You are on page 1of 7

Madar 1

Andrew Madar and Nate Turner


Professor Frank
English 1030-044
September 22, 2014
The Discourse Community of the 1%

Before we can understand the discourse community of the wealthy we first need to
understand how they got to where they are. Wealthy people have put a lot of time in their field
of expertise. Many people have inherited their wealth and their wealth can be considered old
money. However, many of the wealthiest individuals the most recent generations know and
recognize are entrepreneurs that created a booming business. One example of an entrepreneur is
Jim Dolan, founder of the Dolan Company. The Dolan Company provides business information
and professional services to financial and real estate sectors throughout the United States. When
he was a child, well before starting up his company, Dolan found his calling in entrepreneurship
through several other activities and jobs he performed. Dolan, as a kid, used to buy fireworks in
the summer when they were very cheap and would hold onto them until Christmas time and then
sell them to his friends at a 300% profit, (Jordan). Big names like Bill Gates, Mark Zuckerberg
and Sam Walton made it big with the unique ability to create a business and understand how to
market, invest and sell their products. These entrepreneurs have created products and businesses
that have positively impacted and spread to many parts of the world. Some were born into a
wealthy family and acquired their familys business. Others climbed the ladder of a business and
eventually made enough money to invest into other things that became successful, thus yielding
major profit. In order to make money, money has to be spent; therefore the rich have become

Madar 2

rich because they knew how to invest their money at the right time in the right places. This is
often times what separates those who strike it big from the other 99 Percent.
Many people in the United States are dissatisfied with the unequal distribution of wealth
amongst the country. In turn, protestors all over the country have organized and claim to be in
the group known as The 99 percent. They protest through large cities like New York City,
Chicago, and Boston, speaking out against what they feel to be an unequal
system. Conversations are starting that focus on the growing gap between the wealthiest one
percent and the other ninety-nine percent of Americans (Jilani). People do not think it is fair that
the wealthiest one percent own over 40 percent of the nations total wealth. One of the protesters
wrote a sign that says, I am aged, old, and frail. I have paid taxes all my adult life. Now, I have
to choose between medicine and food. It feels like a very slow death. I AM THE 99%
(Jilani). This is just one of millions that is now doing everything that they can to make ends
meet. All the while, these people feel as though the wealthiest few could spare some money to
help provide food, shelter and medicine for some of those struggling to get by. These people
have always had to make the tough choices in life. What is the best investment of my money at
this point? Can I afford to buy this or should I forgo it altogether? Most of the American people
have never had the comfort of not having to worry about finances on a daily basis. This could be
some of the cause of the unrest of the majority of Americans who feel some people are too
wealthy.
The general public opinion of the one percent is that most of them are greedy and
selfish. Bruce Drake of the Pew Research Organization helped organize surveys which found,
Views are mixed: Americans view the well-to-do as more intelligent and more hardworking but
also more greedy. Often times this can be a misconceived notion, as the wealthy do a lot of

Madar 3

things that are good for the general public. Another statistic from Drakes research shows that
Despite widespread perceptions of economic inequality, there was little indication that it had
fueled class resentment. Nearly nine-in-ten (88%) said they admired people who get rich by
working hard. This proves that, in general, the public respect the hard work that the wealthy
have put in to get to where they are, but many have displeasure with what they do with their
money once it is acquired. Despite all the negativity surrounding the one percenters, it is well
documented that most of them do donate huge sums of money to charities. Bill Gates has done
some of the most well documented charity work which includes creating his own
foundation. The Gates charity motto starts as Guided by the belief that every life has equal
value, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation works to help all people lead healthy, productive
lives. Since the Gates Foundations inception, it has donated billions of dollars to various
charities. This is a small number compared to all the donations and charity work that has been
amassed by all the billionaires in the world. Almost every single billionaire has a foundation set
up so that they can make a positive impact. The rich could very well donate only because they
feel pressure from the masses to do so as a result of their wealthiness, but no one will ever go on
record saying this. So, even though, many people feel as though the motivation for the rich to
give donations is a tax break, those who donate feel differently. They donate because they are
also humans, not a different being. They too feel compassion and a sense of pride in donating to
those who are less fortunate than them. In an article published by step.org, statistics were found
using a survey of high net-worth donors and their philanthropic advisors. They found that,
While advisors believed that the majority of HNW (High Net-Worth) individuals would reduce
their giving if the estate tax was eliminated, just 6 percent of HNW individuals indicated they
would reduce their charitable giving if this tax policy would change, showing that the wealthy

Madar 4

are not just motivated by tax breaks but also by being good natured humans. Charitable
donations are just one of the many ways that wealth gets redistributed amongst the social classes.
The most wealthy people in the world, specifically in the United States, are often
negatively associated with the profession that is politics. Politics is often portrayed as being
controlled by the most wealthy. Much of the common public opinion can be justified by facts
about the political game that is continuously ongoing. Robert ONeill of the Harvard Kennedy
School analyzes the paper of Harvard faculty researcher Filipe Campante on the increase in
political influence of the wealthiest. He begins this paper with the statement, As another heated
political season begins, attention is focused on the Super PACs created to funnel unlimited
contributions to political candidates, on billionaire political patrons, and on big moneys
influence on the political process. Especially as more wealth is concentrated into fewer hands,
(O'Neill). ONeill is saying, plain and simple, that the wealthy have immense amounts of
resources which they contribute to the political scene. The ninety-nine percent feel as though
they are being cheated in the political system because they believe all the politicians are
influenced by those with massive amounts of money. They dont feel as though they are able to
have a fair say in what goes on in Washington and other political locations.
The ninety-nine percent are those who describe themselves as being opposed to the
concentration of wealth that is the one-percent. These self-proclaimed ninety-niners often
express their displeasure with the economic system through occupy movements such as
Occupy Wall Street. Brian Stelter of the New York Times references both the Republican,
often associated with the one percent, and Democratic, often associated with the ninety niners,
views on the identity of the 99% in his article about the group. The general feel is that
Republicans are opposed to the idea of a ninety-nine percent movement because it is divisive

Madar 5

and un-American. On the other hand, the Democrats have used the idea as a political platform
to get votes and kick start legislation. They often politically attack the wealthy, who also happen
to associate more so with the Republicans than the Democrats, in an attempt to rally votes from
the middle class. The whole idea of the ninety-nine percent is to bring attention to income
inequality and have done so effectively using occupation movements and social media. The
general feel of the public tends to be that the one percenters are the enemy of the common
people. This leads to an ironic situation, which is that huge sums of money are spent blasting
those with huge sums of money and those who are making such attacks often have lots of money
themselves.
The wealthiest people in the world have it easy but at the same time they also have it
really hard. Although they are sometimes hated and seen as greedy people because of what they
actually do with their money, they are also seen as people of hard work and dedication. They
have put in tons of work their whole lives to become what they are and once they are at the top
they are constantly criticized by the rest of the population. Every single thing that they do is
watched closely and if they make a mistake they end up on the news. A recent example could be
Donald Sterling and his fallout with the public. Although the wealthiest one percent are seen as
bad people, they actually do a lot of things that help out charities and organizations around the
world. Bill Gates is a great example, giving out hundreds of millions of dollars a year to help
those in need around the world, especially in the United States. The wealthiest people in the
world live up to high standards each and every day and in the end they are also, on the most
basic level, humans like everyone else and thus deserve the respect that each person deserves.

Madar 6

Madar 7

Works Cited
"Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation." Foundation Fact Sheet. Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation,
n.d. Web. 18 Sept. 2014.
Drake, Bruce. "Americans See Growing Gap between Rich and Poor." Pew Research Center
RSS. Pew Research Organization, 5 Dec. 2013. Web. 18 Sept. 2014.
Jilani, Zaid. "How Unequal We Are: The Top 5 Facts You Should Know About The Wealthiest
One Percent Of Americans." ThinkProgress RSS. Think Progress, 3 Oct. 2011. Web. 18
Sept. 2014.
Jordan, Robert. How They Did It: Billion Dollar Insights from the Heart of America. Northbrook,
IL: Redflash, 2010. Print.
O'Neill, Robert. "Inequality Increases Political Influence of Wealthiest." Harvard Kennedy
School -. Harvard Kennedy School, Spring 2012. Web. 18 Sept. 2014.
Stelter, Brian. "Camps Are Cleared, but 99 Percent Still Occupies the Lexicon." The New York
Times. The New York Times, 30 Nov. 2011. Web. 18 Sept. 2014.
"USA - Study Reveals Misconceptions about Why Wealthy Give for Charity." Step.org.
Step.org,

29 Oct. 2013. Web. 18 Sept. 2014.

You might also like