When Romney came up with the 47% quote about the takers and the makers he was sorta right. Except he got his percentages and demographics wrong.
What he meant to say was the 99% are the makers and 1% are the takers.
Fortunately (or unfortunately) I have just come to realize this.
First is was the great video about income inequality we all saw last year (link)
Then, while calculating the amount of interest I pay for school loans, car loan, credit card debt, etc, it came to me: the poor (the so called “99%”) pay much more for everything then the rich (“1%”).
We pay more because we don’t pay in cash. We pay more because we pay interest. We pay more because we must borrow. We pay more because what can afford breaks more often and has to be replaced more often (then what a rich person can afford to buy initially).
Simple example:
Let’s say a house is for sale for $100,000.
A rich person pays $100,000 in cash and it’s done.
A poor person pays $193,255.78 over 30 yrs. with an interest rate of 5%.
To be poor cost $93,255.78 in this case.
Another example:
A credit card with a balance of $10,000, paid over 62 months (assuming no extra debt is added to original balance … haha no way right?) will cost a poor person $5,746 with a typical card interest rate of 19%.
All this is besides all the free stuff rich people get for being rich and poor people don’t even know exists. Besides all the benefits of elite circles and clubs. Besides the mental and physical benefits of not having to worry all the time about health, food, roof over your head, and how one gets to work.
So we live in a society where 99% of the people make money for the 1%. And somehow the 99% keep being distracted by esoteric nonsense that the rich throw at us like leftovers falling from the table to the floor, just to have all the dogs fight over it. It’s a truly remarkable thing, how easily people can be manipulated to worry and fight over fringe and to totally ignore the main event.
Why aren’t any public representatives simply showing the inequality graph EVERYWHERE the stop and campaign? Why isn’t this message sticking with most Americans?
Once again, another lame political campaign is going on… no big ideas… no unity in purpose… no nothing… (with extremely few exceptions) just a bunch of hysterical/xenophobic republicans and apologetic/spineless democrats.
I just don’t know what’s it gonna take (beside reintroducing proper civic education in school, reintroducing public debate, etc) for governance to get better.
Citizens could finally realize that when any politician/public servant that tells them ANYTHING that makes them feel good is simply lying or is dumb. Life is not easy, and democratic governing is even more difficult. Elections must therefore always be about things that are not easy.
So yes, we are the “makers”. Can we just keep more of what we make?
Yes we can.