It’s more than a sheen; it’s central to the project. In the United States, it’s the legacy of slavery and Jim Crow that makes white people look at their relative well-being vs BIPOC people. In Europe, it’s colonialism. Both places are tending toward white ethno-nationalist, conspiracy-theory-laden facsism to escape the reality that they are as poor and troubled as we are.

Invert the analysis a bit and racism > pure economics. (DuBois, not just Marx). All these white people are still coordinating their Nazi rallies on smartphones. The people who stormed the Capitol? Several flew in on private jets. Few were poor. It’s the racism.