The Rich Men North Of Richmond Rorschach Test
<p>It’s usually a bad sign when someone speaks (or writes) with total confidence, but I’m totally confident you hadn’t heard of country music megastar Oliver Anthony until a couple of weeks ago.</p>
<p>I’m guessing some of you are only discovering him now.</p>
<p>In just two weeks, Anthony (whose real name is Chris Lunsford) went from total obscurity to millions of followers on social media, his debut single, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sqSA-SY5Hro" rel="noopener ugc nofollow" target="_blank"><em>Rich Men North of Richmond</em></a><em> </em>(a reference to politicians in Washington D.C.), rocketed to the top of the Billboard Hot 100, and he was even the subject of a question during last week’s <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/aug/25/rich-men-north-of-richmond-oliver-anthony-republicans" rel="noopener ugc nofollow" target="_blank">Republican Primary debate</a>.</p>
<p>Anthony’s rise has been nothing short of meteoric. And if you listen to the <a href="https://genius.com/Oliver-anthony-rich-men-north-of-richmond-lyrics" rel="noopener ugc nofollow" target="_blank">first few lines of his song</a>, you could be forgiven for thinking it’s just a simple, Bible Belt-friendly song, about the economic and political frustrations of America:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>I’ve been sellin’ my soul, workin’ all day,<br />
Overtime hours for bullshit pay,<br />
So I can sit out here and waste my life away,<br />
Drag back home and drown my troubles away.</p>
<p>It’s a damn shame what the world’s gotten to,<br />
For people like me and people like you,<br />
Wish I could just wake up and it not be true,<br />
But it is, oh, it is.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>According to the latest <a href="https://www.pymnts.com/study/reality-check-paycheck-to-paycheck-inflation-household-spending-shared-expenses/" rel="noopener ugc nofollow" target="_blank">LendingClub report</a>, 61% of Americans are <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2023/07/31/61percent-of-americans-live-paycheck-to-paycheck-even-as-inflation-cools.html" rel="noopener ugc nofollow" target="_blank">living paycheck to paycheck</a>. 52% work more than 40 hours a week <a href="https://time.com/6168310/overtime-pay-history/" rel="noopener ugc nofollow" target="_blank">without getting overtime pay</a>. 49% rely on credit cards to cover <a href="https://inside1031.com/credit-card-debt-2021/" rel="noopener ugc nofollow" target="_blank">essential living expenses</a>. And that’s before we even talk about the <a href="https://www.openaccessgovernment.org/the-frightening-cost-of-living-in-the-u-s-a-price-index-review/142843/" rel="noopener ugc nofollow" target="_blank">cost of living crisis</a> or the decade-long fight for a <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fight_for_$15" rel="noopener ugc nofollow" target="_blank">liveable minimum wage</a>.</p>
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