The traditional story is that farming is everyone's bread and butter. Bankers and speculators produce nothing, but skim their profits from the suffering of others. The Garden of Eden is populated only by a mythical middle class of retail grocers, doctors, lawyers, and plumbers ("engineers"). No one is poor; and no one is rich.

And no one has friends in city hall or Congress - though the streets are, indeed, cleared of snow; and anyone who destroys a skyscraper eventually meets a Navy SEAL team.

The claim is made that in our glory days, the middle class produced the most wealth, but now in our evil times, the middle class is being crushed between the rich and poor. We like that narrative. We never question it. We never define the terms, never identify the individuals in aggregate.

The fact is that the richest 1% produce about 30% of the "wealth" if we measure that only by income. If we understand "wealth" to be capital, then the picture is much different.

"Eighty-seven percent of upper-income Americans -- those making $75,000 or more annually -- own stocks, as do 83% of postgraduates and 73% of college graduates. Sixty-four percent of Republicans hold stocks, compared with half of Democrats and independents. Men are more likely than women to be stock owners. Those aged 50 to 64 are the most likely of any age group to say they have money invested in the stock market." -- http://www.gallup.com/poll/147206/Sto... (And the poll shows that this is these are lowest numbers in in 15 years.)

Now, we can decry the recession. Indeed, I do. But I also know from US economic history - the stuff of numismatics, which is the touchstone of economics - that the so-called "Great Recession" (1873-1896) was a time of great growth, expanding opportunities, new inventions and new technologies: the 1890 census was completed because of punched card tabulators, i.e., the root and rock of computing machinery.

Everyone loves silver dollars, especially those fat-faced Roman ladies from George Morgan. But the Morgan Dollar was inflation money. And it was, indeed, good for gold - if you wanted... which, apparently no one did, in gross violation of Gresham's Wild Conjecture. (http://necessaryfacts.blogspot.com/20...) The fact is that, like now, the US economy continued to "contract" even as more money was pumped into it. But life got better for everyone. The world of 1896 was 23 years cleaner, safer, better fed, better housed, more educated, and entertained. Just like now.

How was that possible?

The fact is that back then, just like now, the richest 1% were just barely capably of making the smallest incremental improvements in financial management and creative investment. Using their influences with governments, they cut their own taxes, creating foundations that funded huge astronomical instruments, and even rockets for exploring the upper atmosphere... as well as hospitals, universities, and libraries...

They did not have to do that. They could have held it all in cash and swum around in it. Henry Ford wanted to. He was incensed to discover that he could not go to a bank and withdraw "his" money ($3 million at that point) in small bills and coins right from the vault. The bank did not have it. They had stocks, bonds, real estate, insurance policies,... Including stock in his firm and those of his competitors, because the market is inscrutable, even for those who like to think they can control it. They know that. So, they hedge their bets.

The commodities markets are driven by producers. Co-operatives of farmers buy and sell long and short futures contracts on the very products they bring to market. It is how they even things out over the calendar year. Meanwhile, about 90% of other investors buy on enthusiasm and sell into their misery. And they do that voluntarily.

Very few of us billions of others actually do that. We do play sports for fun. So, we know why athletes earn what they do. Most of us would rather be in a room full of spiders than to be on an stage in front of an audience. So, we know why movie stars are millionaires. But very few of us actually buy and sell anything, except our own labor -- and most people want to sell it once for life.

Therefore, they call bankers gangsters, and denounce "crony" capitalists for the friends they themselves do not have - even though city hall and the halls of Congress are wide open to any and all.

If you do not want to go yourself, you could hire someone. In this market, you can find any kind of a lobbyist for about $100 per hour, and a good one for about twice that. You can collect that kind of money from a living room full of football fans. But it is easier to condemn the rich.

•