Could rich Americans possibly be more clueless about the future?

I have been accused of hating rich people, and while it's not really true, there are plenty of Americans who could be called mega-rich or part of the plutonomy that I have very little use for.

Our national tragedy is that of all the so-called civilized countries in the world, the United States has the stupidest, greediest rich people.

Seriously, it isn't even close.

Who's the first person who comes to mind when you think of someone rich?

Some folks might say Bill Gates or Warren Buffett, but I would bet you that the name that would come to mind first for most people would be the man I like to call Trumpers the Comic Insult Human.

That's right, Donald Trump, or maybe just the 2016 Republican presidential nominee.

Now Trumpers was quite fortunate to have a wealthy father. If he had a working class father – let's say a police officer or a men's room attendant – who couldn't have set him up for success, he would have been riding the short bus to school and dreaming of a career as the french-fry guy at Burger King.

Think about it.

Think of all the bragging Trumpers does and then try to think of a rich guy with less class not named Clampett.

Jethro Clampett.

Trumpers' wealth was estimated at $2.9 billion by Forbes magazine in 2013, so he's actually small potatoes compared to the Koch brothers, Warren Buffett, Larry Ellison, the Waltons and Bill Gates.

But when you look at some of these folks, who are working hard to amass fortunes so big no one can ever spend them, therein lies the reason our economy is dying.

Ever since World War II, consumer spending has been the hub of our economy.

The only times that has been bad has been times when for whatever reason, consumer spending goes down.

Consider this: A family of four with an income of $50,000 puts the bulk of that into consumer spending -- food, housing, gas, clothes for the kids and an occasional DVD for Mom/Dad Sexytime.

But that same size family with an income a hundred times that large -- $5 million a year -- doesn't eat a hundred times as much food (unless it's the Limbaugh household), burn a hundred times as much gas or buy 100 times as much clothing for the children.

And a family making $50 million probably doesn't spend 10 times as much as the preceding family. That's why it has been estimated that at present there is roughly $2 trillion in wealth just in the US that is just sitting unused.

You see, when you have a consumer society, you have to maintain consumption at a certain level or your economy gets very sick. If half the country is working at Walmart -- an exaggeration, but still ... – and being told they can qualify for food stamps and Medicaid, there's not going to be a while lot of luxury spending.

I've seen several estimates, one saying 70 percent of the country is at best just getting by and another saying 50 percent is living paycheck to paycheck. Unemployment numbers were sluggish for years, and even though the percentage of unemployed isn't bad, an awful lot of people are working for much less than they were before.

It comes down to one thing -- our stupid rich people have been too greedy.

Think about this: When the top income tax bracket was 70 percent, rather than take the income that would put them in that bracket, people pumped the money back into their companies and the economy grew. Heck, they were only going to clear $3 out of every $10.

But when the top rate is half that, when income tax is going to cost $3.50 of every $10, it's "Party on, Garth."

What is that? A 25-year-old pop culture reference?

Sorry. But it's the reason you can't have too much economic freedom when the beneficiaries are stupid and greedy. You end up with feudalism. And nobody wants that, except maybe for the Kochs and Waltons.

I'll tell you when things are going to get really nasty in this country. When all the Second Amendment fanatics realize the mega-rich have been cornholing them for 35 years.

Then we can sing that old song:

"In the morning, in the evening, ain't we got fun!"