Dmytri Kleiner on Fri, 4 Nov 2011 09:47:24 +0100 (CET)


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



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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