1. Only THREE PERCENT of the very rich are entrepreneurs.
According to both Marketwatch and economist Edward Wolff, over 90 percent of the assets owned by millionaires are held in a combination of low-risk investments (bonds and cash), personal business accounts, the stock market, and real estate. Only 3.6 percent of taxpayers in the top .1% were classified as entrepreneurs based on 2004 tax returns. A 2009 Kauffman Foundation study found that the great majority of entrepreneurs come from middle-class backgrounds, with less than 1 percent of all entrepreneurs coming from very rich or very poor backgrounds.
2. Only FOUR OUT OF 150 countries have more wealth inequality than us.
In a world listing compiled by a reputable research team (which nevertheless prompted double-checking), the U.S. has greater wealth inequality than every measured country in the world except for Namibia, Zimbabwe, Denmark, and Switzerland.
3. An amount equal to ONE-HALF the GDP is held untaxed overseas by rich Americans.
The Tax Justice Network estimated that between $21 and $32 trillion is hidden offshore, untaxed. With Americans making up 40% of the world’s Ultra High Net Worth Individuals, that’s $8 to $12 trillion in U.S. money stashed in far-off hiding places.
Based on a historical stock market return of 6%, up to $750 billion of income is lost to the U.S. every year, resulting in a tax loss of about $260 billion.
4. Corporations stopped paying HALF OF THEIR TAXES after the recession.
After paying an average of 22.5% from 1987 to 2008, corporations have paid an annual rate of 10% since. This represents a sudden $250 billion annual loss in taxes.
U.S. corporations have shown a pattern of tax reluctance for more than 50 years, despite building their businesses with American research and infrastructure. They’ve passed the responsibility on to their workers. For every dollar of workers’ payroll tax paid in the 1950s, corporations paid three dollars. Now it’s 22 cents.
5. Just TEN Americans made a total of FIFTY BILLION DOLLARS in one year.
That’s enough to pay the salaries of over a million nurses or teachers or emergency responders.
That’s enough, according to 2008 estimates by the Food and Agriculture Organization and the UN’s World Food Program, to feed the 870 million people in the world who are lacking sufficient food.
For the free-market advocates who say “they’ve earned it”: Point #1 above makes it clear how the wealthy make their money.
6. Tax deductions for the rich could pay off 100 PERCENT of the deficit.
Another stat that required a double-check. Based on research by the Tax Policy Center, tax deferrals and deductions and other forms of tax expenditures (tax subsidies from special deductions, exemptions, exclusions, credits, capital gains, and loopholes), which largely benefit the rich, are worth about 7.4% of the GDP, or about $1.1 trillion.
Other sources have estimated that about two-thirds of the annual $850 billion in tax expenditures goes to the top quintile of taxpayers.
7. The average single black or Hispanic woman has about $100 IN NET WORTH.
The Insight Center for Community Economic Development reported that median wealth for black and Hispanic women is a little over $100. That’s much less than one percent of the median wealth for single white women ($41,500).
Other studies confirm the racially-charged economic inequality in our country. For every dollar of NON-HOME wealth owned by white families, people of color have only one cent.
8. Elderly and disabled food stamp recipients get $4.30 A DAY FOR FOOD.
Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) has dropped significantly over the past 15 years, serving only about a quarter of the families in poverty, and paying less than $400 per month for a family of three for housing and other necessities. Ninety percent of the available benefits go to the elderly, the disabled, or working households.
Food stamp recipients get $4.30 a day.
9. Young adults have lost TWO-THIRDS OF THEIR NET WORTH since 1984.
21- to 35-year-olds: Your median net worth has dropped 68% since 1984. It’s now less than $4,000.
That $4,000 has to pay for student loans that average $27,200. Or, if you’re still in school, for $12,700 in credit card debt.
With an unemployment rate for 16- to 24-year-olds of almost 50%, two out of every five recent college graduates are living with their parents. But your favorite company may be hiring. Apple, which makes a profit of $420,000 per employee, can pay you about $12 per hour.
10. The American public paid about FOUR TRILLION DOLLARS to bail out the banks.
That’s about the same amount of money made by America’s richest 10% in one year. But we all paid for the bailout. And because of it, we lost the opportunity for jobs, mortgage relief, and educational funding.
Bonus for the super-rich: A QUADRILLION DOLLARS in securities trading nets ZERO sales tax revenue for the U.S.
The world derivatives market is estimated to be worth over a quadrillion dollars (a thousand trillion). At least $200 trillion of that is in the United States. In 2011 the Chicago Mercantile Exchange reported a trading volume of over $1 quadrillion on 3.4 billion annual contracts.
A quadrillion dollars. A sales tax of ONE-TENTH OF A PENNY on a quadrillion dollars could pay off the deficit. But the total sales tax was ZERO.
It’s not surprising that the very rich would like to fudge the numbers, as they have the nation.
If you guys didn’t see some white girl posted a montage of her colonizer experience in Hawai'i and has been getting dragged for days now lmao I’m not gonna link it cause it’s just her and some other haole girls she met her literally dancing on graves and sacred places and showing off her dirty hair.
But I did a little thread on why these romanticized ads of our home harms us (not super in depth but touches on some important points). And I was a lot nicer about it cause I actually do care if you come to visit and I’d actually prefer that everyone leave us alone forever but colonizers gonna colonize and settlers gonna settle 🤷🏽♀️
[Images: a tweet from user @WatkinsLondon that says: “This year I packed up my life into a tiny suitcase and moved to a little rock in the middle of the ocean. I fell in love with Hawaii, I fell in love with these people. But above all, I fell in love with being alive”.
This tweet is followed by a tweet thread from user @angelcurlsss that says:
“That stupid video of that haole girl who moved here for 4 months is just showing how fucking ignorant the general population is about Hawai'i and what has happened/is happening to Native Hawaiians.
1. HAWAI'I IS AN ILLEGALLY OCCUPIED SOVEREIGN NATION.
2. Native Hawaiians (Kānaka Maoli) used to make up 100% of the population. It’s estimated we make up about 20% of the state’s population now.
3. Hawai'i was once the most literate nation in the WORLD, about 91-95% of the kingdom by 1834.
4. ‘Olelo Hawai'i (native Hawaiian language) was illegal to teach in schools until 1978, but didn’t get taught again in schools until 1987. People don’t understand how recently they had their colonial policies forced on us. 1978… my mom was born in 1973. She could’ve been beat just for speaking her native tongue on her native land.
5. Despite making up less than a quarter of the state’s population, native Hawaiians make up about 60% of the prison population (mostly nonviolent crimes).
6. Native Hawaiians also make up most of the homeless population. Hawai'i has the largest population of homeless people per capita in the U.S.
7. As of 2018, the average price for a single family home in Hawai'i is $795K. There are no regulations for foreigners owning land.
Including (but not limited to) these facts and statistics, native Hawaiians are one of the most disenfranchised communities in Hawai'i. Our own ‘āina. When people treat our home as a playground for their own selfish needs, they change everything here except the price of living. Native Hawaiians and locals are leaving Hawai'i by the dozens. They recently estimated it to be 11 locals leaving PER DAY.
I don’t care if you want to come visit. Our home is beautiful and I don’t blame people for wanting to see it. But I do care when you poison our land, romanticize our lifestyle, fetishize our people, and cheapen our culture. Unless you’re coming to pour money into our communities and work for our betterment and sovereignty (I know you’re not) you bring nothing of value to Hawaiians. Please come and enjoy, but don’t forget when it’s time to leave.”
Timestamp of last tweet: December 26, 2018. 12:09 p.m.]
Fun fact, hammering metal spikes into tree trunks is a federal crime in the US because environmental activists used to do it in the 80s to fuck up chainsaws and logging equipment.
So you should never use this effective strategy for disrupting logging operations because it is illegal.
hey guys! a lot of our followers have been reblogging this post telling us that doing this will harm workers and trees! i understand your concern, and i even get why you believe that. the thing is, you don’t spike every tree in a forest and then walk away. you spike a few of the trees that are slated to be cut down, then you put up a sign or send an email telling the loggers that some of the trees in this area have been spiked
spiking a tree has a small chance to cause an infection in the tree. but cutting a tree down has a Huge chance of killing the tree, and they cut down a lot of trees
this has also never harmed workers. iirc, there was one example of a logger getting hit with a chainsaw chain, but it was disputed as to whether or not the tree had been spiked. in reality, it only harms their equipment, making it very expensive to cut down any of the trees in the area, just in case
many of us believe these things, because the logging industry dumped tons of money into propaganda to stop us from protesting their actions, either by convincing us that what they’re doing is good, or by convincing us that what we’re doing is worse
so remember, do your own research, punch nazis, and buy recycled paper
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