How Does the 1 Percent Exploit America? Find Out in One Minute (Video)

Even in an Occupy world, most Americans don’t know exactly how the 1% does what it does. The mainstream media hasn’t explained it, and the 1% likes things that way.

That’s why we’ve created a new video series unmasking those in the 1% who are exploiting the 99%—name by name, fact by fact. Each short video—one minute apiece—lays out the truth about a different tycoon. These aren’t opinions; these are facts, condensed into bite-sized chunks. Occupy has already revealed the country’s widespread outrage at the 1%; now it’s time for the plutocracy’s dirty deeds to be common knowledge.

The best part? Brave New Foundation’s audience chose the people we’re highlighting. We solicited suggestions on nominees, narrowed them down to 30, and let our audience vote on which ones they thought deserved to be exposed. The new videos represent five of the top vote-getters, with more videos below for the rest. Here’s one:

Rob Walton, Chairman of Walmart

Of course, the 1% would like to keep its activities shrouded in secrecy. Hiding behind complicated phraseology like “collateralized debt obligation” makes it hard for the public to bust you. But you don’t have to be a financier to understand how these guys operate. Our first set of videos (below) gives it straight on Rob Walton of Walmart, Lloyd Blankfein of Goldman Sachs, Pete Peterson of the Blackstone Group, Jamie Dimon of JPMorgan Chase, and Rupert Murdoch of News Corp.

Little by little, the 99% is chipping away at the 1%’s power. Watch the video series to get the basics on how that power is being wielded.

Lloyd Blankfein, Goldman Sachs

Pete Peterson, Co-Founder of the Blackstone Group

Jamie Dimon, CEO of JPMorgan Chase

Rupert Murdoch, President of News Corp

KNOW THE FACTS

• In just the last generation, the richest 1% almost quadrupled their incomes.
• The average wealth of the 1% is 225 times bigger than the wealth of the typical household – the highest it’s ever been.
• Three decades ago, CEOs made about 40 times as much as an average worker – now CEOs make almost 200 times as much as regular employees.
• Last year, half of Americans earned less than $26,000 while CEOs at top 500 companies raked in an average of $11 million.
• Over the past decade, earnings for middle-class Americans actually fell. In fact, working Americans’ wages are now a lower percentage of our economy than they’ve ever been.
• The divide between the richest and the poorest is worse in America than it is in nearly all of Europe and Asia and much of Africa. It’s about as bad as in Rwanda and Serbia – and it’s bad for our economy.
• The 1% is not an accident – it is the result of policies our government chose to pursue.