‘Do you think there is a chance that there will be a reset from income inequality to fair wealth distribution in the rich nations.’

         ‘You mean the poor should be richer and the rich poorer?’ Camp said, raising one of his prominent, white eyebrows. 

         ‘Well, kind off. I guess I’m talking about the fact that according to the Federal Reserve, the top 1% of households in the US holds 32% of the country’s wealth, while the bottom 50%, the least wealthy households, accounted for 2.6%. That’s at the end of 2021. In Canada it’s a bit better.

         ‘Doesn’t surprise me,’ Camp said. According to Forbes data, the combined wealth of all US billionaires increased by 2 trillion dollars, 70%, between March 2020 and October 2021, that is during Covid.’

         ‘And so it goes. The rich get richer, the poor stay poor. Nothing short of a revolution will change any of this.’

         ‘Revolution?’ You mean overthrow the present order and kick all the elected pundits out of their fancy offices? A coup?’ Anarchy? Like the teenager riots in France right now?’

         ‘Well, that’s never gonna work in a modern democracy. We, the boomers had our chance in the late sixties but we kind of blew it when we opted for the bigger paycheck and the single-family house.’

         ‘I think there is a quiet revolution under way as we speak,’ Camp said. ‘Many young people are unhappy with their prospects of never owning a house even if the bank of Ma&Pa is helping out. With average house prices approaching a million bucks in Canada and interest rates upwards of 5%, a whole generation will be left behind. Even if they inherit their parents’ house the siblings cannot afford to buy each other out.’

         ‘And how exactly is anyone gonna fix that?’ I wanted to know.

         ‘Well, if thousands suddenly refuse to pay their mortgages, something will happen.’

         ‘Like a tax revolt? Dream on. We Canadians pay our bills, taxes and even fines. Reluctantly, but we pay. That’s what an orderly, democratic society does. Pay and then complain and maybe affect some minor changes. That’s called evolution, not revolution.’

         Camp took a pensive sip of his beer. ‘The other place where there is much unhappiness is in the labor market. The construction industry is in desperate need of workers, mostly skilled trades. While millions of boomers are retiring or have already taken their hat and left for the golf course or the condo in Mexico, nobody is filling their shoes. The average retirement age in construction is also notably lower than in the rest of the economy. The industry needs pipe fitters, cement finishers, iron workers, carpenters, glass installers, millwrights, welders, electricians, mechanics and any other building trade,’ Camp said. ‘It’s one of the reasons wages are stratospheric. Have you taken your car to the garage lately? They charge like lawyers and doctors.’

         ‘What about the training institutions, immigrants and foreign workers?’

         ‘Registered apprentices and trade qualifiers are down 15% over the past decade and the share of new immigrants in construction is just 2%. Nobody wants to be a pipefitter or a diesel mechanic. Everybody wants a computer job, preferable one where you can work from home.’

         ‘But every sector faces labor shortages; from the strained healthcare sector to restaurants, from teachers to construction to ferry workers. Want a job on the ferry? No problem.  When can you start?’

         ‘I guess revolution is out for the millennials. They’re too busy.’

         ‘It would be a revolution if everybody turns off their smart phones.’

         When Vicky came around with another round, I asked her if she ever turned off her phone. 

         ‘I silence it at work and check it every now and then. My phone is like my heart. If it stops working, I’m in big trouble. No shopping, no banking, no connections, no schedules, no chats, no life.’ She winked at me as if to say that she was not being serious but I’m not so sure.’

         My phone is like my heart. That woke me up in the middle of the night.