WE ARE THE 1 PERCENT

Got a weird submission to my blog today:

I am a selfish attention whore who demands that everybody look at me regardless of what I have to say has merit. I demand that people bow down to my politics regardless of political orientation or belief (hell I couldn’t care less what I really believe). I’ve lost any and all concept of what the debate is anymore because I’m too busy fighting nonsense rhetoric with my own brand of nonsense rhetoric. I just demand that my voice shout out the loudest and drown out all others because nothing is more supreme than to be the center of the universe.

 I am the 100% (of America, Land of the Spoiled and Home of the Rotten)

Not everyone in America is like this. The majority of us are reasonable and sensible. The problem is that the media doesn’t cover the reasonable ones. The extreme ones are the ones who they cover. This only gives the illusion that Americans are “Spoiled”, “Rotten” “Attention whores”. It’s much like how we view Islamic people living in the Middle East as angry terrorists. What you see on the news has been shewing our perception of others.

So just who are those top 1 percent of Americans that we’re all supposed to hate?

If you listen to President Obama, the protesters at Occupy Wall Street, and much of the media, it’s obvious. They’re either “trust-fund babies” who inherited their money, or greedy bankers and hedge-fund managers. Certainly, they haven’t worked especially hard for their money. While the recession has thrown millions of Americans out of work, they’ve been getting even richer. Worse, they don’t even pay their fair share in taxes: Millionaires and billionaires are paying a lower tax rate than their secretaries.

In reality, each of these stereotypes is wrong.

Roughly 80 percent of millionaires in America are the first generation of their family to be rich. They didn’t inherit their wealth; they earned it. How? According to a recent survey of the top 1 percent of American earners, slightly less than 14 percent were involved in banking or finance.

Roughly a third were entrepreneurs or managers of nonfinancial businesses. Nearly 16 percent were doctors or other medical professionals.

Lawyers made up slightly more than 8 percent, and engineers, scientists and computer professionals another 6.6 percent.

Sports and entertainment figures — the folks flying in on their private jets to express solidarity with Occupy Wall Street — composed almost 2 percent.

By and large, the wealthy have worked hard for their money. NYU sociologist Dalton Conley says that “higher-income folks work more hours than lower-wage earners do.”

Because so much of their income is tied up in investments, the recession has hit the rich especially hard. Much attention has been paid recently to a Congressional Budget Office study that showed incomes for the top 1 percent rose far faster from 1980 until 2007 than for the rest of us. But the nonpartisan Tax Foundation has found that since 2007, there has been a 39 percent decline in the number of American millionaires.

Among the “super-rich,” the decline has been even sharper: The number of Americans earning more than $10 million a year has fallen by 55 percent. In fact, while in 2008 the top 1 percent earned 20 percent of all income here, that figure has declined to just 16 percent. Inequality in America is declining.

As for not paying their fair share, the top 1 percent pay 36.7 percent of all federal income taxes. Because, as noted above, they earn just 16 percent of all income, that certainly seems like more than a fair share.

Maybe Warren Buffett is paying a lower tax rate than his secretary, as he claims. But the comparison is misleading because Buffett’s income comes mostly from capital gains, which were already taxed at their origin through the corporate-income tax.

Moreover, the Buffetts of the world are clearly an exception. Overall, the rich pay an effective tax rate (after all deductions and exemptions) of roughly 24 percent. For all taxpayers as a group, the average effective tax rate is about 11 percent.

Beyond taxes, the rich also pay in terms of private charity. Households with more than $1 million in income donated more than $150 billion to charity last year, roughly half of all US charitable donations. Greedy? It hardly seems so.

And let us not forget the fact that the rich provide the investment capital that funds ventures, creates jobs and spurs innovation. The money that the rich save and invest is the money that companies use to start or expand businesses, buy machinery and other physical capital and hire workers.

It has become fashionable to ridicule the idea of the rich as “job creators,” but if the rich don’t create jobs, who will? How many workers have been hired recently by the poor?

No doubt dishonest or unscrupulous businessmen have gotten rich by taking advantage of others. And few of us are likely to lose much sleep over the plight of the rich.

But shouldn’t public policy be based on something more than class warfare, envy and stereotypes?

I know that I haven’t been active on Tumblr for a while. It is probably the end of this Tumblr for me.

I don’t know if I’m actually making a difference (which is something that the occupiers should ponder as well). This blog started off as a joke between me and another 1%’er to make light of the whole situation. But as I got into it, and really started listening to what was being said, this blog became a source of information. It exists to give the other side of the story. It exists to give the people on the other side reassurance that they are not alone (even though we’re a minority, it seems). It exists because the other 99%’ers (not all of them) are too zombie-like to offer other 99%’ers real advice. They just agree with whatever the other 99%’ers say no matter what she/he says (so as long as she/he mentions that she/he is a 99%’er at the end). This is destructive. It takes away the responsibility that 99%’er has over his/her own life. They should take control of their own life and to take care of themselves. By blaming others for their problems and begging for handouts, they are admitting that their life is controlled by others and that they need someone (the government) to control their life further in order for them to survive.

Anyway, this is probably the end for this blog. I’ve coded two more major apps since the creation of this blog. Those apps have made me even more money. And I could have done it even if I were a 99%’er. I even bought myself a new Aventador for a daily driver. Frivolous? Yes. But it’s my way of coping with my life. It’s better than taking drugs/alcohol (like some rich young celebs do), because at least I’m not harming myself. So while I accomplished all that, what have you Occupiers done? Learned how to live like a homeless person?

I hope that this blog served its purpose. I picked up a few followers, and I am grateful for each and every one of you. You guys made me feel less lonely in a way. I am sorry if feelings were hurt by my words. But in the end, they’re just words - musings of a young man who likes to question the “norm”. And if there’s only one thing that any of you reading this will take away from it, let it be that the norm is not always right. Keep questioning and keeping learning, but never trap yourself in a single mindset. Don’t be a prisoner to your own beliefs, and especially not to the beliefs of others. Know that this world is not always about good vs. evil, have-not’s vs have’s, left-wing vs right-wing, or Christianity vs other religions. It’s not always about just one side being bad guys and the other side not. That kind of good vs. evil plot is only for the religious dogma and movie plots, because those things were made for simpletons.

They say that if you ever get into an argument with someone, you should walk a mile in his shoes. That way, you’ll be a mile away from that person and also have his shoes.

P.S. I will still be around to answer questions every now and then. But I think I answered most questions already (so feel free to browse my Tumblr). Also, feel free to spread the word around about this Tumblr and share it with friends (even the 99%’er Tumblr).

This is crazy long, thoughts rolling for weeks.  Thanks to anyone who actually sits through this.

Your movement is frustrating to watch, and now it looks like you’re sticking to it for the sake of dragging it on rather than having a real goal.  Early on you seemed to have purpose, before that basically dissolved as you apparently became proud of being directionless and without leaders.  Now it’s just a lot of confusion and misinformation, where you’re ruled by your emotions and rhetoric rather than logic and data.

Did you know that your occupations are actually costing taxpayers and the city tons of money?  Some cities can hoof the cost, but not forever.  Maybe you justify it, saying it’s for the greater good.  While people may sympathize with your cause, it’s selfish to be such a burden.  The extra police, the donations, the clean-ups; all of it is for the Occupiers, and yet how ungrateful the movement seems when I read about it.  When the Occupiers complain that there doesn’t need to be any of those things, that the city doesn’t need to use money - yes they do, for your own protection and safety.  Honestly, I think the Occupiers would complain regardless of what the city did.

I don’t think the media tries to portray the Occupiers in a bad light, even when it reports the extreme minority that behaves badly.  Large gatherings are going to get some bad people, and they don’t represent the whole.  However, it’s hard to take it seriously when I read about people who left their jobs (!!) to sit in a park for weeks, about people who made really bad decisions and want someone else to foot the bill, and so on.  While I know the actual criminals are a tiny number, I think many are also aware that there are too many of you who are a nuisance, harassing local business (who by the way are just like you, but they succeeded in their choices and a little bit of luck) and making life difficult and uncomfortable for everyone else.  Sounds kind of familiar, doesn’t it?

@nuancedapproach: For the most part I agree with 1%Batman’s responses, I just wanted to hear his thoughts.  I don’t think people are more complex than they think they are, but the way the everything works together is certainly a mystery.  If you accuse him of not knowing how the world works, then holy hell you have no idea either.  I think your responses are a little too grey, because you’re trying to be open to the infinite subtle variables of human thought and nature.

If it helps to understand, here’s my sob story.  My family started out 1%, but before I was born they lost everything, so I grew up poor too.  Then we made some successful choices, worked really hard, and I got a taste of what it’s like to live as a 1% for a while.  It was nice and fun, but it also exposed me to other aspects of people.  Negative qualities - people who judge or resent you because you have money, not knowing who really wants to be your friend, and so on.  Turns out money doesn’t solve personal problems, either.  I’m sure it would have been worse if at the time I had no money, but my friends who had much less than I did were very smart about trying to find work or going through government aid like school loans or other ways of paying for medical bills.  They didn’t make bad choices - they saved, worked hard, didn’t waste years, time and money getting a Liberal Arts Degree.  They didn’t ask anyone else to give them money.

Anyway, things happened and we lost all of it again.  They were unforeseen and uncontrollable circumstances, but I assure you we didn’t leave a bag of money with someone or give our credit card information to someone claiming to be a Prince.  No, we lost it not just because of 99ers who did not control their greed.

It would be wrong if I judged any group because of that though, because in the end people are people.  I’m tempered because I’ve been 99 and 1, so in a cheesy way that makes me a whole 100.  I understand all of it, which is why I can’t support the 99 movement.  Far too many of you want what you haven’t earned, or want someone else to support the foolish mistakes you made.  A scant few of you are in my situation, but we’re still not poverty stricken.  We may have little, but we’re not homeless yet, and that should be good enough.

If you have an average life, you might not be happy with it and it might not be glamorous, but there’s nothing wrong with being average. If anything, I think it makes your special moments even more spectacular.  There’s nothing shameful about any kind of job, especially if it’s to feed your family.  I know a lot of people are huge jerks to the average worker, even as they work themselves.  They’re hypocrites, looking down on the fastfood guy or stripper, treating them like garbage.  You’re all in this together, you all serve each other.

As much as you villify them, even the wealthy need you, as you need them.  Without the 99 they couldn’t make money, and without their money the 99 can’t really exist.

I think too many of modern society comes from a mindset where things SEEM free, so they expect and demand things for free.  1st World Problems.  Entertainment and education must be widespread/encouraged, and a great deal IS free, but if ALL of it was free then we couldn’t continue to keep giving out free information/entertainment.  Do you understand how that works?  Someone out there bled to get you those things, but you can’t even appreciate that.  You just complain that DVD sets and games are too expensive because you don’t want to shell out $60 ‘for a CD’, without realizing that it took entire teams of people to put those together.  Also, don’t spend $60 on a CD if you have no money.

Why don’t you target what really matters, and learn some humility in the process?  Figure out where things come from, and appreciate it.  Get colleges to cull degrees they know are worthless.  Make them teach real skills instead of liberal garbage.  Get corrupt bank executives to step down, instead of being covered up by bailouts and their high powered lawyers.

Shame on you who are incapable of putting aside your ideals (vegan cook lady, I can’t believe that’s even a degree) to feed your kids, and what the hell for the people who LEFT THEIR JOBS.

This post may be a bit long, but I’d love it if you would take the time just to a have a glimpse over it, thank you.

My name is Jess and I’m from Australia. Lately I’ve been following what is happening in the States, and it has really blown my mind. I know that America is the country that leads the rest, in terms of culture, technology and so on. But now I see and hear a majority of people purposefully labelling themselves and trying to convince a minority that their ideals are correct, and that they must pay for their ‘evil doings’. I feel like we’ve gone back hundreds of years to the time where men thought women were witches, and that ‘science’ was deemed blasphemy, and finding conclusive evidence for ANYTHING was well, not worth it, and that bribing the local priest would do instead.

It is now that I have begun to see a trend that has formed. I read all of your information, like OccupyCollege, the college lie and so on. I find that the equity in your opinions are fair, and I know exactly where you are coming from. I am 18 years old, about to complete my final exams. I not only went to school to learn, but I went to school to recognise my talents, and in later schooling years, obtain a casual job on the weekend. With these talents, I will apply them to my future career, and to do so I will attend university to become qualified. Before I go to university, I will take a gap year to earn money that will pay off some of my university HECS fees (which is like the debt built up from uni fees), stay at home with my parents (not move in with a boyfriend, not try and find a home) and continue working at that job I found in high school and work elsewhere to save money, key word being SAVE here. Not only will this gap year provide financial aid, but it’ll give me time to get a feel of the real world outside of studying and learning, and living in the secure confines of a school, and finally emerge as an adult, not just an 18 year old attending school dutifully.

My family and I are upper middle class. We have a nice home, secure finance, but most importantly we don’t waste our money. We haven’t put money into silly investments. We don’t buy excessive things like expensive petrol guzzling cars (my dad is a doctor and owns his own surgery, makes over 100k a year, but he still drives a 1996 Toyota Tarago!), we don’t own a million pieces of pointless technology that has cheaper replacements, like using one computer and one laptop instead of Tablets, expensive smart phones etc. My parents do not have expensive habits; they never gamble, they do not smoke, they are not excessive drinkers, they don’t need to own the latest of everything. As do I.

I count myself not lucky. Luck is just, well, luck. You make your own luck, and my parents have provided that foundation of which I am progressively building on myself, now that I am an adult. I guess if I lived in America, people would label my family and I the 1%. Which in my mind is horrible. Why must civil human beings label one another, especially in this day and age? I thought we were the generation that was most accepting? I guess in Australia, we live up to our laid back nature. We do protest if the government makes serious changes (carbon tax, hellooo!), but never can I see us trying to force a small population of people to give us their hard earned money. There are indeed people in Australia that blame their minority race for their situation, and we do pay taxes to give their communities help they need. I say, what is race? Like I said before you make your own luck. Anyone is capable of doing what I am doing now. You just have to fight all sorts of temptation to lead you down the dark path of spending money and acquring bad habits, even if your friends and peers do differently. What about the leisure class who inherit most of their money, you may say? Well, the money started somewhere, someone had to work hard, and all those generations in that family SAVED the money, making SMART investments, and didn’t WASTE it on extraneous items or debilitating habits. And especially you, 1 percenter. You worked bloody hard mate. I can practically feel your blood boil at the thought of a tax imposed on you to pay people who, yes, are less fortunate, but can easily moderate their lifestyle if they just CANCEL out certain things (move back home, get a degree that’ll guarantee you a job, use the talents you have, look after your health).

I read the stories about the 99%, and then I look at people over here in Australia. I know heaps of people whose parents earn less than mine, but for some reason I barely hear of people drowning in university debt. Maybe it has to do with our education system. We don’t have a collection of high-end universities (Ivy League) where supposedly you magically become a better lawyer than the person that attended a normal local university. University is self-directed, you make the best of your OWN education as an adult. University isn’t an excuse to be finally free of parents, and FINALLY a source of constant parties to attend. Have fun, yes, but in moderation. I could go to Bond university in Queensland to be a lawyer, and pay thousands to study there, but I could go to my state’s university (UTAS), do a law degree and study hard and have the exactly same level of education as the Bond-uni-law-grad-student. The cirriculum is the same, they don’t add an extra course on “Being More Successful Than a Regular University Grad Student 101”. It’s study. It’s ‘attend lectures’. It’s an education. Treat it like one.

I’m proud of you. You are a minority, but you see through the flocks of martyrs and their relentless stories on paper. They may give the bare facts, but if we dug deeper and analysed their behaviour and lifestyle, I think there would be things that could be changed to improve their life, starting with their parents. We make mistakes, yes. We are meant to learn from them, and improve, and not give in to our human vices. It’s our human nature. It starts at the foundations. The ‘American Dream’ isn’t provided by other people, it is self-directed. It is a dream that is achieved, not just handed out. In fact, rename it. The ‘American Goal’. Everyone has ample opportunity in your great country, but most lack the motivation. In the Land Down Under, I am not a stastic. We do not label ourselves. I am the product of a hard-working, finance-savvy, and appropriately frugal parents. I’m proud to live here, and I hope that one day soon Americans will see through the confusion, abandon the idea that the rich must pay them for their own downfalls, and unite together to live up to my expectation of what is definitely a great country.

Thank you, if you read all of this.