So, I’m needing some help here.
We’ve all heard of the “1%.”
They are the financially elite who own/control a majority of this
country’s wealth.
Then, there is the middle class. I’m not sure anyone has an
accurate count of this group, but most researchers place the number hovering
in/on/or around, about 45% of the population.
Two Presidential candidates, Obama and Romney, agree that the ceiling
of yearly income for the middle class at about $250,000.
Those are some pretty high ceilings The Tax Poll Center is
on record saying that households earning a quarter of a million dollars per
year fall just above the 96th percentile.
If you dig deep enough, you find that the US Census Bureau
finds the yearly median American household income is $50,000—roughly twice the
amount for a household at or below the poverty level.
The math seems pretty simple. It would appear that roughly
46% of American households are doing
better than ‘just getting by. Really, you could make a good case to just round
it up to half the households. Why not?
Over the past months, we’ve all paid at least tacit
attention to the Democrat and Republican candidates beg, plead, whimper and
whine on behalf of the middle and upper class. If you didn’t know the numbers,
you might think the 1% were living day-to-day, and that the middle class was
working 4 jobs, selling their blood, and living in cardboard boxes.
I think the truth is a little more realistic. Those slugging
it out beneath the poverty line have no voice in this election, and by extension,
in the direction of the country.
The loudest and most resilient voices are those who want to
protect their six, seven and eight figure incomes, and those who want a plumper six-figure income.
It’s not about global warming. It’s not about renewable energy.
It’s not about the sacrifices made by those in uniform. It’s not about quality
education, quality food or the inequality financed by bigotry and ignorance.
It about the money, and the quest of those who have enough
to secure more.
Greed is a noun. The simplest definition of it is, “wanting
more than one’s fair share—wanting more
than is needed.”
Greed has apparently become an acceptable American verb.
Agreed. The "American Dream" is just that, and it will never be more than that, due to the endlessly deep pockets of the individuals who are unfortunately in control of the country and of us by default. sad, sad place the United States have become, huh?
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