We are the 53% - Awesome and hilarious!

reply to post by narwahl


Poor Erick Erikson and his hundreds of thousands of dollars a year.

This guy's definently in the 1% and upset the peasants are voicing an opinion.

Three jobs? Paid blogger, radio host and CNN contributor. Tough stuff, sitting down all day typing and talking.
House he can't sell(which is a second house by the way)? He just bought it 8 months ago...poor fellow, must be sick of that $400,000 house by now.
Insurance costs? Whoa...hey now, that's all Obama's fault. So I guess I can't blame him for that!

Seriously...none of you made as much as this guy and you probably recieved a tax return, which means you're still in the 47%.

Originally posted by links234
reply to post by narwahl

 

Poor Erick Erikson and his hundreds of thousands of dollars a year.

Erick Erikson didn't rob some homeless people for his money or sell drugs to troubled youth. Though with the contempt in your post you sure make it sound like he did. Look its true anyone can pretty much blog or be on T.V only problem getting people to watch or listen to you.

Just like you can't just go Straight into the MBA and start racking in millions in less people are good enough. Same with actors, musicians, and ect ect. It takes talent and skill to do those things, I mean you don't get angry for doctors making money right?

What it doesn't take talent or skill is to pick apples at a orchard or work at taco bell(believe me they even accepted me!) those jobs are a dime a dozen. Sure its very hard work but its hard work that takes no talent or skill you just do.

I don't think the whole jobs problem has to do with laziness though, theres are whole other bunch of factors. Which is why I always hate getting into these argument because they're more emotional than factual. No critical thinking just finger pointing.

Look to all the people calling the OWS movement just lazy, thats not it. Are economy didn't crash because around '06 everyone just decided they didn't want to work anymore.

To the others, theres no reason to get mad at the posters because they believe in Personal responsibility and living within our means lacks in our society, thats is one of the factors in this mess. Its how the TPTB got us in this trap with debt based living. Though thats not the sole factor.

reply to post by narwahl


Well she is right - she owes no one nothing.

AND

She is wrong - no one owes anybody anything because there is no money - it is all debt and anyone who debates this does not understand a thing about our modern day monetry system and where the value of our money comes from.

We are all Stolen from daily through the reserve banking system supported by our corrupt governments why do sit there thinking we owe people this and that, when our forefathers have worked for generations to provide for us. But they were conned just like the modern generations are - because they thought their money would be worth something when they got older, they thought they would have retirement schemes.

But they didnt realise just as the gullible masses dont today - money in your hand can become worth less or more over night and this can be controlled. Tomorrow inflation skyrockets and you cant afford to buy a loaf of bread so you sell your house dirt cheap like everyone else is so you can afford one, once those manipulating the market buy your property the value of your dollar goes back up so you can buy the house from them at a very expensive price and they enjoy a 5 course meal every night until they decide to repeat the process and you go back to bread.

IF SOMEONE CAN CONTROL THE VALUE OF MONEY IN YOUR HAND IT IS NOT YOURS!


We are still all broke, dispite our forfathers working to build our future - every one of us is broke - because every country in the world is in debt, who do they owe it to? NOONE, because the money never existed the value was created through loans the only reason it has value is because people keep paying it back, not realising that they could just declare bankruptcy and get a magical new slate, yeah sure you get bad credit




It is not rocket science - this whole thing is a ponzi scheme and all anyone needs to do to understand it is google where does money come from and spend more than 10 minutes looking in to it.. I know that is a lot to ask from modern people in exchange for taking the blue pill and realising we are all in designed slavery. People all feel it is their own fault - just like many abuse victims... sad really

It is the masses fault for being so stupid, ignorant and lazy, but they need to realise they are the victim at the end of the day.

Originally posted by byteshertz
reply to post by narwahl

 

this whole thing is a ponzi scheme and all anyone needs to do to understand it is google where does money come from and spend more than 10 minutes looking in to it.

First I agree with everything you said pretty much. However I was skeptical that googling "Where does the money come from" would work. However it did, first result. Kudos.

I don't think the whole jobs problem has to do with laziness though, theres are whole other bunch of factors. Which is why I always hate getting into these argument because they're more emotional than factual. No critical thinking just finger pointing.

I agree. Just how some here assume I'm a lazy hippie for agreeing with the movement overall. I own my own business, my home and vehicles are all paid off and my employees earn a good wage. I never took out a loan for a single dime, not that they would have given it to me anyway. I use local banks and domestic labor even for jobs I can get done cheaper elsewhere. I do it because I can and it's what I believe the right thing to do.

I have no problem with personal responsibility, I believe that includes having empathy and compassion for other people in this world because without them I would not have been able to build and have what I do. I was once broke with nothing, was I lazy and deserving? It shouldn't have been that hard to dig out but it was. You can still have the American dream, but it doesn't have to be at the expense of others. A FAIR wage and opportunity for just a decent existence shouldn't be debated. A better minimum living along with certain benefits outweighs the need for 100 million dollar salaries and crony capitalism.

People like Herman Cain who tout this garbage the loudest are the biggest Hippocrates. Here's a Federal reserve corporatist who was given several huge advantages and single largest being GOVERNMENT WELFARE and he has the nerve to run his mouth? I don't whats worse, him or the people that are too intellectually LAZY to realize or look into it.

Thankfully people are waking up every day and desperate attempts to keep the movement down is failing on all but the most gullible. Now it's just a matter of how much the American people want this fight to really happen.

They say you can measure a society by how it takes care of it's poor. I think you can measure a man the same way.

reply to post by narwahl


I guess the fed and the MSM as found a way to to devide the people yet again. It's shame really. DIspite our differences we should band together and become a force wich TPTB have no power over. I do believe that OWS has that potential. Ok, I do understand the 53%'s point of view but it's irelivent because we are all in the same boat. The only diffrence is the 53% has it a little bit more comfortable than the rest and so they prefer to keep that comfort than help get rid if those who steal from us dailly. Who blames them. I'd rather keep my comfort too. But the bottom line is when the SHTF and we do nothing, wether you are part of the 53% or 99%, pay taxes or not, us the "bottom tier" will loose everything our founding fathers fought for. So, lets stop squabling over petty differences and fight to get back to a government which we can trust.

Peace.

If people want to quibble and try to make hay out of percentages here's one for you:

In 2009, if you were to add up the total fortune of America's richest 400 people, that amount—$1.27 trillion—would be more than the holdings of the bottom 50 percent of Americans, less than $1.22 trillion.

That top 400, by the way, represents .0000035 percent of all households in the United States.

Source:www.good.is...

According to econ 101, that shouldn't happen in a free market capitalist system.
So people who do the right thing and stand up to a corrupt and broken system are whiners?
The parasites, who richly benefit from the broken system that we have, are rightly afraid. Expect their minions to be out in force, unfortunately for them, you can't hold up a lie and you can't keep down the truth.

reply to post by narwahl


Well, I guess this is just the way our society is. I'm not going to pick apart what this blog says, etc. I just have two words: Ethics and Compassion.

I swear there is a disease in this country (and on this board too) that's making people lash out and tell their sob stories about how they "went to school, had a job, did it the right way, got rewarded because of hard work....yadda, yadda, yadda....blah, blah, blah".

Are you all not sick of this place? Didn't you think life would be better and more exciting by now? Where's the space colonization? Where's all of the useful and innovative technology? How many more i-phone/i-pad/worthless cell phone crap do we need?

Something is seriously wrong with our society. This whole cliche about working hard and getting rewarded is a fallacy--there is only so much room at the top of this pyramid, and the top cannot exist without the bottom.

Progress should be our goal. We are stuck believing that this is the only way to do things, that there must be a poor class to support the upper class. We can do better. If we can figure out how to stream a fracking movie to a fracking palm sized cell phone, then we can improve this broken socio-economic system.

Edit to add: I'm not even sure why I wasted my time writing that--all anybody wants to do on here is sling mud at each other. I swear it's as if people have turned into politicians. As soon as this OWS movement started, you had the regulars come in and start slinging mud. It's sad.

I swear, from reading these threads you'd think there had never been a recession before. This isn't about some secret 1% taking all your stuff away, it's about the natural ebb and flow of the economy. There are good times and there are bad times. Some bad times are worse than others, and this one we're in now is very bad to be sure, but it's not the first and will not be the last such event. The biggest problem I see this time around is people more than ever think they are entitled to all the luxuries in life- nice clothes & jewelry, flat screen TV, iPhone, a laptop in every room, etc. Few people can readily afford all of these things, so they do what many other foolhardy Americans do- charge it or finance it and make the minimum payment from month-to-month. Thus many families are one or two lost paychecks away from total financial disaster. They are not even prepared for an illness in the family, much less for an extended recession. But the recessions ALWAYS come, it's not a question of "if" but "when". And when they come, those who have prepared make it through just fine and those who have leveraged themselves to the hilt and face bankruptcy due to their wild spending are suddenly painting themselves as victims of some evil nameless corporate entity (yes, this refrain isn't new, it's common to all recessions). Time heals all wounds, and it will heal these as well. There WILL be an economic recovery, hopefully sooner rather than later. And when it arrives I dearly hope that people will remember what this was like and more properly prepare themselves for the next one in the cycle.

reply to post by SavedOne


What you say obviously makes sense. But this is the 21st century and we have all seen what can be done with technology.

We are at a tipping point and we are ready for progress.

I came to this site because I thought I might find information that could change this world--technology, e.t., whatever. Of course, most of what I see on the front page is political garbage threads (and here I am posting on one).

reply to post by jlv70

According to econ 101, that shouldn't happen in a free market capitalist system.

This is quite true. The Federal Reserve and our policy of allowing our representatives to pass such sweeping legislation as "Obamacare" without going through procedures similar to passing an amendment has led to this.

So people who do the right thing and stand up to a corrupt and broken system are whiners?

This really depends upon the tone you take. A lot of these people that are out there simply want someone to hand them a standard of living. They want a home with all the elegance seen in hollyweird movies. Most of these types don't really understand the problem - they are just angry that they serve people burgers all day or do a job that you can train just about anyone with a brain to do, and have difficulty meeting their bills (that they have all taken on voluntarily).

That's whining.

Those that understand the problem and actually have some kind of idea of how to go about solving it (aside from crucifying rich people) are not whining.

Of course, everyone thinks they understand the problem and that they are going to be able to fix it by whatever actions they end up taking... so it really isn't very easy to do a self-evaluation.

The parasites, who richly benefit from the broken system that we have, are rightly afraid. Expect their minions to be out in force, unfortunately for them, you can't hold up a lie and you can't keep down the truth.

And here is where you go off the deep end.

How does making money make someone the "bad guy?"

I have plans to make money. I have plans to, one day, start up an absolutely massive manufacturing industry that will be known the world over and be one of the first to start industrializing space (this plan has no respect for time and the fact that it will probably happen long before I ever come up with the resources to start - but, dreams are just that).

Does that make me a bad person to want to do that and have millions of dollars to spend at my whim?

"You need to pay your fair share, Aim."

And what would that be?

My vision combined with someone's capital resources created the company (perhaps my own - perhaps someone other person's or groups'), my management and recruitment of capable staff allowed the company to operate - my competition for market share ensured there was work for employees to do (and, therefor, something to sell).

How do you really place a value on that, or a "point where I've made enough money?" I'll always have bigger dreams and goals to achieve. A million years and unlimited resources would still find me wanting to create and do more.

"Well, Aim - your workers deserve a portion of the profits."

Of course. I've thought of all kinds of different payment schemes to try and be fair while encouraging employees to be dynamic in their efforts. You don't hire people to do a robot's job - they shouldn't just punch the clock and go do a monotonous job for eight hours and punch out. They should apply their knowledge and experience to the tasks at hand while seeking to improve their own experience and capabilities - and should be rewarded for doing so when it helps the company (unfortunately, I can't give people bonuses for getting better at reciting poetry before meetings - though I would be more than happy to refer them to some publishers or let them know how they could book the facilities to hold a recital).

However - you're not going to be able to retire off of being a janitor. People have better applications of their skills than sweeping floors for all eternity - and I'm not going to indulge a lack of motivation to improve one's own life and standards (like most industries - I'd have a program for paying for schooling necessary for good, reliable workers to get educated and assume a more technical position later).

"Okay, Aim - we get it... what about those who have money but aren't spending it."

Would you spend it?

What does a rich person spend money on? Goods and services, yes? Perhaps we should be a bit more inventive with our goods and services to come up with something they just absolutely have to own.

I agree - what we have should not occur under a free market (because we don't have a free market). We have gone absolutely bonkers on lines of credit (look at what happens to those "home makeover" winners - a lot of them screw themselves over by taking out a lien against the house that is equal to its newly appraised value and can't make the payments on that.... but that's the mentality of the average person).

Instating policies that return us to a free market and free banking system will go a long way to resolving our problems - and the concentration of wealth issue will resolve itself without having to resort to class warfare.

I'd like to go to the Occupy LA thing but I have a job. And pride. Wait, I guess I don't actually want to go because I am too busy doing things to make my life better rather than just whining.

I know I am a little late to the party (as usual) but I would like to throw my 2 cents in.......

The Occupy Protestors are a little confused IMHO.
What will they change by occupying Wall street? It's a waste of time.
They should move farther south and OCCUPY WASHINGTON D.C.
Sure the money that corrupts might come from big banks, but the laws that give them power and protection are passed in DC.
The TP had it figured out.
The first thing I would worry about if I was an OWS protestor is whom they have backing the "movement".
I mean if Nancy "pass the bill to see what's in it" Poloisy is backing you then that should send off all kinds of bells and whistles.
She hates the TP because they were/are a threat to the bailout and spend, spend, spend way of governing.
She seems to like the Occupy movement because it takes the heat and the spotlight off of the real problem.
And for those of you who do not know it.......................
THE U.S. GOVERNMENT IS THE REAL PROBLEM!
By the way I am a 53%'er

Originally posted by Marid Audran
I'd like to go to the Occupy LA thing but I have a job. And pride. Wait, I guess I don't actually want to go because I am too busy doing things to make my life better rather than just whining.

How smug you are with your little job...
I am amazed at how much "better" you are than these people....
How set you are in your wishy washey 2 sentance post...
I hope you reap no benefits from their efforts...
How sad I feel for you, and your inability to understand...
How weird is it that you support policies that rape your savings and lifes efforts.
How sorry,I am that I wasted my time on this earth responding to this post...
I know so much about you from just 41 words you wrote...

I believe you are 99% Repeater and 1%Thinker

reply to post by Aim64C


Great post, Aim. Dead on.
People who are criticizing this Occupy movement are generally opposed to the banking system as it exists. We have vastly differing opinions from them about how to fix it and generally think their way, as I've heard or read in their own words, is more destructive than creative.
But if you try to reason with these folks, you mostly just get called names. The mob mentality has taken over this set pretty completely. Their tribalism is very intense.

reply to post by narwahl


You know I'd comment on the situation, but it seems that both sides have fallen prey to propaganda. One side (OWS) says a few stupid things. The other side takes those few stupid things, pretend that's all they said and ignores real and valid legitimate concerns over the way things are going in America that even they could appreciate.

It's easier to insult someone I suppose, it's more difficult to understand that they believe in. Of course this applies to both sides.

Originally posted by KTATS
reply to post by radosta

 

Wow. Just wow. Your attitude is not only selfish but childish as well. You missed the point Paschao was trying to make as well. It's about being appreciate of fortune and opportunity. You are not superior to anyone my friend, you just think you are. I'd also be willing to bet anything you're a Fox news watcher and right wing radio listener because of your gross ignorance to the movement and what it's really all about. You can't see past your own little world and it shows.

I'm very knowledgable about the world, history, and current events. I have to be for my job (the one I worked hard to get). I never claimed superiority for myself. I still have a looong way to go before I reach that plateau but I am pushing and workling for it. My realistic claim, and anyone who has ever had a real job knows this is true- equality is only guaranteed by law. Humans are not equal. Some people are indeed superior to others.

I also love your assumptions. I have never been a Fox news watcher and I avoid television in general,especially the news channels. I listen to sports radio or music only. I know much more about this movement and its uselessness and potential damage than most of the mindless adherents because I've made it my business to do so. I orginally saw OWS in a favorable light. Then the ugly truth began spilling out. This is a manufactured event. Occupy protesters are being used for private agendas. It is fairly obvious to anyone who has studied history or who follows global current events beyond MSM. And it is certainly inherently anti-American and collectivist in nature. If it isn't , then you need to stop all the OWS youtube videos which only show it in that light as well as the blogs, forum posts, etc that only prove my point.

I stumbled across the "we are the 53%" website.

I love how ATS ridicules it, yet the hippies at OWS are treated as some sort of heroes for "standing up to the man".

Yeah, right. I read some of their whiny complaints. So much for the advanced education some of the claim to have actually doing any good.

"I play Worlds of Warcraft naked 40 hours a week. I only eat McDonalds. I'm probably unemployable. I'm the 99%"

Freakin' comedy gold!

reply to post by radosta


Whiny, weak-minded brats?

And what are you? A hoity-toity elitist?

Self reliance? Fine but then it should be self reliance for everyone. However right now the powerfull buy themselves socialism. Who was it who fought the unions wasnt it Reagan?