What the 1 percent thinks about you

[Triana]

It's all so easy if you're part of the one percent.

(Reuters) - I asked a financial services executive recently how our retirement saving system can be considered a success, considering that all but the highest-income households are approaching retirement with next to nothing saved.
His reply: "They don't have any money while they're working, so why would they have any money in retirement?"

It's just that simple. If, like 45 percent of Americans, you're of working age and you don't have a retirement plan, well that's your problem. You can just eat cake when you get old. Because the only the rich deserve to have comfortable retirements.

LINK: http://www.dailykos.com/story/2013/11/04/1253085/-What-the-1-percent-thinks-about-you

[Exhibit A]

1. What I think of the 1%:

[pipoman]

2. Yeah, the only thing that keeps the wealthy safe

Is the majority being somewhat comfortable. ..put the majority in poverty and the wealthy will become targets....something many have forgotten since the last several generations of relative prosperity for all....

[RKP5637]

12. Plus, the majority keeps themselves "as is" by the way many vote. I think often voting

is rigged, but IMO far too often many vote to keep the system as is thus perpetuating being screwed over. Plus, IMO, many Americans live in denial.

[raouldukelives]

3. And there are those that serve the 1% in return for self security and accolades.

When a comfortable retirement is built on the backs of slave labor, corporate prisons, perpetual war, denial of health care, weapons of mass destruction and environmental oblivion, how comfortable could one really be?
All depends on the conscience of the individual. Some are in a battle to save what is left. To pull our democracy back from the hands of multinational corporations. To rescue a small portion of the wilderness & wildlife left. In the hopes they can create a better world, or at least, not do all they can to ruin it while they are alive.
Some only want a nice car and fancy labels on collars. Damn the consequences. Too bad they are damning us all with what they call "success".
We are drifting ever rightward, headlong into fascism. All labored towards and paid for by people who can't be bothered to wake up and see the works they have accomplished.
They are not thy brothers keeper, they are thy brothers reaper.

[RKP5637]

14. Agree! Well said!!!

[James48]

4. this

[Scarsdale]

5. Social Security

The gop wants to dismantle SS, and get rid of food stamps too. All the while funneling their money overseas to avoid taxes. People in this country had better wake up SOON, and vote the democratic reps into office. Walker in Wis. Rauner in Ill Brownback in Ks and Jindal in La are all well on their way to destroying any program that helps the working class. Most of them have already taken their states to the edge of bankruptcy, in order to please their owners, the Kochs.

[RKP5637]

16. It's a very propagandized country IMO, and seriously, anymore, I do think many Americans

are dumber than a bag of rocks from conditioning, propaganda, or even maybe inwardly. IMO this country is not walking but running toward total Idiocracy. And far too many are totally aloof, thinking things are going to perk along just fine, they can't even be bothered to try to understand the dynamics of what is going on in the US.

[KingCharlemagne]

30. Emma Goldman responds:

Ask for work. If they don't give you work, ask for bread. If they do not give you work or bread, then take bread.

Anarchism and Other Essays (1910) - Emphasis added

[1StrongBlackMan]

6. I suspect the person that posted this to HuPO ...

left out a great deal from the conversation because: 1) the financial services executive's reply doesn't answer the question ... in fact, it seems to explain why the current retirement saving system is NOT a success; 2) the response has nothing to do with "what the 1% thinks of" anyone; and, 3) the unidentified "financial services executive" is not likely to be a member of the 1% (http://www1.salary.com/Top-Division-Financial-Executive-salary.html)

Maybe I'm missing something.

[zeemike]

8. Perhaps you are missing something.

Would you expect a vassal of the king to contradict the king or speak for him?
Kings have spokesperson that project their belief for them...and that is what financial advisers do.

[1StrongBlackMan]

9. Okay. n/t

[Nay]

17. IMHO, your interpretation may be correct; that's what I got out of it, too. It could

as easily have been a condemnation or a simple observation of the truth of the matter, which would be revelatory of the whole rotten system.

But that does not mean the 1% thinks well of us peons out here; below I've contributed my story about a brush with the 1%. They don't even treat their own children well. And the Prince Charles story tells us something, too.

[Jackpine Radical]

22. I think the actual translation of the adviser's statement, in practical terms, is

"Who gives a fuck what happens to the losers after we're done milking them for 40 years apiece?"

[1StrongBlackMan]

24. Is that what the advisor's statement indicates? ...

Or, is that your opinion about the financial services industry?

I know some good, and ethical, people that work in that industry ... that have real criticisms, and real fixes to the retirement savings system; none of which involves "milking" the consumer.

[alcina]

7. That's assuming they think of us at all

The extremely wealthy live in a universe separate from the rest of us and can very likely spend most of their lives completely ignorant of the suffering of those less fortunate.

Many years ago I read an article about Prince Charles having lunch with the governor of Bermuda. The table was set with paper napkins -- nice ones, I imagine. Probably triple-ply. Anyway, apparently the prince had to ask what these things were. Had never seen nor heard of them before.

Different universe....

[Nay]

13. True--they don't think of us at all. I know I've repeated this apochryphal story

here in years past, but 30 years ago when we were new parents, we lived in a duplex. A nice duplex, not a dump. Next door lived a nice man about our age who worked as a pilot (a captain) for UPS or FedEx (I forget). Back then they made OK money, more than they make now, BTW. One day, he talked about his parents.

He grew up a very, very rich household in the NE -- his father and grandfather were bankers, and we're not talking about the guys who ran a little bank on the corner. He went to private schools; he never had to clean up after himself because the minute he left the house to go to school, the maids rushed in and cleaned and did whatever laundry was lying around; he never saw a cockroach until he went to college; until he was of age to drive, the limo took him wherever he needed to go; etc., etc. His sister went on to marry into another rich family and stay in the lifestyle. He, however, wanted to fly. He did get his degree in banking as his father wanted, but it only took him a year in it for him to realize he'd never be happy. He went to work as a pilot.

His family was so angry that they disowned him completely. His parents came to visit him one time and they WOULDN'T EVEN SIT ON HIS (NEW) FURNITURE IN HIS APARTMENT because cooties, I guess.

Most people have no idea what these people are like. If they did, the guillotines would have come out long ago.

[1StrongBlackMan]

20. This is so true ...

to really understand this, ask yourself what you know about the Janitor/Custodian or Parking Lot Attendant, at your place of employment ... he/she is someone you see just about every day, and likely don't give much thought to/about.

[alcina]

23. I think it goes beyond that

Most people have some awareness of the "support" staff at their work, even if they aren't personally acquainted with them. They realize on some level that there is someone there actually doing something for them. The analogy for the 1%, I think, would be their accountants, chauffeurs, gardeners, and so on.

We, on the other hand, are more like the bacteria in the soil of their lush estates. They see the results of our work, but they place absolutely no value in it. They likely consider the positive results to be a testament to 1) their brilliance and foresight in having bought this estate, 2) their own exceptional gardening skills, and 3) the fact that god has clearly smiled upon them in granting them this Eden.

I agree that we're reaching a tipping point (surpassed it in many ways, in fact), and that a revolution will eventually result. The problem I see is that, unlike in the past, when peasants could storm a castle and take out most of the ruling class, the 1% is scattered and hidden. Makes it much harder to drag them to the guillotines.

[1StrongBlackMan]

25. I think we are far, far, far from any "tipping point." n/t.

[KingCharlemagne]

31. I must reluctantly concur, albeit sadly. Most sociologists and political scientists who have

studied the matter agree that for a revolution to be successful a base of between 3-5% of the population who are committed to forcible overthrow of the status quo is an absolute requirement. (This 3-5% militant vanguard would represent the attitudes and aspirations of a far larger segment of society.)

In math terms, that would mean a base of at least 10 million committed revolutionaries in the U.S., numbers Occupy Wall Street could only dream about (and it was beset on all sides by the Babel of competing voices).

I'm not saying it can never happen -- a common front of disaffected middle-class youth, peasants and urban proletariat could form the elements of such a vanguard -- just that we are nowhere near that point yet.

[cilla4progress]

27. We do have the internet.

I'm hoping that will be a useful tool in our revolution.

I work for a small law firm, not a hugely wealthy one. But still, the managing partner is sitting on millions, I'm sure. He has invested in what are probably borderline slum rentals, because he's a cheap shit. The receptionist walks to work. She can't afford a car. I would be ashamed if I had employees who couldn't afford a car because of the wages I pay them.

[alcina]

32. As Princess Leia said to Obi-wan

You're my only hope.

Well, maybe not the only one, but I do see that as a major vulnerability for those whose assets are verifiable primarily through computers.

[LiberalArkie]

10. What the 1% thinks of those below them

[BlueJazz]

11. Very True

[sulphurdunn]

15. Well, duh, assshole,

if you can't save any money when you're working of course you won't have any when you retire. Sounds like a great argument for higher wages and full employment.

[oldandhappy]

18. The rich do not think about me at all.

I do not exist to the 1%. Their game is manipulation and control. I have little discretionary income. My congressional district is safely (for them) gerrymandered. If they take my social security and medicare, they will gain nothing and they will no longer have the little that I spend for items their corporations control. It is incredible to me that the rich cannot see that they are destroying the very economy that makes their fantasy lives possible.

[donnasgirl]

19. We already know what they think,

And we know what the 99% think of them, so why is it they keep winning?

[randr]

21. These are the very same people who earn their living sucking

retirement accounts dry before bankrupting businesses in order to steal what is left.

[Half-Century Man]

26. Angry songs about the rich

Power to the people.

(My respects to Public Enemy, but this is my favorite version)

[NoJusticeNoPeace]

28. The initial key issue for us is VOTING, righty is going to stop millions of you from voting

the less that number is the better chance we have of kicking out the terrorists.

The American Taliban occupies most of our government and their goal is to destroy the middle class so we lose what little power we now have.

Voting can be one way to combat that, the SC 5 terrorists dismantled the voting rights act for the sole purpose of furthering the goal of white supremacy and Oligarch control.

Focusing on EVERYBODY voting and arranging for rides, registering people, etc. is the ANSWER!

[KingCharlemagne]

29. F. Scott Fitzgerald's narrator, Nick, in "The Great Gatsby" tells us

about the attitude of his generation's 1%:

They were careless people, Tom and Daisy- they smashed up things and creatures and then retreated back into their money or their vast carelessness or whatever it was that kept them together, and let other people clean up the mess they had made.

[Brigid]

33. I don't think this is quite true.

Last edited Sun Feb 8, 2015, 06:01 PM - Edit history (1)

I don't think the one percent thinks about us at all; they are barely aware that we exist unless the mint is missing from their pillow at the hotel or their fancy meal isn't cooked right or something like that.

[tavernier]

34. We should be very careful

when we generalize. As a private duty nurse I've worked for many ultra wealthy people. Some are extremely generous and charitable: our local park and pools were donated to the town's children by one lady who loved kids and saw the need. I've seen my clients write out Big checks for a variety of charities, and for reasons other than the tax benefit.

There are certainly many rich assholes, as there are not so rich assholes, but to clump them all into one group is wrong, and potentially dangerous.

[Doug Gollan]

35. There is a big difference between the "1%" and "Super Rich"

It would be nice if folks could sort out the difference between the "1%" and "SuperRich"

http://douggollan.com/2015/02/08/note-to-editors-there-is-a-difference-between-the-1-and-super-richits-money/

[LongTomH]

37. Ajay Kapur, of Citigroup, coined the term 'Plutonomy' in 2005.

That refers to:

1. An economy where most of the wealth is concentrated at the top: The super-rich - upper 0.1% and the mega-rich - upper 0.01%
   
2. It's also the economic theory that a functioning economy can be run by satisfying the luxury spending of the super-rich and mega-rich.

[marble falls]

38. You do know blog flogging is a no-no here, don't you?

[randys1]

39. There is a big difference as to numbers, but why is it so important to you that

we create a different category for extremely comfortable, very well off people who arent the wealthiest?

[daredtowork]

36. This is why people need to STFU about cutting Entitlements NOW

The rubicon is coming where vast amounts of Americans are going to need some sort of means-tested aid in retirement. Even those that have Social Security will have gaps in their work record because of repeated recessions during their lifetime and long ramps up to get advanced degrees. Suddenly they will realize that they have only "earned" a few hundred bucks a month in Social Security and the realities of cost of living has far outstripped that.

So while they were busy preventing disabled people and "welfare queens" from being able to meet their basic needs, they were also sabotaging their own futures by taking out all the cultural support for money to support THEM in THEIR old age.

Have some mercy on YOURSELVES, people! Be CIVILIZED HUMAN BEINGS again! There is nothing inherently wrong with entitlements that are social decisions directed to humane purposes!

In this case, we need a redistribution of 1% wealth into social safety net funds to expand Social Security for the masses. We need more "entitlements", not less.