A new way of looking at the 1% - the takers of our wealth in a crooked game.

[reformist2]

When you really think about the millions of hours worked every year - billions, actually - year-in-year out, by the workers of America, and then you look at that $85 trillion of national net worth that we have as a nation accumulated, you have to wonder:

How did it all get into the hands of 1% - and really even less than that, a few thousand families? Does it make sense that the wealth of an entire nation, hundreds of years in the making, should be owned by such a tiny number of people? Did they really work for it, or did they really just take it, as winnings of a crooked game? And we just let them have it, because we all agree to play by the rules of the crooked game they invented. Personally, I think it's not just time for another New Deal - it's time for a brand New Game.

[fasttense]

1. I sometimes believe that Capitalism is just a different form of feudalism

They both have huge amounts of wealth passed down to a few people born to lucky families. They both ensure those born in poorer families never have a chance to get out of poverty. Both economic systems make it so the rich get richer very easily, while the poor struggle all their life just to end up in poverty in their later years. There are othe similarities but I don't have time to list them all.

Humans really haven't evolved much since the 12th century.

[lostnfound]

6. The Divine Right of Capital presents exactly that view

It points out that the source of funding for most corporate capital investment is retained earnings, not the sale of stock. We get taught that capitalism is a system where people invest money "in a company" and the company "uses that money" to buy equipment or build factories, and then the stock owners get a portion of the profits as return on their investment. But most stock sales are money going from one investor to another, not from the investor to the company. Only venture capital, IPOs or special stock offerings actually represents capital INVESTED in the company by investors. The proportion of money injected into corporations by investors is only a couple percent of its total invested capital.

[Maraya1969]

2. I always say the CEO's and other top executives skim

the top of the pot before giving to the employees.

They're really just thieves and that is how they have accumulated such an unnatural amount of money that does not fit into any real business model.

[reformist2]

3. You're exactly right. They take whatever they can get away with.

[Skwmom]

4. They did NOT honestly earn their wealth. They accumulated it with the help of a crooked govt.

and rigged system.

[PowerToThePeople]

5. Not sure it is new

We are forced to play a game where the monied interests make the rules and can change them whenever they want.

[Stardust]

7. K&R