Forum Post: We are the 99.9&
Posted 13 years ago on Oct. 12, 2011, 12:55 p.m. EST by bjkahuna
(40)
This content is user submitted and not an official statement
There should be no such thing as a billionaire.
The richest 400 Americans, all of whom are billionaires, are hoarding as much concentrated wealth as the other 150 million Americans combined. Here is the list:
http://www.forbes.com/forbes-400/list/
Let's take a closer look at the top ten:
Bill Gates: think about all of the people working in all of the industries that helped make Bill Gates rich, all of the people who built, shipped, and sold the products that made him rich, think about how many of those people were underpaid while Bill Gates amassed his outrageous fortune. It's wrong.
Warren Buffet: this guy never created anything, never had an idea, never contributed anything to the world, he has just played Monopoly his entire life.
Larry Ellison: same argument as Bill Gates, distribute the wealth more fairly by paying people fair wages.
4 & 5. Charles and David Koch: took over Daddy's business, underpay their employees and exploit their wealth and influence to rig the system in their favor. Despicable people who earned nothing, ever.
Christy Walton: inherited an inheritance when her husband crashed his own plane, ludicrous wealth gained off of the backs of all the underpaid employees, not only employees of Walmart but all of the various industries that contribute to Walmart's operations. Earned nothing, ever.
George Soros: same as Buffet, never created anything, contributes nothing, plays Monopoly.
Sheldon Adelson: this rich fuck owns casinos, contributes nothing worthwhile to society, essentially a parasite.
Jim Walton: ludicrous wealth gained off of the backs of all the underpaid employees, not only employees of Walmart but all of the various industries that contribute to Walmart operations. Earned nothing, ever.
Alice Walton: ludicrous wealth gained off of the backs of all the underpaid employees, not only employees of Walmart but all of the various industries that contribute to Walmart operations. Earned nothing, ever.
These people are money hoarders. Half of them inherited the businesses that keep them ludicrously wealthy. Together they are hoarding 291 billion dollars.
For Bill Gates, I can at least compliment him for giving back. He and his wife' foundation do amazing things for people the world over now. Yea he is still filthy rich, but I do consider him to be paying it forward.
Bill Gates a philanthropist? OH really? promoting vaccines for sterilizing women in the third world! http://www.naturalnews.com/029911_vaccines_Bill_Gates.html Is that what you call doing good to others?
Shut up you hipster prototypical non conformist piece of trash. You are irresponsible with the little money you have. You expect everything to be given to you and refuse to work hard for what you have. Instead you play the hipster bullshit game. Don't put your nose up at me! Fuck You! BILL GATES HAS DONE MORE FOR THIS PLANET THAN YOU COULD EVER DREAM OF. If it weren't for him you probably couldn't be commenting on this website. Unless of course you are a hypocrite and own an Apple computer. Which you shouldn't be able to afford, but do because you are irresponsible with your money. Hypocrite hipster. Go die of aids. Unless Bill GATES destroys it first. He has literally stamped out MULTIPLE DISEASES INCLUDING POLIO.
OH YEAH! and one more really good thin about him is the well-educated and respectful supporters JUST LIKE YOURSELF! bravo for that you are doing a GREAT JOB!
Thank you for agreeing with me that I am right! I am happy that you realized your ignorance and bias and hipsterness. LOL. Here's my question for you. Do you find it morally sound that you believe or demand that these people give back the money that you gave them for recognizable and highly demanded services/products you required from them? Because if that is the case then you are foolish and jealous. If you were in Bill Gates or Warren Buffets situation, do you truthfully think you could be making a bigger impact; make more of a difference??
Yeah, we gotta give Gates credit where it's due- he's one of the few on that list who seems to actually give a shit.
In fact, a couple years ago, Gates, Buffet and a few others, went around calling up the richest people in the world to get them to pledge...20%? of their wealth to charities of their choice. They were widely successful. Those are also the same people who WANT more taxes on themselves...so anyway, that's my point- they're not really trying to make enemies of us.
Buffet will give over 50% of his wealth to the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, so long as Bill Gates is alive. Could occupy wallstreeters do this is they were in his situation?
Very true, and I think like .1% of his money is going to his kids, the rest to Charities when he dies.
Bill Gates claims he will give 10 million to each of his kids, because he believes that is enough money to start a company.
Who cares? Pay the people now!
Selfish.
.
" Moore encourages the Occupy movement not to fall for the trap that the mainstream media wants – demanding a spokesperson and a single issue statement. “It should not lock on to any single issue,” Moore says. "
This Position of Mr. Moore is a Trap itself:
Eventually .. the Protests will wane .. eventually .. without making One Single Demand to Correct that which drove the Protesters into the Streets.
The Protest will have Lost - The Established Corruption in Washington .. the Campaign Finance which Buys Votes .. will Remain.
I find it Difficult to Imagine Mr.Moore does not see this and should he .. that he issues such a Statement .. that the Movements should Cripple themselves by remaining UNFOCUSED .. they could just as easily be crowing en mass about the Price of Tennis Shoes .. bringing the Same Results :
No Results
Mr.Moore .. You Sir .. need to take a Moment.
If WE do not WIN Campaign Finance Reform for Our Nation
WE LOSE Our Nation to CORPORATISM Forever
www.getmoneyout.com
OCCUPY & 99'ers
Take it To The Streets
VOICE YOUR DEMAND FOR CAMPAIGN FINANCE REFORM
.
My fellow Citizens,
I do not write as a white man, a black man, a brown man, a tan man, a yellow man, or a red man. I write as a common man. The United States since the Industrial Revolution has experienced one of the biggest leaps in wealth of any nation in the entirety of the world’s history but all have not shared in that wealth. In fact, it is with great sadness that I write this evident truth, the history of the United States is the history of greed. America’s history is the history of the many led by the few. Our history is the history of wolves promising that they are acting in the interest of the lambs. Wolves do not act in the interest of lambs. Wolves act in ways that keep their bellies full. Wolves act in ways that keep the lambs penned in and in a position of sacrifice. Recent events show the rich act not only to remain rich but to become richer at the expense of the working class. The rich have the audacity to twist laws to their advantage with the deviant plan to increase the volume of their voice. The rich and those that act to keep the status quo believe that they have worked harder and God has smiled more favorably upon them than those of the working class and are therefore entitled to their luxuries. Someone, somewhere in this country has a house worth over four million dollars, a vacation home worth over two million dollars, a yacht worth over a million dollars and someplace else a single mother without insurance sits in an emergency room with her two children. Someone, somewhere is receiving a bonus at the expense of a government bailout and someone else, someplace else is having his home foreclosed on because there was no bail out for the common man. I begrudge no man his success but I begrudge every man his greed. There is right and there is wrong. There is justice and injustice. I must step up and let the oppressors know that the oppressed will no longer live in their pens. The oppressed have already sacrificed too much to allow this generation of the rich to continue to exploit my family, my friends, and myself. I was born to the servant class and I have served but I will not allow my children to serve. I pray that my peers wish for the freedom of the next generation. I pray that we are all beginning to realize that those that lead in business and politics have interests that differ from those that work in their factories and are misguided by their political advertisements. Those that govern are different in their principles from those they govern.
Those that lead from the authority of privileged birth do not represent me. Those that lead from deals made with corporations for political funding do not represent me. I am the governed and I no longer give my consent. The common man’s democracy has been usurped by the wealth of an elite few. My role in this system has been reduced to the feudal peasantry. “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. — That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, — That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government”
--The Declaration of Independence I love this country and I love those that strive to improve this country and her citizens but the currently employed system of government is not protecting the unalienable rights of life, liberty, and, the pursuit of happiness for the majority of the American people.
With a heavy heart, An American Citizen
"The rich and those that act to keep the status quo believe that they have worked harder and God has smiled more favorably upon them than those of the working class and are therefore entitled to their luxuries." Once again!!!! You are wrong here. Holding to emotion and what you believe is right vs wrong, yet you are a fool. The status quo is not protected by the rich, if fact the rich would like to change the status quo, why? Because that would provide more opportunity of them to get rich. Rather it is the lobbyists, the oil companies, and the legislators that want to protect the status quo. And the working middle class is hardly working. Most who identify as middle class are either lower class or upper class. So think about what you are saying here.
You are a socialist pig. You are not patriotic at all. Look at what this nation was founded upon, not what your emotional fling of "justice" or "utilitarianism". The rich have the audacity to twist laws to their advantage with the deviant plan to increase the volume of their voice. You are truly ignorant on this one. See the rich do not twist the laws sir, it is the legislators and their staff. They are not all rich. Often they do not know much about the subject on which they are passing laws. I have seen this first hand by protesting against the new patent reforms. And these legislators ask well what can you do for me!!!! Even if they know it is a wrong being made right!!!!!
There is no need for name calling in an honest discourse to improve our nation. Clearly, you do not see that lobbyists and politicians act on the behalf of corporations and the rich. Think about the importance of fund raising to our elected officials.
I did not call you any names. Lobbyists are politicians are the corrupt ones. Why do you think they act on behalf of the rich? The reason is because the corporations can afford to pay them the money they demand in return for passing legalization and pulling strings to get what they want done.
Anamericancitizen, I honestly support your point of view, which I think is at the moment a very, very patriotic one also! Kind regards!
It's all the legislator's fault, right?
The corporations are WRITING the laws now & lobbying to get them pushed through.
http://www.alecexposed.com There is plenty of blame to go around, you dearly beloved billionaires have blood on their hands, too.
And even the corporation managements are only serving the main shareholders, who are the big private rich. The problem that I have with saying "we are the 99%", we then forget that 9% who are the fully loyal henchmen of the 1% living therefore nearly as well as the 1% and acting on there level according to the same anarcho-liberal principle of the natural right of the more powerful. And maybe it is then even more if you regard as well (only in global perspective in the little ponds they are big fish too) less financial powerful but analogously structured regional hierarchies.
It is even within the companies the fact that special insider relationships are grubbing all privileges away from the 80% other, regardless if they are equal or even much more professionally competent. The privileges there for example are decision power over e.g. project budget expences, decision power about who will be engaged for a free/new placement and the usage of resources that are more technically important for networking like going on business trips or regular board meetings or fashy, but expensive seminars that can later be used as argument why the more competent, non rope team colleague will not be upgraded instead later. The first named priveleges are dealer-goods in those insider networks, the one engages the wife of the boss of the other company who engages the own wife or budget is spent for the one-woman-company of the other one's son, it is incredible how many of such stories I heard meanwhile. Therefore for the other 80% it gets more and more difficult to get any position with the exception that it is again an obviously very shitty one that is of no trade value in the insider networks. By this a new social class of "disposers" can be defined that keeps all the most worthy things like good and secure jobs more and more away from the 80% of the others regardless of what competence or diligence they might be able to bring somewhere in. What happened in the last twenty years is, that achievement-orientation was more and more fully replaced by anarcho liberal thinking of factual-power-possession orientation. So we are maximum 80%, but we are even more fucked up!!!
My fellow Citizens,
I do not write as a white man, a black man, a brown man, a tan man, a yellow man, or a red man. I write as a common man. The United States since the Industrial Revolution has experienced one of the biggest leaps in wealth of any nation in the entirety of the world’s history but all have not shared in that wealth. In fact, it is with great sadness that I write this evident truth, the history of the United States is the history of greed. America’s history is the history of the many led by the few. Our history is the history of wolves promising that they are acting in the interest of the lambs. Wolves do not act in the interest of lambs. Wolves act in ways that keep their bellies full. Wolves act in ways that keep the lambs penned in and in a position of sacrifice. Recent events show the rich act not only to remain rich but to become richer at the expense of the working class. The rich have the audacity to twist laws to their advantage with the deviant plan to increase the volume of their voice. The rich and those that act to keep the status quo believe that they have worked harder and God has smiled more favorably upon them than those of the working class and are therefore entitled to their luxuries. Someone, somewhere in this country has a house worth over four million dollars, a vacation home worth over two million dollars, a yacht worth over a million dollars and someplace else a single mother without insurance sits in an emergency room with her two children. Someone, somewhere is receiving a bonus at the expense of a government bailout and someone else, someplace else is having his home foreclosed on because there was no bail out for the common man. I begrudge no man his success but I begrudge every man his greed. There is right and there is wrong. There is justice and injustice. I must step up and let the oppressors know that the oppressed will no longer live in their pens. The oppressed have already sacrificed too much to allow this generation of the rich to continue to exploit my family, my friends, and myself. I was born to the servant class and I have served but I will not allow my children to serve. I pray that my peers wish for the freedom of the next generation. I pray that we are all beginning to realize that those that lead in business and politics have interests that differ from those that work in their factories and are misguided by their political advertisements. Those that govern are different in their principles from those they govern.
Those that lead from the authority of privileged birth do not represent me. Those that lead from deals made with corporations for political funding do not represent me. I am the governed and I no longer give my consent. The common man’s democracy has been usurped by the wealth of an elite few. My role in this system has been reduced to the feudal peasantry. “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. — That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, — That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government”
--The Declaration of Independence I love this country and I love those that strive to improve this country and her citizens but the currently employed system of government is not protecting the unalienable rights of life, liberty, and, the pursuit of happiness for the majority of the American people.
With a heavy heart, An American Citizen
You don't love them stop being drunk with lies and lying to yourself!!!! Do yourself a favor and look in the mirror and ask yourself if you are thinking reasonably with sound judgement!!! without bias!!!!
Boohoo. Smart people made money. So you're jealous. What's baser than that in human culture?
Gluttony is baser. Accusations of jealousy are ridiculous. Your mentality is the problem with the world.
yeah, rock and bill do good things, but i get your point. bill lobbies the congress regularly to bring super smart people here from around the globe to earn a wage they could only ever dream about in their country. spends untold amounts saving lives in africa
Although I'm all in favor of taking down today's ineffective and inefficient Top 10% Management Group of Business & Government, there's only one way to do it – by fighting bankers as bankers ourselves. Consequently, I have posted a 1-page Summary of the Strategic Legal Policies, Organizational Operating Structures, and Tactical Investment Procedures necessary to do this at:
http://getsatisfaction.com/americanselect/topics/on_strategic_legal_policy_organizational_operational_structures_tactical_investment_procedures
Join
http://finance.groups.yahoo.com/group/StrategicInternationalSystems/
if you want to support a Presidential Candidate – myself – at AmericansElect.org in support of the above bank-focused platform.
Sorry, I completely disagree. Amassing wealth is not an issue nor is it a crime.
The issue is when you amass wealth and use this money to corrupt the political system and/or subvert paying the appropriate tax through loopholes or legal maneuverings.
Again, hoarding money is not a criminal offense. Should these people simply be forced to disburse 100% of profits after a set amount? The notion is ludicrous.
Being upset that wealth transferred from parent to child is additionally foolish. My mother and father worked hard to provide me with a certain life and ensure that there was a nest egg for future generations. This is the goal of any family.
Is it morally reprehensible to "hoard" wealth? Debatable. I'd side with yes, but it doesn't make it wrong.
Once you start dictating who can earn what and inflict your personal values onto people you begin to infringe on liberty. As long as the "hoarders" don't try to injure or corrupt the system in place, then there should be no issue with them being successful.
What about hoarding all kinds of property on a planet that has a limited scope of such objects for being in somebody's property. What shall the majority in a democracy decide on as soon as anything on the planet is in the private property of only one percent? Then the only possible democratic decision left will be to take at least some property away by law and force and give it back to the multitude or generality. Not deciding this at least then, would mean the complete and definite self destruction of the democratic souvereign, because it then accepted to never have anything to decide upon anymore.
Hoarding fortunes must at some point be regarded as being more dangerous to freedom and democracy as any kind of terrorism could be. If they thought having to reduce personal freedom in reaction to having feared new terrorism threats, they must now also think of restricting property rights, which are not on a higher level than those by patriots acts painfully restricted rights of personal freedom.
The problem is that big single person or family fortunes can be like a cancer tumor in the material world. They have at some point the tendancy to get bigger automatically and more and more rapidly. This is because the amount of property is the opposite of need and in all kind of business the side who is less in need makes the greater profit in usually most of the deals and the more profit the less it is in need compared to the other side making the deal. That does not even have to do something with morality it is purely the nature of all economics!
Knuka,
First, land ownership is a misnomer. The truth is that a private citizen never owns property within the US. It really is just borrowed from the government. They can kick you off the land, remove it from you possession whenever they feel.
With that said, I think it's a little conspiracy laden to assume that every parcel of land would be purchased by the wealthy elite. There is no benefit to this move.
I agree that amassing wealth can be very cancerous. It's growth becoming quite exponential.
With that said, I think that's a natural part of any type of economy and I don't think there is any logical way to restrict that type of occurrence without extreme government intervention.
In a case where the government is ensuring that this type of process doesn't take place - you are simply shuffling the deck of who holds all the cards from private individuals to our government. Granting the government that type of authority and dominion is a dangerous move, in my opinion.
Thanks for answering gypter: No government and therefore the right of the most powerful, and government in the hands of the most powerful is both the same: total anarchy!!! Therefore anarchy is not the answer, but the reconquest of majority control over government. If this is achieved, then this new government must get the right and the means to restrain the most powerful for protecting the majority. Of cause it is vital to our success that the sequence will be like this! I fully agree, that there is really no sense, only danger in trying to give nice advice to governments like we have everywhere in the western world today: Governments that we people can no more and never again trust in! This is the first and biggest challenge: How to get people into state politics again, that we can fully trust in ...
Having achieved this, even what I suggested above is no more dangerous. Having not achieved this, we can forget about any chance for a free future for us anyway ...
No, I certainly would not advocate anarchy. This is the worst of all situations.
But, what we have no is corporations appropriating the function of government. Buying the entire process and removing the populous from the equation. This is creating a situation where the middle class American can barely compete. All establishment of laws and functions in the government will ultimately serve these people rather than the best choices for America. This is the ultimate end game where capitalism is left unchecked and unpoliced.
This is obviously a bad situation and the one we are currently in.
The alternate with the federal government interjecting and regulating everything would simply move the power from the corporations/wealthy to the politicians. Liberties will be infringed slowly in the name of "fairness" until we live in little more than a police state. That's the nature of governments allowed to run with unchecked power.
I advocate a middle ground.
Remove the money from politics. Completely. In today's age there are so many free ways of reaching the masses that needing campaign funds is a joke. Much less the amounts these people obtain. National ads are foolish and accomplish little except become an insult-fest.
Disperse the power of the federal government to the states. This will allow the people to be closer to their government and make it tougher to co-opt each local government away from the people. A movement like #OWS is smallish compared to what Washington answers to. But, against a state run government it would be an enormous voice. This allows for a more direct representation of the will of the people.
The federal government's job would be to ensure that the rights of citizens from state to state aren't infringed. (ie. EPA, FEMA, etc) Also to ensure that laws/regulations within each state do not violate the SPIRIT of the Constitution. Also to represent us abroad.
There are other moves to be made - but these would be the primary moves I would make.
Not first in the name of "fairness", but foremost 1) in the name of limiting debts, 2) for natural environments sake, 3) for coping with fictive threats created by media and overfinanced intelligence apparatus and 4) politics always having no alternative, because of the bullshit liberal-capitalist Milton Friedman-doctrine, that has to be respected like Karl Marx's opinions had to in communist countries ...
I like your recommended moves and see this all similiar. In Europe, more than in the US, we have a huge additional problem that the executive state governments fully took over the power of legislation.
This is done by 1) multilateral government decisions that deliver unchangeable blueprints for more and more new laws 2) "coalition discipline" of the alliances of political parties who do not only agree to support together a certain government of their own people but also to having always to overrule the rest of the current parliament regardless, if specific decisions fit the opinion of each coalition party or not. 3) ministries that do the rest of blueprints for new laws together with corporations and lobbies rather than parliament members do this in their subject committees
All this heavily violates the original design of western democracy from Baron de Montesquieu. The division of powers is no longer given at all!!! No wonder why democracy does not work anymore, but of cause politics getting influenced by private money and private media is another problem that you well named.
The government must again be reduced to only executing the implementation of laws and reporting to parliament how practicable this works and when therefore paliament has to think about change or cancelation of some laws (without inventing the new laws itself!). As compensation in my opinion elected government should get back full control over the issuing bank and all other today private controlled central administrations in the financial world like for example credit rating agency (CRA) in order to win back the now needed strength of government against investment banks and other. The full power to conduct a well and fair organized controlled money inflation by monetary reform for example could then be a powerful and legitimate instrument to bring overflow-estates back to the size of more serving than destroying the overall public welfare.
I agree with your post
Amassing wealth is the issue, and morally reprehensible=wrong.
BJKahuna,
What does amassing wealth have to do with anything - so long as these people were playing within the rules, contributing accordingly to society and not trying to influence/rig our politics?
Once you start trying to regulate morality that doesn't impact the life, liberty and pursuit of happiness of another - it becomes a slippery slope. That is how the social issues of current day politics become the talking points that divide the nation.
You're way off.
Glad you're able to logically explain yourself.
If we decide to start legislating morality that does not directly injure another person or deprive them of liberty - then we are not a free nation.
What if I feel that it is morally reprehensible to own two televisions because the mercury content in production is terrible and they are energy hogs? Is that fair and just?
It's the same reason pot is illegal - because people are morally opposed to it with no real backing for a law that provides injury to others.
You can't police morals that don't impact other people. It's just ... unAmerican.
So you don't think a small cabal of people hoarding all the wealth affects other people.
You degenerate piece of filth. Get of the internet go home. Never purchase a consumer product again, because you add to their wealth. Don't purchase insurance for your car or kids. Buffet owns the company. Don't purchase a computer or software or write a paper for school. Chances are Gates had influence here. Maybe just maybe buy a book on personal finance and discipline. That might get your spirits up.
BJKahuna,
Not directly. Congress has the right, that it deferred to the Federal Reserve, to print more money should this ever become an issue. Diluting the wealth equally.
At the end of the day, there is nothing innately wrong with "hoarding" wealth - so long as they don't use it to unduly influence our politicians and pay their fair share of tax.
At what point do you call someone a "hoarder"? Are you a "hoarder" when you have $1000 in your savings account? Are you a "hoarder" when you scrimp and save a million dollars for retirement? Are you a "hoarder" when you amass several millions for investments?
At what point are you hoarding?
I, personally, agree with you that it should be discouraged. That it does not help the nation prosper. But simply amassing wealth is not illegal, nor should it be.
Boohoo. Smart people made money. So masses of DUMB people are jealous. What's baser than that in human culture?
I hope you die soon.
I dont understand are you communist or socialist? There are places you can move to that agree with your thinking. China? France?
Is that directed at me? I am saying there is nothing wrong with making money.
Wrong reply button.
And Sam Walton is rolling in his grave since he wanted only "Made in USA" products in his store when he started Walmart and found success and pride in it. His family promptly stomped on his grave and his ideals to join the criminal, anti-American elite!! Went to Walmart 3 years ago to see if I could find a toy at xmas not from China during the lead scare for kids. Found only one. The boardgame Candyland (still made in USA and Canada). That is how much the Waltons and our government cared about our kids!!!!
You are not supposed to want what another man has. Have you no dignity or respect for yourself? Get over it and get your own.
Die.
Your a real credit to the movement arent you? It wouldnt do for me to be mayor of that city id run a firetruck into the middle of the filthy shit and give you all a bath. Bring your mobs to my door ill show you what those wallstreet execs should be showing people like you.
Last I knew Gates and Michael Jackson were Guiness record holders for giving to charities. Gates does seem to remember where he came from and I certainly give him credit for creating something that totally changed the world. I congratulate his success. His creation is giving OWS the ability to become the biggest movement in history because never before has there been this kind of global communication available to anyone who had a desire to organize nationally or globally! Thanks Bill
What happened to the other 150 million Americans? There were about 300 million the last I checked.