In February 1987 I left one of Wall Street’s richest and most successful firms of that era, Drexel Burnham Lambert, led by junk bond king Michael Milliken, because I saw how this was destroying middle income Americans, small businesses, and our local towns. I set up a company Freedom Benefits that eventually became an early successful dot com serving tens of thousands of self employed individuals and small businesses. This success even led to an invitation to testify before Congress on behalf of small businesses.
My flawed thinking was that I could make meaningful difference in turning the tide away from the flow of wealth to billionaires. In almost every year since then, with an exception for the pandemic years, the problem has grown worse. Concentration of wealth and income continues to happen, even at this very moment, because naïve Americans are fooled into thinking that politicians who are always controlled by the ultra rich, are representing their best interests. I caused myself problems supporting the prosecution of a few powerful corrupt people and am blessed today to have recovered, after many years of rehab, from a botched assassination attempt.
I am focused on the simple fact that we have the resources to work far less, be healthier, and earn much more than we do now. But instead we support a hand full of obscenely wealthy people who control most of the wealth and income and our focus is lured away from the injustice by false flags like “illegal immigration” and “government waste”.
I am a realist; not optimistic, yet I will continue my career as long as possible in supporting small businesses as the backbone of shared core values in our society.