Yesterday, in support of the 99% protesters (started out as Occupy Wall Street), I did not publish a message.
The New York Occupy Wall Street protesters started their movement a little over a month ago (it has gone both nation and worldwide) because 1% of the US population holds 36% of the nation’s wealth and pays less of a percentage of their income to taxes than 99% of the population. Warren Buffet used himself as an example. In 2010 he paid 17.4% of his income in taxes while his secretaries paid 33%; this is almost a 16% difference. Additionally, the average American does not have the tax loopholes given to the corporations to reduce their income so the gap of taxes paid in relationship to actual income earned becomes even greater.
Only a few of the Wall Street rich got arrested (Bernie Madoff for his Ponzi scheme, Raj Rajaratnam a hedge fund titan for insider trading, and an unnamed former Goldman Sachs Director for insider trading) for sending our economy down the drain. Since reporting some bank fraud actions in previous blogs ABC News reported on October 4, 2011 that a watchdog group found that Fannie Mae knew about improper foreclosure practices by law firms back in 2003. Yet, on October 13th it was reported that home foreclosures rose 14% in the third quarter of 2011 and on October 20th CitiGroup was fined $285 million for the FCC fraud related to their part in the housing downfall. An example of other fraudulent activity by business is the October 24th Boston Globe report that found 50% of the fish they tested at local area markets and restaurants was mislabeled, white tuna was often Escobar and flounder was cat fish. The point here is that even with tax loopholes, big business chose to make their profits by taking from the average American.
On October 21st a federal report said 50% of workers earned less than $26,364 last year. On October 26, 2011 the Congressional Budget Office reported that the income of the households of the top 1% grew 275% between 1979 and 2007 while the middle income household grew 40% and the poor only 18%.
To make matters worse on the average American, on October 21st the Census Bureau reported that 28 million Americans (14 million full-time) have jobs but no health insurance. And things are expected to get worse as WalMart is cutting back due to the increase in health care; they’re not offering a health plan to part-time employees and the plan they offer will cost full-time employees 36% more. On October 25th GMA reported that Delta, US Airways and American have matched United and Continental’s 10% fare hike. Compared to last year most flights will be up 10% and popular flights will be up 30%. It’s being said that airlines will make $32 billion on the bag fees and other items they used to give free. On October 24th ABC News reported that in response to banks charging monthly fees to use debit cards, thousands of people are taking their money out of the big banks and putting it into credit unions and community banks that don’t make such charges. Banks are saying it’s not the poor but those making $75,000+ that they depend on for profits. Like I should care that they lose some of their billions. On October 26th while banks got bailouts and CEOs get multi-million dollar bonuses, the expenses for the middle class has risen: health insurance has gone up 155%, housing 56% and education 43%.
The protesters are trying to make the point that the rich peoples’ income grew 275% through illegal actions, taking health insurance and houses away from the people, charging more for their products and using loopholes to pay about 17% of their income in taxes. This means the rich now have 258% more in their pocket.
The middle class whose income went up 40% are paying 254% more for health insurance, housing and education, about 33% of their income in taxes and now have 247% less in their pocket. This unfairness has driven some of the middle class into poverty.
The poor whose income went up 18% can’t afford health insurance or education but are paying 56% more for housing and about 5% in taxes now have 43% less in their pocket. The current level of poverty in the US is 15% of the population.
The bottom line is that the situation is morally wrong and they want the government to correct it.
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