A letter to Robin Hood concerning The Largest Upward Transfer of Wealth in American History

Dear Robin Hood,

It has been some time since we last communicated. Come to think of it, we may never have exchanged greetings, until now. Greetings from the modern era, one marked by many of the same malevolence typical of your own generation — greedy tyrants, weak-spined sycophants, and no shortage of narcissistic sociopaths.

We desperately need someone with your heroic ambitions and legendary ability to help us resist the social cruelty and moral decay which presently surrounds us. Beyond your own swordplay and robust archery, we need someone who can restore order in a world hell-bent on avarice and the destruction of compassionate politics. Fear now pervades all speech, thought, and action. Many despair. Others puzzle about how to stay sane. Some fear for their own safety.

Writing in The Atlantic Magazine on May 22, 2025 (how the centuries have passed, and so quickly) Jonathan Chait details how in the United States  House Republicans voted to advance a bill that would offer lavish tax cuts for the rich while slashing benefits for the poor — yes, the polar opposite to your own practice and profession.

[Jonathan Chait] “House Republicans worked through the night to advance a massive piece of legislation that might, if enacted, carry out the largest upward transfer of wealth in American history. That is not a side effect of the legislation, but its central purpose. The ‘big, beautiful bill’ would pair huge cuts to food assistance and health insurance for low-income Americans with even larger tax cuts for affluent ones.”

Allow me to step back for a moment and set the context. Last November a majority of those who voted launched the Trump administration into office. They were motivated by powerful emotional speeches where Trump assured his followers of his love for them and assured them of his ability to lift them out of the financial and social doldrums which beset them. And they believed every word he said. And now, gosh, look at what is happening. The largest transfer of wealth America has ever seen, taken from those who need it most — those who need health care, education, food security, and job security — all handed to the wealthiest who need it least.

Many predict that Republicans will lose many seats in the mid-term elections, and yes, this may be so. But by then, just months away, what will be left of the US Administration to provide any relief? The strategy, what I call Blitzkrieg — remember Spain and Poland in WW2 — strike hard and fast before anyone knows what’s happening — will ensure the real estate developers and online oligarchs will get what they want: Power, dominance, minimal resistance, and wealth beyond their wildest dreams.

[Chait] “The heedlessness of the process is an indication of its underlying fanaticism. The members of the Republican majority are behaving not like traditional conservatives but like revolutionaries who, having seized power, believe they must smash up the old order as quickly as possible before the country recognizes what is happening.”

At birthday parties when our children were younger we often created a Piñata, an oval-shaped paper mâché container stuffed with candy. Once blindfolded and turned around a few times the player would pick up a stick and smash open the suspended egg so the candy would drop to the ground. Well the smashing continues daily, but I guarantee, unless you are amongst the wealthiest of Americans you will find no candy on your floor. Just higher food costs, less access to health care and education, poorer job prospects, increasingly poor water and air quality, more expensive goods especially from outside the US, an inflationary economy and a less valuable US dollar.

 It’s not a pretty picture. It’s hardly the stuff of legend or fairy tale. It’s government trying to act like business, and a failed business at that. Robin, please come now and help us out. At the very least help us find courage and resilience as we seek to restore order and yes, kindness.