I dont't know if that's a real Steinbeck quote (I've seen it attributed to him) but there are much better authentic quotes by Vonnegut, who was himself a Socialist, and along the same lines:

>America is the wealthiest nation on Earth, but its people are mainly poor, and poor Americans are urged to hate themselves.... It is in fact a crime for an American to be poor, even though America is a nation of poor. Every other nation has folk traditions of men who were poor but extremely wise and virtuous, and therefore more estimable than anyone with power and gold. No such tales are told by American poor. They mock themselves and glorify their betters.

But my sibling commenter is right - this kind of post won't go down well on HN, given its nature and near-dogmatic faith in (neo)liberal ideology. For what it's worth, I upvoted you, though.