Millionaires of the World, Unite!

A new rebel baronage must rise up against the oligarchs.

The Barons’ War.

One of civilization's great challenges stems from millionaire rhyming with billionaire. In holding them in the same linguistic corner of our minds, we conflate them, yet they're so mathematically distinct as to be unrelated. — Chris Colin

Billionaires shoot up so many rockets and Sieg Heils these days that we’ve forgotten the common millionaire.

And I do mean common. One in every 15 Americans is now a millionaire. That’s about 28 million American households, or 22 percent.

These millionaires are the barons in a new class system. They seem rich, but they feel squeezed, jealous, resented. Partly this is because household that clears 7 figures isn’t even considered “wealthy” anymore. For that you need $2.2 million. A one-millionaire is now middle class.

And if any tier of our new class system is going to open up a fissure with the Trump-led oligarchy in the U.S., it’s the neurotic millionaires. So keep your eye on them.

After all, they’ve led a revolution from their McMansions and modest acreage before. Indeed, the baronage is the class that invented human rights and equal protections. In 1211 barons were behind the Magna Carta, asserting that even kings are subject to the law. But I’ll get to that in a minute. First a word on billionaires.