The biggest crisis in America right now—yes, even bigger than Obamagate or whether Donald Trump’s name appears on Jeffrey Epstein’s alleged client list—is the country’s gaping wealth divide. It’s not just an economic problem—it’s a national security threat. History makes clear there’s only so long the working class will endure being spat on, squeezed, and sold out before they revolt.
It happened in pre-Revolutionary France, post-Soviet Russia, and it’s brewing here in the United States. The recent primary win by Zohran Mamdani, a New York mayoral candidate with no private-sector experience and a troubling record of anti-Israel rhetoric, was a wake-up call. Historically, antisemitism spikes during periods of economic despair, and we’re witnessing that play out again.
Still, America’s CEO aristocracy remains blind. The AFL-CIO’s just released 2025 Executive Paywatch report found that in 2024, the average S&P 500 CEO earned 285 times what their median worker took home—up from 268:1 in 2023. Chief executives on average received a $1.4 million raise, bringing average total compensation to $18.9 million, a 7% increase in just one year.
Meanwhile, the median worker earned $49,500, up a measly 3%.
Here’s the AFL-CIO’s most biting statistic: Based on 2024 pay scales, the median American worker would’ve had to start working in 1740—35 years before the American Revolution—just to earn what an average CEO made last year alone. Back then, colonists launched a war over “no taxation without representation.” They’d be appalled by the corporate-captured government Americans meekly accept today.
The 7% CEO raise isn’t a one-off. As the Financial Times reported, CEO pay in 2023 jumped 12%, the fastest rise in 14 years.
Trump’s “Big Beautiful Bill” slashes the average marginal tax rate for CEOs by nearly $500,000 a year. The AFL-CIO estimates CEOs in its study will collectively dodge $738 million in income taxes—money that could fund Medicaid for 80,000, SNAP food assistance for 300,000, or school lunches for nearly 1 million kids.
Wealth disparity isn’t a blip—it’s a runaway train, and the tracks are greased by both political parties.
Under supposed working-class champion Joe Biden, executive pay ballooned. Donald Trump has accelerated the wealth transfer. His so-called “Big Beautiful Bill” entrenches tax cuts for billionaires and corporations, guts the social safety net, and leaves workers with the crumbs.
According to the Center for American Progress, Trump’s bill is “the largest transfer of wealth from the poor to the rich in a single law in U.S. history.” It maintains the notorious carried interest loophole, letting private equity titans pay capital gains rates (20%) on what amounts to a management fee, while regular Americans can be taxed as high as 37% on their wages.
Let’s be clear: Americans work. Private equity guts their companies. The IRS hands the masters of the universe a huge discount on their winnings.
Trump’s plan is to disgracefully allow private equity to access 401(k) retirement funds, despite a history of debt-laden buyouts, mass layoffs, and pension raids. I’d rather buy a variable annuity—which I regard as the financial equivalent of herpes—than let a private equity firm near my retirement.
And now, let’s talk about the biggest corporate chazer—a Yiddish term for gluttonous pig—in the AFL-CIO’s report: Starbucks CEO Brian Niccol.
In just four months of work in 2024, Niccol pulled in a staggering $97.8 million—equivalent to 6,666 times what the median Starbucks employee earned. To match that payday, the average barista would’ve had to start working at Starbucks in 4643 B.C.—during the Stone Age.
Niccol’s defenders argue the package was necessary to offset compensation he forfeited leaving Chipotle.
Here’s a thought: why should Starbucks shareholders reward someone for work done at another company? I’d bet In-N-Out Burger has at least a half-dozen fast-food executives more competent than Niccol.
Sadly, there are no credible political or business leaders to sound the alarm. Multimillionaire Bernie Sanders and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez rail against oligarchy while flying business-class and private jets. They cosplay as revolutionaries while unapologetically living like the elite they pretend to oppose.
If Americans want to empower themselves while saving money, here’s my suggestion for an easy first step: Boycott Starbucks, which is hardly a sacrifice given their overpriced coffee and tasteless pastries are substandard to begin with. Make an example of Brian Niccol and force his ouster. That would frighten CEOs appearing too high on the AFL-CIO’s Executive Payday report next year.
The Patriots had their Boston Tea Party. Modern-day Americans can have their Starbucks Coffee Party — proving yet again that history repeats itself.