In an earlier post, I cited a New York Times article saying that 158 families had contributed about half of the money raised thus far for the 2016 presidential campaign. 138 support Republicans. 20 support Democrats.

I asked readers if anyone was willing to calculate what % of American families these 158 are.

I got similar responses.

“Diane, I did the math and the 158 families you mentioned comprise 0.000130321% of the population of the U.S. I guess we can call them the “10 thousandth percenters.”

“There are about 115 million families in the US. So these 178 families are roughly one-and-a-half out of a million. Wow. Not the one percent. But one-and-a-half of a percent of a percent of a percent.” –G.F. Brandenburg

“To answer the question at the beginning of Diane’s post, if the NY Times is correct that there are 120 million households, then the 158 families represent “The 0.0013166%”.
–P. Garrity

“Diane, I did the math and the 158 families you mentioned comprise 0.000130321% of the population of the U.S. I guess we can call them the “10 thousandth percenters.”–Michael

All these comments appear following the post.

So forget about the 1%. Think instead of the ten-thousandth of 1%. If the people turn out to vote, we can take back our government. We can have a Supreme Couurt that overturns Citizens United (which allows plutocrats to buy elections), a Supreme Court that does not threaten the rights of working people, and a Congress that writes a tax code to reduce income inequality and wealth inequality.

The key to change: Vote. Get your neighbors to vote. This is what really terrifies the ten-thousandth of 1%: A large turnout of informed voters. The 99.999% have power if they use it.