u/DevonMarx

In 2024, Donald Trump told America that Joe Biden had ruined the economy, and he campaigned on the promise to “Make America Affordable Again.” He specifically focused on the cost of food, fuel, and housing. When he returned to the White House in January of 2025, the consumer price index, or inflation rate, was 3.0%. In March of this year, it was reported at 3.3% by the United States Bureau of Labor Statistics. 

Grocery prices are up about 2.5% in that time, with beef and veal leading the way at over 12%. Egg prices have substantially dropped, as promised, but the main reason for that is the stabilization of the bird flu epidemic. Housing prices and sales have mainly stalled in that time frame, primarily due to higher interest rates and low inventory of available homes. When you combine these factors with the current overall inflation rate, it is not good news for existing homeowners looking to move or for first-time buyers who are effectively locked out by the cost of borrowing. As we are all reminded every time we fill up, fuel prices have been especially hard hit by the conflict in Iran. With the national average for diesel up almost 50%, it will be only a short time until that cost affects the price of most goods sold in the United States. 

Another factor making life harder financially for the average American is the cost of health insurance. Since the beginning of 2026, 59% of Americans have seen an increase in health insurance premiums. Of those, 41% are seeing an increase of 10% or more, with some seeing over a 100% increase! The main reason for this is that, as stipulated in the One Big Beautiful Bill (OBBB) that Donald Trump signed into law on July 4, 2025, the Affordable Care Act (ACA) subsidies were not extended beyond December 31, 2025. Just a reminder: this stipulation caused the longest government shutdown in U.S. history. 

The cuts made to the ACA in the OBBB, which are the primary cause for this increase, were used to offset permanently codifying the 2017 tax cuts for corporations and the top tax bracket, and to fund a huge increase in the Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) budget to fund Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). 

Higher prices for everyday goods and services, combined with an ever-increasing demand for the latest and greatest of practically everything, have helped contribute to the dual effect of consumer debt reaching an all-time high and consumer savings approaching historic lows. The amount of consumer debt has increased substantially in recent years, and the number of delinquent payments, bankruptcies, and mortgage foreclosures has increased at an even higher rate. 

While all these high prices, the level of consumer debt, and the demand for the latest and greatest are causing many individuals to struggle, corporate profits and the earnings of top executives are at an all-time high. Corporate profits have reached a record share of the overall United States economy, and those benefiting from it the most are the CEOs and top executives of those corporations. The median pay increase for CEOs over the past year was 7.5%, with those in consumer durable goods seeing over a 20% increase. In that same time, the average worker saw an increase that barely kept up with inflation. The CEO-to-worker pay ratio in some industries is now as high as 600-to-1! 

Currently, the wealth of the top 1% of Americans has surpassed that of the lowest 90%. Twenty-five years ago, the bottom 90% held almost 4% more than the top 1%, and 50 years ago, they held almost 20% more. What we are seeing suggests that the United States is increasingly moving from a class-based society to a caste-like structure where the top 1% and the bottom 90% increasingly live in different worlds. 

A class-based society is based on the principle that what you achieve is largely based on your own hard work and determination, with education being the “great equalizer.” In a caste-based society, education opportunities, business opportunities, and even your social networks are predetermined by your family’s position in society when you were born. The legal system also treats the upper tiers differently in a caste-based society, and we have clearly been seeing this recently with the Epstein files. 

Historically, when wealth and social disparities reach such a high level, societies enter a period of extreme volatility; it is 90% oppressed versus 1% entitled, after all. Examples in human history include the Roman Republic of the late second century BC, which led to a century of civil war and political assassinations, and pre-revolutionary France of the late 1700s. 

The cracks in the foundation are becoming impossible to ignore. The “No Kings” protests have evolved from local demonstrations into a sustained global movement, with participation numbers reaching historic, unprecedented levels. This populist surge is being mirrored in the cultural sphere; even once faithful Trump supporters like Tucker Carlson and Joe Rogan have turned sharply critical. Carlson’s recent denunciations and Rogan’s vocal skepticism are creating a "permission structure" for millions of followers to voice their own doubts. For many who voted for President Trump three times, the question is no longer if the system is broken, but whether the man they trusted to fix it has simply become its chief architect. 

The true measure of a nation is not found in its record-breaking CEO-to-worker pay ratios, but in the accessibility of its 'great equalizers.' As education, housing, and health become luxuries of the elite rather than rungs on the ladder of success, the United States must decide what it wants to be. Will we remain a class-based society where hard work determines our destiny, or will we accept our new role as a caste-based relic of the past? The foundation is cracking; the only question left is whether we choose to repair it or wait for the collapse. 

So I will ask again, is the system broken, or is it being systematically rebuilt to exclude you? 

Please share your thoughts.