On Becoming Part Of The 1%

[thereisnospoon]

That's an excuse.

Precisely, the One percent own the Stadium, what do they care? Class war-fare works for them. You'll be too busy worked up about fighting the upper class to know that they are too rich and powerful to even qualify as "upper class."

The poor have floor seats. The upper class have penthouse box seats. The One percent own the stadium and the field, decide the rules of the game, who is playing the half time show, and often times, for betting reasons, have already determined who is going to win.

I do not believe there is class warfare.

That's just another version of the old "The rich are holding me down" excuse

Correct. It's the result of laziness compounded by a sense of entitlement and the gen y gen x idea of "I want it now."....It's even instilled in their kids through what is referred to as "helicopter parenting".

 

[boedicca]

The war on poverty etc all these "wars" have been equally unsuccessful yet people still think we should flush billions of dollars down the shitter to keep them

Progressives aren't the ones calling for money to be spent on the drug war, because the 40-year-old failure called the drug war is an impediment to progress.

I don't segregate people into only two groups

There are two groups of people in the world: Those who put people into two groups, and those who don't.

 

[thereisnospoon]

So when they bust unions, move jobs overseas, manipulate the banking industry to loot 401K's, pass "right to work" and "at will" employment laws, no, that's not "Class Warfare" at all.

No business owner has an obligation to keep a business in a particular country or to unionize. No one has stolen money from your 401K. In fact the government screws you out of more money when you have a 401K because all the gains are taxed as regular income and not at the lower capital gains rates and the government tells you how much you have to take out every year or else you face huge penalties.

It's only class warfare when the 99% have enough of that bullshit and elect people like Clinton or Obama to balance the scales.

You have a persecution complex. There's probably some meds for that you should see if Obamacare covers them

Uh, guy, the taxes I pay are for services I use. I drive on the roads, I drink the water that comes out of faucets, etc.

What I didn't agree to pay for was the bailout for the 1%ers while my 401K crashed.

Seriously, fuck the rich.

And yeah, there's no obligation for them to allow unionization or keep factories in this country. Just like there's no obligation for the rest of us to allow him to do business here.

And if you'd have left your money right where it was, your 401k would be worth around 1/3rd more than it was in 2008.
Just as my wife's is today.
What you perceive as "bailouts for the rich" is not true.
Those financial institutions were selectively saved by the US Govt. They did not bail out themselves.
You think those people "took your money"....How wrong you are."
You are typical of today's "If it doesn't come crawling across my front lawn, I don't care" mentality.

"Just like there's no obligation for the rest of us to allow him to do business here."
YOU.....don't get to make choice.
Here's a newsflash....The people are the ones who have eschewed labor collectives.

 

[thereisnospoon]

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.

Don't you get it? Those toys are entitlements.
Those people are perfect examples of those who spend foolishly. When times get tough, they are the first to cry when they are forced to sell those toys or when the bank comes to take them back.
Meanwhile, they haven't saved a DIME for their needs or for a rainy day.
Of course, that is someone else's fault.

 

[thereisnospoon]

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.

And?
Umm, that's why there IS a one percent.
Obviously not everyone can be in the top 1%.
However, that does not mean one should not try. And it certainly does not mean those in the one percent should be punished for doing so or because they make you uncomfortable.

 

[thereisnospoon]

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.

.

Ain't that the truth.
There are those who believe the government should take it all.

 

[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?

What is stopping people in America from become part of the one percent, is the one percent themselves.

Most people believe, falsy that the one percent is composed of people such as the Koch brothers, Bill Gates or the Waltons. While these families do have a considerable amount of wealth and do qualify as "the one" percent in economic terms, in political terms, they are mere interest groups.

They are not truly entrenched in the polity, not as of yet. Among the ultra wealthy, they are what is commonly known as, "New money." In fact, they are more wealthy than old money. Among the rich, once you achieve a certain level of wealth, say, your first billion, it really doesn't matter how much wealth you have, what you crave is power.

One needs to know how to invest one's money to accrue to one's family the most power. That is what these nouveau rich are just now trying to figure out.

Here's a nice convenient list of them;
http://www.forbes.com/forbes-400/

But these folks are newbies to the oligarchy. Once you have money, you become bored. You soon learn that there is more to life than "things." If you don't discover a spiritual life, than you decide to play the sport of kings, and that is politics. Money is the ticket to play this game, and the grandest game of all is international politics. Thus, all money is then spent on social engineering projects. Why do you think all social engineering projects have traditionally been made tax deductible since the turn of the century?

We commonly believe that these are, "charitable" contributions from wealthy benefactors. When actually, these are just the play things of men who fancy themselves as the new aristocracy, or worse yet, kings of the land.

Although, by gross wealth, the old families, the truly powerful ones, the real one percent, are not listed as "the elite" one percent. The truth is, these families have more influence over the culture and the politics than the congressmen, the senators or the president. THIS is the one percent.

Once you have a business idea, or you are successful at investing, trading, law, etc., and should happen to come close to achieving the wealth necessary to enter this club, then you must know how to wield those financial resources into social engineering projects. It is one thing to become obscenely rich, but you most also know how to keep the wrong people from becoming wealthy and powerful, and becoming part of the club. . . .


America's 60 Families

Dynasties listed below were included in America's 60 Families, Ferdinand Lundberg's 1937 expose on the super-rich. Lundberg used tax records to uncover the often impenetrable financial and political machinations of the 60 Families, effectively publishing a directory of names and occupations of family scions as well as estimates of their fortunes.

"The United States is owned and dominated today by a hierarchy of its sixty richest families, buttressed by no more than ninety families of lesser wealth... These families are the living center of the modern industrial oligarchy which dominates the United States, functioning discreetly under a de jure democratic form of government behind which a de facto government, absolutist and plutocratic in its lineaments, has gradually taken form since the Civil War. This de facto government is actually the government of the United States -- informal, invisible, shadowy. It is the government of money in a dollar democracy."

Families are listed in ranked order (according to 1924 tax records) with their primary sources of wealth.

http://www.nndb.com/lists/439/000127058/

How do the One percent undermine our democratic institutions and keep you from their ranks? What is the goal of the One percent?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_House_Select_Committee_to_Investigate_Tax-Exempt_Foundations_and_Comparable_Organizations

The final report was submitted by Norman Dodd, and because of its provocative nature, the committee became subject to attack. He began by listing criticisms of the Cox Committee, and then moved on to content.

In the Dodd report to the Reece Committee on Foundations, he gave a definition of the word "subversive", saying that the term referred to "Any action having as its purpose the alteration of either the principle or the form of the United States Government by other than constitutional means." He then argued that the Ford Foundation, Rockefeller Foundation, and Carnegie Endowment were using funds excessively on projects at Columbia, Harvard, Chicago University and the University of California, in order to enable oligarchical collectivism. He stated, "The purported deterioration in scholarship and in the techniques of teaching which, lately, has attracted the attention of the American public, has apparently been caused primarily by a premature effort to reduce our meager knowledge of social phenomena to the level of an applied science." He stated that his research staff had discovered that in "1933-1936, a change took place which was so drastic as to constitute a "revolution". They also indicated conclusively that the responsibility for the economic welfare of the American people had been transferred heavily to the Executive Branch of the Federal Government; that a corresponding change in education had taken place from an impetus outside of the local community, and that this "revolution" had occurred without violence and with the full consent of an overwhelming majority of the electorate." He stated that this revolution "could not have occurred peacefully, or with the consent of the majority, unless education in the United States had been prepared in advance to endorse it ."[6]

IOW, an administration like the current one is their dream come true. And make no mistake, it wasn't chance that landed Obama in office. It was all engineered that way. Non-profits by the one percent have controlled education and media for the past century. How can you become part of the one percent if you believe in collectivism? How can you achieve your potential if you believe it is the governments job to tell you what your potential is? Thank the one percent and their non-profit foundations for that.

The simple answer is those in the class envy crowd have been told by their leaders that being wealthy is a "closed club". That wealthy people have two jobs. One is ( joe b this is for you) 'hoarding' their money. Two keeping others from becoming 'well off'...
Such stuff is of the mind of a petulant child.

 

[Spiderman]

As theoretically correct as you may be, it is becoming more difficult for someone not in the 1% to get into the 1%. At the risk of sounding really geeky, in America, the correlation between what you earn and what your parents earn has gone way up to something like 40%+. This means that what socioeconomic class you belong to is playing a huge role today in what you are earning, perhaps moreso than any time in our history.

Depressingly, America ranks third highest in the developed world by this measurement. (I believe class-ridden Britain is first.) American mythology has it that it doesn't matter where you come from, if you work hard enough, you can make it. Certainly, that is true to some extent, and is deeply embedded in the wonderful ethos of this country. However, it appears that, today, its easier to make it to the top in most other rich countries, and that lineage matters more in America now than most everywhere else.

Anyone can make it into the top 20%.

The data didn't look at 1% or 20% or any %. It just looks at the correlation between your and your parent's income. Higher correlations imply less mobility.

You speak as if income is static.

Anyone can raise their income anytime they want so anyone can increase their mobility.

 

[buckeye45_73]

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 ridiculous.
First people can move economic strata better in this country than anywhere in the world.
Second, debt is what stupid people do. And what is one of the largest debts in the country, EDUCATION. I never hear liberals talk about Big ED, or how to control costs on it. And they push, push, push it for everyone. The problem is the education you're getting is worse and paying more for it.
Third, start a business and make it easy to start one, get rid of regulations, that only entrench the big corporations and kill off startups.

 

[thereisnospoon]

Do you think Boxer or Pelosi will ever cast votes that will take them out of the 1% crowd?

Boxer and Pelosi don't even come close to the 1% crowd. They only make enough to shine the shoes and wipe the ass of the 1% crowd. Puppets, mere puppets. That is why this entire forum is divided along partisan lines. They just don't get it, hardly a one of them.

Do you think the 1% are divided along partisan lines? There are no left or right politics among the elites. Just us and them. Those who understand they can't let the people know what is going on, and those who are sympathetic to the masses. That is all.

It would be like Kings having partisan politics, how absurd would that be? The elites created partisan politics to have the proletariat keep the eyes off the real rulers.

The Romans, who first tried Republican rule, had several technique for this. The first was Divide et Impera (Divide & Conquer), keep the different interests or sections you need to rule fighting and quarreling eachother. Our system does this beautifully. Better than in Europe. Another is panem et circenses, "bread and circuses," food stamps, NFL and American Idol anyone?

The One percent ARE the ones who are in charge. And you don't even get a vote.

That is the point here. It isn't about money, it is about power.

Do you want you and yours to go to war in Ukraine or Syria? Well, too bad, it doesn't matter, it is up to them. And with their total domination of the press, if they decide they want to, they'll make you want to with their total mind control anyhow. And if they don't, well, their control of the media will then make you against it.

Nancy Pelosi and her husband are worth millions..
The 50 Richest Members of Congress — 112th : Roll Call
The Majority of Congress Are Millionaires - TIME
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet...Nld3cGttc0hVc09NRDRoaDdab0E&usp=sharing#gid=1

If one is a millionaire, they are wealthy..
That may not get them in the official list of the top one percent, but the perception of the envious entitled class warfare crowd, they are. And if the court of public perception has made a ruling, that is THAT.
To all of that I say So frggin what? It's THEIR money.
What I don't accept is when a wealthy person, fans the flames of class envy pretending to be an 'outsider' in the wealth community.
Bullshit.

 

[thereisnospoon]

I would agree if the playing field was even and level for everyone. But it is not....

That's an excuse.

Precisely, the One percent own the Stadium, what do they care? Class war-fare works for them. You'll be too busy worked up about fighting the upper class to know that they are too rich and powerful to even qualify as "upper class."

The poor have floor seats. The upper class have penthouse box seats. The One percent own the stadium and the field, decide the rules of the game, who is playing the half time show, and often times, for betting reasons, have already determined who is going to win.

I have no idea what you are talking about here.
And I really don't want to know. Because I am sick of people srticking their noses in the affairs of others.
It is no one's business the net wealth of their neighbor or the guy that lives on the "good side" of town.

 

[JoeB131]

[

And if you'd have left your money right where it was, your 401k would be worth around 1/3rd more than it was in 2008.

Actually, I had to convert it to a CD in 2012, but that's another story. Point is, the rich got bailouts and the rest of us got to crash and burn.

Just as my wife's is today.
What you perceive as "bailouts for the rich" is not true.
Those financial institutions were selectively saved by the US Govt. They did not bail out themselves.

Exactly. They crashed teh stock market, the government had to bail them out, they kept their eight figure salaries and bonuses.

We should have frog marched the lot of them out of their offices and gave them a show trial that would have made Joe Stalin say, "DAMN!!!"

"Just like there's no obligation for the rest of us to allow him to do business here."
YOU.....don't get to make choice.
Here's a newsflash....The people are the ones who have eschewed labor collectives.

Eh, only for a time. After a while, people are going to get wise, and watch out.

But I told you, my idea for the next guy who offshores a factory. The AFL-CIO needs to buy commercial time and broadcast the following.

"This is Bob. (Picture of Bob)
This is the factory that bob Closed and moved to China.
These are the nice people Bob Put out of jobs.

This is where Bob Lives. Here's his Address. "

 

[francoHFW]

Hater dupes don't know the actual facts. IRS stats show everyone is paying about 21 per cent in all taxes- fees bring the nonrich to higher percentages than the richest- only the bottom fifth pay less- 16 per cent, and fees hurt them more than anyone...

The USA has about the worst upward mobility of any modern country, the most expensive colleges, the worst schools in poor areas, and the biggest gap between rich and poor- after 30 years of Reaganist pandering to the rich. You are dupes of the greedy idiot rich...

 

[Toro]

You speak as if income is static.

Anyone can raise their income anytime they want so anyone can increase their mobility.

Income of a population can be static even if people can go up or down the socioeconomic ladder.

For example, the median income of an uneducated white male has fallen after inflation over the past 40 years. That doesn't mean that one specific uneducated white male in 1968 makes less today than he did 46 years ago. What it means is if you took all the incomes of all the uneducated white males in 1968 and compared the median to the median income of all the uneducated white males in 2014 adjusted for inflation, it would be lower today than it was two generations ago.

To understand how everyone is progressing, we look at populations, not individuals.

 

[thereisnospoon]

[

I do not believe there is class warfare.

That's just another version of the old "The rich are holding me down" excuse

So when they bust unions, move jobs overseas, manipulate the banking industry to loot 401K's, pass "right to work" and "at will" employment laws, no, that's not "Class Warfare" at all.

It's only class warfare when the 99% have enough of that bullshit and elect people like Clinton or Obama to balance the scales.

None of the above.
Unions "busted" themselves. That's a fact.
At will employment laws were enacted to give people the CHOICE of whether or not to join a labor collective.
Nobody looted 401k's.
401k's are investments. As with any investment, there is risk.
Each employee has a CHOICE whether or not to invest in their company 401k...If one CHOOSES to not take the risk, they are under no obligation to invest in a 401k.
As we have seen, from the lows in 2008, value has returned to pre recession levels and gone beyond that.
Buy and hold. It's always been the best method of investment.

 

[thereisnospoon]

Don't forget the drug war. "Stop and frisk" isn't used on affluent coke-addicted Wall St. stock traders.

They are criminals too. Just smarter.
Not dumb like the guy who commits a carjacking, kills the car owner, takes the time to wipe clean the finger prints from the car....but leaves his cell phone under the seat for the police to find. \
I love this shit.
We should not enforce the law on those who make it easier for them to get caught because "it's racist" or "it's unfair"..

 

[JoeB131]

[

None of the above.
Unions "busted" themselves. That's a fact.
At will employment laws were enacted to give people the CHOICE of whether or not to join a labor collective.
Nobody looted 401k's.
401k's are investments. As with any investment, there is risk.
Each employee has a CHOICE whether or not to invest in their company 401k...If one CHOOSES to not take the risk, they are under no obligation to invest in a 401k.
As we have seen, from the lows in 2008, value has returned to pre recession levels and gone beyond that.
Buy and hold. It's always been the best method of investment.

No, guy, "At Will" laws were passed to make it easier to fire people without reason. "Right to Work" laws tell dumb Bubba-rednecks that they don't have to pay for a union to get union benefits, and then wonder why the union benefits vanish.

401K's were a scam that Wall Street invented to loot what little money they hadn't sucked out of the middle class.

 

[thereisnospoon]

[

And if you'd have left your money right where it was, your 401k would be worth around 1/3rd more than it was in 2008.

Actually, I had to convert it to a CD in 2012, but that's another story. Point is, the rich got bailouts and the rest of us got to crash and burn.

Just as my wife's is today.
What you perceive as "bailouts for the rich" is not true.
Those financial institutions were selectively saved by the US Govt. They did not bail out themselves.

Exactly. They crashed teh stock market, the government had to bail them out, they kept their eight figure salaries and bonuses.

We should have frog marched the lot of them out of their offices and gave them a show trial that would have made Joe Stalin say, "DAMN!!!"

"Just like there's no obligation for the rest of us to allow him to do business here."
YOU.....don't get to make choice.
Here's a newsflash....The people are the ones who have eschewed labor collectives.

Eh, only for a time. After a while, people are going to get wise, and watch out.

But I told you, my idea for the next guy who offshores a factory. The AFL-CIO needs to buy commercial time and broadcast the following.

"This is Bob. (Picture of Bob)
This is the factory that bob Closed and moved to China.
These are the nice people Bob Put out of jobs.

This is where Bob Lives. Here's his Address. "

Bob would like to have kept his business open. Federal regulations, taxation, technology and competition put him out of business.
You are short on fact. Long on liberal talking point whines and utter bullshit.
You are one miserable individual. Nothing you state on this forum is productive.
And where does it get you? Nowhere. Add to the list above, "unproductive".
BTW Jose...That's your new name.....
Here a list of people you can be pissed at. Pay close attention to 5 of the top 6..
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet...Nld3cGttc0hVc09NRDRoaDdab0E&usp=sharing#gid=1

 

[JoeB131]

[

Bob would like to have kept his business open. Federal regulations, taxation, technology and competition put him out of business.

Yeah, Regulations like you can't pour carcinogens into the water or belch filth into the air or have unsafe machines that maul workers. Those "regulations".

How about this. When Bob tries to move his factory, the government confiscates it. Betcha they'll run it better.

[
You are short on fact. Long on liberal talking point whines and utter bullshit.
You are one miserable individual. Nothing you state on this forum is productive.
And where does it get you? Nowhere. Add to the list above, "unproductive".
BTW Jose...That's your new name.....
Here a list of people you can be pissed at. Pay close attention to 5 of the top 6..
[/url]

Oh, Look, Spoony found a list with rich democrats on it.

And I've very productive. I expose the douchebaggery and greed that has destroyed the REpubilcan Party.

 

[thereisnospoon]

Hater dupes don't know the actual facts. IRS stats show everyone is paying about 21 per cent in all taxes- fees bring the nonrich to higher percentages than the richest- only the bottom fifth pay less- 16 per cent, and fees hurt them more than anyone...

The USA has about the worst upward mobility of any modern country, the most expensive colleges, the worst schools in poor areas, and the biggest gap between rich and poor- after 30 years of Reaganist pandering to the rich. You are dupes of the greedy idiot rich...

More francocrappe.