If someone wanted to know why the "Occupy" movement is growing all I would have to do is point them to three news stories I came across while perusing the news during my lunch on Thursday:
Reliance on government benefits even higher than during depth of recession
Dan Snyder paid around $70 million for a 224-foot yacht
Bold Mansion Owners Are Raising Prices
In the story about government benefits we find this paragraph:
Nearly half of all Americans lived in a household that received some kind of government benefit during the first three months of last year […]. That's even higher than the figure recorded during the depths of the Great Recession.
From there we go on to Dan Snyder:
[T]he Lady Anne, is one of the 100 biggest yachts in the world. Snyder bought the yacht with a group of investors for around the same price that he'll spend on two-thirds of his Redskins payroll for the year. […]The yacht's listing price was $86 million when it went on the market earlier this year, but sold for considerably less. (The Post's $70 million figure was an estimate.)
Now onto the “Bold Mansion Owners”:
For prospective buyers, a raised price on a luxury residence may make the home “even more special or desirable than he or she first considered and worth the extra dollars,” explained Dr. Barry Farber, a psychology professor at Columbia University’s Teachers College. While spiking the price tag may deter buyers on a shoestring budget, “it may intrigue those for whom a higher price reflects their own sense of worth and success in the world.”
“If it’s one of a kind, if you really want that house, you are going to get it” said Dottie Herman, president and CEO of Prudential Douglas Elliman. “If you can afford $3 million, you can afford $4 million.”
Words escape me. We live in a country where more people then ever before are receiving some kind of government assistance—yet we have these 1%ers who are spending $70,000,000 dollars on a fucking boat. Where others are jacking up the price on modern day castles from $3,000,000 to $4,000,000 dollars just because they can…and to make it worse, some jack-ass will pay that $4,000,000 (or higher) price tag to inflate their own sense of self worth.
So if the 1% wants to know why the 99% is pissed off, look no further than these three stories. No one, and I mean no one needs a fucking boat that cost $70,000,000! No one needs to spend $4,000,000 on a house that is only* worth $3,000,000 just so there precious little ego can get a boost. The 1% can kiss my ass, I am sick and tired of their greed, and their unwillingness to pay their fair share. I am proud to say that I am one of the 99%. SOLIDARITY!
*Yes, I rolled my eyes when I wrote that. I cannot even comprehend ever having “only” $3,000,000 (I consider myself lucky when I find a few bucks wadded up in a coat pocket).