Concentrations of wealth by 1900
Mass concentration of wealth through acquisitions, such as one with J.P. Morgan to form the United States Steel Company in 1901, and the unbridled power of investment banking firms, led labor unrest to the doorstep of a population of one percent owning more national wealth than the other 99 percent.
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Between the years of 1897 and 1903, approximately half of America's families did not own property. And by 1900, 18 million of the 29 million made an annual wage of around $500, which was below the cost of living for a industrialized family of four, while Andrew Carnegie earned $23 million himself.
In fact, time after time it has been workers who have risen up to fight the concentration of wealth that leaves workers in essentially a slave labor situation. Each time, there has been the use of violence against workers to bring them back under control. That violence has been carried out by police, the state, as well as private brigands hired by the wealthy (as if they were really separate groups).
However, historically those who were revolting were more than workers. Like the Occupy citizenry of today, they were the 99%. While much of the resistance across time has been the unions, many times those unions were more than political - for example the International Workers of the World (IWW or "Wobblies" still extant - http://www.iww.org/).
In America's Richest Families by Duncan Greenberg and Marie Thibault (Forbes. 12/03/09 - click here), they state:
The 25 families on our list are worth a combined $418 billion. Given the stance of secrecy often adopted by American aristocracy, all of the net worth figures should be considered "at least" estimates.
Of the 25 families we've identified, 44% owe their fortunes to companies founded in the 19th century. Another 36% trace their wealth to businesses started in the first half of the 20th century. Three companies--Stryker Corp. ( SYK - news - people ), Està ©e Lauder and Fidelity Management and Research--were founded in 1946.
(See end of article for list of the families)
Today we point at the top 1%, but there is a huge range of wealth distribution among that group. William Domhoff points us to a couple of excellent sources on the top 1%. First is an investment manager who works with the wealthy (click here). According to him, folks enter that 1% range at about $300,000 in earnings and $1.2 million in net wealth. While that is clearly a lot of money for many of us, it is also clear that the wealth skewing is higher up than the 1% line. We climb up to the 0.01% level at about $24.4 million. Then above that lofty group (according to David Caye Johnson -
So $300,00-$400,000 annual income and a net worth of $1.2 million gets one into the top 1%, but the top .1% it takes roughly $24 million, but the top 400 tax payers earned an average of $240 million, and beyond them we have the billionaires. I have trouble wrapping myself around $240 million a year (much less billions). That would be like winning a lottery every year. Welcome to capitalism.
After the disaster of 2008 which continues as a depression (not a recession or a slow economy for the majority of us) many people realize that the deck has been stacked and drastic action is needed to even attempt to right the scales. Sure the "banks got bailed out and we got sold out." It happens every time. We have a presidential candidate (Romney) openly arguing for corporate personhood, and we have a sitting President whose administration is reportedly actively working to break up the Occupy Movement. In this case I am referring to the Department of Homeland Security working with Mayors to bust up the encampments.
Attempts to Delegitimate the Movement
There are common and long-used tactics to discredit the movement. The encampments drew in those who were already on the streets - the diverse array of the homeless. (As one Portland woman put it, these people have been "occupying" Portland for decades.) They brought their already unmet issues with them. The Occupy encampments did not create homelessness, or mental illness, or substance abuse problems. They did, however, largely respond to these groups with compassion, food, and inclusion. What they got for doing what communities largely have not done is for the encampments to be branded as hotbeds of crime and drugs, and the Occupiers as criminals and drug users.
Another delegitimating tactic has been to equate anarchy with lawlessness, vandalism, violence, and crime. Anarchists are not necessarily lawless and violent, and there are certainly those who are not Anarchists who are lawless and violent. The use of vandalism, and non-peaceful response are tactics - as is civil disobedience. Anarchism has a long and complex history with many different "flavors" at this point in time. To use it as a euphemism for what is considered "bad and lawless" by the corporate lapdogs is propaganda and not information.
I believe that watching the live feeds, and watching the people's media reports and analysis dramatically demonstrate the discrepancy between what is happening and what gets reported. There are even weird discrepancies in what does get reported. So, for example, on N17 at 8am, a march was to take place across the Steel Bridge in Portland, Oregon. The police closed the bridge to traffic at 4am. However, a handful of people were arrested for sitting on the bridge and refusing to move. One of the charges in their arrest? Interfering with traffic.
While the Occupy Movement reaches across the country and appears to continue to grow, the people's movements continue across the world. In Europe, the issues are similar to our own. Namely protests against rapacious capitalism and the efforts to address the depression on the backs of the 99% - not the financial system and very wealthy who both caused the problem and reaped the riches of the various bailouts. In the Middle East, the protests are against the repression of regimes which have held power with the blessings of the "West." The people of the world are restless under the yoke of systems which interlock and have the same population at the invisible helm of power and influence.
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