voices are unheard as grotesque inequalities keep growing.  

From March 2020 to October 2021, U.S. billionaire wealth surged to $5 trillion, a 70% or $2.1 trillion increase. Most of this $2.1 trillion gain and the $5 trillion in wealth was untaxed. Seven hundred forty-five billionaires own two-thirds more wealth than the bottom 50% of U.S. households combined.^[26] But only 70% of Americans say the U.S. economic system unfairly favors the powerful.^[27] It would be significantly larger than 70% if we had well-functioning mass media and educational institutions. Most Americans do not understand how extreme our nation’s inequalities of wealth and income are. And too few know that they are economically and morally unjustifiable, and that their growth threatens our nation’s survival.

As elites rise beyond the stratosphere many Americans descend into hell. (Some elites will rise beyond the stratosphere literally on three of their rockets: Jeff Bezos’s, Richard Branson’s, and Elon Musk’s.) At least 600,000 are homeless, many living in tents on the sidewalks of major cities, 63.5 million sometimes can’t afford to buy the food they need,^[28] 110 million adults can’t afford to go to a doctor when sick, ^[29] 80 million can’t afford the drugs they are prescribed,^[30] and according to government statistics, 37.9 million live in poverty.^[31] Poverty is the fourth leading cause of death. It was associated with 183,000 deaths in 2019.^[32]

Government poverty statistics do not include the number of Americans incarcerated whose average income before incarceration was less than half that of the non-incarcerated population.^[33] In 2021, we had about 2 million incarcerated.^[34] The U.S. has an incarceration rate of 664 per 100,000 population, 5.1 times the incarceration rate of the UK (130 per 100,000), 9.6 times that of Germany (69 per 100,000), 7.1 times that of France (93 per 100,000), and 17.5 times the incarceration rate of Japan (38 per 100,000).^[35]

But since our ruling class is doing fantastically well, most are sociopathological to varying degrees, and our policymakers are in their pockets, they do nothing significant to end the injustices and human rights violations tens of millions of Americans experience. Our nation has more than sufficient resources to end them. Economic productivity is over 30 times higher than at the country’s founding.^[36]

Concentrating our nation’s wealth in a ruling class has them with historic amounts that come with a corresponding amount of power. Most of us know this is unwise. Enabling individuals to have overwhelming influence over society leads to the corruption of their character. This problem has been recognized for centuries; as Lord Acton famously said in 1887, “Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely.”^[37] We are experiencing the result of this dynamic on people who were extraordinarily immoral before the corrupting influence of extreme wealth and power.

Corporate elites’ personality characteristic tendencies are a consequence of the motives to be at the top of large corporations and the requirements to get and be there. The corporate world is often characterized by cutthroat competition in the climb up to the top of the corporate ladder. And the competition is most extreme in large corporations where the rewards at the top are massive. In this context, it is not surprising that ruthlessness, exploitativeness, narcissism, lack of empathy, selfishness, manipulativeness, greed, a desire for power, and egotism are personality characteristics that advantage people when they exist with excellent political skills.

Sociopathy and psychopathology are complex terms. Both involve a range of personality traits that include a lack of empathy, manipulation, and disregard for the rights of others. Since these traits advantage people in their rise up the corporate hierarchy, the qualification process for some of our nation’s most powerful positions is a kind of “filtering” that leaves the most ethical behind and sends some of our least ethical there. However, categorizing all large corporation elites as sociopathological or psychopathological is not correct.

A Stanford University professor determined that 12% of corporate leaders are psychopaths.^[38] (The prevalence of psychopathology in the general population is about 1%.) However, psychopathological tendencies extend beyond this 12%. He did not determine how far beyond or the correlation between the depth of psychopathology with the size of the corporation and status within it. The highest-status people in the largest corporations, where power and wealth are most concentrated, are more likely psychopathological. Corporate elites’ sociopathological and psychopathological tendencies are a major concern for society.

Top corporate managers are our society’s members most able to exploit everything to their advantage. With their political aptitude, institutional incentives, and unscrupulous morals guiding them, these people are extraordinarily destructive.

Although the pursuit of profit compels corporate managers to engage in unethical business practices, they have some discretion in how far beyond moral and legal boundaries they go. Some of their behaviors have been appalling, and many are hidden from view, but we can get a sense of their overall character by their effect.

[1] https://time.com/5888024/50-trillion-income-inequality-america/

[2] Federal Reserve, 2016 Survey of Consumer Finances, https://www.federalreserve.gov/econres/scfindex.htm Excel Extract File analysis

[3] https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/A053RC1Q027SBEA

[4] American Society on Aging, Homelessness Among Older Adults: An Emerging Crisis, Margot Kushel

[5] https://www.ssa.gov/policy/docs/quickfacts/stat_snapshot/ , https://www.nirsonline.org/2020/01/new-report-40-of-older-americans-rely-solely-on-social-security-for-retirement-income/

[6] https://www.ssa.gov/policy/docs/rsnotes/rsn2008-02.html

[7] https://www.cbpp.org/research/food-assistance/a-quick-guide-to-snap-eligibility-and-benefits

[8] https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2023/10/26/1208760054/food-insecurity-families-struggle-hunger-poverty

[9] https://www.cbpp.org/research/federal-rental-assistance-fact-sheets#US

[10] https://www.urban.org/urban-wire/one-four-americas-housing-assistance-lottery#:~:text=Today%2C%20only%2024%20percent%20of,wins%20the%20housing%20assistance%20lottery.

[11] https://nces.ed.gov/programs/coe/indicator/clr/public-school-teachers https://nces.ed.gov/programs/digest/d17/tables/dt17_211.60.asp

[12] https://www.epi.org/publication/solving-k-12-staffing-shortages/

[13] https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/education/2023/10/17/teacher-shortage-2023-us-schools-struggle-hiring/71208579007/

[14] https://www.broadbandsearch.net/blog/internet-costs-compared-worldwide#post-navigation-1.

[15] https://www.broadbandsearch.net/blog/internet-costs-compared-worldwide#post-navigation-1

[16] https://www.transit.dot.gov/sites/fta.dot.gov/files/2022-10/2021%20National%20Transit%20Summaries%20and%20Trends_1-0.pdf

[17] https://academic.oup.com/swr/article-abstract/42/2/73/4956930?redirectedFrom=fulltext&login=false

[18] https://www.epi.org/publication/ib364-corporate-tax-rates-and-economic-growth/

[19] https://www.stocktondemonstration.org/

[20] https://medium.com/@arjun_freeman/the-mincome-experiment-exploring-the-potential-of-universal-basic-income-1c8a821e33e1

[21] https://www.mckinsey.com/industries/social-sector/our-insights/an-experiment-to-inform-universal-basic-income

[22] https://www.cbpp.org/research/federal-tax/after-decades-of-costly-regressive-and-ineffective-tax-cuts-a-new-course-is

[23] http://gabriel-zucman.eu/files/GLRRZ2021.pdf

[24] https://www.propublica.org/article/the-secret-irs-files-trove-of-never-before-seen-records-reveal-how-the-wealthiest-avoid-income-tax

[25] https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/perspectives-on-politics/article/testing-theories-of-american-politics-elites-interest-groups-and-average-citizens/62327F513959D0A304D4893B382B992B

[26] https://inequality.org/great-divide/updates-billionaire-pandemic/

[27] https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2020/01/09/70-of-americans-say-u-s-economic-system-unfairly-favors-the-powerful/

[28] https://www.urban.org/sites/default/files/2023-03/As%20Inflation%20Squeezed%20Family%20Budgets%20Food%20Insecurity%20Increased%20between%202021%20and%202022.pdf The Urban Institute study found 24.6% of adults food insecure in December 2022. If this percentage is applied to the entire US population 82 million were food insecure.

[29] https://www.norc.org/content/dam/norc-org/pdfs/WHI%20Healthcare%20Costs%20Coverage%20and%20Policy%20Issue%20Brief.pdf  Norc 2018 survey found 44% of adults did not go to a doctor when they were sick or injured over the prior two months because they could not afford to.

[30] https://www.norc.org/content/dam/norc-org/pdfs/WHI%20Healthcare%20Costs%20Coverage%20and%20Policy%20Issue%20Brief.pdf  Norc 2018 survey found 32% of adults could not fill or fully fill a drug prescription over the prior two months because they could not afford to.

[31] https://www.census.gov/newsroom/stories/poverty-awareness-month.html

[32] https://myhealth.ucsd.edu/Library/News/Headlines/6,1659867925

[33] https://www.prisonpolicy.org/reports/income.html

[34] https://www.prisonpolicy.org/reports/pie2023.html The prison population dropped during the covid years as a result of pandemic-related slowdowns in the criminal legal system, not permanent policy changes. The criminal legal system has returned to “business as usual,” and prison and jail populations have begun to rebound to pre-pandemic levels.

[35] https://www.prisonpolicy.org/global/2021.html#methodology

[36] https://ourworldindata.org/economic-growth. In 1775, in the U.S. per-capita real GDP was $2,153 (2019 dollars) by 2019, it was 27 times that, $57,997. Worker hours per capita are lower now than in 1775, so the GDP/capita ratio is an underestimate of the productivity gains.

[37] Originally stated by Lord Acton in a letter to Bishop Mandell Creighton in 1887

[38] https://fortune.com/2021/06/06/corporate-psychopaths-business-leadership-csr/