99 Percent Quotes

“I have a foreboding of an America in my children's or grandchildren's time -- when the United States is a service and information economy; when nearly all the manufacturing industries have slipped away to other countries; when awesome technological powers are in the hands of a very few, and no one representing the public interest can even grasp the issues; when the people have lost the ability to set their own agendas or knowledgeably question those in authority; when, clutching our crystals and nervously consulting our horoscopes, our critical faculties in decline, unable to distinguish between what feels good and what's true, we slide, almost without noticing, back into superstition and darkness...

The dumbing down of American is most evident in the slow decay of substantive content in the enormously influential media, the 30 second sound bites (now down to 10 seconds or less), lowest common denominator programming, credulous presentations on pseudoscience and superstition, but especially a kind of celebration of ignorance”
― Carl Sagan, The Demon-Haunted World: Science as a Candle in the Dark

“99% of all problems can be solved by money -- and for the other 1% there's alcohol.”
― Quentin R. Bufogle

“Earth will be monetized until all trees grow in straight lines, three people own all seven continents, and every large organism is bred to be slaughtered.”
― Richard Powers, The Overstory

“If a person has no conscience, it's called being a sociopath. If a corporation has no conscience, it's called capitalism.”
― Quentin R. Bufogle

“Everybody knows that the dice are loaded
Everybody rolls with their fingers crossed
Everybody knows the war is over
Everybody knows the good guys lost
Everybody knows the fight was fixed
The poor stay poor, the rich get rich
That's how it goes
Everybody knows”
― Leonard Cohen, Leonard Cohen: Poems and Songs

“I think the only choice that will enable us to hold to our vision is one that abandons the concept of naming enemies and adopts a concept familiar to the nonviolent tradition: naming behavior that is oppressive”
― Barbara Deming

“Some people take what they need from the orchard, and other people pick the orchard clean."
From - "The Mind Game Company - The Players”
― Andrew Neff

“In recent years a smaller share of young adults has been employed than at any time since the Bureau of Labor Statistics started tracking such trends in 1948. So it's not surprising that this generation of youthful protesters has a different focus for their grievances: the economy, stupid. But notice the targets they've chosen to demonize. It's all about class, not age. It's 1% versus 99%, not young versus old. Occupy Wall Street, not Occupy Leisure World.”
― Pew Research Center, The Next America: Boomers, Millennials, and the Looming Generational Showdown

“Yesterday I got a credit card application from a major bank with a variable rate of 12.99% to 20.99%. Such a deal. And what if I fall on hard times and lose my job? So, I wrote them a return letter:

Dear major bank,
Thank you for the opportunity to express how I really feel about your corporation. What I do appreciate, is that there is no stamp required for your return envelope. After tearing off all my personal information, so some dumpster diver doesn’t fill out your application for me, and find out he picked the wrong target; I just wanted to make one comment:
Your practice of usury is despicable, along with crashing the global economy.

Danny - I think I have my grandmother’s charm and wit. Too bad she’s not here to share it with.
Maybe if every disgruntled person would use that free envelope and apply their creative talent, they might get the picture that we’re tired of this bullshit.
Marcie, there are so many people you could visit and test your information extraction program on, so what are you people doing here? Is this just a practice run? Well, you wanted to know what I was thinking. And you wonder why I look to God for solutions. Wake me up when it’s over.
Marcie - You are a crazy SOB. You want me to use my system to play Robin Hood.
Danny - You’d make an excellent Robin Hood, make sure you get your merry band to sign on. Maybe that’s the reason we were connected by design.
How much materialism do you really need? Some people take what they need from the orchard and other people pick the orchard clean.
Marcie - You’re wondering what I’m thinking. I don’t want to mess your mind up with what I’m thinking, so let me simply say, I don’t approve of what some of these people have been doing for decades.
Who do you think I am?
Danny - Someone who frustrates me, don’t we have enough guessing games in life?
Marcie - Marcie is a miracle worker, so what does that tell you? You do not even know what to make of me, someone who keeps coming back for you, someone who won’t let go of you.
Danny - Why is it that there’s only a handful of words for truth and over 100 synonyms and derivatives for deception?
Marcie - Are you surprised?
Danny - It puts it in a different light when you start reading through the list. You may as well add amygdala hijacking.
Marcie - Has Danny been bamboozled?
Danny - You picked one with an unknown origin.
Marcie - That is the best way to start a mind game.
Danny - Okay, just for kicks, try saying synonym - cinnamon 10 times as fast as you can.

From - "The Mind Game Company - The Players”
― Andrew Neff

“the American elite decided that democracy wasn’t working for them [...]

The one-word motto they came to live by was globalism—that is, the freedom to structure commercial relationships and social enterprises without reference to the well-being of the particular society in which they happened to make their livings and raise their children.

[...] the elite that Friedman described saw enlightened Chinese autocracy as a friend and even as a model”
― Lee Smith

“the American elite decided that democracy wasn’t working for them [...]

The one-word motto they came to live by was globalism—that is, the freedom to structure commercial relationships and social enterprises without reference to the well-being of the particular society in which they happened to make their livings and raise their children.

[They] saw enlightened Chinese autocracy as a friend and even as a model”
― Lee Smith

“Last year I pledged to give the majority of my wealth back to the society that helped generate it, to do it thoughtfully, to get started soon, and to keep at it until the safe is empty. There's no question in my mind that anyone's personal wealth is the product of a collective effort, and of social structures which present opportunities to some people, and obstacles to countless others.”
― MacKenzie Scott

“The rich individuals are increasingly hoarding everything. If the billionaires want to go to space, they could at least leave their money on Earth to solve the critical Earthbound problems. We now have an estimated 2,775 billionaires with a combined net worth of around $13.1 trillion. I have it on good authority that you don't need more than $1 billion to live comfortably. Even if every billionaire kept $1 billion, that would leave around $10 trillion for ending hunger, poverty, and environmental destruction. We should be taxing the vast and rapidly growing billionaire wealth to help finance a civilized world.”
― Jeffrey Sachs