

That Top 1% Thing - pohl
http://dilbert.com/blog/entry/that_top_1_thing/

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gerggerg
\--"The most objective explanation of our problem is that the economy is
changing faster than humans can adapt."

Why did the banks collapse a couple years ago? Wasn't it the regulatory
changes that allowed them to bundle sub-prime mortgage derivatives? No, the
economy was just changing too fast.

Why do billionaires pay a lower percentage of their income in taxes than
struggling families? Isn't it recent tax loopholes that favor people with
loads of money? No, the economy is just changing too fast.

Starts out interesting, then jumps into jargon. The economy is changing too
fast? What does that even mean? It's super ambiguous. Can you imagine that in
a protest sign? "The economy is changing too fast. Lets do something about
it."

Plus, his assumption about the math level and college major make up of the OWS
crowd is rather obnoxious.

~~~
dlikhten
I have to agree with him. I don't think top 1% are to blame, definitely
somewhere in the top 1%... Maybe top 0.20% are the thiefs, the rest are
opportunists.

However it is true, many of the OWS are unskilled laborers, we need those less
and less, and care less and less about them. We care about them as luxuries,
and when the going gets tough, we get rid of these luxuries. We also have a
population growth and a parralel technological growth (you may even say
technology allowed population growth), and of course more population = more
needed jobs, and technology = less needed jobs. Go figure.

The failing of the government is forseeing this. The only solution is a
complete gutting of the education system. The #1 most desired job in America
needs to be a teacher, specifically a math teacher, and that job should be
insanely hard to fill.

~~~
gerggerg
It's never been directly about the top 1%. It's about politicians and
legislation that don't favor the general public. Years of such legislation
have led to a top 1% having a disproportionate amount of wealth and a general
public that is getting dumber, sicker, and poorer.

I think opposition to legislation that favor the rich is often confused with
opposition to the rich directly.

This confusion is exactly what undermines our ability to focus on real
problems and progress.

