I am shocked!
Really, I am totally gobsmacked.
Now that we have the OWS crowd demonstrating and claiming they represent the 99%, I would never have expected such upstanding media organizations as CBS/AP to delve into what that 99% actually make.
It turns out that, according to a CBS/AP report on October 11, 2011, that the incomes of the top one percent of income earners in America increased from $1.9m to $2.2m. By math that represents an increase of around 15.7%. While this is a reasonably good sized increase it is not absurd or immoral or any of the other “fairness” type statements that the uninformed left will throw around.
But wait….the CBS/AP report did not calculate the rate of increase….what they did instead was calculate what the total increase was for all people in that category, stating that income had increased by a massive $120 billion!
Ok…now THAT sounds like a big number….but it remains only a 15% increase.
But what if the 99%? Those folks who are so downtrodden, so berated by big business, so taken advantage of?
According to the report the other 99% saw their incomes FALL by a combined $4.5 billion.
I am shocked!
I would never have expected that American workers would have seen their incomes fall during a recession! Never, I say!!
What? The recession was OVER in 2010, you say? Really? Tell that to the 99% who saw their incomes fall. Tell that to the 5 million people who still have no jobs.
Ok …so…when I managed to recover from the shock of these statistics, I asked myself why this matters? After all, who gives a toss what the rich folks earn, or what the poor folks earn, or what anybody earns? What is the point of continually directing our thinking towards the disparity in income levels?
Why is it that we are all shocked when we see disparity between ethnic groups? Why do we care that the “income gap” is growing?
Personally, I don’t care. I don’t care if my neighbor is making $10 million a year while I struggle to get by on $50k…or $20k …or $200k….whatever. I don’t care if my neighbor chooses to sit at home endlessly wishing his job paid more but never getting off his ass and doing something to change it…I just don’t care.
I care about what I am doing. I care about doing the absolute best job I can do in my chosen field. I care about continually improving myself so that I can increase my income. I care about being responsible for my family and accountable for my actions. I care about wasted opportunities and fulfilling personal ambition. I care about what “I” can do to make my life better.
I don’t care about what other people choose to do. It is neither my business nor my responsibility.
Now, before you all start telling me I am a heartless bastard for thinking this way….there is something else that I DO care strongly about. I care for those who through no fault of their own find themselves in need of help. A hand up is always in order. I care for those who have neither the mental nor physical capability to improve their lot in life…a commitment to care is in order there. I car for the homeless, the hungry and the destitute…the elderly, the young and especially those who have defended my freedom. My freewill gifts to these people are not charity but a way of expressing concern and offering hope. I care for the helpless…not the clueless.
But do I care about what somebody may or may not earn? Nope. Never have, never will.
When society spends so much time complaining about and following what other people earn, it is not taking responsibility for what the individual can do. The rich are so easy to blame…so easy to target. If they enjoy the wealth they have amassed, they are seen as rubbing our faces in it…and yet we have no right to be envious of their success…or jealous of their fortune.
Envy and jealousy of others breeds hate, breeds corruption and ultimately breeds violence. Is it right that one person has so much money while another has nothing? Wrong question!!
That question implies wealth is either moral or immoral. It suggests that the wealthy are immoral. That is not true (it may be…drug runners are wealthy….but so are authors, actors, businessman, inventors, scientists…and horrible people like Michael Moore who won’t even admit he is part of the 1%). The mere that one is wealthy does not make one immoral.
But what about fairness? What is “their fair share” as Obama is so willing to ask?
Fairness?
The left considers that it is unfair that someone has a lot while another is starving….really? Can they define “a lot”…and if they are so concerned about the starving why don’t they give to them, instead of demanding others to solve that problem?
Fairness? Poppycock more likely!
If the OWS crowd get there way, and Obama continues his class warfare nonsense, wealth will be stolen from the creators of that wealth and given to those some government official deems to be worthy….as long as it buys a vote, the trinkets will be given.
The other argument I hear is that if one person is rich, he got there by screwing someone who is poor. Really?
The proponents of this argument have no understanding of wealth creation. They believe there is a finite amount of wealth in this world and if one person has more, another MUST have less.
If the economy and wealth were a zero sum game, that would be true. But it is not. Wealth is created every day…out of thin air. More efficient ways of doing things, new products, new industries, education etc…all serve as wealth creators and increase the world’s wealth, thus increasing everybody’s standard of living.
If this were not true, we would all still be living in caves, throwing rocks at our neighbors to stop them stealing our food wealth.
So…to all you rich folk out there I say this. Keep doing what you do best. Increase your wealth as fast and as much as you can.
To all you middle class folks I say…..keep doing what you do best and increase your wealth as much and as fast as you can.
And to all the poor folk, I say….do what you do best, work hard, educate yourselves….do your best to increase your wealth as much and as fast as you can.
Does anybody hear our President saying these things? I don’t.
All I hear him say is let’s take from the rich so you can have more.
I say…everybody needs to aim to be the best they can, to accumulate all the financial wealth they desire, and to ensure that they do not get lost in the pursuit of money but instead enjoy the riches they have in family, friends and country.
Do not care who makes how much…it does not change anything for you. The only thing you should care about is taking responsibility for your OWN actions, and accepting personal accountability for their results.
…..devereaux
I agree that I don't care what someone else makes but I do care that they have to pay their fair share of taxes. Why should I pay my taxes when these companies pay nothing. Can you justify the bailouts that we gave to rich companies for someone to get a $10 million bonus? That was my money going in the hands of the rich people.
ReplyDeleteHi Anonymous,
ReplyDeleteA couple of questions for you...
1. If you don't care what someone else makes why are you concerned about their bonus?
2. What is "fair share" and what gives you the moral authority to determine what is fair? Is it 10%...50%...why not 100%?
I 100% disagree with the bailouts...they should not have been done. That was my money and yours being used to support businesses that should have failed. That is socialism of the worst kind when governments decide which business succeed or fail.
But that is a totally different question to whether someone should earn a bonus. Be careful to keep your thinking logical and not emotional.
The bail-outs were wrong...but do you really want them to be doubly wrong by having the government tell corporations what they can do with their money?
You need to express your rage at the government for making the bailouts, not at Wall Street. Your rage is misdirected.
.....devereaux
I do not care what anyone makes either - what I care about is the opportunity to make a life.
ReplyDeleteI have a college degree and my parents are doing great. The banks and the government can not take my opportunity. I'd leave the country first.
However, there are people out there who have simply never been given the chance. Not everyone has the entrepreneurial spirit that you do, or the training to successfully implement their ideas if they do. These people need protection. To pay for these protections, it is only right to take from the people who have more.
How do you justify this? Not because of a bleeding heart. It is simply because if you are rich, you need to protect your value. Money and power are only good within the society.
If you push the lower class out of opportunities, they will simply bumrush your mansion, kill you and take your food. Your money will not be able to stop them. You give them enough to stay in their place. It's a good investment.
Before you call me a socialist, Roosevelt did the same thing to end the Depression.
Roosevelt was a Blue Blood. The 1% if ever there was one. But he recognized the fact that if the poor got pushed any farther, there was going to be revolt and the system would be overturned, and money would mean nothing at the edge of a knife.
So the New Deal came about. And the 90% tax rates. It was a good investment.
On the other hand, I am all about self reliance. I am a freelancer currently and I will be a business owner when I die. I'm makin my own shit and nobody can take it from me.
But as a political scientist, we are nearing the breaking point. The rich must pay up to protect their investments, otherwise revolt is the only recourse that the poor will have.
See the bailout money went to the $10 million bonuses so I care cause it was my tax money. If he can make $10 million without my money I could care less. Fair share is everyone pays the same. GE paid $0 in taxes and made billions in profit. They are not the only ones who paid $0. If it is 25% then it should be for all me and them. Alot of these so called american companies have almost everything overseas anyway. One company had one woman sitting in one office answering one phone while the entire company was overseas but they called that office the home office. Trust me the politicians are to blame but these companies who lay people off and still collect billions in profit make me sick.
ReplyDeletehttp://occupyyallstreet.blogspot.com
ReplyDeleteInteresting that you only care about what you're doing. How very microcosmic of you. I came here from a post where you called anonymous commenters cowards. I wonder devereaux, who are you? Care to cast aside your anonymity and own your words?
ReplyDeleteYou fail to understand the impact of globalization on individuals. Do you have bank accounts Interest rates and fees reflect the activities of Wall St. brokers. Do you grow your own food, or do you purchase it from the grocery store? What kind of pesticides were used, what toxic chemicals were involved in producing it? Where do you buy your clothing? Have you ever met the 8 year old child who stitched your running shoes? What about your tap water? Perhaps it's mildly contaminated by MTBE from petrol station ground seepage. If this were the case, do you think anyone would tell you about it? Do you think the oil companies would alert the public and drain their profits in cleanup efforts?
ReplyDeleteYou see yourself as a "cowboy", a man all by himself, tough and self-sufficient. Maybe this is true, do I dare say...even 99% true? Perhaps in the universe of your own imagination. In reality, you depend on countless other people for the things they produce. In some sense, those people depend on you to buy them. To assert your own personal detachment from the global economy is ludicrous. You claim that the keys to your prosperity rest snugly in your own hands. I say BULLSHIT. You depend on the exploitation of people by clothing manufacturers. You depend on all of us turning a blind eye to the destruction of our water supply to keep the power bill down. You depend on the military supporting ruthless dictators in the Middle East to keep the petrol flowing. Turns out most of your 'wealth' has absolutely NOTHING to do with your efforts, and it comes almost exclusively at the expense of others. But whatever keeps you happy...
Nice work. Did your tenth grade social studies teacher give you an A for it? It's so cliche, it deserves about a C.
ReplyDeleteDevereaux you said you would respond to everthing we put on here.
ReplyDeleteI'm to cowardly to speak my mind, but I agree with what was said above:
ReplyDeleteAnonymous said...
You fail to understand the impact of globalization on individuals. Do you have bank accounts Interest rates and fees reflect the activities of Wall St. brokers. Do you grow your own food, or do you purchase it from the grocery store? What kind of pesticides were used, what toxic chemicals were involved in producing it? Where do you buy your clothing? Have you ever met the 8 year old child who stitched your running shoes? What about your tap water? Perhaps it's mildly contaminated by MTBE from petrol station ground seepage. If this were the case, do you think anyone would tell you about it? Do you think the oil companies would alert the public and drain their profits in cleanup efforts?
You see yourself as a "cowboy", a man all by himself, tough and self-sufficient. Maybe this is true, do I dare say...even 99% true? Perhaps in the universe of your own imagination. In reality, you depend on countless other people for the things they produce. In some sense, those people depend on you to buy them. To assert your own personal detachment from the global economy is ludicrous. You claim that the keys to your prosperity rest snugly in your own hands. I say BULLSHIT. You depend on the exploitation of people by clothing manufacturers. You depend on all of us turning a blind eye to the destruction of our water supply to keep the power bill down. You depend on the military supporting ruthless dictators in the Middle East to keep the petrol flowing. Turns out most of your 'wealth' has absolutely NOTHING to do with your efforts, and it comes almost exclusively at the expense of others. But whatever keeps you happy...
And so I will Mr. Anonymous, so I will....
ReplyDeleteIn fact the ideas so thoughtfully presented in all these comments deserve more than the typical "drive by" type responses so often seen in the comments section of blogs.
I will therefore examine them more deeply in today's posting....if you care to take a few minutes to read when I have posted, you may learn something.
By the way, before you start complaining.....remember this....my blog, my rules.
I will respond in my time frame, not yours!
.....devereaux
Devereaux... what kind of name is that? What a Pussy!
ReplyDeleteOh, and suck my cock while your at it!
ReplyDeleteyou're obviously a troll trying to get popular by posting on anonymous' blog...sit on a dick a die
ReplyDeleteYou make the world worse with every breath that you take, but you will still be welcome in the free world.
ReplyDeleteHi Anonymous,
ReplyDeleteI am sure that a person with your intellectual capacity would be able to look up "devereaux" on Google to find out what sort of name it is.
You do know what Google is, don't you?
Bit I suspect that since it is a bastion of capitalism, since it relied on Wall Street for its success, since it created many thousands of millionaires, and since it profits daily by providing a service that people want....since Google is all those things that you despise....I can understand you not using it.
Oh...by the way....Google also owns the web page you just commented on...so I guess you are really not all that upset at Wall Street.
Go figure.
.....devereaux
Oh...and Mr. Anonymous,
ReplyDeleteWhile I appreciate you sincere invitation for sexual gratification, I am not in the habit of indulging with strangers. After all, I have no idea where you may have been before.
I do find it very sad that in these days of enlightenment you find yourself so desperate that you have to resort to begging strangers you find online to perform sexual acts for your own gratification.
So...I must respectfully decline your invitation....but I do thank you for showing the world exactly who you are.
.....devereaux
Dear Mr Anonymouus (yet another drive by sniper coward...boy there are a lot of them!),
ReplyDeletewhile it is common knowledge that liberals and intellectual honesty have never met, let alone enjoy a rational relationship, I was expecting far more form the OWS crowd...after all, if they are protesting the inequity that is Wall Street, then a reasonable person would expect that they could at the very least articulate their issues.
Of course, we can see now that the OWS and intellectual capacity of any sort are total strangers, hence the comments you have chosen to post.
As a point of interest, it makes no sense that I would troll Anonymous's site for readers...after all, it is doubtful that his supporters are in fact able to read, and even more doubtful that their comprehension is high enough to understand. From the comments made here, there is significant doubt that there is any benefit to be obtained by luring thses unsuspecting dolts to my blog.
Not gonna happen.
Of course, I do understand totally how you imagine this could be so. Your lack of intellectual capacity ensures that you will blindly follow anything that sounds good, without questioning or even thinking logically about it.
As far as your second comment....I am sure that one day I will die....so that will happen....but as far as sitting on a dick goes...well, unlike the idiots at OWS I do not surround myself with such people, so my choices of who to sit on are very limited....are you volunteering?
Again...thank you for showing the world exactly who you are.
LMAO
.....devereaux
And another Anonymous poster....how novel!
ReplyDeleteI have to thank you for your reasoned and logical comments. Your arguments are very persuasive....oh, wait....you made no arguments....oh well, not at all unexpected.
Here's something for you to think about....any statement from somebody who goes by the name of anonymous must certainly lack credibility. Just because you say something does not make it fact.
As far as welcoming me to your free world....how condescending of you. However you assume I have an interest in being a part of your "free world"...and that is a totally incorrect assumption.
BUt you have given me inspiration for today's post, so you can't be all bad....just terribly misguided.
.....devereaux
Finally....
ReplyDeleteI have up till now not censored any comments from this blog.
I believe in the free transmission of ideas....and I have no objections to you calling me stupid or crazy or anything like that. After all, I often call the people of the left fools. It is all good.
Unfortunately, as shown by several of the comments above, some people have chosen to ignore discussion and simply show thier base side and used grade 3 language (which appears to have still been a struggle for them).
In future, comments such as these will simply be deleted. If there is no discussion and there are simply invitations to participate in various activities intended to insult myself and my regular readers, they will be consigned to the garbage heap.
Your ideas are always welcome...your profanity is not.
.....devereaux
Good job Dev. Show these liberal idiots how misguided they are. BTW to those anonymous who say corporations don't pay taxes. That might be true but guess what their money goes to? Paying workers who are then taxed. That's right these evil people give people jobs and allow them to feed their families. And even the smallest of these companies contribute more taxes through their workers than you ever will. And guess what will happen when you tax them for the millions you think they owe? They will pack up their companies and move them overseas which means more people out of work. Ya liberal ideas are great.
ReplyDeleteLiberalism, progressivism...whatever name it goes by....never changes. It is a failed concept, and will remain so.
ReplyDeleteThe resurgence of the libertarian socialist should serve as a warning to all conservatives that anarchy is just around the corner... disguised as "a hybrid of socialism and capitalism". Bah humbug! The libertarian socialists would spread anarchy as their way of obtaining mob rule under the guise of "democracy".
Taxation is just one tool of the left....may others exist that are equally dangerous to liberty.
.....devereaux