What could $270.8 billion accomplish in the US?

According to Forbes, the top 10 wealthiest Americans in 2010 have a combined net worth of $270.8 BILLION.

Also note that 6 out of the 10 inherited their wealth and are not self-made millionaires (*cough* billionaires).

THIS IS JUST FOR THE TOP TEN WEALTHIEST IN AMERICA.

I don't have the time or the stomach to total the net worth of all 100, nor to see how many others were born into wealth.

Improving upon the social class one was born into in this country has grown more difficult in the last two decades. The wealthy are extraordinarily wealthy, with laws supporting that wealth, keeping it in place and in the hands of the few.

Even if these individuals are indeed hardworking, this "hoarding" of resources has made achieving the American Dream for the vast majority of citizens nearly impossible.

Consider just one example of Wall Street CEO/employee salary ratios: Bank of America's CEO makes $9,250,000 while the employees' average pay is $35,000. (thanks Maraya1960)

No CEO deserves to be making THAT much more than the employees. It's beyond insulting.

The opposite is true of the other 98% of this country: The laws and systems do not support hard work or innovation. The laws and systems have led to most Americans' "net worth" hemorrhaging due to criminal practices on Wall Street and elsewhere in our system and the funding of never-ending wars bleeding everyone except those profiting from said wars dry, while the wealthiest see their net worth INCREASING.

The middle class is rapidly disappearing, with poverty and homelessness on the rise, along with a movement to remove any safety net for US citizens.

The Reagan-era "welfare queen" is a myth as far as the impact of individuals who abuse the system. Corporate welfare, on the other hand, has had a tremendous impact.

Why would ANY American who is struggling at all financially choose to look at the problems in this country as being due to other Americans, rather than the wealth disparity and systems that are in place to benefit only a few? Why would they listen to those who are spouting such nonsense -- people who themselves are worth many millions, with a vested interest in perpetuating this myth?

WHERE ARE OUR PRIORITIES AS A NATION???


Edit to add that the culture of celebrity is just as repulsive and in alignment with the skewing of priorities -- and wealth.

Workers.

and the plantation grows wider each year

Get thee to the greatest!

Because propaganda works. Roughly 30% will believe anything they see either in print or on the TV, when they see it both places, then it becomes like concrete in their brain and must be blasted out.

-Hoot

Let's talk instead about cutting funds for WIC. That's where the real money is!

and the firefighter provide much needed services to the public as a whole. What do hedge fund managers contribute? One financial crisis after another.