Are we the 1%

So I often think about how the worlds financial situation works. Who has money, who does't, and why. There are lots of talks about how more and more of the worlds wealth is being owned by a smaller and smaller percentage of the population. This seems to be of major concern for a lot of people. I guess as the rich get richer, it means they gain more control, and more power over the rest of the people. Well good news! I know how it's happening, why it's happening, who's doing it, and how to stop it!
Why it's happening, is because the 99% are dumb. Who's doing it is you. How it's happening is simple, you are giving your money to the 1% by choice. How to stop it...well that's the thing, you don't want to.
Who are the 1%? The richest of the rich? CEOs of big companies? The big oil tycoons around the world? The owners of the big world banks? Well lets look at those three, and see how they ended up with so much money.

Banks: Lets start with the big wigs at the top of the banking world. We always here how many billions of dollars each big bank makes each quarter. If I was the owner or CEO of one of those banks, those profits would go to me, that's how capitalism works right? Now how did they make so much money? Well back not so many years ago, there were no credit cards, no lines of credit, no financing your new TV, furniture, and 24" rims for your escalade. People saved up and bought stuff. You might have a mortgage, but other than that, you were debt free. People, and by people, I mean you, demanded a way to have shit now. Not in 3 years, when I can afford it, you want it now. So you have a car loan, a line of credit, a credit card, and a loan on pretty much anything you've ever bought that was over $500. And it's great isn't it! You can have all the things you want, as long as you can make your monthly payments! Here's the problem, you are paying 3% on your $30,000 car loan, 7% on your $5000 line of credit, 19% on you $1500 mastercard bill, and 6% on that lovely $3500 living room set, and don't forget your $350,000 mortgage at 3.5%. Now, I don't think this is far fetched. I think a lot of people have 3 credit cards, maxed out, their line of credit tapped out to $25,000, a $50,000 car to make payments on, and a far larger mortgage, but even at those lower numbers, you're paying $7500 a year in interest. $7500 per year, per person...where do the banks get their money? You give it to them. They didn't sell you the new car, or tell you to buy a bigger house, or go on that vacation. You wanted it, and you wanted it now. The bank provided you a way to have it now. Are they evil for doing that?  Remember how happy you were when the bank approved you to buy your shit! You loved the bank that day, but hate them when you find out how rich you've made those same people. You don't need most of the stuff you are paying interest on, and yet you are willing to sign a huge part of your pay cheque to the banks each month to have it. Everything comes at a cost, the banks never said it was free or tried to hide the fact that there is a fee to have it now.

CEOs and owners of large companies: Lets take one company, a car company, any one will do. Cars used to be cheaper. I know someone that paid $53,000 for a Hyundai minivan in 2008. $53,000 for a korean minivan, that is now worth probably $15,000. Every year we insist that our cars are a bit roomier, have a bit more power, have a few more gadgets, and are a bit safer. No one wants to buy a car that has been the same for 8 years, they want everyone to know, they have the new model, and yes, it was more expensive! People are constantly buying new cars, and they aren't cheap. Used cars are worth next to nothing, because no one wants last years model, it's not cool. So that mean resale is terrible on the $53,000 minivan you just bought. Could you keep driving your current car longer than you will? Yes, could you due without the park assist, SatNav, leather interior? Yes, but you won't. You don't care about the fact that you are signing $53,000 away to car company, as long as it looks cool, and your neighbours will be envious. Car companies have grown immensely, in the last 30-40 years. Households usually have at least 2 cars now, it used to be one. People want a new car every 4 or 5 years, not 10 or 15 years. And cars are far more complicated, and expensive to make. Again, you demanded the cars, why would the car companies say no? You told them what you want, they provided it, you were more than happy to stuff your money in their pockets.

Big oil: This one is pretty cut and dry. You demand it. You drive large, over powered tanks getting terrible gas mileage. You drive all over the place unnecessarily. You don't think twice about driving 3 blocks, or even just going for a drive for fun, or to get away. You take trips on huge fuel sucking planes. You buy food that came from china. Fuel is cheap, for now. People might say it isn't cheap, but still drive a gas pig. It can't be that bad if 12 MPG isn't a concern to you. When you have to think twice before driving everywhere and anywhere, then gas is at a realistic price. Again, you demand gasoline. You demand the right to drive wherever, whenever you want, and millions upon millions of people do the same every day. The pump at the price is set. You know where the money goes, straight to the 1%, but you don't even think about it, as long as you don't have to give up you car.

It all comes down to supply and demand. You asked for it, they provided exactly what you asked for, and now you hate them for it. Everyone is getting exactly what they want, at least in the western world. We drive $53,000 mini vans, live in huge, overkill houses, pay $6 a day for a coffee, have closets full of clothes, have enough food that we can throw most of it away, have a tv in 3 different rooms of the house, have a different pair of shoes for each occasion, get a new $400 phone every year, and yet complain about everything. If people from 1950s could see they way we live right now, they would think that we are all filthy rich. The amount of wasted money in astounding. The crap that we buy, that we don't need to survive in mind boggling. How would you explain to someone from 1950 that yes, my car was $50,000, yes it has a TV in the dash, and I spend $60 a month so that I can talk on my phone anywhere, but I'm poor.

Sorry 99%, but most of you have nothing to complain about and need to realize, you are the reason for your own complains.

You stink

Well I know I said my next post would be about smokers, so I'll just do a quick vent about them before I go on to what I really want to talk about. To all the smokers, the world is not your ashtray. A friend of mine was driving along the freeway last summer, when he noticed a large amount of smoke up ahead. The dry grass, in the centre divider of the freeway was on fire. A good samaritan had pulled over already, and luckily had a fire extinguisher on board. My friend and the good samaritan managed to get the fire out before it became a serious problem. We've all seen the black, torched grass on the sides of highways, and every year we hear on the news about the forest fires that were started by a cigarette.
I'm just trying to get into a smokers head. You're driving down the road, listening to country music, smoking, and your cigarette is almost finished, should you put it in the ashtray, where it belongs, or throw your disgusting, slobber covered butt into the world, for someone else to deal with? Well if you put it in your ashtray, you might have to vacuum it out the next time you clean your car, which sounds like a lot of work. You might as well throw it out the window, maybe you can start a fire, or at the very least have all of the great, healthy toxins from the cigarette, be washed out of the butt the next time it rains, and run into our creaks and streams. Yum.
You are not more important than anyone else in the world. No one wants to pick up your trash, and no one wants to put out your fire. Also no one wants to pay your medical bill when you develop lung, mouth, and throat cancer or any of the other great health problem that come with smoking. No one wants to smell you, at work, on the bus, in the store, or at home. And no one wants to have our tax dollars go to your welfare cheque. Lets face it, smoking isn't cheap, and yet the only people I see smoking are poor people. Maybe they are poor because they smoke, maybe they smoke because they are poor, or maybe, they smoke because they are idiots, which would also explain why they are poor, either way, I bet you could find a better way to spend your money.