The Bright Continent

These days, I hear chants echoing through the window of my apartment. “We-are-the-99-percent… and so are… We-are-the-99-percent … and so are … We…” Repeat as necessary.

I like Occupy Wall Street. After a summer spent with Al Jazeera and the low hum of unrest in the Middle East, I appreciate the rhythmic waves of objection pouring out from New York City’s own Zucotti Park. I feel the gripe of those who, in full lung, lament that “Banks got bailed out—we got sold out!” In addition to reminding me that protest is an American tradition (in recent years it’s been hard to imagine Americans convening en masse for anything other than a sporting event), the OWS moment has forced some necessary debate on income inequality, joblessness and the fractured bargain of America’s bad decade.

I’ve read some wonderful analyses of why it’s working, what the lefty movement has to do with the largely Republican Tea Party, and what to do now that it’s getting cold.

Here is another kink in the conversation. Most American protesters, however economically disadvantaged, are probably not as disadvantaged as, well, 99 percent of the global community. This provocation from the Motley Fool reminds us that the price of admission to the ranks of the global 1% is $34,000 in annual income.

The global distribution figures may seem incomprehensibly low, but consider a couple of statistics you’re likely familiar with: According to the U.N., “Nearly half the world’s population, 2.8 billion people, earn less than $2 a day.” According to the World Bank, 95% of those living in the developing world earn less than $10 a day.

Those numbers are so shocking that you might only think about them in the abstract. But when you consider them in the context of the entire globe, including yourself, the skewing effects they have on the distribution of income is simply massive. It means that Americans we consider poor are among some of the world’s most well-off. As Milanovic notes, “the poorest [5%] of Americans are better off than more than two-thirds of the world population.” Furthermore, “only about 3 percent of the Indian population have incomes higher than the bottom (the very poorest) U.S. percentile.”

In short, most of those protesting in the Occupy Wall Street movement would be considered wealthy — perhaps extraordinarily wealthy — by much of the world. Many of those protesting the 1% are, ironically, the 1%.

As inequality is allowed to move closer to the mainstream limelight, this aspect is worth keeping in mind.