Oh the poor, rich! Our hearts bleed for the long neglected 1%
Finally their whiny desperate cry for help is not falling on deaf ears. Noble and righteous Republicans have come to their rescue riding on their high white horses in the dark of nights to pass a tax plan that will benefit the wealthy.
Bigly.
What a wonderful to time to be rich and an heir
From private school breaks to bigger inheritance taxes it’s a massive payday for corporation including our Commander in wealth and his heirs.
Looks like its easy street ahead for those trust fund comic book kids like Richie Rich and Veronica Lodge.
The Out of Luck, Out of Money Middle Class
Poor Archie and Betty are darn out of luck in getting any relief from this tax scam,… er… tax plan, that will ensure wealth is not shared by the middle class like those hard-working folks from Riverdale.
Whether the characters are fictitious or real, the net result is no joke.
The Rich are Different
We’ve long known the rich are different from you and me, a lesson imprinted early in the colorful pages of comic books. Wealth inequality has been a main stay of comics from uber Capitalist Daddy Warbucks to Richie Rich the richest boy in the world to privileged princess Veronica Lodge.
Vintage Archie Comic Books 1967
I was addicted to comic books growing up.
Along with the likes of Little Dot and Little Lotta I consumed every configuration of Archie and his pals. Easy to read and oh so easy to digest, I binged on each 12 cent pulpy comic book with the regularity and enjoyment of a pop tart.
Comics of course were far from a social commentary but messages of class and status did shape every story.
The Lodges, like the Trumps and the Mnuchins and all the rest of the 1% will all be well off with the new tax plan. The “common herd” is out of luck.
Archie in particular was a primer in the privileged have and have-nots.
In the solid middle class town of Riverdale where middle class families like Archie’s, Betty’s and Jughead’s always contrasted sharply with the selfish lifestyle of Veronica Lodge the spoiled and entitled daughter of wealthy industrialist Hiram Lodge.
It was a safe limited world where the real world of the 1960’s conflicts and civil unrest didn’t infiltrate. Nuclear attacks and fear of Communism was never a concern. But it did reveal a world divided into the privileged 1% and the rest of us.
It’s Not Easy Being Rich
Who says it’s easy being rich?
In one story from a 1967 Archie’s Girls Betty and Veronica Comic Book, fabulously wealthy and clueless Veronica outrages at the difficulties and burdens of being so darn rich and decides to try out slumming it and live the “poor, common, and miserable life” of her middle class friends whom she often refers to as “commoners.”
Archie and His Girls Betty and Veronica 1967
Archies Girls Betty and Veronica Comic Book 1967
Her attempts at slumming with the ordinary folks seems ludicrous and woefully out of touch.
Archies Girls Betty and Veronica Comic Book 1967
Veronica is as disconnected from the realities of the have and have nots as another privileged princess born into great wealth, Ivanka Trump
Thanks to Trump’s Tax plan, Mr. Lodge will be paying much less corporate tax and Veronica will continue to live on easy street.
Main street folks like Archie and Betty, not so much
In fact the tax scam’s ethos dove tails perfectly with the comic book world: The easiest way to get rich isn’t to make a lot of money. It’s having the assets in the first place.
Better yet, inherit it.
Copyright (©) 2017 Sally Edelstein
