I Have A Question For The 53%ers

 

By Carl

 

I see a lot of comments and rebuttals to Occupy Wall Street that boil down to this, no doubt spurred on by the Koch brothers and their minions:

I work three jobs. I own a house. I have a family to support. I am the 53%.

 

My question is this: why?

Almost everything we know about wages and prices tells us that the typical household has suffered a Lost Decade for market wages. Just as important, the price of necessities -- such as health care, a college education, a house, and energy to heat your home and run your car engine -- is growing faster than our incomes. [...]

CBO found that in the three decades between 1979 and the beginning of the Great Recession, real household income grew 60 percent overall. But it didn't grow evenly.

Among the poorest fifth of households, income grew 18 percent. For the next three quintiles, it grew just shy of 40 percent. For the richest fifth, it grew 65 percent. And for the top percentile, it grew by a whopping 275 percent, which means it nearly tripled. Bottom line: Income inequality exists.

Inflation for the period Jan. 1980 through Dec. 2007 was 170%, and that staggering figure excludes energy and food (which, if included would add roughly another 40% or so to the figure.)

By the way, those inequalities get worse once you account for taxes paid.

In other words, the 53% still made out better than the 47%, even after you account for the fact that the 47% paid no income taxes!

And the only reason the 53% made out better is because the top 1% made out like bandits.

So I ask again, why?

Why are you working three jobs just to keep up? Why wouldn't you rather work one job at a living wage and have more time to enjoy the finer things that wage provides.

Finer things, like kids, and family time, instead of rushing off to job number two or three.

Why are you angry at the people who have it even worse than you? Why aren't you angry at the people who have sucked up every spare bit of money lying around like a vaccuum cleaner and stuck it in their pockets, rather than provide a decent wage that allows you to work to live, not live to work?

Why aren't you mad as hell and not going to take it anymore?

(crossposted to Simply Left Behind)