American dream? Keep dreaming.

Unless, of course, you’re breathing the rarefied air of the global elites, or maybe close enough to them to catch some of their scraps.

But the rest of us? Forget it.

That’s the gist of what blogger Charles Hugh Smith had to say in a recent “Daily Reckoning” post highlighting the struggles of the common man.

“This is the reality,” he explains, “the American dream is now reserved for the top 0.5%, with some shreds falling to the top 5% who are tasked with generating a credible illusion of prosperity for the bottom 95%.”

Smith used this “disturbing chart,” which was highlighted in our daily “Need to Know” column, to illustrate his point:

“For the bottom 95%, life is typically getting harder and less prosperous as the cost of living rises, wages are stagnant and the demands on workers increase,” Smith wrote in reference to the chart. “Meanwhile, the asset bubbles inflated by central banks have enriched the top 10% of households, which own over 75% of all assets and take home over 50% of all household income.”

Smith pointed out that median household income has gone nowhere since 2000, and that if it were adjusted by real inflation, it would show a 20% decline in purchasing power for all but the top 5%.

He said that the collective memory of the American dream remains, and people feel they should be able to take vacations, buy starter homes and cover the bills without being overwhelmed by stress.

But, “official claims of prosperity” don’t match the reality.

“A sense of injustice and betrayal arise, along with a sense that something has gone profoundly wrong with the society and the economy,” Smith wrote. “This dynamic has yet to fully play out, but it will. Whatever you think of Trump, his election isn’t the problem; it’s merely a symptom of much deeper forces that will sweep our corrupt and rotten-to-the-core status quo into the dustbin of history.”