This Week in ESG and Impact Investing

Some economists argue that working-class Americans who vote for billionaire politicians are driven primarily by shame, status anxiety, and a desire to burn the system down . Of course, the psychology matters—but we examine, below, the fundamental  economic realities that created these conditions in the first place. When we put the economic narrative side-by-side with the data, a more precise conclusion emerges: status resentment is not the cause—it is the symptom . The cause is a long-running economic and policy failure that we predicted   in 1995  and that has never been structurally repaired. This post looks at three core indicators— income, manufacturing employment, and union membership —to show why appeals to dignity resonate, and why toxic and incompetent billionaire “outsiders” can exploit that resonance. 1. Income: The Promise Was Deliberately Broken, Not Forgotten For decades, white working-class Americans were told that productivity gains and economic growt...