Wow! How much Kool-Aid did you drink?
So the majority of the 1% grow rich by lending money at an exorbitant interest and exploiting the 99%?
First, you would like to marginalize the 1% by casting them as vampiric members of our society who obviously gained their wealth by immoral means. It's much easier to determine they are undeserving of their personal property and wealth. I'm sure there is a good portion of the wealthy that inherited their wealth. Does this mean they have no rights to their personal property and how they spend or use it?
Second, some factors in why the middle class in the US is shrinking is our move away from a base of manufacturing, instilling in our youth that they have "rights" to anything they determine they "need" at the expense of others instead of earning it, and allowing a growing number of our society to live off the teet of the government (the taxes paid mostly by the 1%) instead of working for a living.
Every child is told to get a college degree and they'll be handed a six figure income for little work. Guess what? Not every person is college material. Not every person has the abilities to obtain and perform in a high-skilled job. They say the illegals are doing jobs that Americans don't want to do. That's true, because somehow even the most unqualified individual in our country is led to believe they are better than that. Well, all of us are not better than that. Some individuals must do the manual labor and the unskilled jobs. Then there are others who are not willing to put forth the extra effort it takes to climb out of the lower and middle class and achieve greater success. However, this does not mean they are somehow entitled to the benefits of those who are able and willing to put forth the effort.
You look at the individuals who have achieved the "American Dream" and they were not sitting on the couch, smoking weed and watching Jersey Shore or Dancing with the Stars. They are always looking at ways to better utilize their time and resources and how to make the most out of what they have. The 1% are made up of these people and descendants of these people. They invest their wealth so that others may borrow money to open a business, buy a home or send their child to school. Yes, they make money on those investments as well they should. To think that is extortion is ignorant.
Lastly, all I saw in your last paragraph was we want, we want, we want. The only valid portion is to "remove the corruption that is screwing up the system." For this, we must as a nation return to the intent of our founding fathers. We must reduce the Federal Government to a minimalist role and return the power to the States and local governments where we as individuals have a larger voice and our representatives must come face to face with their constituents on a regular basis. When our communities have a greater say in how they are governed, the equity and justice will fall in line with the expectations of that community.
That is where our Republic has failed the most. We are disconnected from the political machine that is the Federal Government and nothing short of a revolution will change that. The problem is what sort of revolution will we have? One that strives for personal responsibility and ownership or one that strives for a larger welfare state that will ultimately cripple this country. Just take a look at Greece.
