Forum Post: The 400 Richest People in America
Posted 13 years ago on Oct. 13, 2011, 1:36 a.m. EST by The99Working99Poor
(1)
from Elizabeth, NJ
This content is user submitted and not an official statement
Net Worth, Age, Residence, Source
We have to do something practical, Occupy the market, not steets. List some of the bad companies and boycott their product.
The most fair way to run a company, is to let employees have the most of the shares, can we start some companies like that?
It doesn't have to be big to start, like we can make hamburg and stay away from KFC?
They could distribute their wealth to create less inequality or create incentives for people, or we could create a self sustaining community, so we do not have to rely on them
In the million man march on Washington DC, it might be nice to make appointments to see every single Congress person and bring 20 or 30 protesters to their office for the meeting. Speaking of the wealthiest, many of them have houses in the area. It was covered on the show House Hunters several years ago. Nice neighborhoods in the DC area for politicians. Knock knock! Who's there?...Trick or treat. I think it was great that Occupy found their way to Rupert Murdoch's house and that of Chase Bank's CEO etc. They should do that daily. Only squeaky wheels get oiled.
Don't discriminate; Murdoch is a reprehensible old troll, but anyone who hasn't explicitly and actually thrown weight behind the OWS movement, plus anyone who's trying to co-opt OWS, has some explaining to do. That includes the left-leaning richies. If they're really on the level about fighting corruption, this darn well should be a good PR opportunity for them.
How do you tell? A lot of people have come out the woodwork like me because this is their movement. And like it or not, it is mostly democratic on the political Richter scale. There is no Republitard shouting tax the rich and bring jobs back here, or else we'll boycott. Those are democratic ideas and there are many well off democrats. How you tell who is genuine, I don't know. Maybe by their voting record or the causes they put themselves behind. Most environmentalists are democratic.
You got it on the first try -- voting records and causes materially supported are pretty good starting points.
Democrats aren't really arguing in our favor, either. Where's the support for stern financial regulations? Why has Obama caved, over and over again, on taxing the wealthy, and without forcing significant concessions from the opposition? Why are we enmeshed in a brand-spanking new war, and considering yet ANOTHER deployment?
Independence is the only route out of this mess. Co-option by the Democrats would be more pleasant than getting sucked up by the Gold-buggers or derailed by the Communists, but it would end OWS's potential as anything other than a mouthpiece for the same old elites, the easily-dismissed deep blue to the Tea Party's shocking carmine red. That can't be us.
So true. We are independent of all the misguidings around us. I call myself a libertarian too. And a constitutionalist. I think we need to become the virtual congress and court and get back to the continental congress days of controlling everything ourselves. I read this last night,"When injustice becomes the law, rebellion becomes duty."-Thomas Jefferson. Maybe what we are is Jeffersonians. If he were alive today, he would be appalled that we have allowed corruption and government to run us over. And he would be the first to lead the charge of revolution. I do not believe anything short of all of us becoming the congress and getting rid of the system of proxy power that we have fallen into, will give us the right answers. Greed and corruption will find its way in to everything again if we leave this system in place.
All have over a billion in net worth. Just shows you how deep the divide is.
many started from nearly nothing (Gates, Walton) and built their companies and wealth while employing millions of ppl and providing the consumer with very useful products.
and this is bad because......?
It ISN'T bad to accumulate wealth. It IS bad to accumulate wealth by means of government collusion and corruption.
I'm not saying all of these people did that. But some of them most assuredly have.
The problem is that these people have more of a say in government than anyone else, and they have used that elevated influence to make themselves even more rich.
Thats the problem.
yea, and Soros also started with nothing
It's not bad that they have accumulated a billion dollars in wealth as long as they did so honestly and without excessively exploiting those who work for them
The "bad" thing is the divide - some can become so spectacularly wealthy, wealtheir than ever before yet the middle class is becoming poorer.
Gates isn't really a good example of starting from nearly nothing. lol
he sure as hell wasn't a billionaire...he quit college, took a risk, a succeeded and many ppl benefitted including many other Microsoft millionaires and investors
and this is bad because.....?
Didn't say it was bad. He did great. More power to him. But he certainly didn't start from nearly nothing. He had a real nice head start compared to most.
Money doesn't equal evil. Nevertheless, writing letters to or otherwise contacting the rich and asking them (or their representatives) to take a position or make a statement in re OWS -- I see no immediate problem with this. There would be worse lists to consult than the Forbes publication. A Who's Who might be a more comprehensive list...
Some of the 400 Richest people in America gave us: Amazon, Ebay, WalMart, Microsoft, Yahoo, Facebook, Apple, Google, YouTube...and OWS believes they should be demonized and condemned??
I don't think most people here have a problem with wealthy people. The problem is with corporations that are social welfare projects unto themselves. Many of the oil, energy, big pharma, corporate farms (big farma), research, nuclear power industries and weapons manufacturers are given tax free grants to start a project, many of these grants are in the billions and continue indefinitely. Then they are allowed to hide their profits off shore so that it doesn't become taxable, are given more tax loopholes and write offs to get them out of paying any other taxes due, and then when the economy slides down hill, they are given bailouts. Enough is enough already with the hand outs to the damned whiners and babies. They should have to work for a living like everybody else and earn their money the hard way. The only reason they have the money to pay exorbitant salaries and bonuses to their elite brass is because they pay little to no tax on their corporate earnings. Seriously, I can't believe that people don't make that connection on where money comes from. They are actually rewarded out of the grants and tax loopholes that the tax payers paid for. This is where the complaint is.
like Solyndra??
You realize that some of those companies on that list are some of the most guilty as far as using complicated schemes to shelter income offshore in order to avoid paying their "fair share?"
"In October, Drucker reported that Google had saved $3.1 billion in taxes in the past three years by shifting the majority of its foreign profits into accounts in Ireland, the Netherlands and Bermuda using financial techniques called "the Dutch Sandwich" and "the Double Irish" arrangement. Basically, he says, Google credited its Irish office with the majority of its non-U.S. sales revenue — and then shuttled that money through various subsidiaries located in Ireland and other countries to save billions in taxes.
"You have an Irish operating company out there selling ads — they actually have real employees in Dublin," he explains. "They make payments to a Dutch subsidiary with no employees, which in turn makes payments to a Bermuda-headquartered Irish company with no employees. And the result of all of this is that it all helps to cut about $3 billion in Google's income taxes in the last three years."
http://www.npr.org/2011/03/17/134619750/how-offshore-tax-havens-save-companies-billions
yes, let's vote in politicians who will remedy this.
I do agree.
I, for one, am not opposed to corporations; I'm opposed to giving corporations, especially financial institutions, free rein to wreck the economy. They've proven over the last few years that they're incapable of handling the freedoms we gave them over the last few decades; we need to implement some regulations again. We've regulated corporations before, and to taxed them to a far greater extent than anything now proposed, and the world didn't stop spinning. If corporations, especially those in the financial sector, can clean up their act, we can try giving them extra latitude at a later time. If and when they demonstrate the ability to act as responsible trustees of our national future, we can loosen the restraints, but they've got a LOT of trust-building to do between now and then.
Seconded. They've been very naughty and they need a timeout. It will be a long time till we give corporations the key to ford Taurus again.
you do know why Bank Of America implemented its recent $5 debit card fee right?
Because of Govt Regulations which stopped it from making money elsewhere...so what did BoA do? Found another way to pass on that fee to the Consumer...BECAUSE of Govt Regulations.
you do realize this...right???
Ah, so. It couldn't be the case that BoA's wretched credit practices have finally caught up to them, or that they've made a conscious decision to cut their losses by gouging their remaining customers? No; when someone poor takes a bad loan, it's their fault; when a bank sponsors a bad loan, it's time to pass the buck.
I do not favor a general amnesty for loans, and I do not favor continued amnesty for bankers who have actively decided to take high-risk gambles on our economic future.
Govt Regulations forced BoA to start charging this fee.
But, that is ok...because ultimately the consumer is in charge and can move his/her business elsewhere.
But do keep in mind that it's MORE regulations that is stifling innovation, investment and hurting the consumer.
There has to be a balance.
Repeating it doesn't erase the fact that BoA was on shaky grounds because they overinvested in bad loans. It's like a destitute drug dealer complaining about having to raise prices to cover his court costs.
Balance is critical; unfortunately, we're way past that balance. Market monopolization and super-high risk investment practices don't lead to innovation. I've got complaints about corporations generally (offshoring, anti-competitive business practices, tax avoidance), but my harshest criticism absolutely goes to the financial sector and to those who let bankers derail our country's economy. They can have their free rein back when they've demonstrated responsibility and made some damn effort toward improving America's economic future. Too many corporate heads and financiers who retain power today have behaved as brigands and pillagers, stripping our nation's assets with sheer economic might, and leaving no seeds for the development of new wealth.
Agreed.
Many here who are a part of OWS and even myself who isn't (for various reasons) can agree on the fundamental problems.
The issue comes when we try to decide on the solutions.
And sooner or later, OWS will have to put up or shut up.
Mark me in the "putting up our dukes" camp. Here's to that day.
To hell with those bastards who farm out our jobs to others!
The beauty of our system is, the consumer can easily act on that disgust...by simply NOT using their products.
So, if you despise them...stop Googling, using Facebook, and using your iPhones.
Start with boycotting the basics, imported food, clothing,shoes, tools, housewares, appliances and anything else you can think of. Then email avalanche daily every retailer you can think of demanding that they have every type of product on their shelves with an USA equivalent.It will probably take a year before this really starts to bring the 50 million jobs that are missing right now. Electronics is a special item because everything is made in China. So try not to buy anything new for awhile. If you absolutely must have something, buy it used or refurbished so that more imported inventory isn't re-ordered. The most important thing here is to pass this idea along to everyone you know, and of course, email every retailer you can think of with lists of items that better return to the USA for manufacturing or they will face the population's boycott power and watch their stock plummet. They have no other choice that to comply. There is no other country that will either allow their products in because most countries have protected labor markets because they are smarter than us. And there is no other country able to have the buying power in the numbers of people and with the price we are willing to pay. Even the Chinese population is not at the level of being able to afford 400$ washing machines or 200$shoes/purses. That market belongs strictly to the US and to MidEastern countries that do not bother manufacturing anything because they are so wealthy, that they don't need to.
Is facebook outsourcing now?
The pawns of this system are brainwashed into passively dorking off and buying crap.
Where's the beauty?
lucky for us, you seem to be immune to the brainwashing!
You should be the OWS Leader!
you can sit on a throne and make decrees to your flock
Yea well...it's a tough job but somebody's gotta do it.
We have to do something practical, Occupy the market, not steets. List some of the bad companies and boycott their product.
The most fair way to run a company, is to let employees have the most of the shares, can we start some companies like that?
It doesn't have to be big to start, like we can make hamburg and stay away from KFC?
can't we just all get some pitch forks and torches and go take their stuff?
A rather large percentage of those billionaires are Jews.
Have you checked that out personally? I haven't seen that many Jewish sur names as CEOs in the fortune 500 top execs. But there are many wealthy Jews. A lot of Jewish people are democratic.
And?