The Failed Plan that Separates the Ultra Wealthy from the Riffraff of the Middle Class
The Great Equalizer
My wife and I honeymooned at New York-New York casino, where we built some lifetime memories in that once great Las Vegas. The cold North winds of time have blasted a deep chill on the Vegas strip. While browsing YouTube, I ran across the video below that indicates that the CEO’s of Las Vegas crafted their own decline in a scheme to “Keep the Riff-Raff Out!!” Historically, Vegas was “the great equalizer” where a construction worker from L.A. or a lawyer from Beverly Hills could escape to Vegas an experience the same odds of winning at the same table. Now Vegas has priced out the working class, which decimated the Vegas strip, that now sits half empty.
The United States was the Great Equalizer. The immigrant and the citizen could find a path forward, not only to make a living, but to buy a house, start a business, and build a meaningful life. They were not kicked out as the riffraff due to the nation’s leadership catering to the ultra-wealthy.
Red Velvet Rope Economics
In viewing the Vegas video, I had the epiphany that this was not only about the Las Vegas strip but about an economic strategy in the United States that caters now to the ultra-wealthy corporations and billionaires, culling the lower end, the value-oriented folks who elected the politicians in the first place.
A place that used to welcome everyone now feels like a country club with a velvet rope.
From
Vegas Casino CEO Admits Why the City Is Empty – No More Riff Raff
This economic practice erects a barrier that sends a statement of luxury and elegance. This is why the gold-plated Oval Office and a golden Air Force One gifted luxury liner from Qatar sends the message, “Behold the elegance and the luxury that I now have! Aren’t you fortunate to see my wealth?!” In truth, these politicians have forgotten what made Washington great in the first place … working people!
In the image of the golden “Me First One,” you can see the plane being loaded with cash, Bitcoin, and Argentine cattle. A warship airburst shows those great checkers words, “King Me!” Outside the barrier sit homeless people and farmers cooking hotdogs over a camp fire, surrounded by their broken down vehicles. They are unemployed.
Priced Out by Policy
Where have the regulars gone? The regulars work for a living. The regulars have 2.5 children who attend public schools that have plumbing and air conditioning issues that haven’t been addressed for 30 years. The regulars are but one medical condition away from bankruptcy. The regulars who can’t afford to insure their children, gamble that their child’s young age will ward off the specter of grave illness, when actually this is a form of wishful thinking. The regulars watched their parents work blue-collar jobs, buy a house, retire with pension. Now between taxes, car payment, insurance, and inflation, homeownership has become a trap snaring new owners into indentured servitude to service the bloated mortgage, insurance and fees. The red velvet rope economy beguiled the middle class until they realized the luxury and the wealth were for those on the other side of that elegant barrier.
The red velvet rope economy beguiled the middle class until they realized the luxury and the wealth were for those on the other side of that elegant barrier.
The Red Velvet Rope Economy ensures that the supply is up and prices are down for the wealthy while supply is down and prices are up for the working class. Red Velvet Rope Economics bifurcates the natural supply and demand cycle of supply and demand. You may say, “Jim, that’s silly. Supply and demand mean the same for everyone. Supply rises and prices drop; supply down means prices up.”
This is what the rich want you to believe. The supply they receive is tax sheltered thanks to lobbyists working on their behalf. Their profits are maximized due to early and, sometimes, insider trade information before the rank and file investors get opportunity to trade. An example is the White House tipping its friends that an announcement will be made on a tariff or removal of a tariffs on a certain industry. Trades are bet on horses which already won the race in a predetermined race.
Thin Red Line Economics: Not Trickle Down, But Roped Out Economics
While the current President drools over deploying the U.S. military against U.S. cities, he is attempting to draw in permanent marker The Thin Red Line to protect the MAGA ultra-wealthy from The Regulars who, along with their parents and grandparents, who built and made America great. The Regulars deserve to be included inside The Red Velvet Rope of economic exclusion.
When Did You Realize You Were Priced Out?
You realized you stand outside The Red Velvet Rope … when you paid $6.00 for a black cup of coffee. When two choice steaks at Walmart cost over $30. When you had to choose between health insurance or car payment, rent, and food. When tariffs bankrupted your business due to increased supply costs. When your government job evaporated because the politician considered you the riffraff that needed to go. When you immigrated to the country only to find the Thin Red Line of bigotry blocked your path of a new life. These are the signs of The Red Velvet Rope Economy.
When the poor need food, they call it socialism. When farmers need bailout, they call it patriotism. Let’s call it all civility.
-JPB
Unhook the Rope and Enter Here
We’ve been there. Standing in a long line at a theater or a restaurant, guided by the red velvet ropes to keep us in line and checked. Then as a smartly dressed couple approach the velvet barrier, the guard gives a nod of acknowledgement, unhooks the rope and smiles at the couple who walk in. What can we do to unhook the velvet rope barriers to prosperity. How can we reclaim our power as “The Regulars”? What can we do to return America as “The Great Equalizer”?
🧵 The Parable of the Velvet Rope
In a vast marketplace beneath a golden sky, two lands stretched side by side. On one side stood the Land of Plenty, where fruits overflowed, homes gleamed, and time moved gently. On the other side lay the Land of Labor, where hands were calloused, shelves were sparse, and clocks ticked fast.
Between them hung a red velvet rope—soft to the touch, but firm as iron. It was not nailed down, nor locked, yet no one from the Land of Labor could cross it. They could see the abundance, smell the bread, hear the laughter—but the rope whispered, “Not for you.”
One day, a child from the Land of Labor asked, “Why does the rope shimmer so beautifully crimson if it only divides?” Her question echoed across both lands.
An elder from the Land of Plenty heard her and wept. He had once crossed the rope long ago, when it was thinner and frayed. He gathered others—makers, thinkers, dreamers—and together they began to loosen the rope’s knots.
They built bridges of fair wages, ladders of education, and pulleys of shared ownership. The rope didn’t vanish, but it lifted—higher and higher—until it became a banner, not a barrier.
And beneath that banner, the two lands began to trade stories, share harvests, and walk freely. Is was then they discovered that the crimson rope that once barricaded them off from one another became the tie that bound their hearts togethers as neighbors.
Discussion
- Read James 2:2-7. What kind of barriers do people face as newcomers to a community? As people of a different ethnicity or orientation? When attending a new church? Does discrimination happen today? Share an example. How can we be more honoring of the poor and marginalized in our churches?
2 My brothers and sisters, believers in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ must not show favoritism. 2 Suppose a man comes into your meeting wearing a gold ring and fine clothes, and a poor man in filthy old clothes also comes in. 3 If you show special attention to the man wearing fine clothes and say, “Here’s a good seat for you,” but say to the poor man, “You stand there” or “Sit on the floor by my feet,” 4 have you not discriminated among yourselves and become judges with evil thoughts?
5 Listen, my dear brothers and sisters: Has not God chosen those who are poor in the eyes of the world to be rich in faith and to inherit the kingdom he promised those who love him? 6 But you have dishonored the poor. Is it not the rich who are exploiting you? Are they not the ones who are dragging you into court? 7 Are they not the ones who are blaspheming the noble name of him to whom you belong? -James 2
2. Why would the principle of Supply and Demand work differently when applied to the rich as opposed to the poor? While some imply that poor people are lazy, describe ways how it actually takes more effort to be poor? (Example: A single mother of three works two jobs. Half her money goes to rent. The other half goes to child care and rent. She relies on food banks to feed her family.)
3. In decades of ministry, I have never asked my congregation to watch a video about the Las Vegas strip. Now, I ask you to watch the embedded video, a lesson not only in Las Vegas economics but a life lesson of the president clear-and-present economic danger facing the U.S. today.
Consider the casino mentioned which returned to free parking, $5 deluxe buffet, free drinks, rooms comp’d for players after a few hours playing (I am not advocating gambling and drinking, rather an economic principle of shared equity) and lower table betting minimums.
- Why did “The Regulars” return? How is this a win-win?
- What would it take for “The Regular” workers to take priority over AI involvement?
- How does laying off 40,000+ of “The Regular” delivery workers in the name of AI “high value” progress reflect the same misguided thinking of Las Vegas CEOs?
- How might the principle of shared equity come into play for The Regular workers in the midst of an AI based workplace?
- What steps can you do to unhook the velvet rope to acknowledge the image of God in the “The Regulars” brought into your life?
A Circle of Friends,
JPB