Simplify the math
Random Thought Experiment
*How many apples do you have?
*In a group of people, what is the average number of apples a person has?
There are six people. The first has one apple. The second has two apples. And on it goes in order as the number grows to the sixth person who has 6 apples. The total is represented as
1+2+3+4+5+6 = 21 apples among 6 people
Simple math determines the average number of apples as:
the total number (21) divided by the number of people (6) = average number of apples
21/6 = 3.5 apples per person in the group.
But...
What happens when the last person has a lot of apples? What happens to the average if the sixth person has 100 apples?
1+2+3+4+5+100 = 115 apples 115/6 = 19.1666...
This drastically changes the average from 3.5 to 19.1666 apples per person average
Take this beyond a thought experiment and into the real world. The six people do not know each other. The first 5 people look at this average and say to themselves, "No Way! I'm nowhere near having 19 apples!"
But what about the 6th person with 100 apples? What are they saying? "I got lucky" or "I worked really hard for my apples." Worse, "What's wrong with people who have a lot less than me?" or "What did they do wrong?" *
Recently the growth in wealth among the top earners in the US came out. We saw billionaires wealth grow in the millions and billions of dollars. "Top 10 US billionaires’ collective wealth grew by $698bn in past year."- SOURCE
Looking at the simplest of math formulae (like the one listed above), one sees the average wealth grow of individuals grow. But the reality is lot worse.
1+2+3+4+5+10,000 = 10,015 becomes 10,015/6 = 1669.166 as the average number of apples per person
Those at the lowest end, persons 1-5, regard the average of 1,669 apples per person as an unrealistic number for themselves because the increased average becomes even more removed and distant from their reality.
For the person with 10,000 apples, their response amplifies. Perhaps it is luck, hard work, gaming the system, having an inside track. Whatever the reason they assign to their situation, the gap between them and those with less grows wider.
This gap is playing out in America and around the world. As the gap between the Haves and Have Nots grows, the chasm between the groups grows in a multitude of ways including discontent from those with less and an inability by the wealthy to relate to those at the other end of the spectrum.
In the recent Republican government shut down (Oct-Nov 2025) this was clearly in play. Federal workers found themselves without pay, standing in food lines, unable to pay mortgages and car payments. Over 40 million SNAP (food stamp) recipients were denied November benefits. Housing assistance and heating assistance subsidies for the disabled, elderly, and poorest were cut off, leaving heat turned off and rent unpaid. And tens of millions of Americans were given a glimpse at how much their ACA healthcare costs will skyrocket in January.
The Republican response was to hop on private planes, or taxpayer funded planes, and go to a 1920s Great Gatsby party. A further slap was the administration's fight against a court mandated restart of the food stamp program. Add in random job dismissals and refusal to provide basic services and the problems amplified and compounded for everyday Americans.
Worse, the administration and its sycophants looked at the growth of income among the billionaire class and declared the economy in great shape despite inflation and increasing food, housing, auto, and utility costs for the average American. The gap increased and those with the most apples became even more removed from those with fewer apples.
When you look are the average wealth for American households you will see an upward trend. But the reality is that these numbers include a record number of millionaires and billionaires in America. Toss in that person with 100 or 10,000 apples among a pool of people with 1-5 apples and the average rises. It is the same for average wealth. It is not an accurate reflection of the economy, an economy laid bare by Trump's most recent government shut down.
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*Wealth disparity is based on a number of factors when assessing the causes of wealth.
A man discovers he can harvest fruit from an apple tree and it is edible.
Another man realizes the apple seed germinates and a new tree grows.
Another discovers he can plant several trees and benefit.
Another realizes trees grow more apples by adding a fertilizer.
Another plants in a field fenced off from grazing animals and gather more apples.
Another man hires others to help him plant more trees. He pays them with a promise of apples.
Another man knocks a man over the head and takes the field he is using and the trees he grew.
A man gives his field of apple trees to his son while his neighbor's son tries his hand at growing an apple tree for the first time.
This goes on and on but none of the men created the apple tree no more than Steve Jobs created the first circuit board or developed the plastics process which provides components of an Apple product.
Somewhere along the line of humanity a person looked into a fire hearth and noticed a hard pebble that wasn't a pebble, it was a bit of Iron ore which lead to the Iron Age which lead to the Industrial Revolution.
Wealth is built upon the labor of many. Ingenuity and creation is borrowed from component parts and ideas and creations are rarely individualized. Whether relying on the mathematical concepts taught in school or the invention of a production technology, an invention is based upon others creations and a collected wealth of knowledge.
The next time someone asks why the wealthy should pay more taxes and give back, this is why: We all benefit from the knowledge that generations before us have created and society should share in the rewards.
