In a previous article, I discussed a burgeoning class war rumbling beneath Bermuda’s social fabric. This class war did not suddenly happen; rather, it has been evolving steadily over many decades. But like a roll of toilet tissue, it spins faster over time.

If we look at salaries and the role of the 1970s and 1980s, tradesmen were some of the highest-paid professionals in society. Tradesmen before and during those years such as welders, plumbers, and carpenters, considered good, were the prominent backbone and middle class of society.

International business and all of the associated services drastically changed all of that. The demand for softer services and administrative staff became the new and higher demand. That demand shifted the male hierarchy for a significant proportion of Bermuda society. This was not all bad but that shift of income proportion had a concomitant social factor that must not be overlooked.

If we were to compare a tradesman in China of the 1960s to now, that same tradesman today is making 270 times more when, comparatively, the same tradesman in America now makes about ten times more. A chief executive of a large corporation in China today makes about $120,000 compared with a CEO of a large Western or American corporation, who would make $15 million.

The gap in income between white-collar and blue-collar mirrors this increasing wealth gap. Bermuda is not alone in that regard. The 8,000 or more souls who fled our shores left because they could no longer see a future with their income prospects and that number is only the tip of the iceberg — representing those who were able to migrate. The number of persons contemplating the move would be staggering if known.

It becomes interesting to decipher what groups or segments of society survive or even thrive under the weight of the expense of Bermuda’s cost of living, which is recognised to be one of the highest in the world. Here, the ”tale of two cities” shows its differences.

Initially, the contrast glaringly showed between those employed in international business and the local sector. Much of that changed in about 2008-09, along with the stock market crash, followed by downsizing because of innovations. However, today, not only is there a difference between IB employment and local but there is also a huge divide between the private sector and the public sector within the local economy.

It would appear that parliamentarians, particularly Cabinet ministers or those with additional board roles, live comfortable lives. Parliamentarians, in general, usually have another full-time job. The civil servants are another group that is thriving, their salaries meeting the threshold for being able to survive in Bermuda’s economic environment.

Given the Bermuda Government, with all of its services, is perhaps the largest employer of sorts, those closely aligned through party affiliation manage to hold a bold face as they, too, survive like the leaves on a tree.

If we can see the picture that is emerging, then a large sector of people are not a part of that tree and that is where the friction lies. It’s no accident that David Burt termed his electoral agenda “A Fairer Bermuda”. It was not abstract or arbitrary but spoke directly to this problem.

I recall in the early 1990s talking to a high-ranking chief executive of an international company who confessed guilt in knowing how much money was generated in IB and how little they paid for it. Not surprisingly, after 30 years the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development did something about that with the 15 per cent global tax.

The billionaire-class government in the United States has decided to drive the bottom tier even farther to the ground with a new level of authoritarian fascism. I don't think they will succeed there and I don't know what the answer is to Bermuda’s economic class gap, which when summing up all the imperatives was politically generated.

The usual result historically for this level of disparity has been anarchy and revolt and that is only because, for too many, it is hard to convey their frustration and, therefore, they become incentivised by mass protest. The short to medium-term prognosis is that the cost of living will increase but the political class will get their cost adjustments as recently granted in Parliament, while emigration continues to be the trend of the working-class native Bermudians. This will eventually lead to more short-term employment for foreign workers that will be the new workforce serving IB and the political class.

It is a sad phenomenon prophesied many years ago that it has become true that Bermudians will not be able to afford to live in their country and will be supplanted by low-paid, foreign workers. This is a global phenomenon that when wealth accumulates in fewer and fewer hands, it leaves the bottom dry.