On Becoming Part Of The 1%

[thereisnospoon]

I keep reading about how there is this 1% and how much they have and how much more they are amassing and so on and so forth, but what is stopping anyone in America from joining them? Anyone can invest in the stock market or trade bonds, free education is available to every child and anyone can go to college thanks to student loans and scholarships. The sky is the limit here, so how much of the class divide is really class warfare and how much is people not using the opportunities they have or making poor choices?

In previous generations we could find a mother or father walking their chuild down the street. As an expensive car drives past. The child is amazed. The parent says to the child, "that's a real nice car. One day you could own one of those if you stay in school, work hard and take care of your family."
Today, that same parent tells their kid..."you see that? That guy doesn't deserve that car because he took something from someone else and your daddy so he could get that car. The world is unfair."
Pretty simple.

 

[Meister]

I keep reading about how there is this 1% and how much they have and how much more they are amassing and so on and so forth, but what is stopping anyone in America from joining them? Anyone can invest in the stock market or trade bonds, free education is available to every child and anyone can go to college thanks to student loans and scholarships. The sky is the limit here, so how much of the class divide is really class warfare and how much is people not using the opportunities they have or making poor choices?

In previous generations we could find a mother or father walking their chuild down the street. As an expensive car drives past. The child is amazed. The parent says to the child, "that's a real nice car. One day you could own one of those if you stay in school, work hard and take care of your family."
Today, that same parent tells their kid..."you see that? That guy doesn't deserve that car because he took something from someone else and your daddy so he could get that car. The world is unfair."
Pretty simple.

We sure are hearing that on this messageboard. Disgusting

 

[thereisnospoon]

The very idea that anyone can get really wealthy is retarded. Practically anyone can work themselves into an early grave to pay debts on houses and cars though, I think many conservatives equate borrowing power to wealth. What of those who do not like the idea of massive debt? In our society it seems an unwillingness to take on long-term debt is seen as laziness for some reason.

That's a load of crap.
And is the same defeatist attitude libs have toward others and our system.

 

[MisterBeale]

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HmlX3fLQrEc]The One Percent - YouTube[/ame]

 

[MisterBeale]

Getting rich is fine. Getting super wealthy is fine. Getting disgusting wealthy is fine too. It is what made this nation great. But I just don't think most of the posters here really understand the danger of corporatism. What we are talking about here is fascism. This is something that is a cancer. It is patently un-American. It has, for the past one hundred years been allowed to get more and more out of control.

That people have been conditioned to support it, inconceivable.

 

[Londoner]

At least five large studies in recent years have found the United States to be less mobile than comparable nations. A project led by Markus Jantti, an economist at a Swedish university, found that 42 percent of American men raised in the bottom fifth of incomes stay there as adults. That shows a level of persistent disadvantage much higher than in Denmark (25 percent) and Britain (30 percent) — a country famous for its class constraints.

Meanwhile, just 8 percent of American men at the bottom rose to the top fifth. That compares with 12 percent of the British and 14 percent of the Danes.

Despite frequent references to the United States as a classless society, about 62 percent of Americans (male and female) raised in the top fifth of incomes stay in the top two-fifths, according to research by the Economic Mobility Project of the Pew Charitable Trusts. Similarly, 65 percent born in the bottom fifth stay in the bottom two-fifths.
From Here

 

[JiggsCasey]

what is stopping anyone in America from joining them?

I dunno, the basic Laws of Thermodynamics? Moral fiber? ...

Contrary to modern free market cultists, there is only as much wealth as the natural resources on this finite planet provide. Money doesn't DO any work, no matter how much is printed up, and no matter how much asset bubbles expand.

As growth continues to slow, you "finance is everything" drones are gonna learn real quick that it's a zero sum game now. I mean, if you're content with exploiting others in order to join the 1%, have at it. But it won't last. And when it comes, the rioting won't stop behind your gated community.

 

[JoeB131]

[

Okay, we did it your way. Didn't work. Let's go back to what we did after FDR, tax the fuck out of them and put the money into infrastructure and compell them to pay fair wages.

Works for me.

No nation has ever taxed itself into prosperity for the poor.
EVER

No, actually, the US did, after the New Deal.

See this graph. When we taxed the wealthy at a healthy rate, the poverty rate dipped from 29% in 1959 to 11% in 1974.

Then that senile old idiot Reagan came along (to think I voted for that idiot, TWICE!) and lo and behold, the poverty rate started creeping up again.

Clinton Raised taxes in the 1990's, and it started creeping down again, and then the retard Bush cut it and it started creeping up again.

Seems to me the poor do pretty well when the rich are paying their fair share.

 

[Meister]

[

Okay, we did it your way. Didn't work. Let's go back to what we did after FDR, tax the fuck out of them and put the money into infrastructure and compell them to pay fair wages.

Works for me.

No nation has ever taxed itself into prosperity for the poor.
EVER

No, actually, the US did, after the New Deal.

See this graph. When we taxed the wealthy at a healthy rate, the poverty rate dipped from 29% in 1959 to 11% in 1974.

Then that senile old idiot Reagan came along (to think I voted for that idiot, TWICE!) and lo and behold, the poverty rate started creeping up again.

Clinton Raised taxes in the 1990's, and it started creeping down again, and then the retard Bush cut it and it started creeping up again.

Seems to me the poor do pretty well when the rich are paying their fair share.

Once a person takes into account all the tax deductions that the wealthy had at that time......it blows your theory all to hell. just an observation.....

 

[Spiderman]

[

Okay, we did it your way. Didn't work. Let's go back to what we did after FDR, tax the fuck out of them and put the money into infrastructure and compell them to pay fair wages.

Works for me.

No nation has ever taxed itself into prosperity for the poor.
EVER

No, actually, the US did, after the New Deal.

See this graph. When we taxed the wealthy at a healthy rate, the poverty rate dipped from 29% in 1959 to 11% in 1974.

Then that senile old idiot Reagan came along (to think I voted for that idiot, TWICE!) and lo and behold, the poverty rate started creeping up again.

Clinton Raised taxes in the 1990's, and it started creeping down again, and then the retard Bush cut it and it started creeping up again.

Seems to me the poor do pretty well when the rich are paying their fair share.

Just who are "the poor" and how many of them are there?

And I really don't think the difference of a top bracket of 39% and the current at 35% is as significant as you think it is.

What's happened is that there are fewer people paying taxes now than ever before due to refundable tax credits and other feel good vote buying giveaways.

That someone earning 30 or 40 K a year can pay zero federal income taxes is a big part of the problem.

 

[MisterBeale]

So basically nobody watched the video?

 

[BlackSand]

Getting rich is fine. Getting super wealthy is fine. Getting disgusting wealthy is fine too. It is what made this nation great. But I just don't think most of the posters here really understand the danger of corporatism. What we are talking about here is fascism. This is something that is a cancer. It is patently un-American. It has, for the past one hundred years been allowed to get more and more out of control.

That people have been conditioned to support it, inconceivable.

So basically nobody watched the video?

If corporations are buying influence in government ... It is the politicians elected that are selling us out.
Go after the people who are corrupt and leave the rest of us in the business world alone.

Punishing the rich because you elected crooked fools is not the answer.
That would be like saying a 45 year old white man killed his wife ... So we need to make sure white men don't get married.

.

 

[MisterBeale]

Getting rich is fine. Getting super wealthy is fine. Getting disgusting wealthy is fine too. It is what made this nation great. But I just don't think most of the posters here really understand the danger of corporatism. What we are talking about here is fascism. This is something that is a cancer. It is patently un-American. It has, for the past one hundred years been allowed to get more and more out of control.

That people have been conditioned to support it, inconceivable.

So basically nobody watched the video?

If corporations are buying influence in government ... It is the politicians elected that are selling us out.
Go after the people who are corrupt and leave the rest of us in the business world alone.

Punishing the rich because you elected crooked fools is not the answer.
That would be like saying a 45 year old white man killed his wife ... So we need to make sure white men don't get married.

.

So, that would be no. . . .

 

[BlackSand]

Getting rich is fine. Getting super wealthy is fine. Getting disgusting wealthy is fine too. It is what made this nation great. But I just don't think most of the posters here really understand the danger of corporatism. What we are talking about here is fascism. This is something that is a cancer. It is patently un-American. It has, for the past one hundred years been allowed to get more and more out of control.

That people have been conditioned to support it, inconceivable.

So basically nobody watched the video?

If corporations are buying influence in government ... It is the politicians elected that are selling us out.
Go after the people who are corrupt and leave the rest of us in the business world alone.

Punishing the rich because you elected crooked fools is not the answer.
That would be like saying a 45 year old white man killed his wife ... So we need to make sure white men don't get married.

.

So, that would be no. . . .

Yes I did what the video you jackass ... Which shows more respect to you offering an opinion than you are willing to give in return ... So fuck off with your bullshit.
The part that was the most humorous to me was when he was trying to tape his parents and his dad basically told him to shut the camera off and get lost.

.

 

[Erand7899]

It required initial capital investment to start a business or create jobs. Capital which the 1% "job creators" have plenty of.

So when do the 1% "job creators" begin to create jobs? Why doesn't trickle down economics work?

It doesn't work because your Messiah is not interested in trickle down solutions. You have to actually do it to make it work.

The people, who have money, wish to not only retain that money, but wish to make more money off of the money they have. Who would have thunk it?

They didn't get rich, or stay rich, by making foolish decisions about where they invest their money.

They put that money to work, in the place, and in the manner, that they believe will bring them the greatest returns, while safeguarding their investment. Exactly the same thing you would do, if you had any money to invest.

Our economy is currently not a safe haven for new investment, and that is why new investment is not being made here. I am speaking "on the margins" here, not any all or nothing statement. Thousands of new regulations and threats of thousands more. Threats of new taxes and punishment for the wealthy. Government red tape that can delay a project for years while the left wing nuts fight a new factory or a new pipeline. Confusion and distrust over a stupid government takeover of healthcare and the lack of knowledge about the future costs. All of this has to be considered before the 1%ers decide to risk their capital and create jobs here.

 

[MisterBeale]

Tell me how you felt about the fact that it is corporations that are responsible for thwarting the will of the American voter? You know that is classic fascism, when the government is unresponsive to the will of the people and uses extra-constitutional means to achieve the objectives of the elites.

Even Reagan was dismayed that the elites used their untoward influence to go behind his back to get arms to the Contras. Now, people on the left will tell you that he authorized the whole program, and people on the right will tell you he was honest and was disgusted by the whole affair. The fact remains, should the elites be free to do this sort of shit, just so they can rape, pillage and plunder parts of the planet for their profit?

You write like, oh. . . it's just the government that is corrupt. Quite frankly, you didn't watch anything but the first, maybe fifteen minutes. What you would have realized is that money and power corrupt. The most corrupt are those who hold the most money and power. Those would be the one percent. Not the top 10 percent, not the five percent, the top 300 families in the nation.

 

[Erand7899]

How many of you have seen friends, relatives, or perhaps yourselves, who have received a modest sum from a bonus, an inheritance, or even a lottery winning, run right down and buy a new car or a boat, or possibly a motorcycle, with that money?

Did they think about investing that money and begin creating a better future? No, and that is the difference between those who get ahead and those who don't.

 

[MisterBeale]

How many of you have seen friends, relatives, or perhaps yourselves, who have received a modest sum from a bonus, an inheritance, or even a lottery winning, run right down and buy a new car or a boat, or possibly a motorcycle, with that money?

Did they think about investing that money and begin creating a better future? No, and that is the difference between those who get ahead and those who don't.

Yes, but that's not the topic at hand. The topic at hand, is the difference between the one percent, and the rest of the nation. Even if you save your capitol to create a better future, that will still, never in a a billion years, land you in the one percent.

 

[Spiderman]

How many of you have seen friends, relatives, or perhaps yourselves, who have received a modest sum from a bonus, an inheritance, or even a lottery winning, run right down and buy a new car or a boat, or possibly a motorcycle, with that money?

Did they think about investing that money and begin creating a better future? No, and that is the difference between those who get ahead and those who don't.

Yes, but that's not the topic at hand. The topic at hand, is the difference between the one percent, and the rest of the nation. Even if you save your capitol to create a better future, that will still, never in a a billion years, land you in the one percent.

So what?

Anyone can improve their financial position if they want to.

In fact any family that really wanted to could in just a couple generations amass quite a fortune.

The simple truth of it all is they don't want to think long term or make the smallest of sacrifices to do so.

 

[BlackSand]

How many of you have seen friends, relatives, or perhaps yourselves, who have received a modest sum from a bonus, an inheritance, or even a lottery winning, run right down and buy a new car or a boat, or possibly a motorcycle, with that money?

Did they think about investing that money and begin creating a better future? No, and that is the difference between those who get ahead and those who don't.

I started a business with what was left after the government looted a little under half of my inheritance.
Maybe I should have bought some camera equipment and made a movie throwing stones at my parents so I could be respected by the people who want the other half.

.