Occupy Global Day of Action: open thread
Anybody here doing anything? I see that Riverdaughter will be in New York today. I’m probably just going to occupy my chair, and then maybe my bed for awhile. I might occupy the yard with Molly later on.
7 Responses to “Occupy Global Day of Action: open thread”
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Monchichipox says:
Unfortunately I’ll be occupying my office. I am going to make a list of demands though. I may also poop on my boss’s desk.
November 17th, 2011 at 10:06 am EST -
quixote says:
Not that this is directly relevant, but I saw a fascinating statistic on what it means to be in the global 1%. An income of $34,000 per year.
$70,000 per year puts your household in the top 0.1%.
I knew it was something like that, but it was still stark to see it in plain numbers.
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Teresainpa says:
living on 70k a year in Haiti is going to be living high on the hog (on the cat, the goat?)….in NYC, not so much. So I never understood the reason to make those comparisons. It’s kind of like comparing apples and horse-shoes.
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turndownobama says:
No, the 1% are those who make over $380,000 per year. (Some sources say $350,000 or 400,000.)
So $34,000 is more like what they make PER MONTH. (34,000 x 12 = 408,000.)
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turndownobama says:
Woops, you said “global 1%”. Dunno about that. My figures were for the US 1%.
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quixote says:
Teresainpa- the only point to those comparisons is to think about us from the standpoint of, say, a Turkana nomad. I’m not sure exactly why, but to me trying to see through other people’s eyes is a good and necessary thing.
Of course, there’s the whole cost of living thing, but those annual numbers are actually based on PPP (Purchasing Power Parity), so it takes into account the higher cost of living in the US. Also of course, I’m sure the adjustment isn’t perfect, but it is in the ballpark. Kind of mindblowing (or maybe my mind is easily blown) that how one feels living on around $40,000 per year in the US is how the richest of the rich feel on a human species scale.
Also, it clarified a bit for me how our own 1% can be so oblivious to their wealth. It’s actually scarily easy.
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Toonces says:
There’s some interesting research in the area of how inequality within societies/communities reduces health for everyone, including the ones in the higher income (or wealth) group. This is along those lines:
http://www.ted.com/talks/richard_wilkinson.html
It seems that it is not purely material, it is also psychological. If you are not in the “safe” group, it takes its toll because we have social hierarchies, as a species. So you might actually be happier or healthier in a society where everyone is poor (with basic needs met, strong family bonds, etc.) and you are not forced to see the wealthy living across the road and are not made to feel like you are scum, for example, than being working poor in America, even if your income is higher in the US.
I’m not saying it’s not important that many people have it worse than the 99% in the US, just that we have in-groups and out-groups and it’s better psychologically and by extension for your health, etc. if you are in the in-group.
