The 53%

When I wrote my last post about the 53% I ended up reading a number of posts that irritated me.  A bunch of Republican assholes writing their own summaries of how their hard work and determination saved them and why they are the 53%.  Of course we don't get to see the posts from those who worked hard and failed, or maybe they couldn't afford health care and died.

But anyway, here's my contribution.  My statement.  No I'm not going to write it on paper and photograph it, you can just read it here:

I didn't come from a rich family.

I can still remember walking to the laundrette (laundrymat) with my parents as a kid.  They lived within their means and didn't want to take out a loan for a washing machine.

My first school was in low income neighborhood, in the middle of welfare housing.  I walked two miles to and from school every day in the sun, rain and snow for six years.

My parents didn't own a car until I was eight, and the car they bought was worth less than $1,000.

My parents sacrificed a lot to scrape together the money for my secondary education at a cheap private school. 

I was later educated in a community college, but thanks to the political system in England, I didn't have to pay.  Just like I didn't have to pay for health care directly.

I took my first job at 13; a paper round which I did until I turned 16, and took a job working weekends at a Home Depot type of store.  I stayed there four years.

I purchased my first car with my life savings of $1,000 at the age of 19.  It was crap.  But got me to college and my first real job.

Thanks to saving and paying my bills, I was able to buy my first home at 23, with not a dime in assistance from the government, my friends or my family.  I did it with my own hard work and good credit.

I built a highly successful career in the health care industry, and have never borrowed money from friends or family.  

My wife and I have worked hard for everything we have, but we do not begrudge the government using our tax dollars to ensure that the poor get a fair chance at life.

We are liberals because we are smart enough to understand that just because two Mensa members from ordinary middle class families did okay, doesn't mean that everyone who works hard can achieve what we did.

I do not believe that every CEO, actor, rapper, reality show star, or sports person got where they got because of nothing but skill and hard work, the vast majority were fortunate to be in the right place at the right time when they hit their career lotteries.

It is a Repubican fallacy that the poor are stupid and/or lazy.  The poor are just like you or me, but they didn't catch the breaks we did.

They are not there to pour scorn on.  Rather than spending trillions on 'defense' and tax breaks for billionaires, I believe we should spend it on our own society.  Create jobs, rebuild our infrastructure, and make America great for everyone, not just the 1%.

When we invest in America, and hold out a helping hand to those in need we are enriching the whole of society.


I am the 99%.  I work hard.  I have a job.

I am proud to be a liberal.

I am the 53%?

Oh America, will I ever understand you?

There is little doubt to those endowed with a brain and enough logic to reject Fox News that the gap between rich and poor in America is getting wider and wider, and has been for some time.  The first of the millionaire tax cuts introduced by George W. Bush turn a decade old this year, while further rich people tax gifts become eight years old this year.  As the results of Bush's horrific management of the economy continue to come home to roost Republicans keep pushing their brilliant plan of trickle down economics and any other drivel that slid out of the mouth of God's second son, Reagan.

While Republicans continue to disagree with everything Obama says (even if he is simply repeating Republican policies) they keep insisting that if we do anything at all to even hint that rich people should pay their fair share, the four horseman of the Apocalypse will show up.

So we are left with a Republican Congress deadlocking recovery plans, and insisting that the way to correct our economic woes in America is to make painful cuts to education, teachers, police, fire fighters, government workers, and programs designed to stop the poor in America living under bridges.

Then of course there is the whole Wall Street issue.  The CEOs stole money, gambled with it, collected fat bonus checks, and when it all went tits up they came to the tax payer with a begging bowl, claiming that government interference into the sacrosanct capitalist system was okay if the government was writing billion dollar checks of our money.

This is the background to some of the anger that has caused people to don V for Vendetta, Guy Fawkes masks and proclaim "We are the 99%."

And to many, this seems like a reasonable position.  The top 1% of Americans now control 26% of the wealth and this disparity continues to grow.  The same top 1% have seen their incomes rise by 275% in the past 30 years, outpacing the rest of us significantly.

But the right wing in this country have shown that if nothing else they are masters at getting stupid and ignorant people to vote against their own self interests so that they can continue to pursue the same policies that hurt poorer Americans significantly.  So they have unveiled their 'grass roots' campaign which is "We are the 53%."

They claim that 47% of Americans are now so poor, controlling as they do less than 2% of the wealth (versus 70% of the wealth controlled by the top 10%), they are not paying taxes.  And rather than question how we allowed so many tens of millions to become so poor and disenfranchised, they have repackaged the problem and sold it as the assertion that these people are FUCKING LAZY, and have no one to blame (yes you should be blamed for not being rich) but themselves.

They are poor because they won't get off their ass, get an education, land a nice job and join the ranks of the 53% who pay taxes (but don't climb too high because, you know, there's only so much room at the top).

And this fucked up thinking has finally led to people like our naive young woman pictured above.  Proud to be working three jobs and struggling to get an education, and ready to shit on the less fortunate who don't have the wherewithal or capability of entering a college honors program thanks to their shitty education and lack of resources.

The sad fact is when the 2012 election rolls around, these smug assholes who like to feel superior to the poor and are proud of their hard work will probably vote Republican because they just love the idea that when one day they get that high paying CEO job, there will be a party ready to see to it that there will be plenty of loopholes in the tax code for their expensive accountant to find, so they won't have to pay their fair share.

Common sense tells you that not all the 47% of America's poor are just losers who just need to work harder.  It's really not hard to consider with even a tiny bit of intelligent thinking that there may be an issue with economic policy when the billionaires are making out like bandits and 50 million Americans cannot get basic health care.

It reminds me of when that shithead W. was President.  He was confronted with a voter who proudly claimed to work multiple jobs just to make ends meet.  In a let them eat cake moment he congratulated her on working herself to death under the illusion that she was following the American dream.

The fact that the woman in the above picture is forced to work three jobs just to get an education should not be considered a badge of honor, it should be considered a sad and cautionary tale about what happens when society doesn't give a flying shit about anyone but themselves.  Invest in our future by ensuring easy access to education?  Poppycock, fuck them, if they work hard or join the military, maybe then we'll let them get a degree, which will put them in the running for a job that pays $10 an hour 20 hours a week and has no benefits.

And the sick joke these days is that a college degree in America is now so expensive that it will often take 15+ years to pay back the debt.  So even though a typical college graduate can command a higher salary for their entire career, if you consider the reality that it can take 4-5 years of very limited earnings and debt building just to get qualified, another year or so to get hired, and 15 years or so to pay back the debt and interest, the poor end up screwed either way, even if they do hold down three jobs and post 53% pictures of themselves on the Internet.

At the end of the day I wish more people would listen to the 99% people and stop trying to be clever with their 53% movement.  We have a dire situation in America where we are creating an underclass of extremely poor people who suffer and die, while the wannabe rich middle class Republican Americans keep voting for policies that siphon more and more resources right into the pockets of the millionaires.

We live in the richest country in the world, and if we spent our money in the right way, i.e. in a less selfish manner, we could see to it that people had access to good education, health care and opportunities, and when they fail we could reach out a helping hand rather than turning a blind eye.

I AM THE 99% - I WANT A FAIR SOCIETY THAT RESPECTS PEOPLE

I'd like to end this post with an open letter to the woman who posed for this picture and then posted it online.

First off, given that you were writing that paper for the purpose of the photo, did you really need to point out that you were female?  I mean humans are pretty good at telling the difference, that's how we are able to reproduce.

Secondly, how you can you be enrolled in the equivalent (not equivalence, that is a different word, and maybe if you lived in a society that valued education you'd already know the difference or be able to drop two of your jobs and take an English class) of 21 hours?  I mean, either you are doing 21 credit hours or you are not, right?

Finally, you really need to understand that it isn't cool that you have to work so hard to get a degree.  Being poor or working excessively is not a badge of honor, it is what happens when politicians stack the deck in favor of the rich and leave people like you out in the cold.  The 99% protesters are not lazy people who are demanding the right to sit on their ass and get welfare.  They are simply taking time out to highlight the huge difference in the quality of life between rich and poor.


There are other countries out there far poorer than the United States that give better access to affordable health care and even college education without forcing people to basically become indentured servants just to get a diploma.


The system you are supporting with your photo is what forces you to work yourself to death and accrue ungodly student loans just to pay the tuition fees.  It is the same system that will probably ensure you are still paying on student loans when you hit 30.


Unless people like you understand that the current system is not okay, we are destined to continue to repeat the mistakes of our society.  Sincerely, I hope your education includes some classes on critical thinking, logic, and sociology so that you can better understand the world around you.


Good luck.