Forum Post: how they got rich?
Posted 12 years ago on Dec. 4, 2011, 2:01 a.m. EST by jbob
(74)
This content is user submitted and not an official statement
how exactly do you think the top 1% got to make the money they are making? do you think they just woke up one day with a million dollars in their pocket and thought "hey i didnt do anything and i got a million dollars. im going to screw over as many people as i can." or do you think that maybe, just maybe, they worked maybe a little or maybe ALOT to get where they are.
From Leo Tolstoy's What Shall We Say?:
Imagine playing a game of monopoly. Let's say that this is a special version of the game where the players don't start out with an equal amount of dollars but rather the money is dispersed like in real life where one player has a far greater advantage. 3 players start with $500. 1 player starts with $5000. How long will it take for the advantaged player to own all the property?
Shortest game of monopoly ever.
Some have earned fortunes, others have simply inherited them. How is a fortune earned? You might like to think it's hard work and that the individual is appropriately rewarded. The problem is it's almost never the labor of the person who earns a fortune that earned it, it's the labor of others. This illustrates my point: http://www.prosebeforehos.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2009/08/capitalism-in-a-nutshell.jpg
All wealth is built upon the work/labor/prosperity of those that came before it. And then of course there's those who abuse the system at all costs for their own benefit. Such abuses you'll easily find with a little reading on our financial industry.
Or inherited wealth.
example?
Trump, Charles, David, William and Frederick Koch, Dupont, Bush, Walker, Buck Eye Castings, Mellon, Scaiffe. The Walton family, John T. Dorrance family, Ford Family, Carnegie Family, Mars family, Rockefeller Family, Morgan family, Rothschild family, Kuhn family, Loeb family.
Just in case I left someone out
http://www.nndb.com/lists/439/000127058/
Its more like this. 1.Have millions of dollars 2.Hire hedge fund manager 3.Live off the interest 4.Play golf while the rest of the dirty peasants get shittier wages and get their retirement money taken away so I won't get taxed as much.
how did they get to step one?
Underpants gnomes...
...or more likely an inheritance of some sort.
anyone else?
do you think they just woke up one day with a million dollars in their pocket and thought "hey i didnt do anything and i got a million dollars. im going to screw over as many people as i can."
Why not?
I wouldn't do that... That's why. People that work for banks\corporations aren't from a different planet. They're just people. The corporations seem big and scary but you still give them your money for their goods\services. You still get loans from banks. That's why they're big.
good response. dumbass.
If you are asking about the wealthiest 1%, they accumulated their wealth by spending less than they earned. Stanley & Danko proved this a while back, and it still holds true.
If you are asking about the highest earning 1%, they were mostly lucky. Some may be incredibly hard working or incredibly smart and some may be criminal; but ALL of them are simply fortunate to have been born when and where they were.
Attacking or castigating "The 1%" as bad, criminal and corrupt or otherwise accusing them of "Not paying their fair share" is inaccurate, and it will get you nowhere. For starters, to be in the global highest earning 1% is to have an income above $60,000. That's right, only sixty-thousand US dollars or more per year makes you one of the top earning 1% in the world. This is a Global Movement after-all. Check your own income against the rest of the world at www.globalrichlist.com. A typical American middle-class income puts one in the top 10% globally, and possibly the top 1%.
Exploitation!