Re: <nettime> 99%? 66% is more like it

[Dmytri Kleiner <dk@telekommunisten.net>]

Let's not get too caught up in the x% rhetoric, the numbers are just 
illustrative, 99% meaning "almost everybody", Alex's 66% I take to mean 
"2 of the 3 social classes" he discusses, without needing quantifying 
the exact size of those social groups to make the point.

In any case, if you where really going to measure the x%, income is not 
really a good basis for measure, accumulated wealth is. And even that is 
too simple at a really high level, since wealth can be indirectly 
controlled, privileged access to credit sources exist as well. So 
perhaps, ultimately, the total volume of available capital is the best 
measure. In the end, the understanding of class, based on a relation 
with the means of production, such as capitalist, landlord and worker, 
rather than categories such as rich, poor or middle class provides a 
more solid foundation.

I'd say you're part of the 1% if you have enough accumulated wealth to 
live a leisurely and comfortable lifestyle entirely on incomes from your 
existing wealth and never work, regardless what actual percentage of the 
population can actually do so, and if you can't, if not working will 
bring debt or destitution, then you are part of the "99%"

Best,



On 03.11.2011 13:58, Rebecca Zorach wrote:
> What reality is this 1/3 - 1/3 - 1/3 analysis based on? I am sure I
> am a particularly radicalized member of that top 33% (my household
> income places me at the 83rd percentile of American households) but
> I would think part of the point is that people like me, who are the
> ones you'd think this capitalist system would be working for, are
> still struggling. I don't own a car (much less an SUV) because I

<...>


--
Dmyri Kleiner
Venture Communist


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