What is "Fair"

The idea of economic "fairness" is a relative concept. The occupy Wall Street crowds points to the so-called “rich” and says they do not pay their “fair share” of income taxes.  However, recent tax data shows that more than 50% of all U.S. households pay no federal income taxes. How "fair" is it for half of all American households to pay nothing towards the cost of their government?
U.S. poverty is best understood when it is put into the context of all living human beings. There are now more than seven billion people living on the planet. In 2009 the federal poverty line for annual income in America was $11,161 for a single individual. Being at the poverty line in America does not suggest “middle class” status. The poverty line is a level considered to just short of “destitution.”

Compare and contrast America’s poverty line with the median income of all 7 billion people on planet earth. To be part of the global middle class one must earn about $7,000 per year. This means a person of average means throughout the world takes in $4,000 less per year than Americans considered to be eligible for all government benefits due to their deeply “impoverished” circumstances.
We can infer, when the status of ALL human beings is taken into account, that the 99% of Americans who are glibly referred to as the “downtrodden,” by the Occupy Wall Street crowd, are far better off than the world’s middle class. And most of America’s 99% actually qualify as the wealthiest 1% of all people living on planet earth.

A few questions seem appropriate. Are these "occupy" protestors ignorant of their relatively lofty position in the world of living standards? Are they truly interested in their fellow man? Or are they spoiled class warfare zealots who live in a country where the poorest of the poor live far better than average people all around the world? Some people point to income data in the U.S. Census and try to make the case for economic “unfairness” in America. Forget the U.S. census. Americans live in a global economy. The global census data regarding living conditions and income levels is the only survey that is relevant. A quick survey of the world proves to anyone paying attention that if more taxing of the "rich" was such a great idea, or even a more “fair” economic plan, then all the countless nations with higher tax rates and lower living standards than the U.S. have some serious explaining to do. Margaret Thatcher said the problem with socialism is simple......pretty soon you run out of other people’s money. And those who try in one breath to say capitalism works, but then suggest more socialism is the key to improving living standards, are socialists trying to cloak themselves as capitalists. Fair is fair.

What is "Fair"