A Thought: On Those Working Hard Enough to Be Rich

The IRS released the tax statistics for the top 400 earners in 2009 (you can find them here).  These are the folks who keep telling all of us that the reason we're not rich and successful is because we just haven't applied ourselves or worked hard enough.  Anyone with a basic understanding of these graphs can see pretty clearly that all that hard "work" they're doing is bringing in less than 10% of their total income, on average.  The majority of it is from capital gains (things like stocks and speculations).  Most of which are taxed, if at all, at rates lower than your average lower middle class worker's salary, which, in most cases, accounts for more than 95% of annual income. 

Now, don't get me wrong.  Someone made that money somewhere up the line, and I'm not one to punish a smart investment, because re-investing is how economies grow, but when the vast majority of your income has little to do with the actual work you're doing, and is, rather, just a snowball effect, don't try and belittle those who are working just as hard, or harder, than you are and don't have the advantage of millions in the bank doing the work for them.

Also, it's a little scary that so few people realize that there MIGHT be a connection between the fact that the wealthiest people in the country, also known as those with the most political clout, as evidenced by the fact that at least half the election headlines in the last week have reflected not policy, but how much money the candidates are raising for their campaigns, are the ones in control of the economy. 

If you don't know how the speculation or stock markets work, go get someone to explain it to you, then, when they do and you're filled with horror and homicidal rage at the people who are ACTUALLY in control of the shitty economy they keep blaming on the president, who's actually trying to levy all those evil taxes on those collective billions they're making by doing no work and regulate all the practices that are driving up inflation with little to no oversight, keep educating yourself, organize and actually make some change.