Dear 1%: Here's a quick vocabulary lesson for you:

[Brigid]

PARASITE:

noun

1. an organism that lives on or in an organism of another species, known as the host, from the body of which it obtains nutriment.
2. a person who receives support, advantage, or the like, from another or others without giving any useful or proper return, as one who lives on the hospitality of others.
3. (in ancient Greece) a person who received free meals in return for amusing or impudent conversation, flattering remarks, etc.
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I'm just sayin'.

Love,
Brigid

[Warpy]

1. I resemble those remarks

Yes, these days I am a capitalist parasite and I am grateful for it. My dad left me a stock portfolio that generates enough in interest in dividends for me to live on. The principal will go to Doctors Without Borders the day I croak. My dad was a gent, so I think he'd approve of that.

I've also been the Greek style parasite, given ample opportunity to observe the 1% carefully because they thought I was a wit. They certainly didn't qualify.

[Igel]

3. Indeed.

Most students are parasites. When I was unemployed I was also a parasite. I took, but I gave nothing in return.

At least as a student I was grateful for the assistance I got and those who ultimately paid my bills. (It wasn't those who handed me the money. They were the middlemen, and were sometimes annoyed that I wasn't grateful to them for taking money from others and handing it to me. They didn't produce the money. It's like being grateful to a Walmart manager for making all the goods in the store.)

[H2O Man]

2. Recommended.

Very good.

[Doctor_J]

4. 2 - Health insurance executives

[Enthusiast]

5. K&R! This post should have hundreds of recommendations!

[Bernardo de La Paz]

6. See also corporate welfare and top bracket loopholes and Paul Ryan's government checks.

See also Sarah Palin sneaking into Canada to steal health care.

[justhanginon]

7. K & R n/t