You would have thought that I had insulted Mother Teresa, apple pie and motherhood when I wrote about the Have and Havenots. My premise was that the differentiation of both groups is at the greatest since the Great Depression and therefore many bad things, like then, will unfortunately happen. Not the least of which is WAR.
“Class Warfare” people said. “Very Obamaesque,” others proclaimed. “An agenda of the Liberals at the expense of hard working successful people.”
The problem that arises for most people is that they can’t quite see themselves as the Havenots. They are decidedly not in the 1% camp. Havenots, however, that’s a totally different story. Don’t their kids play soccer every week? Don’t they go to dinner every Friday? Hasn’t their 401K really come back? How can they be considered a Havenot?
That is the brilliance of the 1%’s current strategy. They make it appear that only the unobserved few are the Havenots and of course they all brought it upon themselves.
Therefore, I will change the description from Havenots to “the ______”.
What was the last time you were paid real interest on your savings account or CD? Under normal circumstances what should you have been paid? Who actually was paid the difference? Of course, the 1%. The Users.
High frequency trading shows the trade a split second ahead of the transaction. Of course it is legalized insider trading. This allows The Users to win on every trade.
The productivity of a company has declined and earnings per share have also declined. However, profits are on a par with a few years ago. Wall Street says “Not good enough”. Fix it! Lay people off! Pink slips are disbursed, the stock stays up and the Users quietly smile.
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Yes you may still keep your reservation for dinner this Friday. You may not be on the street corner with a cardboard sign asking for help. Make no mistake, in the economic world of today, no matter how hard you worked or your degree of success, you are not one of the Haves, the Users.
Whether you have experienced or are experiencing a foreclosed home, a lost job, bankruptcy, an underfunded pension, overextended markets, a confusing healthcare system, or a technology that is disruptive, you my friend, are a part of the 99. Deny it all you want which, of course, is what the Users want.
You may not be a Havenot but you certainly are one of
the Used.
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