I propose we start calling the 1% what they really are.

[Initech]

They can hit us back with that 53% crap all they want, but there's only one term that really describes them, and it's one we (hopefully) can all agree on.

They are the ownership class.

That's what George Carlin called them in his infamous rant on his 2005 HBO special "Life Is Worth Losing" (if you haven't seen it yet - who hasn't? - you can do so here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=acLW1vFO-2Q ). He was right then, he's right now. They own it all - they own all the important land. They own the sports teams, companies, restaurant franchises - you name it. They're the ones that get it all - they get all the money. They're the ones who are exempt from all the laws that apply to the rest of us, and make the laws that make the rest of us miserable. They are the ownership society.

[Starry Messenger]

1. k&r

[socialist_n_TN]

2. Ownership class, exploiting class or, since I'm kinda old school

Most of the time I just call them capitalists.

[RKP5637]

3. Also, Captains of Industry AKA Robber Barons n/t

[Initech]

6. Robber barons - I like that one.

[Sherman A1]

10. We live in a new

gilded age so it is only appropriate. I have said this for many years.

[PETRUS]

4. You said it. K&R

[aquart]

5. Uh, no. One percent has more visceral impact.

But thank you for your concern.

[Hamlette]

7. remember, the bottom 50% in this country earns 13% of the money, they should pay NO taxes.

[stevenleser]

8. Occupy is not against the 1%. It is against policies that benefit the 1% over the 99%

The 1% are not the enemy.

[tkmorris]

12. Actually, OWS is not unified in any single position

Including being for or against the 1%. This has been the most biting criticism of the movement and unfortunately, there is some legitimacy to that. Moreover, to address your point, OWS is doomed to fail if they do not realize that the 1% is indeed their enemy. The 1% is for the most part at war with the rest of us, and has been for a long, long time. Those policies you mention, the ones that benefit the 1% over the 99? They WROTE them, and they have an awful lot invested in seeing to it that they continue. They will never willingly give them up, and while peaceful protests are a mild annoyance to them and those that enable them it won't ultimately change things.

[stevenleser]

13. Yes, they are. They are unified against policies that benefit the 1% at the expense of the 99%

that is exactly why I wrote it.

[saras]

9. Before judging them as a class, let's remove the psychopaths from the 1% and see what's left

[Ship of Fools]

11. My preference would be "Masters of the Universe."

:sarcasm:

[Frank Jameson]

14. In the old days ... 500 years ago....

....my/our ancestors referred to them as the Lords of the Manor. They referred to my/our ancestors as peasants, serfs and villeins.

What a reversal. Now they are the villains.

[OneGrassRoot]

15. The thing is, most of the "53%'ers" ARE in the 99%, NOT the 1%...

The only people I've seen who are against raising taxes for the wealthy and against changing a rigged system are right-wingers and Republican politicians.

No doubt there are wealthy people who are also against it, and who are overtly or covertly putting pressure on the politicians (many of whom are wealthy themselves, of course), but I have seen many wealthy who ARE in favor of raising taxes.

I'll reiterate what another DUer said above. This isn't about being against the wealthy, the 1%; it's about being against a system which perpetuates such gross inequality.

[blindpig]

16. The ruling class.

As Marxists have known them for about 150 years.

Think they're on to something?