The 1 Percenters think that they own the world... That they also own everything and everyone in it.

[MrScorpio]

Well... It's time that they learn differently, don't you think?

[dkf]

1. I think you have Bill Gates and Warren Buffett confused with the Koch brothers.

They aren't all the same you know.

[Tunkamerica]

2. depends on how you look at it. They are products of the same system.

I don't think Bill Gates should have the money or power he has just like I don't think the Koch bros. should.

[dkf]

3. I guess if Gates education push offends you then that makes sense.

[Tunkamerica]

4. Yes, because the actions of one product of a flawed system

that gives some of their massive wealth to the less fortunate obviously makes my argument flawed.

Touche.

[TBF]

6. lol - it's not the individual actor it's the system.

nt

[liskddksil]

8. the policies he supports and funds are pretty much ruining public education in this country nt.

[Chiquitita]

9. true

[Odin2005]

19. Gates supports the destruction of public education.

Private "charity" money should never be allowed to dictate public policy.

[Odin2005]

17. A Capitalist is a Capitalist is a Capitalist.

They are exploiters all, even Buffet.

[TBF]

5. Well that's because they do own most of it.

If we replace capitalism with a more equitable economic system we won't have these problems.

[vets74]

13. D'oh. But it's not because of simple capitalism.

Financial Capitalism is a wholly different animal from Productive Capitalism.

And the financial crew have bought the government. They are also, arguably, little more than a new take on Organized Crime.

Thus from Occupy Wall Street:



Protections of the Common Law... an early casualty in this crime spree.

OWS is an anti-crime operation.

[TBF]

16. I disagree - capitalism is inherently unequal and only encourages greed and corruption.

You can try to tie up that tiger all ya want, but it seems to always get loose. Out of history we can point to one time when folks across the board did fairly well - 1950s-1970s. That 20-30 year period only happened because the highest marginal tax rates were as high as 90%. Didn't take long for the corporations to buy their way around it and elect folks to dismantle it.

My position is that we need a more equitable economic system, and I suggest we build on the ideas of previous socialist/communist ideas to do it.

[vets74]

20. Every form of human organization is "inherently unequal." The Pareto curve....

Remember First Grade ?

Boy Scouts ?

Any operation larger than one person ?

Limiting the damage is all we can do.

I do like nationalizing large mature industries. Particularly extraction sectors. Israel before the NeoCons was aimed that way -- small businesses remaining capitalistic.

[RegieRocker]

7. Bingo!

Their backyard is the world.

[vets74]

10. The 1% stole $7-trillion using the mortgage part of Big Bubble II 2003-2008.

$2-trillion bad/bogus mortgages.

$5-trillion fraud on pension funds and investors.

Out of a total valuation for the U.S. at $55-trillion.

Not bad for a smash-and-grab.

[sam11111]

11. end of the current dynamics IS one billionaire owning the planet. All of it

The goal of the corporations is to have one billionaire own the whole world.

Merger follows merger...so many the lawyers who handle the new ones now have a term for the day of filing papers for new mergers - "merger Mondays".

When one billionaire owns the planet, he will only need 300 million of us to make the luxuries he wants.
The rest of us will be surplus...just a lot of troublemakers. So we will be left to starve.

This is usually called "Population Reduction."
However I prefer the shorter term "Shrinkage" or just "Shrink."

Shrink is the hellish future we have under the corporate style of an economy.

[hobbit709]

12. The Bourbons and Romanovs used to believe that too.

Ask one of them what happened, if you can find one.

[tavalon]

14. I think the 1%ers have never worked a day in their lives (for the most part)

and are therefore, likely well marbled. And that is all I'll say about that.

[PETRUS]

15. They do own a lot of it.

We failed to guard against the concentration of that kind of power. If freedom, justice, and democracy are important, we must undo what has happened and prevent it from occurring again.

[Odin2005]

18. K&R!