Are You in the Top One Percent?

I want to tell you about neat little web page I found today.

Then I want you to take a little test...get some idea about where you fit in on the American scale of wealth and power.

Democratic Politicians (and those further to the left), often site the uneven distribution of wealth and power in this country. You'll often hear phrases that say the Top 1% of the country holds 30, 40, 50 ...take your pick...percent of the wealth.

But one thing that seems quite clear is that, yes, larger and larger amounts of money have flowed into to a smaller and smaller number of hands since the "Reagan Revolution" of the 1980s. (Here is a report published by the Federal Reserve.)

It seems somewhat incredible that Americans would allow this to happen. After all, most of them have seen the good jobs head overseas, most have seen their wages (as defined by how much their dollar will actually buy) sink down through the years....

And yet, time and again, they end up voting FOR the people who argue in favor of this trickle down system, the party which promises them that they'll be better off holding the short end of the stick. If the polls are to be believed, they will AGAIN vote for the GOP and support it's efforts to redo the slight amounts of damage that the Obama administration has managed to undo.

Why?

Could it be that it is because, somehow, the GOP has convinced a significant portion of the people that THEY are in the top one percent? And that the Democrats have done a pretty poor job of communicating just exactly why THAT AIN'T SO?

So, with that in mind, check out this web site. The authors note that in 2000, Democrats warned that the Bush Tax cuts would bring benefits to only the top 1%. They write that, after the election...

a poll about this issue was conducted, and twenty percent of the people who were surveyed claimed that they were part of that richest one percent! These people clearly didn't realize how unequally wealth is distributed in this country. They were probably doing pretty well in life, at least compared with those around them that they could see, and so felt they were near the top. However, at the same time, they weren't doing well enough that they could feel totally secure, so they not only assumed (wrongly) that Gore was talking about them, but felt threatened by that talk

.

So, go on, visit and enter a few round numbers. Take the test. Are YOU in the Top one percent? When the Republicans talk about taking "OUR" money away....are they REALLY thinking of you?

Really?

Take the Test!

Republicans and Tea Partiers beware, however, you may find that you're NOT QUITE the player you think you are!

Go on...Take the Test!

http://progressiveschoolhouse.org/wealth/richest.htm