Yes, I know there is a book by that title.  I read a NY Times article (Who Killed the Knapp Family?) forwarded by a friend, that reminded me afresh, that I live in a country of multitudes of a suffering, beleaguered, permanent underclass.  The phrase captures the story that I have to write this morning.

I remember clearly the society of my youth, that of the 50s and 60s.  I grew up in a “working class” family.  My mother and my father worked for two of the big tobacco companies, The American Tobacco Company and Liggett Myres.  They operated the cigarette manufacturing machines on the expansive, and very loud factory floor.  It was hard work.  The pay was good for that time.  I recall seeing a pay stub showing a weekly pay of $100.00 before tax withholding.  The company provided reasonable health care for all employees.  I remember the company doctor making a “house call” to attend to my fever and sore throat. Mom and Dad recognized they were blessed.  They worked until reaching retirement age.  They would not have understood the term, “job insecurity.”  After many years of saving and planning, they purchased a sizable lot and built the home of their dreams.  They owned enough, and were reasonably happy.

I do not mean this to be an exercise in nostalgia, a conjuring up of a forever-gone time.  Much has changed since then.  I am now 70.  The country feels different.  There is a net of sameness that lies over every place that one is likely to visit.  To reach the boundary edge of this net, you have to purposefully go to a very rural, “undeveloped” locale, a place where the inhabitants are not yet jacked-in to the system that fails to serve the majority of us.  A few though, which are commonly referred to as the “one percent” are served extraordinarily well.

Here is what I have observed about the way things are now.

Wealth is more segregated and concentrated.  The differential between those self identifying as working class, and the well-to-do, those who live on an “estate” and owning perhaps a few more of such fine properties,  is mind- bogglingly vast.  Forgive the strange usage.  The difference in income between a CEO of a typical publicly traded company and the rank and file worker whether in this country or in some other place, is many hundreds of percent.   To put it bluntly, he/she , the CEO, lives the way he does because they, the workers, live as they do.

Health care is unaffordable, and ruinously expensive unless one is lucky enough to have a membership in the executive suite, or in one of the besieged Unions.  For the minority blessed with company group coverage, with small co-pay and low deductables, – no worries.  No need to even think about access to health care services.  Go to the physician of your choice and present your “magic” BCBS card.  For the rest, odds are it is only a matter of time before you need immediate and competent medical intervention.  Your bill, the balance that you owe the hospital and the various medical professionals may easily be a greater emotional shock than was your condition.

And there’s another thing about medical care.  Since you are likely to need assistance with discomfort, even serious pain, beware of the pain-killer med that is almost certainly to be prescribed.  Who knows what the doctor was told by the Pharma rep, or if the doctor has a high priority to keep you drug free over the long term.  Keep in mind, the physician is overworked with insurance regs and paperwork.  Perhaps he/she cares  most about your immediate comfort?

I’ve also noticed for a long time now, how much has been monetized in my day to day world.  There seems to be an exchange value attached to everything.  Services and products, some of which are frivolous, pandering to the immaturity potential in all of us, are offered prolifically, especially on the internet.  Whatever your imagination conjures up can be purchased from Amazon, or even from the dark web if you have internet access and a credit card.

One of the latest “grand openings” is the enthusiasm with which the State of Illinois has jumped into the business of selling weed.  Naturally the offering of legally sanctioned marijuana is attended with all of the media ballyhoo, endorsement by the Governor and the Mayor of Chicago, that you’d expect.  Yet another step of descent into social dysfunction as far as I am concerned.

Lest I be remiss,  the privileged class deserves mention, the One Percenters, those who happen to be on the profit side of all that I have described in the above paragraphs.  I offer this recent photo to Donald J. Trump Jr. likely captured at a shooting range/club.  Jr is proudly displaying his M-16.  The magazine prominently shows a sticker decoration with Hillary Clinton behind prison bars.  Jr grins ear to ear.  This is a visual dog-whistle to all Trump disciples, especially those who are dogmatic about the 2nd amendment.  It is two-fer-one experience.  You get a bad-ass image of the assault rifle and at the same time are reminded of who the enemy continues to be.

So, here we all are.  We follow enthusiastically, or are dragged along in pursuit of a bitch-goddess (Success) that kills us even as we worship her.

We must figure out something else, a way forward that sustains a majority of humanity.  Or soon pass into the dust bin of history.

And don’t forget climate disaster……………………