Bear with me. I can’t sleep, my nose is clogged, but at least I stopped running a fever. And since I can’t sleep I started thinking. How many are there for real. All I hear is “we are the 99%!” Okay, let’s double check this claim with cold numbers, hard math and brutal logic.
Oh, brutal logic, so delicious! Almost as good as cake.
The OWS crowd, in the largest recorded march in NYC, counted 15,000+ participants. For the sake of being very generous, let’s double that, thus making it 30,000 marchers. Why? Because I can.
NYC, according to the 2010 census, has 8,175,133 citizens. 99% of those are 8,093,381.67. Oh dear. That’s not looking so well for the 99% claim!
1% of the NYC population is 81,751.33. Oh sweet howling bassets! It’s getting worse!
So even if we assume that the largest march had double as many participants as estimated, even then, we’re at an actual “99%” of not even 0.5% of the NYC population.
Now pardon my outburst, but what is going on?!
Not long ago Al Gore did an “experiment” in which he claimed that an atmosphere with 100% CO2 is the same as one with 0.038% and in May this year Professor Martin Kennedy from the University of Adelaide claimed that CO2 had doubled in the past 50 years.
So basically liberal math goes like this: 100%=0.038%, a rise from 310-odd to 390 is double and not even 0.5% of the NYC population is 99% of the US of A.
You know, I’m not even angry at that. I’m just shaking my head. And I’m supposed to take any of these people serious? They fail at basic math. I… don’t even know what to say to that. I’m speechless. Oh dear, that’s a first in a looooooong time. I think I’m just going to facepalm and thoroughly mock them.
Little note: there was a similar protest in Tokyo the other day, turnout was about 300 people. Now, the Tokyo metropolitan area has 35+ million people. 99% again I see.
World's Only Rational Man 
“Bear with me.”
LOL! Good one!
The joint’s really hopping now. Is this a good argument for influenza?
I hate to burst your bubble, but they don’t claim to be the entire 99%. Rather they claim that they aren’t in the top 1% of income in the country, and since you aren’t either (probably), you should join them in their outrage.
Well, all I see all the time is “We are the 99%”. To me that sounds like a claim they represent 99%. If they don’t want it to look like this, maybe they should voice it better. But then again, they’re products of the American school system, which is broken (just like ours), so I’m not expecting any real eloquence from them.
If I was to say “I am the Austrian people”, what would that look like? It looks as if I’m speaking for the Austrian people. If I’m to say “I am the 99%”, then it looks as if I’m speaking for those 99%. Semantics? I don’t think so. We either use language properly or we shouldn’t use it at all. Then again, these people fail at basic math, of course they fail at basic grammar, too.
As for joining them. Uhm… I work and pay taxes, I’m too busy and just not greedy or jealous enough to be angry over other people’s success and luck. In American terms I’m part of the 53%. I know, for example, that the Porsche chief makes a buttload of money (several millions per year.) But 49% of that are gone every month anyway, since he makes that much, and the amount of stress he has… no thank you. I’m content with the way things are. I don’t have to work hard, I get my vacations, I make enough to afford a little luxury and to go to Japan twice a year. That’s perfectly fine.
What outrages me is that I have to pay 43.7% tax every month (not counting VAT and the rest) so that our system over here can feed people like the occupy crowd. And if I get promoted a few times, I’m back at 50%. No thank you. I’m being punished for hard work and success. Now that makes me angry.
They’re pissed because they’re not in the 1% and I doubt many are even in the 53% (those who make enough to pay income tax.) I have a solution for that: if they’d look for a job/work as hard as they’re protesting, they wouldn’t be in that position. Yes, it’s that simple.
I quit my position as IT chief in a very large company here in Austria in the middle of the so called “economic crisis”, and yet I found another job. Why? Because I started looking for one before quitting. I planned ahead. Stuff like that is no longer “in”, I know. It’s the entitlement generation, the fun generation, one does whatever he or she wants, consequences and responsibilities be damned. And if ones decision blows back into his or her face, who’s at fault? The banks, the Jews, capitalism, George Washington’s underpants, everybody else except the one who made the decision. And this is exactly how the Occies, as I call them these days, work. Everybody else is responsible for their shortcomings. Yes, the banks are at fault for them studying deep sea psychology instead of something useful like engineering or medicine. Yes, the Jews are responsible for them not looking hard enough for a job. Capitalism is responsible for people spending money they don’t have. I guess the Porsche chief is responsible for the German national debt, too, just like Bill Gates and Steve Jobs are responsible for the American one. Never mind that their salaries are/were paid by people who buy the product and not by the tax payer.
Heck, over here we had to bail out a couple of banks, too. One was particularly bad with almost 4 billion Euro. People whined. People still whine. Yet, these banks already paid the money back. Now we’re guaranteeing more than 20 billion Euro for Greece. Greece is where it is because the politicians spent too much, and the voters loved it. Those are 20+ billion we don’t have (our national debt is 80% of the GDP by now, it was expected to be 75% next year, we’re already ahead of that) and we’ll never see them again, yet the outrage by the “usual suspects” is significantly lower than with bailing out banks. In fact, the left wing parties in our parliament all support throwing more money into the black hole that is Greece. Strange! As for our national debt, how do you think it got there? Because of bailouts? Nope. It got there because of decades of irresponsible spending by politicians, who bear the blame just as heavily as those who vote for them.
Let me give you one example. A while a go (2 or so years) we imported a several ton heavy piece of rock from China. It was flown in. It was then flown onto the Dachstein (almost 3,000 meter high) with a special helicopter and then installed there as some sort of art project and an accusing finger towards Chinese construction rules (in wake of the large quake that had struck back then.) All paid for by the tax payer. The point of it? There is none. Ansolutely none. And the books of all EU countries are full of such nonsense. Do this over decades and your national debt will be awful. In the US, the same thing applies.
But of course, capitalism is at fault, the 1% are guilty and let’s not forget the Jews.
I’m personally sick and tired of this. Our systems have created hordes of irresponsible, whiny, spoiled brats who think they’re entitled to the wealth of other people and everything else without having to do anything for it. Stealing is easier than working for it.
Still, the numbers are pretty clear. The only thing they really represent is their own greed and jealousy.
BTW, notice the number of rapes at the occupy “movement” and how they’re aiding and abetting the rapists? How wonderful! They’re trying to “solve it internally”, by aiding criminals, coercing victims and destroying evidence. What a lovely bunch of people. But what to expect from thieves and people who cheer on calls for murdering “the rich”?
‘Represent’ is the key here as Xpat said below.
They are claiming ‘moral authority’ for representing the majority; without any evidence or real democratic process to claim or legitimately have that position. (Thus they are claiming to be the 99%)
The crime problem is a common theme with many of these groups, they propertize humanity; they don’t really care about people, just controlling what other people do.
Yes, in a sense they can outmaneuver this particular critique, because they claim to represent everyone who has less money than the top 1%. It’s a symbolic meme, and not totally ineffective. (The arrogance and presumption of claiming to be representative of everyone else is the most annoying thing about it for me.)
But, anyway, they frame it as “stand with us against the 1%. I’ve noticed on other sites that ideological opponents sometimes rush to the defense of the 1%, but this is in a sense unintentionally conceding that OWSers speak for the 99. Which obviously they don’t.
99% if what?
http://dailycaller.com/2011/11/02/opulent-homes-of-the-99-percent-slideshow/
if what –> of what
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Bunk number fudging Mountainbear, sounds like Faux News article to me. The interesting part to me is that since most people fall into the category of the “99%” – the number is actually more about 92% – STILL a HUGE number of inequality and yet the Top Earners not need make a peep during this ruckus because the underdogs have been so snowed into being the cheer squad for the owning class and people like even you Mountainbear slough it off as a joke. Eventually it becomes a joke and then the “1%” gets exactly what they wanted, a pass. Next you’ll write a blog about how they are dirty and stinky and “ewww be very afraid of the stinky jobless hippies they will come kill you…” Glenn Beck style and you might even shed a tear. The best part is, it doesn’t change a thing because as long as the serfs keep fighting each other in town the lords and nobles laugh all the way to the bank. Unless of course, Moutainbear, you have been duped into thinking if you just work hard enough you too can be rich beyond belief…well in that case sir, there’s not much to be said, you’ve been Foxified.
Well, I think Mountain Bear gets his news from at least three continents, probably in as many languages, and probably from more countries than I can count on two hands, so it’s safe to say he’s not encased in the worldview of any particular US network.
Could have fooled me.
You fail at basic math. Congrats, oh victim of the American school system. My point is that they claim to be so many, claim to be global and yet… numbers-wise they are absolutely irrelevant. You’re telling me 0.25% of the NY population (you can check that yourself easily, but wait, you fail at math, so you can’t) on their best day is even remotely important? They are global, yes, 140 in London (very likely the Westminster camp that moved a few blocks, and most tents are empty at night anyway), 300 in Tokyo (on one day, for a very short time, primarily protesting against nuclear power anyway, in a metropolitan area with 30+ million people), very global and so 99%-ish indeed.
“We are the 99%” Uh… yeah. If I say I’m the 99%, then it’s a claim to represent the 99%, or whatever. “We are part of the 99%”, that is grammatically correct. But “We are the 99%” is a clear claim to speak for those imaginary 99%.
And yes, they are a joke. They are nothing else but spoiled American brats locked up in a fringe movement that will have absolutely no importance or impact (and which will be shut down by the CDC next year at this rate.) We don’t even have an occupy “movement” over here. That’s the funny thing, even though our non-achieving students are the first to pick up such nonsense. But not even they are stupid enough to go for such a load of horse manure.
You’ve done nothing to disprove what I said. The numbers don’t lie and the numbers are available to the public. Here’s the challenge: Disprove the percentages. You can’t, cause I’m right, and you’re wrong. Simple as that.
Number fudging? Really? You really fail at basic math (and reading comprehension.) It’s almost delicious. Look at the reported numbers and then use your brain. I’m right, you’re wrong. Simple as that. It’s a fringe movement of spoiled American brats. Oh so many of them are college educated (in what? psychology or other useless crap), and many of them are employed (if they are, why do they have time to protest all day long?) Spoiled American brats, whining about corporate greed while sporting 700+ Euro iPhones. Hyocrites, nothing else.
You know, I actually wish them proper socialism. They would, literally, crap bricks.
And I don’t care about getting rich. I’m content with the way things are. Oh yes, they’re such heroes, protesting, attacking LEOs, covering up crimes, rioting, breaking into banks, ruining local small businesses. Oh yeah, so great. Uhm, yeah, little reality check here. What do you think happens when you tax the rich people? You will run out of rich people to t ax. You will get a system like in Austria or Germany, with criminally high taxes, and still the national debt and deficit will both continue to rise. Give me one logic reason to side with a “movement” where rapes are covered up, victims are coerced into not telling the police, the criminals are protected and rioting is the goal. A “movement” full of hypocrites who know absolutely nothing about the real world. Why should I side with them? I have absolutely no reason.
Heck, you should try a system like ours. Everyone with a job pays income tax. Everyone. Even those who make a mere 900 Euro per month. And guess what, despite having the highest tax income ever we’re still bankrupt. Hmmm… But seriously, that would be interesting to see. All these non-achievers with their worthless degrees having to pay income tax. I want to see that. And not little either. If you make about 1,100 Euro before tax here, you can consider 25% of that gone into income tax. Oh boy. Now that would suck in TAX PARADISE AMERICA where only 53% even pay income tax. Tax everyone!
As for “people like even me”… What’s that supposed to mean? I work 40+ hours per week, my little university stunt eats up a lot of time, too (right now I’d guess 20+ hours per week at least.) I do that because I’m interested in it, not because I ever plan working in it (I make a lot more money right now and if that gets boring, I can go back into private industry, where I spent most of my working life anyway.) And I have a private life, sort of. Why should I be sympathetic with people who are just greedy and want my money? Because, you know, it won’t stop with “the evil rich”(tm). It never does. It will hit the middle class and it will destroy it. Just like over here.
BTW, you forgot to blame the Jews.
tl;dr: You bring absolutely no argument or proof, you just whine and moan, as is typical for today’s generation. Wait, are you an occupier by chance?
Oh, btw, the Japanese consulate in NY has issued a warning for Japanese tourists to avoid the occupy areas. http://www.ny.us.emb-japan.go.jp/jp/p/kinkyu/kinkyu111115.html
3.(1) tells tourists to stay informed. (2) tells them to avoid areas like Zucotti Park and (3) tells them to avoid groups of occupiers for their own safety.
Just wait, other governments will follow and next year in spring the CDC might shut down this circus, and rightfully so. Can’t wait for the stench when winter’s over. The local rats will love it. Actually, from a medical POV I’m quite curious about what interesting diseases this bunch if spoiled children fringe group can breed.
Wow that was a lot of hot air to say nothing at all. Here’s the brick Mountainbear, it’s merely semantics. You being so worldly and all seem so proper in looking at things from a simple perspective. I suppose I could go on but that would be then wasting my typing fingers.
Oh and P.S. the “people like you” comment was aimed at the idea that since you obviously don’t belong to the owning class (not trying to dig, just stating a fact) the only way to come up with a one sided “oh they are just useless hippies” attitude is to be (as I stated earlier) Foxified.