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The Night Shift | The Bottom 50% Own 2.5% of the Wealth of the Country

At nineteen, I worked the Walmart night shift in Columbia, Missouri, alongside people whose choices were narrower than mine. I remember Lou, employee stock ownership, and the small profit-sharing check I carried into a different life. Those memories lead to a question about wealth inequality: how can saving, retirement plans, homeownership, and benefit rules give working people a real chance to own something and gain more choices?

Read the essay and sources: https://joelkdouglas.com/2026/08/18/the-night-shift-the-bottom-50-own/

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