Some basic truths about the 1%.

[kentuck]

They rely on division to keep their hold on power.

They depend on misinformation and the corporate media.

They are confident in their ability to buy the politicians they need to maintain the status quo.

They are not overly concerned with the "occupations" at the moment.

They are a patient bunch of scoundrels.

They will not surrender their power without a fight.

They are greedy and have no respect for our Constitution or the rights of free speech.

They are very good at propaganda and demonizing their opponents.

They don't give a big shit about the conditions of the 99%.

[mdmc]

1. true

[nichomachus]

2. K&R

[Rene Descartes]

3. The constitute half of our Congress.

http://www.forbes.com/sites/afontevecchia/2010/11/17/millionaire-congress-half-of-our-lawmakers-top-1m-in-net-worth/

[ThatsMyBarack]

12. Welcome to DU, Rene Descartes!

I love your math rule! :hi:

[Hutzpa]

4. Love these bits

They are a patience bunch of scoundrels

They are greedy and have no respect for our constitution or rights of free speech.
As a reminder, gas price is going up again, they're are giving us the middle finger despite
all the protest going on.

They are confident in their ability to buy the politicians they need to maintain the status quo.
They will send their foot soldiers to come and disrupt the movement, they will also be searching for the
weakest among us.

[dkf]

14. Isn't Warren Buffet a 1%er?

[Hutzpa]

16. He is but I don't think he is

as vindictive, selfish and arrogant as majority of them are.

[Laelth]

5. I suspect that is all true. k&r n/t

-Laelth

[mother earth]

6. Absolutely, K & R, only this time we are united in purpose,

across the board, all walks of life, young and old. This is about survival of working class America....it's take back our gov't or be turned into 3rd worlders.

[hfojvt]

7. too simple

most of that is wrong.

The 1% is 1 million American households.

Nothing is true about all of them. Some of them are very decent, hard-working people. Some of them aren't.

They do not have "power" in some absolute sense. They are not a united group either. The CEOs of Sprint and ATT are both in the top 1%, but they are fighting for market share in the cell phone business. Same with the CEOs of Amazon and Borders. Wal-mart, Target, and K-mart.

Some of what you write there is true of most Americans. Many Americans have little respect for the Constitution or the rights of free speech. Almost all of us want people we really disagree with to "shut up" or even to "BE shut up". Most of us also do not give a "big excrement about the conditions of most of the rest of the country".

I can give a couple of clear examples. One weekend I rented a car and drove to Osawatomie to help after their big flood. That same weekend, my brother and sister, who also live nearby, went out boating, blissfully unconcerned about the suffering of the people of Osawatomie, some of whom had lost almost everything.

In a similar story, this last summer I drove to Sedalia to help after their tornado. I discovered that 95% of Sedalia was unaffected and that life for them seemed to be going on as normal.

I might note one labor day when my own neighborhood got slammed by a windstorm. Straight-line winds they said, knocked down a ton of debris, including a tree on top of the car across the street. Nobody came to help me saw or haul debris. You know who did help though - the government. The city came by at least three times to haul away the debris I had piled at the curb. By which I mean perhaps two dump truck loads from my yard alone. Amazing how much lumber is up in those trees, when just a fifth of it comes down it makes for a lot of work.

[NNN0LHI]

10. The 1% is 1 million American households. Is that right?

US population is 307,006,550, give or take.

Wouldn't that mean there are 3 million American households in the top 1%? Or am I looking at this incorrectly?

Don

[hfojvt]

13. 3 million people living in approximately 1 million households

About 3 people per household on average.

But I am rounding too, the actual number is over 100 million, perhaps even 130 million. (which, heck, is a 30% error)

[aquart]

8. "They will not surrender their power without a fight."

That's all you need to remember. It doesn't matter a good goddamn what they think.

[Kablooie]

9. and until they start losing money they will continue to ignore the 99%

Money is the ONLY thing that they value.

If that is not materially affected, OWC will be ineffectual.

[onethatcares]

11. as a previous poster stated, they are after market share

that's all we are to them. a damn dollar sign.

what they don't understand is the social networking and that scares the shit outa them. It wasn't too long ago that it was thought to be impossible to get seperate groups in different countries on the same page on the same day. Guess what??? Millions of people from the most advanced first world countries to the most undeveloped 3d world countries have dialed in on the fact that we're all getting screwed by those folks that run the world banks and international money fund for the sake of their profits.

That will keep the 1% up nights.

Occupy the world, your little part of it at a time, the rest will take care of itself in unity.

[Cleita]

15. The big thing that bothers me is that they have to be

basically stupid. Where do they think they are going to go when they succeed in trashing the environment and planet with no regulations on business and industry? They will eventually have to breathe the same contaminated air, drink the same contaminated water, eat the same contaminated food and walk on the same contaminated surface the rest of us will have to.

[H2O Man]

17. Recommended.

Well-said.