Forum Post: Are these folks part of the 1 percent?
Posted 13 years ago on Oct. 8, 2011, 1:30 p.m. EST by touchit
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National Education Association. Membership: 3.2 million; assets: $216 million. The NEA, representing most of the nation's teachers, has 31 headquarters officers and employees who earn more than $200,000 in pay and benefits. The president, Dennis Van Roekel, received $397,721 in salary and benefits. Of the $3.7 million NEA spent on political activities in the last election cycle, 98% went to Democratic candidates. The NEA has 98,000 members in Wisconsin.
• Service Employees International Union. Membership: 1.8 million; assets: $187 million. The SEIU, whose membership has increased in recent years, has been organizing hospital, home care and nursing home workers, along with local and state government employees, janitors and security officers. The union has nine headquarters officers and employees who earn more than $200,000. The former president, Andy Stern, was paid $306,388 in salary and benefits from the union in 2009. Stern resigned in 2010 and was replaced by Mary Kay Henry, formerly the executive vice president. Over the past two years, SEIU gave almost $2 million to Democratic candidates and $8,500 to Republicans. It has 18,000 members in Wisconsin.
I clicked on your link, touchit, and I see the two examples you gave are just the tip of the iceberg. Just judging from the dollar amounts, you've found out quite a few fat cats.
Actually I'm from Columbia. I didn't zoom in far enough to place the marker with sufficient precision, and now I don't know how to get back to my profile to change it.
David A: you sound just like Squealer deflecting criticism of Napoleon in Animal Farm. Remember how Snowball was denounced as being the agent of the humans?
"Available data isn't exact, but a family enters the top 1% or so today with somewhere around $300k to $400k in pre-tax annual income and over $1.2M in net worth."
So, if they fall into that group, then yes they are, and unions, by the way, are part of the fucking problem. I will not distinguish between big money influence from corporate interests or from unions because doing so makes one a hypocrite.
ah! Whale's vagina! We DO agree on something besides Jameson.
Here is the thing. You can't jam us all into a little box set it a flame and say problem solved.
Well yeah, because then there would be a new 1%, or whatever. In my opinion, the root problem is destroying the translation between economic power and political influence.
Maybe it should be the top 0.5% singled out. After all, someone making $300K per year has a lot more in common with someone making $55K per year than those making several million$ per year.
I think that would depend on the COL in the sate that they are living in. Making 336,000 in NY-NJ-CT is a lot different then making that same amount in Toledo, Ohio (not to pick on Toledo).
Haha poor Toledo. Seriously though, the line between hard worker and rich fat cat is very fine and blurry. It is one thing to levy additional taxes on those who have millions making more millions through dividends and capital gains. It is another thing entirely to levy additional taxes on small-medium business owners, regardless of the local COL.
as a small-medium business owner I agree.
I absolutely agree with you. Those that are small to medium size business owners making 300K a year should not be lumped in. I think "the top 1%" is more of a metaphor rather than a cut-off line though.
Check this out for a more granular analysis http://tiny.cc/et36n
I am afraid it is something lost in the debate because "1%" is a nice even number. A small business owner making $300K per year likely re-invests a large % of his income back into his business leading to more growth and more jobs.
A friend of mine owns 7 Dunkin Donut franchises and does very well, likely well enough to be in that top 1%. He didn't always have 7 stores, it started with 1 and eventually grew to 7 through re-investment. Take away the small business owner's ability to re-invest and the unemployment rate with skyrocket.
Thank you!
I've seen postings from people who want to exclude Oathkeepers, yet they are cheering Union support.
Also, is OWS still posting support from MoveOn.org? I don't support any of their ideologies.
And one of my liberal friends told me moveon is "so 5 years ago" hahaha.
you're welcome
touchit: which rubbish right-wing group is paying you? You're doing nice work for Koch and Scaife. You should ask for a raise.
Jeez, I wish. How is that rubbish? Just askin'.
No. They're not. Next stupid question?
why not? I am awaiting the next stupid answer .