The American upper class is composed of members born into this class, called members of Old money; as well as those who have acquired their wealth and influence within their own generation, called the Nouveau riche.
Many politicians, heirs to fortunes, top business executives, CEOs, successful venture capitalists, those born into high society, and some celebrities may be considered members of this class. Some prominent and high-rung professionals may also be included if they attain great influence and wealth.
The main distinguishing feature of this class, which is estimated to constitute roughly 1% of the population, is the source of income. While the vast majority of people and households derive their income from wages or salaries, those in the upper class derive their income from investments and capital gains.
Estimates for the size of this group commonly vary from 1% to 2%, while some surveys have indicated that as many as 6% of Americans identify as "upper class." Sociologist Leonard Beeghley sees wealth as the only significant distinguishing feature of this class and, therefore, refers to this group simply as "the rich."
The population of the US in 2014 was 318.9 million. So, if our rich neighbors are between 1-6% of our population, then we have between 3,189,000 and 19,134,000 living around us at any given time. So, let's put that into a little perspective here and relate it to the populations of some States:
If our wealthy are only 1% of the population, then they would be the size of:
Kansas
Utah
Arkansas
Mississippi
Iowa
If our wealthy are 6%, then they would relate to only 2 states that would be:
Florida
New York
However, theses two States are more like 6.1% or 6.2%
So, we do have a “mess” of wealthy people living in this country, don't we?
And, what do you suppose that we do with all these wealthy people... that is, if we were ever in a position to tell them what to do?
Would you want to redistribute all their money to the rest of the Americans so we could all have the same amount of money?
Well, on the surface that sounds like a great idea and it would certainly benefit me, but is that the right thing for us to do or require of them to do of themselves?
In my classes, I would tell students that in the “spirit of equality,” that I was going to take points away from my “A” and “B” students and give those points to my “D” and “F” students so that by the end of the class everyone would have a grade of “C”. None of my students, other than the “D” and “F” students liked this idea and informed me that they would simply not do the work so that I would have no points to steal from them.
OK.... so, what did we just learn from that little exercise?
And, just to be on the safe side of the argument, I would say that this is exactly what is happening in our country today... would you not agree with me?
Well, let's think this through a little... Our wealthy people got wealthy by selling to other Americans for the most part, so now if they are selling to the rest of the world, they are going to get even wealthier, whether we like it or not, but more importantly, when they start selling to the rest of the world are they going to stop selling to us?
Boy, that would be a real pisser if they did that... but, who is going to stop them?
So, let's go about to our original idea of redistribution of wealth using our own 1-6% as guinea pigs for this experiment.
Where do you think the greatest need for their money would be, providing we could find some method of levering out of their pockets into somewhere else?
Ok... so, I will make it a little easier for you by giving you 2 options:
to Americans
to the rest of the WORLD
Ya know, we all seem to stand up straight and tall and square our shoulders and pound ourselves on our chests or each other on each others back and exclaim what great, wonderful Christians we all are, and yet, we continue to have:
Global Hunger
Global Poverty
Global Slavery
Global Healthcare substandard
Global Education substandard
Global Equality almost non-existent
Do you honestly think that this is what our Creator intended?
As I think about what I just wrote, I don't particularly see this as just a Christian idea or Christian Idealism but as a global idea or global idealism... it just makes logical sense plus it just seems like it is the right thing to do.
There are not many television commercials that I want to talk about outside of being ridiculously stupid or funny and sometimes too “soft-hearted,” but there is one that recently that I remember where there is these two people sitting inside a little shelter as I recall waiting for a bus and the older lady is in need of a kleenex so the young man offers her his last one... then, the young man is in need of a Kleenex, and the old lady tears the one that he just gave her in half and shares it with the young man.
I doubt that it reaches the quality of SUPER BOWL commercials (tongue-in-cheek) but it does make a serious point that we seem to have forgotten or overlooked in this country unless we are faced with some sort of tragedy.
WE may not have more money than the wealthy has but I am sure that we can show that we have more heart... and, it is my fear that if we do not show that, we will most definitely LOSE THE FUTURE.
I mean... I'm just saying...
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