LIVE FROM THE END TIMES: Let them eat cake! #004: wealth inequality & the food crisis
LIVE FROM THE END TIMES, is a sporadic publication from yours truly commenting on the hellscape that is the current timeline we’re all on, how I interpret, digest, and deal with it. A primary source of history left for the aliens. As always see the end to GO DEEPER!
Ahem (clears throat dramatically)… allow me to set the scene: It’s a cold and dark winter, a young girl is diving through trash looking for scraps for dinner, a man was injured while working his labour intensive job and can’t afford to see a doctor leaving his family scrambling for ways to sustain themselves, a single mother eats her toddlers scraps for dinner because she can’t afford to feed them both. Many must decide between heat and food as winter rages on. They all watch as leaders and the 1% cover walls in gold, eat and drink at lavish parties, and make sculptures out of fresh fruit never to be eaten. The elite’s fashion and appearance become more and more extravagant, visually distancing them themselves even more from the poorest.
Am I describing 18th century France, the peasants versus aristocrats? The Gilded Age, laborers versus oligarchs? Or today us versus them? Ding, ding, ding… all of the above.
Similar to 18th century France, pre-revolution, the top 1% of Americans control close to 40% of wealth in America and the top 20% own 90%. Leaving the rest of us with scraps. And you may be thinking I don’t feel like I live off scraps (not yet…), but that’s because comparatively we cannot comprehend what it would be like to have that much money. In my most recent podcast talking about the wealth gap I related our understanding of being “rich” to not having to worry about paying bills. Yet the wealth of the top 20% goes way beyond not worrying about paying your bills and they rely on our misunderstanding in order to keep control. There is no evidence in history where a wealth gap this large exists without eventual resistance. And it seems our time is coming.
For years now we’ve watched as our purse strings got tighter and tighter. A cart of groceries at Aldi’s that would have been $50 fifteen years ago, is now $90. Greedy property developers causing rent to rise 6% from 2022. And nationally the median rent has risen from $824 in 2008, to $1,300. While the federal minimum wage has not budged since 2009. In our current economy there is no budgeting your way out of poverty. The work harder and smarter mentality has shown itself to be just a lie sold to us by the 1% to make their wealth seem deserved. Keeping working class Americans on the hamster wheel of capitalism; convincing people they too can one day achieve the “American Dream” by stepping on their peers instead of investing in class solidarity.
In 2022 Consumer Affiars published a study comparing data from various agencies to analyze Gen Z purchasing power versus those of Boomers when they were the same age. An article from Fast Company summarizes the findings:
- Purchasing power is going down: Gen Z has 86% less purchasing power compared to baby boomers when they were in their 20s. Americans have seen wages increase by 80% since the 1970s. However, the average Consumer Price Index has increased by over 500%.
- Housing costs are going up: Housing prices and rental rates have shot up. Gen Z is paying almost 100% more for homes. Today, the average house is $309,400. In the 1970s it was $24,800, or $185,600 in today’s dollars. Similarly, the median rent is $2,000 per month, in the 1970s it was $800 per month in 2022 dollars.
- College costs are going way up: Tuition rates have skyrocketed. The average price of tuition at a public university has increased by 310%, while the price of a private four-year college has increased by 245%. Meanwhile, college graduates have increased by 254% since 1970.
- And let’s not even talk about the pump: Gas rates are also shooting up. Gas currently costs 57% more than it did in 1970. It’s $4.70 per gallon, compared to $3.00 in 1970, in today’s dollars.
The wealthy drape tables in grapes and butter sculptures. GLP-1 injections on hand, akin to the mystery potion capitol citizens drank to throw up in the Hunger Games. Simultaneously, ICE agents’ brutality escalates and have kidnapped 1,000s of immigrants, leaving farmers with a labor crisis. Generational farmers on the edge of bankruptcy, already sparking concern of a food crisis in the near future. And now while the President and his billionaire besties fund a $300 million ballroom construction project at the Whitehouse (we can’t even get into the destruction of history here), 42 million people are in danger of loosing their SNAP benefits in November.
NPR reports “About 1 in 8 U.S. residents get an average of $187 a month through the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program.” USDA funding was already cut earlier this year due to the Big Beautiful Bill and now the USDA has warned states to be prepared to not receive Federal funding for SNAP programs unless the government shutdown ends within the next week. 25 states have already notified participants they won’t receive November benefits if Federal funding isn’t dispersed. Benefits that are primarily used by children, the elderly, veterans, and disabled, the most vulnerable populations. Joel Berg, CEO of Hunger Free America, told NPR “If the SNAP program shuts down, we will have the most mass hunger suffering we’ve had in America since the Great Depression.” Shari Jablonowski a 66-year-old widow who lives in Pittsburgh and is the caretaker of her two nieces and a nephew who is disabled told NPR if her nephew’s food benefits aren’t dispersed in November “I am very concerned I will not have heat.”
The elite may play their game now, hoarding away billions and feasting on our dime. But be assured, while we will suffer, it will not last forever. When the public can no longer afford bread and the circus is too expensive to stream there will be a reckoning. In the meantime if you have the ability begin stocking pantries DO! Familiarize yourself with pantry basics, how long things can last, and how to store correctly. Tap in with your elders! Some of the most important stories I hold onto are from my great grandmother surviving the great depression and how her family ran their farm. How I watched her never waste a can of food and scrape every plate clean. YouTube has so many videos for cheap meals, how to stretch ingredients, and how to be resourceful. But most importantly GET MAD! Don’t look left, don’t look right, get mad and LOOK UP!
xoxo,
Ali Ann
Resources For Food Insecurity:
If you have more resources please leave them in the comments 🙂
GO DEEPER/References:
‘Uncharted territory’: Ongoing shutdown threatens food aid for 42 million people: https://www.npr.org/2025/10/24/nx-s1-5581354/federal-shutdown-snap-wic-food-aid-ebt-hunger
Gen Z has 86% less purchasing power than baby boomers did in their 20s: https://www.fastcompany.com/90778446/gen-z-vs-baby-boomers-purchasing-power
Americans spend an entire week’s worth of pay on rent every month—and in some cities, a full two weeks of income is just going to housing: https://fortune.com/2025/07/25/us-median-rent-vs-wages/
Americans spend an entire week’s worth of pay on rent every month—and in some cities, a full two weeks of income is just going to housing: https://www.npr.org/2024/07/24/nx-s1-5050573/federal-minimum-wage-increase-15-year-anniversary#:~:text=It has now been 15,minimum wage rose to $7.25&text=The most recent hike to,thirds of whom were women.
East Wing of White House reduced to rubble as part of Trump’s ballroom construction: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/oct/24/white-house-demolition-east-wing-trump-ballroom
Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) – Key Statistics and Research: https://www.ers.usda.gov/topics/food-nutrition-assistance/supplemental-nutrition-assistance-program-snap/key-statistics-and-research
At least 25 states plan to cut off food aid benefits in November: https://www.politico.com/news/2025/10/23/states-snap-food-aid-benefits-government-shutdown-00619117
