Great analysis of our current state of affairs and our three-tier society! I agree with you on all points except for the statement above.

The little people of America are the ones who keep the great wheel of the entire neoliberal economy churning. They keep the Walmarts, McDonalds and other corporations aimed at the lower demographic profitable and they also work all the humdrum, yet necessary jobs that tiers 1 and 2 frequently overlook.

Their combined expenditure is not something that any American company can afford to laugh at or disregard either. Collectively they pay more in interest rates to banks, they spend more on basic necessities and they get grafted more by landlords. Their discretionary income is low because, unlike the rich, they spend every red cent they get.

The overlords were in an uproar over the Great Resignation and genuinely fearful that the impoverished workers would not return to their hospitality and other low-level jobs. The real economy (not wall st) sputtered at the mere prospect of not having its serfs. "Shrugged" is therefore not the term to use.