This commentary may be reproduced and distributed free of charge.
I’m a Serf and There’s Nothing I Can Do about it
Two-Thirds of the Profits from the Money We Spend Goes to the Top 10%
1,052 words
By David Demers
When people ask me what I do for a living, I tell them, “I’m a serf.”
“You’re a Smurf?” some ask, smirking.
“No, not the cartoon character,” I politely correct. “A serf — s-e-r-f — like the peasants who toiled the land in medieval England or France. I don’t farm, but like my serfer friends of old, most of the money I earn and spend on food, clothing, shelter, transportation and pleasure — two-thirds of it in fact — ends up in the pockets of the wealthiest 10 percent of Americans. They are my lords, and there’s nothing I can do about it.”
“Oh, lordy, lordy,” some respond, shaking their heads. “Another wacky Bernie Sanders.”
“Hear me out,” I plead. “The wealthiest 10 percent of Americans currently own two-thirds of the nation’s wealth, according to government data. On average, each has $3.6 million in assets and earns more than $200,000 a year. So when people spend money on goods and services, two-thirds of the wealth generated from those expenditures goes to the wealthy. Simple math.”
“You mean simpleton, comrade,” a few sarcastically retort and walk away.
Others, though — especially savvy business people and entrepreneurs — challenge me.
“The United States isn’t a feudalistic state, serfer Dave. It’s free-market capitalism. Didn’t you take basic economics in college?”
“I did, but haven’t you seen a Robin Hood movie?” I pause to see if they appreciate my little quip. They don’t, so I resume.
“During feudalism, about 80 percent of wealth was inherited, usually by the first-born son. Today about 50 percent of the wealth in America is inherited — a proportion that has been climbing over the past four decades because estate and other taxes have been slashed. In fact, only 0.2 percent of Americans actually pay a tax when they die. It only applies to the mega-rich.”
“I didn’t know that.”
“Of course not, because the wealthy want you to believe there is a death tax so you support more tax cuts for them. In today’s America, your economic status is determined in large part by the wealth of your deceased relatives. This is called your ‘ascribed’ status, according to sociologists. If your parents were rich, you likely will be rich. If they were poor, your chances of moving up the social ladder aren’t impossible, but they are much more difficult. In fact, only 5 percent of those poor into poor or working class families ever earn enough to join the top 10 percent.
“But achieved status also counts,” retort those fans of capitalism who enrolled in sociology 101 and paid attention.
"That’s partly true. Hard work, education and good decisions can pay off. Medieval lords even rewarded productive serfs. But this doesn’t mean today’s working and middle classes don’t feel like serfs. A Citizen Data survey in July 2024 found that 90 percent of Americans are financially ‘insecure,’ ‘vulnerable’ or ‘stressed.’ The bottom 50 percent are the most insecure. They only earn an average of $32,000 a year and have about $14,000 in assets. Most live paycheck to paycheck and don’t even have $500 in savings. Those between the 50th and 90th percentile have an average income of $82,000 and about $140,000 in assets, but even they suffer from financial insecurity. Only 10 percent of all taxpayers are ‘financially secure’ and never worry about paying the bills. Most of them are members of the wealthiest top 10 percent.”
“But there’s a big difference between serfs then and now, serfer Dave. They couldn’t vote back then. They were powerless.”
“Yes, they couldn’t vote, because representative democracy didn’t exist. But that doesn’t mean the working and middle classes are powerful today. Although they get to vote for a president every four years, a classic study by political scientists Martin Gilens and Benjamin Page found that 78 percent of Congress’s decisions benefit the top 10 percent of Americans, but only 5 percent benefit the other 90 percent alone. In the United States, they write, “the majority does not rule ... . When a majority of citizens disagrees with economic elites or with organized interests, they generally lose. Moreover, because of the strong status quo bias built into the U.S. political system, even when fairly large majorities of Americans favor policy change, they generally do not get it.’”
“That’s not true.”
“Sorry, but it is. Hundreds of social scientific studies support the top-down theory of power. Taxes are good example. Most people want to see the wealthy taxed more. But since 1980, federal taxes on the wealthy have been cut by about 50 percent, while the rest of us are still paying the same. Incomes of the top 1 percent are growing at an annualized (compounded) rate of 7 percent, whereas the bottom 90 percent are only seeing an increase of 1 percent. If the government fails to increase taxes on the wealthy, in 10 years the top 10 percent will own nearly three-fourths of the wealth in America and about 60 percent of all wealth will be inherited. Power flows top down, not bottom up, my capitalist friend. Only when the political positions of the elites and populace align does the populace see its views converted into public policy.’”
“But the public often benefits from decisions that benefit the wealthy.”
“True. But there are many issues where the will of the majority of Americans is not translated into public policy. Most Americans support more gun control, higher taxes on the wealthy, giving women control over their bodies, universal health care, increasing social security benefits, forgiving medical debts, enacting more controls on super PACs, eliminating the electoral college, and doing more to reduce global warming. Washington politicians thus far have refused to grant these wishes.”
“OK, you made some good points, serfer Dave. But you still haven’t convinced me that we live in an advanced state of feudalism.”
“It doesn’t matter,” I reply, “because that’s not my main point. My point is that the wealthy hold power, and you and I likely will spend the rest of our lives in a state of financial insecurity, just like medieval serfs. Every time you spend a dollar, remember this: 67 cents ends up in the pockets of the wealthy. That may not be feudalism, but it certainly is not compassionate capitalism or the way 18th century economist Adam Smith envisioned our free-market economy should work.”
Unproofed drafts of selected chapters of Falling Behind are available online at www.DrDavidDemers.com
Falling Behind will be published in 2025. Demers is author of two dozen books, including The Ivory Tower of Babel: Why the Social Sciences Are Failing to Live Up to Their Promises, and worked as a tenured professor of communication and media sociology at Washington State University before retiring to spend more time writing books. He lives in Phoenix, where he teaches an introductory college-level sociology course to high school students. He can be reached at [email protected]
I’m a Serf and There’s Nothing I Can Do about it
Two-Thirds of the Profits from the Money We Spend Goes to the Top 10%
1,052 words
By David Demers
When people ask me what I do for a living, I tell them, “I’m a serf.”
“You’re a Smurf?” some ask, smirking.
“No, not the cartoon character,” I politely correct. “A serf — s-e-r-f — like the peasants who toiled the land in medieval England or France. I don’t farm, but like my serfer friends of old, most of the money I earn and spend on food, clothing, shelter, transportation and pleasure — two-thirds of it in fact — ends up in the pockets of the wealthiest 10 percent of Americans. They are my lords, and there’s nothing I can do about it.”
“Oh, lordy, lordy,” some respond, shaking their heads. “Another wacky Bernie Sanders.”
“Hear me out,” I plead. “The wealthiest 10 percent of Americans currently own two-thirds of the nation’s wealth, according to government data. On average, each has $3.6 million in assets and earns more than $200,000 a year. So when people spend money on goods and services, two-thirds of the wealth generated from those expenditures goes to the wealthy. Simple math.”
“You mean simpleton, comrade,” a few sarcastically retort and walk away.
Others, though — especially savvy business people and entrepreneurs — challenge me.
“The United States isn’t a feudalistic state, serfer Dave. It’s free-market capitalism. Didn’t you take basic economics in college?”
“I did, but haven’t you seen a Robin Hood movie?” I pause to see if they appreciate my little quip. They don’t, so I resume.
“During feudalism, about 80 percent of wealth was inherited, usually by the first-born son. Today about 50 percent of the wealth in America is inherited — a proportion that has been climbing over the past four decades because estate and other taxes have been slashed. In fact, only 0.2 percent of Americans actually pay a tax when they die. It only applies to the mega-rich.”
“I didn’t know that.”
“Of course not, because the wealthy want you to believe there is a death tax so you support more tax cuts for them. In today’s America, your economic status is determined in large part by the wealth of your deceased relatives. This is called your ‘ascribed’ status, according to sociologists. If your parents were rich, you likely will be rich. If they were poor, your chances of moving up the social ladder aren’t impossible, but they are much more difficult. In fact, only 5 percent of those poor into poor or working class families ever earn enough to join the top 10 percent.
“But achieved status also counts,” retort those fans of capitalism who enrolled in sociology 101 and paid attention.
"That’s partly true. Hard work, education and good decisions can pay off. Medieval lords even rewarded productive serfs. But this doesn’t mean today’s working and middle classes don’t feel like serfs. A Citizen Data survey in July 2024 found that 90 percent of Americans are financially ‘insecure,’ ‘vulnerable’ or ‘stressed.’ The bottom 50 percent are the most insecure. They only earn an average of $32,000 a year and have about $14,000 in assets. Most live paycheck to paycheck and don’t even have $500 in savings. Those between the 50th and 90th percentile have an average income of $82,000 and about $140,000 in assets, but even they suffer from financial insecurity. Only 10 percent of all taxpayers are ‘financially secure’ and never worry about paying the bills. Most of them are members of the wealthiest top 10 percent.”
“But there’s a big difference between serfs then and now, serfer Dave. They couldn’t vote back then. They were powerless.”
“Yes, they couldn’t vote, because representative democracy didn’t exist. But that doesn’t mean the working and middle classes are powerful today. Although they get to vote for a president every four years, a classic study by political scientists Martin Gilens and Benjamin Page found that 78 percent of Congress’s decisions benefit the top 10 percent of Americans, but only 5 percent benefit the other 90 percent alone. In the United States, they write, “the majority does not rule ... . When a majority of citizens disagrees with economic elites or with organized interests, they generally lose. Moreover, because of the strong status quo bias built into the U.S. political system, even when fairly large majorities of Americans favor policy change, they generally do not get it.’”
“That’s not true.”
“Sorry, but it is. Hundreds of social scientific studies support the top-down theory of power. Taxes are good example. Most people want to see the wealthy taxed more. But since 1980, federal taxes on the wealthy have been cut by about 50 percent, while the rest of us are still paying the same. Incomes of the top 1 percent are growing at an annualized (compounded) rate of 7 percent, whereas the bottom 90 percent are only seeing an increase of 1 percent. If the government fails to increase taxes on the wealthy, in 10 years the top 10 percent will own nearly three-fourths of the wealth in America and about 60 percent of all wealth will be inherited. Power flows top down, not bottom up, my capitalist friend. Only when the political positions of the elites and populace align does the populace see its views converted into public policy.’”
“But the public often benefits from decisions that benefit the wealthy.”
“True. But there are many issues where the will of the majority of Americans is not translated into public policy. Most Americans support more gun control, higher taxes on the wealthy, giving women control over their bodies, universal health care, increasing social security benefits, forgiving medical debts, enacting more controls on super PACs, eliminating the electoral college, and doing more to reduce global warming. Washington politicians thus far have refused to grant these wishes.”
“OK, you made some good points, serfer Dave. But you still haven’t convinced me that we live in an advanced state of feudalism.”
“It doesn’t matter,” I reply, “because that’s not my main point. My point is that the wealthy hold power, and you and I likely will spend the rest of our lives in a state of financial insecurity, just like medieval serfs. Every time you spend a dollar, remember this: 67 cents ends up in the pockets of the wealthy. That may not be feudalism, but it certainly is not compassionate capitalism or the way 18th century economist Adam Smith envisioned our free-market economy should work.”
Unproofed drafts of selected chapters of Falling Behind are available online at www.DrDavidDemers.com
Falling Behind will be published in 2025. Demers is author of two dozen books, including The Ivory Tower of Babel: Why the Social Sciences Are Failing to Live Up to Their Promises, and worked as a tenured professor of communication and media sociology at Washington State University before retiring to spend more time writing books. He lives in Phoenix, where he teaches an introductory college-level sociology course to high school students. He can be reached at [email protected]