I have always enjoyed writing pieces of opinion journalism. It’s actually how I got my first taste of the newspaper life back in high school. That was when I first got ink in my veins, as one of my former publishers told me.

I typically try to keep my pieces personal, as they reflect my opinion — and ONLY my opinion — but sometimes I take a meandering path, while other times are direct and straightforward.

This time I will incorporate a brief history lesson along with an allegory. I think it will be fun.

First, the history lesson.

Guess when America had its first ever billionaire? All the way back in (looks at calendar and does simple math with fingers) 1916. 109 years ago, John D. Rockefeller became the country’s first billionaire.

Considering how America was number one in the world at everything (right?), we must have had several more in short order after that. You might think that, anyway.

Fast forward 64 years and in 1980 America had approximately 30 to 35 billionaires in total. That’s all.

But I think we should keep the scale of the number in focus. A million seconds is 11.5 days, while a billion seconds is 31.7 years. Let that sink in for a moment.

If you spent $1,000 per day, it would take you nearly three years to spend a million dollars. Crazy, right? At the same rate of spending $1,000 per day, it would take you about 2,740 years to spend a billion dollars.

Fast forward a whole, whopping 45 years and guess how many billionaires are in the USA currently. Approximately 900 to 1,135 billionaires are now in the USA.

Are you one of them? I’m not. I don’t know any who are. In fact, most people I know are like me, trying to live within our means while watching cost of living increase year after year.

Consider the fact that the average Alaskan with an ACA policy could see increases beyond 100% of their current premium if the subsidies are terminated. Consider how that could lead to thousands of individuals dropping their coverage due to unaffordability.

Is health care really something that should be treated as a commodity? Should only the wealthy be privileged to have it?

Do you find yourself wondering how our country produced so many billionaires in less than 50 years? It certainly raises questions for me.

And now, it’s time for a quick allegory.

“The forest was shrinking and dying, but the trees kept cheering for the axe. For the axe was clever, and convinced the trees that because his handle was made of wood, he was one of them.”

That unknown allegory has made its rounds on social media, and it’s easy to see why. It speaks to a present issue and generates a need for insight.

There are all kinds of thoughts and theories that can provoke discussion around the matter. But, what I find most compelling is that in the USA — the country I was raised to believe to be the most exceptional of countries — the average household (mine included) lives from paycheck to paycheck and is within one $1,000 emergency of financial catastrophe.

I’m long past cheering for the axe.