---
title: Occupy Wall Street, Learning to Share the Wealth
description: Some folks just don't know how to share - whether it be a lap lane in a swimming pool or money and power.
image: https://www.spiritusfinancial.com/hs-fs/file-15874409-jpg/images/occupy_wall_street_sharing_the_wealth.jpg
---

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# MONEY matters

Mark Zaifman's thoughts on money, global economic trends and politics

# Occupy Wall Street, Learning to Share the Wealth

** [Mark Zaifman](https://www.spiritusfinancial.com/blog/author/mark-zaifman)   |   ** Mon, Nov 07, 2011 @ 12:00 PM

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![occupy wall street sharing the wealth](https://www.spiritusfinancial.com/hs-fs/file-15874409-jpg/images/occupy_wall_street_sharing_the_wealth.jpg?width=295&height=221&name=occupy_wall_street_sharing_the_wealth.jpg)

Last week Lemony Snicket's Daniel Handler wrote these **[13 Observations on Occupy Wall Street](http://occupywriters.com/works/by-lemony-snicket)**. I caught him on [**Rachel Maddow's show**](http://www.bing.com/videos/watch/video/lemony-snicket-on-observations-about-occupy-wall-street/63k08vv?cpkey=4b4f5ef6-4e1c-4ed7-905c-72dd4dceb342%7C%7C%7C%7C) last Friday where he shared the story of how these observations came about.

While taking a swim at his health club, he found he had to share a lane as it was a little more crowded than usual. The guy he was to share the swimming lane with wasn't too happy about it, and had no intentions of sharing his lane because, "I'm a major donor in this building, so I don't think I have to share a lane."

Clearly this guy has a few things to learn about sharing, both a lap lane in a swimming pool or money and power. This **[unfortunate event](http://lemonysnicket.com/)**, inspired Daniel to write his [**13 observations**](http://occupywriters.com/works/by-lemony-snicket) on the way home on the bus.

I especially like observation number 13 - *"99 percent is a very large percentage. For instance, easily 99 percent of people want a roof over their heads, food on their tables, and the occasional slice of cake for dessert. Surely an arrangement can be made with that niggling 1 percent who disagree."*

Surely it can.

Photo by [smith_cl9's](http://www.flickr.com/photos/24415055@N00/)

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