I found Michael’s personal and heart-felt reflections on the fact that Democratic Senate candidate Elizabeth Warren has been distinguishing herself so-called “1%” thought-provoking on many levels. Its relevance to the Golden Rule is especially interesting. How can we treat others as we would want to be treated if we were them, when we don’t have sufficient common experiences to know what those others want and need? When a politician claims to be “one of us” and really is not, it is more than a misrepresentation. It is an appeal to trust based on false information.
Here is Michael’s Comment of the Day, on the post Unethical Quote of the Week: Roxanne Dunbar Ortiz:
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“…Only 10% of the US families make over $100,000/year. Only 1.5% make over $250,000/year. To have someone worth $14.5 million say they aren’t rich is not a positive thing. They are rich and that is how they think. I have a Ph.D. and have been working for 25 years. I have only made $700,000 total in that entire time. Someone who makes that much in a single year doesn’t think the way I do. They don’t live the way I do. Someone who lives in a house that costs twice what I will make in my entire lifetime doesn’t think the way I do. They have little to no understanding of how I live. Telling the top 10% they aren’t rich isn’t helping things. Telling people in the 98th percentile that they aren’t rich doesn’t help. It tells them that they don’t have to think about the people struggling in this country because it’s them too! They think their problems are the same as everyone else’s, and that any problems they don’t have don’t matter.
“Why is this important? I am one of the wealthier people that I know in my area. I worry about my friends who are really struggling. I know I have it pretty good and try to do things and think of things that will help them, but I still know that I am not them. There is a big enough gap between us that I can’t really know how they live (although I might understand it) and that is important for me to realize. Only by realizing they aren’t me can I hope to understand what their problems are and what I can do to help. If I delude myself into thinking I am them, I never will.”
Ethics Alarms 
It’s a good question. Made me think about the worldwide definition of the 99%. This was the best answer I could find from about a month ago:-
‘Existing wealth worldwide is about 200 trillion, we have around 6.8 billion people. If you redistributed everything evenly, you would have about $30,000 per person
The GDP for the world is 63 Trillion. We have 6.8 billion people, so in terms of annual production of goods and services, Each person could receive a little under $1,000 (US) of new goods and services each year if doing so had no impact on the ability of the worlds economies to produce that again (which of course it would).’
So, I’m so far into the 1% it is unimaginable and I wish I knew what I could do to help.
You missed a zero. That should be $10,000. Since the median family income is $45,000, the US isn’t really that far above the averages you have figured. For a family of 4, this works out to be an income of ~$40,000/year and a total net wealth of $120,000. This isn’t much lower than the US medians. So much for us being a wealthy country. We are just a little above average.
Not my figuring, but thanks for pointing out the big error. That’s fascinating about the comparison with US stats. I guess there has been a big change in recent years? The median must be very different to the average. I remember seeing something in a recent WSJ about the average net worth of Americans being $182,000 per person, about 6x the average globally.
The scary thing for me is I am worth almost 8x the average American at the WSJ figure, and I don’t feel at all like what I think a 1% should feel yet I clearly am one. I’m obviously no better than Elizabeth Warren.