I Am The 53%
Posted by Kevin McKee on October 17, 2011As the Occupy Wall Street mantra of “blame someone else” continues to spread throughout the world, there is another movement brewing. It’s called We Are The 53%, and it refers to the 53% of Americans who actually work enough to pay federal income tax.
The 53% pays all the federal income tax for 100% of Americans. The 53% are the responsible people who are working hard instead of complaining. They take responsibility for their own actions. They don’t wait for the government to give them the life they want; they go out and take it themselves.
There is a great blog where people submit their story (usually handwritten on a sheet of paper) about what they have done to become a part of the 53%, and why they don’t identify with the “99%” that claims to speak for all but 1% of the country.
You have to check out the site and some of the pictures. Go to We Are The 53% now!
I submitted my own story, but it hasn’t been accepted yet. I hope the owner of the blog continues to post updates because I haven’t seen one since last Friday. Even if he doesn’t there are still some great stories of personal triumph and responsibility.
I am not the so called “99%” who hates the top 1% for their success. I am the 53%.
I Am The 53%
Great post and pic. I will be going over to the site to look at some more of the stories.
You can spend hours over there if you’re not careful. Some great stories!
That’s great, I started working at 15, but hated school. I did not go to college but I am successful at what I do an and make a great living to support my family on a single income. My wife gets to stay at home while I work hhard. Instead of complaining those folks should do something about it. Reading those 99 per center letters is like a pity me party
That’s a great story. I’ve always said that you don’t need a college education (and all the debt that comes along with it) to be successful. You’re a great example of that!
Damn iPhone auto correction!!!
I’ll be sure to check out that website when I get home from work (tumblr is blocked).
I know I am definitely part of the 53% and worked hard to get there.
If you’re working hard and not asking for handouts, then you are definitely part of the 53%
I know exactly how you feel kevin. My story reads the same as yours, but I think I had 133 dollars when I graduated. I feel like if these guys spent the time they are protesting looking for jobs or trying to learn a new skill or create a job, they could get one.
You can probably learn to be a so-so programmer in a month. Lots of people need programmers.
Look at you, Mr. Rich Pants graduating with all that money in the bank!
I definitely agree with you on gaining skills. Learning a new skill is the most rational thing to do if you can’t get a job with your current skills. Unfortunately, some people aren’t willing to put in that work.
I am too!
Oops… pressed enter too soon.
A lot of media types are over analyzing this movement (just like everything else).
They are taking the 53% too literally. They continue to say that the 53% is not accurate, everyone pay payroll taxes, etc, etc.
They need to take it for what it represents. A counter those OWS protesters (not all) that want everything for free, education, health care, housing, money. It is saying, if you want something, work for it.
Hey Kevin,
Generally I love this blog and have been following for quite some time. I will continue to do so as I agree with much of you say and I LOVE! the videos.
I do think it was partially irresponsible to basically say that 100% of the 47% that do not pay federal income tax are complaining and not hard working. I know that many, many of those people truly are looking for a government handout and try to get away without working. However, I can also think of several people that I know that are part of that 47% and work much harder than me either by choice or circumstance.
My sister and her husband, for example, run a farm CSA for an elderly couple that is now too old to tend their own farm. I know that because they have 2 kids and make very little they do not pay any federal income tax. They have made this choice and are happy with it though. I have never heard them complain or ask for a government handout. They love working with the earth and grow/raise nearly 100% of their own food for their family as well as providing healthy food for 100 or so families in the area. Sometimes during planting and harvesting times they can easily work 80 hours a week.
As part of the 53% in our community I’m glad that people like my sister and her husband are dedicating themselves to providing many people in the area high quality food through their CSA. I’m more than happy to subsidize these hard workers that are providing a great service to many people.
Anyway, just thought I would move the conversation along. I’m sure this post was more of a reaction to the Occupy Wall Street thing than a bashing of real hardworking people. Just came across that way a little bit.
Thanks for your great work! Keep up the videos!
Hey Josh, thanks for commenting. I’m glad you posted this because I want to clarify something that I missed earlier.
I don’t think paying taxes is “noble”. In fact, I really hope we get to a point where government spending decreases to where we can abolish the income tax altogether and go back to the days before 1914 when there was no federal income tax.
If you are working hard and taking care of yourself and not asking for handouts, then I’d consider that person to be a member of the symbolic “53%”, even if they aren’t in the actual 53% of federal taxpayers.
Thanks again for the comment.
This completely turns me off from your site. I’m a hard-worker, as you Kevin and so many of the readers of this site are. I want to be successful and self-sufficient, and unburdened by debt. I happen to be doing a great job of it, too. Good for me.
However, the tone of this and some other content that you’ve posted in the past is really mean-spirited. It really disappoints me that someone with so much talent, drive, and smarts takes such a lazy and mean view of people who are dealing with a whole range of economic and financial problems. In the middle of a near-Depression. Seriously.
Use one of these videos to explore how someone born into a couple of generations of poverty, and all that comes with, is supposed to stop “complaining” and just figure it all out already.
I hope your thinking on this changes over time.
Love! I’m going to check out that website. I’ve been annoyed at the whole 99% thing because the pity party definately doesn’t speak for me.
You made it on there …..Congrats
Show them who’s boss, Kevin!
Federal income tax is not based on working “enough” it is based on income. There is no reason to disparage those who work hard and don’t earn a large amount of money.
While some of the “99%” might hate the 1% for their money there are plenty who hate the cronyism that doesn’t allow capitalism to work as it should. I am in that camp. I have been in that camp for years.
I don’t have any problem with those earning lots of money doing so. I do not like nobility thinking allowing huge trust funds for babies to be rich, not because they earned it, but because they we the kid or grand kid or great grand kid of someone who earned it.
I also don’t like the perverted sense of capitalism that bozo talking heads that don’t understand markets or capitalism discuss. There are way to many things to point out here, but I have talked about many of them for years on my blog.
Capitalism is maybe the most valuable strategy for human happiness. When we allow idiots to pervert capitalism into some idiotic failure of an idea we risk losing the power of capitalism to do good. You can’t just call, giving favors to those that give me huge piles of cash capitalism and thing that means everything will work out well because capitalism as a system is good. If we allow capitalism to mean what many seem to say now it is no wonder people think it is bad. The policies that ignore big parts of capitalism to instead insert whatever political desire some talking head has have done a great job of messing up our economy and causing many people huge economic losses. They are going to get angry when that happens.
http://investing.curiouscatblog.net/tag/capitalism/
It’s a great point that people need to understand; capitalism does not exist in America today. We live in a society of corporatism where the best lobbyists and the most lawyers win. We need a system where the best business wins.
There are plenty of people, me for instance, that have done perfectly fine economically. Yeah, fine I worked. And more importantly I didn’t waste money. But basically my economic wealth is because I was lucky enough to be born in the USA, hard parents that did right by me, was born with some brains and health…
Most successful people I interact with are somewhat responsible for their success but a whole heck of a lot of it is due to the system around them. They wouldn’t have been rich if they were born in Mali or most any other country. They wouldn’t have been rich if they were born in 1820 or as a women in 1900… There is some contribution by the person’s efforts but a whole lot of it is due to being born in about the most awesome conditions to be wealthy. About the only way to be any better off was maybe to be born a few decades earlier in the USA (or as Nobility in Europe or China a few centuries ago).
Just by being born with a decent brain, decent health and decent parents I pretty much just got to do well without having any real struggle. I am happy I am so lucky. But I don’t think those that were not given all the benefits are somehow bad people. There are plenty of bad people who are rich and poor and in between. But there economic wealth does not define their worth. their value or goodness.
I do agree if we distort capitalism to give favors to big bankers or millions of union members you can easily lose the benefits of capitalism to society. You can siphon off some of the benefits that are suppose to go to society (through properly functioning markets) to give to special interests. But beyond a certain point you break the ability of the economy to support the special favors. To my view the special favors to the largest companies and richest people are far far far greater a risk today than the favors to the downtrodden.
Food stamps are not killing us. A broken financial system is pretty high up there. A broken health system is pretty high up there. Voting for weak willed and incompetent politicians that sell out our future is a big problem. Fake accounting for retirement systems is high up there as a problem (government accounting, more of a state and local problem). Not paying for what we spend is a big problem (both at a government and personal level).
Other things like how much you want to tax people on minimum wage versus trust fund babies isn’t going to kill us either way. I would tax trust fund babies myself. Others like to tax workers. Whatever, that can be decided by us without any huge issues.
I’m a bit concerned about the math here… The 53% taxpayers should be based on the whole American population. That means, including children under 15, grannies, housewives, disabled, unemployed, everyone.
If you subtract the people not in the workforce (because, obviously, child labor is against human rights, people still want to retire someday, families decide to rely on one sole breadwinner to have the other parent raising the kids and the like), and then subtract the people who want to work but can’t or work their ass off but are just not earning enough, the percentage of Just …ing Lazy is likely to be much, much lower than 47% Not Paying Taxes.
Judith, you are missing the point. Arguing the actual 53% number is a red herring, the real debate is what the movement stands for.
The 53% movement is saying that they worked their butts off to get where they are and those who are falling on hard times are not asking for bailouts or blaming anyone, they continue to try and make ends meet.
I have been reading some of the entries on this website. Many valid points are being made about taking responsibility for yourself, working hard, and not asking for pity. But it also sounds to me as if the same people ready to assail the 99% for class warfare against the 1% are now calling themselves the 53% and waging their own class warfare against the 47%. As Kevin puts it, the website “refers to the 53% of Americans who actually work enough to pay federal income tax. The 53% pays all the federal income tax for 100% of Americans. The 53% are the responsible people who are working hard instead of complaining.”
Do Kevin and others like him want to pay taxes? Doesn’t sound like it. Kevin again: “I really hope we get to a point where government spending decreases to where we can abolish the income tax altogether and go back to the days before 1914 when there was no federal income tax.” Despite the historical inaccuracy here (the first federal income tax was enacted to fund the Civil War), his sentiments are echoed on the website by those who are plainly angry at taxes too: “Our Ol’ Uncle Sam steals 30$ of my blood, my sweat!” “Govt. charges me roughly 40 cents of every dollar profit I earn.”
In other words, these same people angry at paying taxes are angry at the so-called 47% because – they aren’t paying taxes.
And just as the 53% blame the 99% for “blaming someone else,” they are all too ready to blame the 47% for their irresponsibility, when all the 47% are doing are computing their own federal returns under the IRS Code as it currently exists, and just as any of us do, taking whatever adjustments, deductions, and credits they are legally entitled to. Which in many cases includes taking tax credits like the Child Tax Credit, the Child and Dependent Care Credit, and perhaps above all the Earned Income Credit, which was enacted in 1975 and expanded in 1986 under Reagan, who called it “the best anti-poverty, the best pro-family, the best job creation measure to come out of Congress.” As Suzy Khimmat wrote in The Washington Post, “Part of the reason that over 40 percent of Americans don’t pay taxes is because of the continual push to lower them — a cause that conservatives have championed.”
To quote Derek Thompson in The Atlantic, “If you think the 47 Percent are getting away with free-riding, consider that they’re mostly poor families making $20,000, which means they would have to work for 116 years at that wage just to make the average annual salary of someone in the top 1 percent.” Nonetheless, another blogger refers to “the lucky tens of millions who don’t pay any net Federal taxes,” What lucky ducks! I sure wish I was destitute and living in a ghetto so I could get away without paying federal taxes too!
It also bears repeating that the 47% may well also be paying state and local taxes (not to pick on Kevin too much, but as a resident of Texas, he pays no state tax, a point he neglects to mention), payroll taxes, sales taxes, etc. And since a gallon of gas costs the same no matter what your income, the tax bite for that purchase on a member of the 47% is appreciably greater than on a member of the 1%.
In short, I think the anger at the 47% is misplaced.
A few things.
First, you are confusing pride in being a part of the 53% for anger directed towards the 47%. Those are two different things. If you re-read my post and my picture, I never once disparage anyone in the 47%; I’m just proud to be in the 53%.
Second, making enough money to pay income tax and my theory about the need for an income tax are two separate things. I’m not happy that I paid $14k in taxes last year. I would have much rather paid $0. I’m happy that I worked hard. It’s the same concept as someone who is proud to be a soldier but not proud of the war in Iraq or Afghanistan. You can be proud of your work without being proud of the result.
I also want to clarify history. There was an income tax to fund the civil war, but that tax was removed and eventually declared unconstitutional. America had no income tax before before 1862, and from 1872-1893, and from 1895 to 1913. The 16th amendment was passed in 1913 which gave the federal government constitutional authority to impose a federal income tax, and we’ve had one from that point in 1913 until present day. For the sake of brevity, I didn’t go into a history lesson above. The point was that the government ran just fine without an income tax for many years before the 16th amendment.
To summarize once again, you are the one who interpreted my pride in working hard as disdain for others. I never expressed that sentiment.
Thank you for letting me know I am confused. If you had read my post with the care you expect me to have read yours, you would have seen that I alluded not exclusively to your attitudes but to those of a number of other contributors to that website and to another blog. But in fact you do speak disparagingly of the 47% at least once: “The 53% are the responsible people who are working hard instead of complaining.” Your implication that this 47% are irresponsible and lazy “complainers” is not borne out by any evidence that I see. These “complainers” may be some of the people who apparently have time on their hands to occupy Zuccotti Park, but they are not necessarily members of this 47%, who for all you know could be the hard-working cleaning people who take care of the bathrooms in your office when you leave for the night. Or the people who do the landscaping for your apartment complex. Etc.
Where do I mention the 47%? I didn’t say “instead of complaining like the 47%”; I just said “instead of complaining.”
By implication. If the 53% do X, by implication the 47% do Y. You may have not said that explicitly, but you did nothing to distance yourself from that interpretation either. Again, my comments were not directed exclusively at your own attitudes.
I do understand that you were directing some comments to other commenters. But I still don’t get the implication. If I play baseball instead of football, that means I did one thing and not the other; it doesn’t mean I did one thing and someone else did the other.
Once more, and that’s the last I want to say on the matter: you refer to “the 53% of Americans who actually work enough to pay federal income tax.” That being the case, and absent any statement to the contrary, I think it fair to say that most readers would infer a contrast is intended to the 47% not paying federal taxes; i.e., those who actually don’t work enough. Similarly if you say “the 53% are the responsible people,” a reader would be justified in inferring that the remaining 47% are not.
I don’t want to get further entangled in these semantics. The main point I have tried to make is that these 47%, many of whom are impoverished, do not pay taxes as the direct result of federal legislation designed to improve their lot in life.
Good. We should address the main point. I don’t think government handouts, which makes people reliant on those handouts, is a good way to improve someone’s lot in life. I think healthy, capable people should work for what they get. If they work hard and still require help, I believe the community (family, friends, neighbors, churches, and other charities) can voluntarily choose to help them as they see fit.
My favorite remarks within the comments:
“If you re-read my post and my picture, I never once disparage anyone in the 47%; I’m just proud to be in the 53%.”
and
“I didn’t say “instead of complaining like the 47%”; I just said “instead of complaining.”
I’m freakin’ tired of political bickering. Hooray for Kevin for expressing his opinion in a civil and respectful manner. It’s a shame that so many people — on all sides — spend more time slamming their opponents than they spend expressing their own thoughts.
Define “handout.”
I accept that you might not necessarily want to accuse the “47%” of laziness, but surely there are those who do, as the We Are the 53 site makes clear.
Be that as it may, it’s entirely possible to pay no federal tax simply by taking the same exemptions and deductions that any taxpayer is entitled to. And that means you, me, tom, Ninja, Paula @ Afford Anything, John Hunter, and all the rest of the 53%.
To quote Roberton Davies: “Half of the people who don’t owe income tax are off the rolls not because they take advantage of tax breaks but rather because they have low incomes. For example, a couple with two children earning less than $26,400 will pay no federal income tax this year because their $11,600 standard deduction and four exemptions of $3,700 each reduce their taxable income to zero. The basic structure of the income tax simply exempts subsistence levels of income from tax.”
http://taxvox.taxpolicycenter.org/2011/07/27/why-do-people-pay-no-federal-income-tax-2/
For 2010, he could have also added the Making Work Pay Credit (Schedule M) that again any working taxpayer could claim, worth $400 for a single and $800 for married filing jointly.
So in other words, one can join the 47% with no special handouts, no reliance on government largesse, and not even taking other perfectly legal tax breaks that low-income earners can use like the Earned Income Credit and the Child Tax Credit, either of which can reduce their liability to the point that they can claim a refund without owing any tax.
Kevin,
I think picking the “mantra of “blame someone else”” as your starting tag is a bit of a slap in the face to a group of citizens who are using their rights to let their voice be heard.
I think it’s honorable to speak up and play your part in a democracy. Just because they don’t get paid(like a lobbyist) to fight for what they believe in doesn’t make it any less honorable(if you consider a 53%er working hard as a lobbyist to convince the government not to regulate cigarettes, for example, is honorable).
In this country it can be difficult to stand up for something you believe in when faced with a billion dollar corporation with a bevy of lawyers waiting for you(monsanto suing small farmers comes to mind).
I think insulting those people who are brave enough to stand up is a little short sighted.
Might I suggest some other mantras:
“People willing to exercise their rights”
“People taking an active part in a democracy”
“People willing to sacrifice to fight for those without a voice”
“Take responsibility to point out things that make very little sense”
“People working their asses off to give themselves and their children a better future”
You can be proud with what you’ve done without degrading what other people are doing.
-Nate Hans
“The 53% are the responsible people who are working hard instead of complaining. They take responsibility for their own actions. They don’t wait for the government to give them the life they want; they go out and take it themselves.”
After living at poverty levels myself last year (~$13,000 annual income in New Haven) as a VISTA and working with others that have done it a lot longer than that, I don’t think anyone making or receiving that much money a year is living a life they want. It sucks! And I can’t imagine anyone that knows a simple or realistic way to get out of it would want to stay in that situation.
I think it’s easy to say “take responsibility,” but it’s a lot harder when the system is working against so many people that grow up in crappy neighborhoods with crappy schools and potentially crappy parents, too. Sure, there are success stories of people transcending class and all that, but i still think those are the exceptions. Society has failed a lot of these people, and that’s at least partially to blame for why we have such low-income earners that make up the 47% that don’t pay taxes.
Excellent comments from both Nate Hans and Jeffrey Trull. To the pugnacious posters here already ready to tell those more unfortunate than themselves that everything is always “your own damned fault,” I would suggest thinking about Nick Carraway’s opening words from Fitzgerald’s “The Great Gatsby”:
“In my younger and more vulnerable years my father gave me some advice that I’ve been turning over in my mind ever since.
”Whenever you feel like criticizing any one,” he told me, ‘just remember that all the people in this world haven’t had the advantages that you’ve had.’”
Kevin,
I can’t get past your comment about you’d rather pay $0 in taxes. Obviously everyone would rather not have to pay taxes, but you do realize it is necessary, right? Yes, government needs to get its spending in control, but without government taking in taxes we would be without: defense, medicare, police/fire, public schools, social security, highways, etc.
Maybe clarify your thoughts on that in case I didn’t understand.
Regarding the 53% “movement.” I understand a lot of people are holding up signs stating that they don’t need government handouts. Yet many are former US military. All those people get plenty of handouts from the government. Anyone who files bankruptcy then gets government protection from debts. Many on there probably have government subsidized loans.
And lets not forget that those who don’t pay federal income tax include: those making below are certain amount, students, EITC, those who can deduct like seniors and with certain disabilities (blindness), etc.
The federal government takes in money from corporate income taxes, excise taxes, property taxes, tariffs, and many other ways. Yes, the majority of revenue for the federal government is income and payroll tax today, but if you reduce federal spending and increase other taxes, you can get back to where we were in 1912 and before, when there was no income tax and we still had a federal government.
You also have to understand that police/fire, public schools, highways, and many other things are mostly funded by state and local taxes, which have nothing to do with the federal income tax. For example, the federal government spent $140 billion on education in 2010, while state and local taxes accounted for $845 billion. I think you can eliminate the $140 from the federal govt (along with all the onerous rules and regulations that come attached to that money) and still educate kids very well.
And finally, there is a difference between taking a handout and taking something you’ve earned. I don’t fault a senior citizen for taking social security money that he or she earned. Nor do I fault a member of the military for taking the compensation they were promised when they put their life on the line for this country.
Besides corporate income tax, those other taxes aren’t based on income. So those below the poverty line or close to it pay the same % as the wealthy. I agree some sort of reduction in spending or at least being more efficient in spending is necessary by the government. But increasing taxes that are not based on income, and getting rid of income tax entirely, will further contract the country, not help it.
The senior citizens and military personal you don’t fault for taking social security and compensation, would lose both, if there was no income tax as you desire.
I thought property taxes were all local(as in town/village/city local)? Please correct me if I’m wrong.
I think the handout/earned argument is a little murky too. Have I ‘earned’ to deduct my mortgage interest more than someone else gets to deduct for a child? Have I earned a STAR exception? What about being able to amortize my rental property? Did I really earn that deduction? What about the business trip in bermuda?
Here is a list from wisebread:
http://www.wisebread.com/20-amazing-outrageous-and-just-plain-weird-tax-deductions
I like the fake boobs one the best. Now do you think that would be considered a handout or was it earned? HA!
-Nate
I don’t want any of those deductions. That is just social engineering, taxing the whole country to direct a smaller group to do something. The mortgage interest deduction is another reason for the housing bubble. Social security is very different from a mortgage interest deduction.
As far as property tax, go to http://www.usgovernmentrevenue.com and you’ll see there is revenue at the federal level for property tax.
The mortgage interest deduction existed for decades before the so-called “housing bubble.” How do you explain the fact that it created no problems in years past?
Why is “housing bubble” in quotes? Do you deny the fact that there is a housing bubble?
And the reason the mortgage interest deduction didn’t create a bubble in the past is because it was only a small part of the cause of the housing bubble. The main cause was the Community Reinvestment Act that made home loans easily available for people without the proper financial credentials to afford a home.
I said it was “another reason for the housing bubble”, not the main cause of it. Are you saying that the mortgage interest deduction (aka taxing everyone and redistributing that money to people who pay lots of interest on a home loan) did not encourage some people to buy homes?
Of course the mortgage deduction is a major factor in buying a home. It always has been as long as it’s been around, but as your post at 4:42 pm makes clear, it was not a dominant factor in the housing crisis – which is not the sense I got from the post at 3:43 pm.
I didn’t know about this movement, thanks for the info. I happened to see the Occupy Wall St. movement in London the other day and its ridiculous. The protests are going on outside St. Pauls Cathedral(a huge tourist attraction in London) and its been forced to close down for the past week because the protestors are deterring everyone.
he paid more taxes than GE did
I am a 53%-er… Just barely, but what little taxes I pay into the system stays there because I never get a
refund from uncle sam due to student loan issues.. be that as it may be.. I DO NOT take food stamps,
and don’t take any assistance… I work when I can, and I blame NO ONE for my financial situation. I
work for myself, and manage to put gas in my truck, food in my belly, and a roof over my head.. I’m NOT
rich, but I am happy. Because even though life is hard at time.. I know that those things I have are mine…
and the good friends I have, are also mine, and I know they like me for me, not my money.. I am
responsible for my life and I wouldn’t have it any other way. You lazy pukes on the Occupy whatever
places are the scourge of the united states.. You feel you’re owed a life, You’re not.. Get up off your butts
and do something useful, then maybe you’ll have something… anyone who wants socialism should just
move to China.. This is AMERICA!!! Where People, Who are Willing to Work hard, and take the time
and work necessary to be happy, can be.. Rich or Poor.. I’m considered poor, well under 13K a year,
and I’m happy because I OWE NO ONE for what I have.. and I am happy to still help those I’m able.
Want happiness.. Do something that makes you happy, and useful to yourself and society.
I AM a 53%-er and I LOVE AMERICA THE WAY IT IS… Lifelong Democrat, until now…
GO GARY JOHNSON!!! 2012
The 53%-ers should remember to thank God in their prayers for the opportunities He’s blessed them.
Just tell me one thing. All you people that brag about being in this 53% that pay taxes. Do you really feel that you get your money’s worth from all those taxes you pay?
If not, what are you doing about it?
Or do you enjoy having the government take all that hard earned money from you to fund bank bailouts, rich farmer subsidies, corporate (and lazy individual) welfare and the like?
I don’t care much for the OWS types, either. But at least they are doing something about their gripes. What are you doing?
$14K in taxes!!! In one year? How much money are you making from this website man?
That’s all taxes I paid on my day job. Haha, this website doesn’t make me any money (yet)
I would like to say though that the government can “give” you the life that you want without you being a mooch– please don’t forget those of us in the military. Thanks to some generous tax laws, we often don’t pay much (if anything) in taxes, putting us in the 47% by the above logic. But we work hard for you just the same.
My story is similar to yours. I had to work for everything I have. Enlisted in the Air Force when I was 18. Put myself through college (yes the government did pay for most of it), and I have since commissioned. Worked my way up to becoming a thousandaire much like you – I just didn’t do it in the private sector.
I get paid well now as an officer, but still I get a check back from the government at tax time. If I had my way, however, noone would be able to get back more from the government than what was collected from payrole dedcutions. That only seems fair to me.
Most of the 53% are part of the 99% as well. It seems like the people who shun the 99% movement and identify with the 53% are grossly misunderstanding the spirit of the movement. Sure there are a lot of freeloaders who have latched on, but you say yourself we have an issue with “corporatism” where the corporations with the best lawyers and lobbyists will get their way more often than not. This is exactly what the 99% is fighting against.
Go, AC!
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