David Evans lives in Aroostook County and has over 15 years of experience in the military and federal service as a policy writer. The views expressed here are his own and do not reflect those of the Department of Defense or any other government agency.
Being wealthy in America isn’t a crime, but somewhere along the way it became socially acceptable for many to treat it like one. Politicians thunder about “fighting billionaires.” Protest signs equate success with greed. Wealth has shifted from a symbol of achievement to shorthand for corruption for some. It’s an easy narrative, but it misses the real issue.
The problem isn’t that some Americans are rich, or even how rich they are. I believe the problem is that working families don’t have the same access to affordable credit. A billionaire can pledge stock as collateral and secure a multi-million-dollar loan at rock-bottom interest rates. No stock sold. No taxes owed. Just liquidity on demand.
The rest of us live in a different financial reality. For millions, borrowing doesn’t mean strategic leverage, it means credit cards with 25% interest, mortgages that squeeze every paycheck, or student loans that last a lifetime. What the rich use to build wealth, working families endure as a burden.
This is the structural inequality we rarely acknowledge: wealth and wages play by different rules. The wealthy can use their assets to unlock opportunity. The rest of us risk everything just to cover a furnace repair or a medical bill. When the playing field looks like this, the American Dream slips further from reach for families doing everything right.
So instead of scapegoating success, let’s focus on creating real opportunity. One place to start? A publicly backed credit option for every American, anchored in a system we already fund: Social Security.
Here’s how it could work: The Treasury Department would let workers borrow against half of the Social Security contributions they’ve already made. Every paycheck, workers pay into the system — it’s forced savings, but locked away until retirement. The problem is, emergencies don’t wait. A car repair, a medical bill, or a broken furnace can’t be put off until age 67.
Giving workers the ability to leverage their Social Security contributions through loans at Treasury rates, rather than credit card rates, could be transformative, offering Americans real buy-in to a program that should embody not just retirement, but ownership of their financial future.
A nurse in Bangor who’s paid into Social Security for 15 years might have access to $15,000 in liquidity. Instead of maxing out a credit card to replace a dead furnace in January, she could borrow $5,000 against her own record at 2% interest. Instead of seeing a medical bill spiral into bankruptcy, a family could cover the cost with low-cost credit they’ve already earned.
Critically, this would not dismantle or drain Social Security. Loans would be structured with repayment, through payroll deductions, direct payments, or offsets to future benefits if necessary. The fund remains solvent while giving workers a tool for resilience in the present.
This is not charity. It’s not redistribution. It’s simply giving ordinary Americans the ability to leverage the system they already support, the same way the wealthy leverage their assets. It levels the playing field without punishing anyone for their success.
If America is to remain the land of opportunity, then every worker deserves access to the same financial tools as the wealthy. That doesn’t mean dismantling capitalism or demonizing prosperity. It means ensuring that the ability to weather storms, take risks, and invest in the future isn’t reserved for those who already have assets to spare.
Instead of targeting the rich, let’s build financial security for all. That’s not just fairness, it’s the American promise, fulfilled.
