Forum Post: My Annual Evening With the 1%
Posted 11 years ago on May 19, 2012, 3:23 p.m. EST by thenewgreen
(170)
This content is user submitted and not an official statement
Great post on Hubski from a user that does video interviews every year of some very wealthy people and his observations of what he's noticed.
Read here: http://hubski.com/pub?id=30448
http://images.larslarson.com/images/slideshow/wide/obama1percent.jpg
Question: If you were in the Presidents shoes would you not collect millions of dollars in speaking fees once out of office? Would you not use air force one? Would you have not attended Harvard if you could?
It's all well and good to point fingers but at the same time ask yourself if you'd behave any differently.
For me it isn't about what Obama does as much as it is about the irony and hypocrisy regarding so many OWS people and what they claim to be for and against. FOR Obama for example but against corporations and accumulation of wealth. OWS claims to have these principles against huge corporations, and they spread their message using Microsoft, Apple and Facebook, three pretty huge corporations. So many calling themselves OWS are in reality just people who haven't been willing to work as hard as others and are jealous. They want me to pay for everything in life for myself as well as for them. Though, as you intimated in your reply, most of them would gladly take a job paying millions of dollars a year. Ironically, that would require some reliance on huge corporations... Alas, too many OWSers don't really stand for anything, they just want everything without having to do anything to get it.
I think you are as guilty as many ows participants are of "painting with too broad of a brush". All corporations aren't greedy just as all ows members aren't lazy. I support ows and I have worked very hard and have a very good income. I support changing the status quo as it relates to things like money in politics, restoring glass steagall, reversing the Citizens United decision etc. OWS is purposefully vague in their stated ambitions so as to accommodate many view points from a wide array of individuals. Our electorate is diverse, why shouldn't OWS be diverse as well? All I suggested in my reply is to have empathy when looking at the person you hold as your adversary, I would give this advice to OWS members when looking at the "1%" and I would caution you the same when viewing the OWS movement.
Broad strokes like "cops are bad" or "ows members are lazy" are equally ridiculous and make whomever says them less credible imo.
Well said. You make some great points. I only disagree with your statement that "OWS is purposely vague in their stated ambitions...". I still have observed OWS is vaguely purposeless. Namaste
years ago on HBO there was a doc about the super rich, .01% made by an heir of the Jhonson family fortune, very good look into their lives, can't find it now, I think he mostly likely bought all the rights.
"I think he mostly bought all the rights", -You are probably correct. It's interesting to sit back and judge the behaviors of those with much and say "I'd never act that way", but you really never know. Money has a way of changing people dramatically. It's like the "Ring of Power" in the LotR series. Kind of a double edged sword.
these folks were born with money they're like most that have it
And what are "most that have it" like? How would you be different? Serious question.
America is one of the most class based countries in the world the lass you are born into determines more than any other thing your success in America.
What does mine personal sitution has to do with it?
America is one of the most class based countries in the world??? are you nuts? Have you ever been to a third world country? I have and it's sad to see so many live in absolute squalor while the wealthy live like kings. In other nations the poor are actually starving, they're not obese. There's definitely a lot of problems that need fixing in our political structure and even our economic and social structure... but to say we are the most class based country is silly. We have had great leaders in this country that have risen from nothing to prominence.
Abraham Lincoln was the son of poor farmers and had very little formal education. He taught himself. The opportunity for success is amazing in the US when compared to other nations. We are fortunate here and we would do well to remember it. That said, we can always strive to be better... especially politically.
have we dropped to third world already????????????????????????
you should change your name to hyperboleisconvenient
The group he interviews is called the YPO or "young presidents club" and is full of old and new money. Not surprising which are "cool" and which are complete D-bags.