"It's a big club and you ain't in it. You and I are not in the big club."

[Miles Archer]

[radiclib]

1. We miss you, Georgie!

[joeybee12]

14. Definitely...nt

[The_Commonist]

2. The only problem I have with this Carlin quote:

It's NOT a "big" club. It's a rather small club, in fact. Quite exclusive. The cost to join is about $50 million bucks and your soul. Otherwise, members of the club don't take you seriously.

[Tuesday Afternoon]

6. yes, my first thought too. It is a very small, very exclusive club.

[hfojvt]

8. depends on how the club is defined

There are over 1,000,000 families who are part of the top 1%. Since that is counting families, that is probably more people than the entire state of Kansas.

[Tuesday Afternoon]

9. point taken w/ a caveat - ratio wise with the world population still a small percentage.

[CFLDem]

13. I interpret it as being said jokingly

You know like calling a big guy "tiny".

[Egalitarian Thug]

19. Oh no, not at all. There is no cover. You are either born into it or you're not, period.

More than one nouveau riche parasite has learned this lesson the hard way.

Now, if you have enough money and the lack of taste to be born into the wrong family, you can start your own club, or you can devote the rest of your life to finding out just how for your head will fit up the ass of your potential sponsor, and maybe your grandchildren will be invited to join, but money is not enough to get into The Club.

[mdbl]

20. Seems that's true since all the self made millionaires

end up on American Greed and in jail or missing, sooner or later.

[Silent3]

23. There's also the fact that George Carlin never had to worry much about money himself...

...after his career took off. He certainly didn't forget the problems of the 99%, but in some ways you could say that he was in the "club" himself. I have no idea how accurate this is, but one web page I found estimated Carlin's net worth at the time of his death as $400 million. Whatever the real amount, it was likely multiple millions.

[heaven05]

3. always hit the mark

truth is

[oldandhappy]

4. There are more of us!

Please remember, there are more of us than of them and when we get ourselves organized we can change things.

[hfojvt]

5. "Imagine me and you"

I have this feeling that Carlin was rich and famous although the internets apparently cannot tell me how much he was worth. One, obviously conservative, blogger estimated $100 to $300 million. And wiki answers kinda crashed my computer forcing me to do a cold re-boot.

"You and I are not in the big club."

Yet Carlin, when he said that, was in the club of "rich and famous and doing what he loved". Most members of America's working class, and especially working poor are NOT in THAT club.

But Carlin was.

I am pretty sure that if I had Carlin's money, I could throw my social security away.

[Tuesday Afternoon]

7. +1

[lastlib]

10. he might've had the bucks to get in.....

but with his subversive views, do you think the big boys would LET him in??

[hfojvt]

16. but is that how "the club" operates?

Isn't the club really just a place where some people live well and others do not? Some get to ride, while others have to walk in the rain. Some get air conditioning and heat and others sweat and shiver. Some get to make their living telling jokes and other people have to empty the trash, do the dishes, cut the grass, fix the roof, haul all the stuff that needs to be moved, etc.

It's living well and doing fun stuff vs. living not so well and doing stuff that isn't fun.

I mean, I even get the short end of the stick with my own employers Christmas Party. My co-workers get a party, free food and free booze. Okay, it costs $5. I don't.

What I, and my crew get is - a party PLUS a shitload of work. as we get to put the party together and then clean up after it. For years I have argued that we should get gift certificates, since they give many of those at random during the party. That request has fallen on deaf ears. And at every party they have a little announcement where they thank all the people who worked to make this party possible.

Except they don't thank the people who put down that 1,000 pound dance floor and who will pick it up tonight after everybody else goes home. Oh, and chairs too. Let's see 28 tables and 8 chairs per table and 14 pounds per chair. How many tonnes were going to St. Ives?

Only 3,136 pounds. Only 1.5 tons. Well short of 16, but not exactly a walk in the park. And not something that Carlin did 3 days a week for 15 years either.

[Fearless]

12. He was comfortable

But he had a bad accountant in the seventies that had him owing backed taxes for decades.

If anyone would like to question his credentials, that I've got to see.

He was definitely not worth hundreds of millions of dollars. But if he was, he would have earned it speaking up for the rest of us, and I'm ok with that. Its sad to see that we like to tear down those of us who find success. The infighting keeps us from working together against the common enemy. They want that. Its by design.

[lastlib]

11. It's Bush's "Own-A-Ship Society".....

(Everyone who has a yacht gets a tax cut)

[ctsnowman]

15. lol Love it.

[mdbl]

21. Is the Condoleeza taking reservations?

Or was that an oil tanker, can't remember now, had too much to drink at last nights Christmas party at the country club.

[colsohlibgal]

17. If Only He Was Off Base

But that was a big truism. We ain't in it. George Carlin was brilliant and cut through the nonsense.

It has amazed me what has happened in various places like Illinois and Detroit, with the assistance of some judges. It is astonishing we pump trillions into our war/empire machine, ruining life after life so the Halliburtons of the world can make fortunes - while we cut food stamps for hungry children. Millions of non wealthy citizens enable this madness by being some combination of manipulated/not overly bright/used.

No matter how comfortable you are, if you're not one of the 1% or so you might want to keep a shopping cart and an eye out for a source of empty cans - don't think it couldn't happen.

[TheKentuckian]

18. The top 1% isn't the club either. That is probably mostly the top tenth of that 1% and a few more

That are upper operators and assorted hangers.

[madokie]

22. One of the best