The Country of Coconut Island.

Once there was an island nation. Coconut island. On Coconut Island there were 100 citizens, 100 acres of land, 100 coconut trees, and 100 wells worth of housing, clothing food and water. ( 1 citizen requires about ½ a share of each to live at all. )

It was a virgin and empty land. But then the 1^st citizen sprang from the very earth, and claimed 32 of all the acres, coconuts and wells. The next few arrived and claimed some more, until the 10^th when 80 of all the acres, trees and wells were claimed. Them came the next 70 citizens who shared 20 acres, trees and wells between them. These last few found that they lacked the water and coconuts needed to eat and be hydrated so they were pressed into service by the 10 at the top, who paid them about 15 coconut trees worth of food and about the same of water, so that they had just enough to keep on working the land of the 10, and particularly the 1^st who again had about a third of the acres, trees and water to himself. Now to compound all this 20 more citizens arrived and having NO share of the land, trees, or water, sold themselves for 10 coconut trees and wells worth of resources, which only ensured that the 70 above them had even less coconuts, water and resources ( say their 20 in wealth and now 15 in 'wages); while those 10 at the top could skim a bit more since the bottom 20 had no leverage upon which to bargain, lacking ANY land that was their own and needing to beg even this from some portion of the 80% of citizens above them, such that if they do not work on the terms presented they do not eat, are not housed, and don't even have access to water.

So to recap we have 100 acres of land; 100 coconut trees ; 100 wells; and 100 citizens total that are distributed such that:

1 citizen has 32 acres, trees and wells

the next 9 have 48 acres, trees and wells between them

Then there are a further 70 that have about 20 to share, and who must therefore labor for the other 15 to just survive …. 

and  finally, the last 20 citizens that have NO 'rightful' shares in any trees, water or resources at all, and who must labor for the entire 10 required for bare subsistence. And who therefore put downward, pressure on the wages of of the next 70 and their own ranks.

Therefore the top 10% have about 80 minus 25 equals 55 or about 5.5 a piece while the bottom 90% have 45 divided by 90 or on average about .5 of a share ( with the poorest 20% or so being at minimum intake levels and living exposed to the elements more often than not. )

Thus the poorest have about 11 times less what the richest have even though they are 9 times their number. And this is said by ALL, the top 10, to be the way Heaven itself favors things, and at any rate it is only the result of inevitable natural forces, so all is well – for them.

That is the material. 

The mentality is that if the top 10 need or want a thing, that is good, just, right and should be made to come about, but if the bottom 90, and particularly the lowest bottom 20 want a single thing that is 'entitlement' and in fact a sign of them having life entirely too easy or that they have the wrong ideas! Those lazy people that live outdoors, they get their .5 share needed to live, thinking is not their lot! What else could they ever hope to have? The nerve to ask for More! Why it defies My Best Interests! Dirty bottom 90% of parasites! How do we bring more to drive their wages down even more and to dilute their unity? Don't they know what they owe us upper 10? Don't they know that we create wealth by hording it among ourselves and paying them sustenance level wages?

To which assertions of monetary sway the cowed and ignorant bottom 90 just sort of bleat: As you wish, and try even harder to live on less and die off to make room for the greater greed … as they have been told since birth that when they make less everybody has more! And this is considered normal and good.

There are those that will say such a place cannot exist and surely does not exist; however, This Island exists. Oh but it does. It is called America. The Good Ole USA.

 

We have basically the same wealth and income distribution in the imperial homeland as described above and the media and elite have the same attitude toward the 'lower classes'.

If the numbers were put on Coconut Island:

1 citizen would have ~35% of everything.

The Next 9 would have ~38.5%

( Top Ten = 73.5% of total wealth. )

Then the next 50 have 26.5%

And finally we have the NOW bottom 40 rather than 20 who have nothing at all. So the top have gained, the next nine lost a bit, and we have 50 rather than 70 for the next class who gained a bit ( but still just above the. 5 necessity level you will notice! ) and then a doubly large under class of 40 citizens.

So America is actually worse off than the Plutocratic Coconut Island I sought to make, when the numbers are lined up side by side. Verily I actually tried to make Coconut Island as 'not first world like' as possible but America still had DOUBLE the poor and not very many less 'just making it' citizens. And if that is Okay to you, then you are coconuts.