Who is the One Percent?

I keep hearing about these Occupy people. Those protesting the upper “one percent” that they should pay their “Fair share.” Why is it so important? Is your life going to be any better off if some CEO pays twice as many taxes as he currently pays (by the way, this CEO is at work, while we’re out free loading on the street. The average CEO of a major corporation works around 80 hours a week)? Are we going to see an increase in your lifestyle because they pay more in taxes? How does that make us any less greedy then we accuse them of being? History has shown that you won’t, but that’s not the point.The point I want to talk about today is, who exactly is the one percent?

Quite simply, if you live in America, you are the one percent.I am the one percent.The median income in the US for a family of four is just under $50,000. That dollar amount puts the average American family in the .99% of the richest people, IN THE WORLD!!! That’s right, the average American family is a one percenter. Should we organize protests against the average American family? Even those at the poverty level in the United States (defined at a family of four making around $22K per year) are in the top 10% of the richest people IN THE WORLD!!!


While we’re out protesting for the rich to pay their fair share so we can have more (Yes, I said it) for ourselves, in Malawi, Africa, the average family gets by on less than a dollar a day. In Sierra Leone, workers in the legal diamond trade (yes, some diamonds are legally mined there, but very few) dig in malaria infested mud seven days a week, dawn to dusk, for fifty cents a day and two cups of rice. If they happen to find a diamond, they might get a small bonus, if their foreman is an honest man.Most of them are not.They’re working in filth and grime and oppressive heat, every day, to support their families, and we get upset if we have to work a long weekend in a climate controlled office, or if our yearly raise is too small. Or if the barista forgets foam on our coffee. Or if we can't find our black shoes and have to wear our brown ones instead.
They, the Malawians, are sleeping in a house made of mud with a thatched roof that lets in a good amount of rain and water and does not protect from the heat, and we get upset that we have to walk outside in the rain for thirty seconds after work to get to our car which we will park in a garage next to our enormous house, that will keep us warm and dry.

Our Cars have houses How many people in the world around you don’t? How many people would consider it a luxury to live in your cold, un-insulated garage? By the way, only 8.5% of the world owns a car. Cars are an unaffordable luxury for most of the world.It’s time for some perspective. We Americans live in the greatest, richest country in the world. Those at the top make life better for those of us who are not.  Even if you don’t want to see it that way, if you live in America, your whining privileges should be revoked. Maybe instead of whining about the top one percent in America not paying their fair share so we can feel better about your lack of financial success, we, as the top one percent income earner in the world, should consider the man trying to feed a family of four on a yearly budget that is less than the average American monthly car payment.

To paraphrase the late great Sam Kinison, some folks in the world would look at American bathroom stalls as luxury apartments.Just sayin’.

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