Ashton Cohen challenged a common political argument blaming the wealthiest Americans for society's problems, contending that a small group of criminals creates more everyday problems for ordinary people than the country's top earners.

"You know, this is one of the biggest lies people love to repeat these days, especially in politics. Oh, the top 1% is screwing everything up. They're destroying my life. Whatever," Cohen said.

Cohen argued that criticism directed toward the wealthiest 1% overlooks the technological advances, products, and services that have made daily life faster and more convenient.

"But the reality is, the top 1% is not responsible for most of society's problems. It's the bottom 1% who's f**king it up for the rest of us," Cohen said.

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He began with online shopping and home delivery, contrasting the ability to quickly purchase products with the threat of package theft.

"The top 1% is why you can order anything in the world and have it delivered to your door within 48 hours. The bottom 1% is why said package gets stolen off your porch before you get home," Cohen said.

Cohen then pointed to smartphones as another example.

He credited successful innovators with putting powerful technology and access to enormous amounts of information into the hands of consumers while blaming criminals and scammers for many of the security precautions required to protect those devices and their users.

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"The top 1% put a supercomputer in your pocket, a phone with access to every book, movie, song ever created. It allows you to connect to anyone across the planet," Cohen said.

He contrasted those benefits with the security measures consumers routinely encounter.

"The bottom 1% is why you need face scans, security backups, and 100 passwords just to use that damn phone, and why most of the calls that come in are from scammers," Cohen said.

Cohen also pointed to pharmacies and modern medicine, arguing that medical advances have made infections that were once potentially devastating far easier to treat.

At the same time, he criticized retail theft and the security measures stores have implemented to protect ordinary merchandise.

"The top 1% is why you can walk into a CVS and pick up meds for an infection that would have wiped you and your entire family out 100 years ago. The bottom 1% is why that same CVS has to keep the fucking deodorant behind a steel cage," Cohen said.

His argument extended to automobiles and the costs associated with protecting them.

Cohen described modern vehicles as machines that allow people to travel distances that would have been unimaginable throughout much of human history.

"The top 1% is why you get to own a machine like this, allowing you to travel like a Greek god, traversing hundreds of miles in a single day," Cohen said.

He then contrasted that convenience with insurance expenses and anti-theft measures.

"The bottom 1% is why you have to pay premiums every month and install it with alarms and cameras," Cohen said.

Cohen emphasized that his use of the phrase "bottom 1%" was not a reference to Americans with low incomes.

Instead, he said he was specifically describing criminals whose actions impose costs and inconveniences on everyone else.

"And to be clear, when I'm talking about the bottom 1%, not talking about poor people. I'm talking about criminals," Cohen said.

He described that group as a relatively small portion of the population whose behavior has consequences extending far beyond the immediate victims of individual crimes.

"The tiny fraction of society making every person's life more annoying, more dangerous, expensive, more aggravating," Cohen said.

Cohen concluded by turning the familiar political debate about inequality on its head.

Rather than focusing on wealth inequality between the richest Americans and everyone else, he argued that greater attention should be paid to the costs imposed on law-abiding citizens by repeat criminal behavior.

"So maybe the real inequality that we should be addressing is the bottom 1% who make us, the other 99%, pay for all their bullsh*t."

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