What distracts from the discussion is using a term which lumps mid-career doctors in with billionaires while only talking about the billionaires.
Confusion might not be the best word, but we should avoid perpetuating the notion that the entire 1% is to blame for average people not getting ahead.
Because it's a simple number to write.
Lay-people using this term have no idea that the 1% includes doctors and lawyers, they just assume it's ultra-rich bankers, executives, and hedge fund managers. Yes, that means that if you're incapable of understanding context it might sound like they're talking down on doctors and lawyers. But I assure you they're not.
> And "railing against" != confusion. If enough people believe something, certain people in that group can do some pretty messed up shit without exactly "railing" first.
What are you even saying?
That summary jumps seamlessly from a literal use of "the richest 1%" to "A global network of tax havens" without any indication that they've suddenly begun talking about a much smaller set of people.
Or browse articles about the 1% on occupy.com or Huffington Post:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/news/top-1-percent/
Both sometimes use "1%" to refer to literally the top 1% wealthiest people, and sometimes to refer to the ultra rich. You can jump from a numbers-based article about where the 1% earn their money to a screed about how "the one percent" are putting out expensive videos downplaying the plight of minimum-wage workers.
It's a rare political term that actually has a pretty clear meaning. It's a bit vague in that it could refer to income or net worth, and nationally or worldwide, but it's way better than stuff like "liberal" or "conservative" or "terrorist." Using such a precise term as a lazy synonym for "the ultra rich" is ridiculous.
Hint: It's because they haven't suddenly begun talking about a much smaller set of people.
None of the links you posted are talking about the literal 1% as the problem. They'll reference statistics about the literal 1%, but only because the literal 1% includes the figurative 1%.
> It's a rare political term that actually has a pretty clear meaning. It's a bit vague in that it could refer to income or net worth, and nationally or worldwide, but it's way better than stuff like "liberal" or "conservative" or "terrorist." Using such a precise term as a lazy synonym for "the ultra rich" is ridiculous.
I totally agree with you, and personally I try not to use the term because I think using it shows poor communication skills: I think it's exemplary of everything that made the occupy movement largely unsuccessful. But it also shows poor communication skills to derail a discussion just to enforce the usage of your terminology, even if your terminology is more accurate.
There is no movement to overthrow doctors. Stop defending people who aren't under attack.