Recently, our newspaper’s business section carried an article about an entertainment mall in the populous northeast. The mall features snow (manufactured within the mall) and skiing. The mall plans more than half its space, not for shopping, but for entertainment. (The Seattle Times, “The Mall of the Future? “February 5, 2020)

Included or under construction are an ice rink and a theme park. Apparently, investors believe malls now are candidates for “experiences” as well as for shopping. They hope this change will rescue the empty malls cluttering our landscape.

The same business section featured a commentary on the need for affordable housing in the United States. (“The puzzle affordable housing poses for America”)

According to the commentary, “Half of families who rent and nearly one-fourth of homeowners pay more than 30% of their monthly income toward their housing costs. This level is widely considered unsustainable.”

Perhaps the articles are not related, but to me they illustrate a grand division forming in the United States: the haves with money to spend on nonessential entertainment and the have-nots, who struggle merely for the basic necessities of life.

Homelessness is a condition we read about every day, but this commentary was basically not about the drug addicted or the mentally ill. It touched on working families who can barely survive in our society.

One does not need to be a socialist to see the devastating cleavage in our country. The different political factions—conservative, liberal, and in-between—face a crisis. Basic shelter, medical care, and education and job training are public needs that must be addressed if we are to survive as a successful democracy.