The 1:05 mark is stunning.
It’s worth the six minutes it takes to watch this video. Not just to fully wrap your head around the state of Wealth Inequality in America, but three other ideas bubbling beneath the surface:
This isn’t a rant on the 1%. I think politizane did a more thorough job of painting the sober landscape that is the status of wealth inequality in the US than any other activist, artist, or coffee shop revolutionary.
Using his work as a platform to launch a rant (with no takeaways, no follow-ups, no actionables) would cheapen it.
Here are the three takeaways, beneath the surface of the video:
The Difference Between Perception and Reality
Exists in Hollywood like it exists nowhere else.
People lease luxury cars they could never afford, using the argument that “perception is reality.”
Uh, no — reality is reality.
They take out a 30-year mortgage on a house that’s too big, fill it with furniture and art and ornamentals bought on credit, so they can convince friends they’re doing “fabulously.” Who in turn, seeing how fabulous others are doing, go out and buy more stuff to assure themselves they’re “fabulous” as well.
What happens if we reveal this wealth is nothing but a Potemkin village? For everyone across the board?
It deemphasizes the value of the trappings of wealth: the car, the house, the furniture. Everything becomes less important.
With less emphasis on perception, we can invest in reality. Which is where we all live, anyway. Might as well enjoy our stay.
Relative Income Causes Unhappiness
Our outrage and indignation about the “1%” comes from this: “how is it fair that so few have so much, and so many have so little?” At the macro level, it’s disturbing.
At the micro level (aka, the personal finance level), the implications are much more subtle.
What if we were somewhere in the middle of that graph, with no sense of relative income?
What if we were only aware of our absolute income? And with that absolute income, we were happy: we lived in a home we adored (note: this isn’t necessarily the same as “a house we bought”) doing work that we loved, surrounded by family and friends we cared about.
If at our income level, we already had everything we wanted and nothing we didn’t, what does it matter the wealth of the persons to the right of us, further along that x-axis?
There are studies that show that “money can buy happiness… up to abut $75,000 a year. The lower a person’s annual income falls below that mark, the unhappier they are. But no matter how much more than $75,000 people make, they don’t report any greater degree of happiness.”
Anyone Could Make This Video
It’s extraordinary work.
It’s well researched and presents its ideas elegantly, the definition being, few moving parts. Just images and charts that capture your attention with the right amount of light or movement, at the right time.
What it didn’t require: star attachment, a big budget, RED cameras, paid endorsements, a PR budget, or a launch.
What was required:
- Someone had to care
- Someone who wanted to make something
- Someone who didn’t wait for permission, but had a story to tell.
So they told it.
What’s stopping any of us from doing the same?
For more on the subject, see the below video about “income mobility.” Not exactly a counterpoint (the way it’s marketed) but rather, supplemental information and other metrics to be aware of.
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Photo Credit: glennshootspeople
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