So Nice With Your Bare Self

Living In America, performed by James Brown in 1985, was and still is a staple of American culture. Living In America reached #4 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart, and is considered a classic. This song epitomizes the mood and feeling of Americans at the time.

Living In America was featured in the movie Rocky IV. Rocky IV was a box office hit, and it became Sylvester Stallone’s best selling movie. The movie and the hit song exemplify brighter times in American culture.

Looking back to the future, economically speaking, the circumstances have changed dramatically. What has changed since the hit song Living In America rose in the charts?

The American Dream is still alive and well. But the Yellow Brick Road to The Marvelous Land Of Oz has more curves now than it ever did.

What is the main reason for such inequality in America? Since the mid-eighties, distributions of earnings widened a whopping 20%. What does this  really mean?

This means that the rich are leaving the middle class and the poor far behind in the dirt, in terms of purchasing power. To simplify, the average earnings of the rich — $93,000. The average earnings of the poor — $5800.

But the distribution of wealth is the big picture, and is far more unfairer. The top 10% of people hold 71% of the wealth. Another way of looking at it, the top 10% of people have 28% of the total income. Welcome to America, the land of inequality.

“So nice with your bare self. I feel good!” That’s living in America.

James Brown – Living In America (Official video clip)  — YouTube