I normally don't mix politics and Facebook. I like to keep social
networking limited to friendly exchanges of photos and musings on life.
But I have been overwhelmed by the sheer volume of photos of people hiding
behind statements regarding whether they choose to be or choose not to
be part of the now legendary 99%. This all hits very close to me now
that I have a child. I want him to inherit a world that encourages his
success and a system that acts like soil to the seeds we are planting,
not some desert wasteland of joblessness, homelessness and war. He will
have to work for everything he has, which I wouldn't have any other
way, but there has to be a point at which his hard work is rewarded- not
with handouts, but with increased opportunities.
To
everyone who keeps posting the picture that started it all below, please
read something I read recently from an investment banker in response to
Dave Ramsay's article about the OWS (Occupy Wall Street) movement and
their lack of focus. I disagree with Ramsay. I believe the core
members of this movement have a very clear focus. Pile on several
thousand more people and the message inevitably gets diluted. But I do
believe the OWS movement needs its Martin Luther King. They need a clear voice in the
crowd to eloquently and succinctly state their grievances- because guess
what- they're not all hippie socialists. I don't have the facts or
sources for his information, but I'm sure if you dig you can find it if
you want to.
The income disparity in this country has only gotten worse. Income for the top has increased by over 200% while the rest of the country's income grew at a fraction of that over the past 30 years. Trickle down economics never happened. It collected at the top and stayed there for many reasons; the tax code being just one of them. Great income disparity is a great danger to any country. By this measure, our country looks more like a developing country than the largest economy in the world.
Kids from poor families are largely staying poor. The economic opportunity that this country offered for all has greatly diminished.
Wall Street and other profiteers drove a huge bubble in real estate. When it popped they kept their huge salaries and bonuses, while millions were economically devastated. Very little accountability for this great harm done to our country has occurred. It is past time to work to prevent this from happening again. Wall Street today makes their money on volatility not creating value.
I would agree that protests are not the way to solve these issues, but they are the way to shed light on them and put them in the public conversation.
My family is not asking for a handout, we pay our mortgage, we pay our bills on time, but responsible people like us have been caught in a mire of bureaucracy and red tape even trying to re-finance our mortgage. For 5 years I have not missed a single payment, my credit is impeccable and in July, I began the process of re-financing, I am still waiting while my bank drags its feet. It has cost me over $500 in appraisals and fees. My bank has charged me twice now to pay for documents that come from within its own institution (I bank and have my mortgage through Bank X and yet I have to pay Bank X to retrieve account statements from Bank X). Where are all of these fees going? Why are responsible people being squeezed for every dime? How can anyone expect hard-working middle class people to ever get ahead? Side note- We are moving everything we possibly can to a credit union as soon as this debacle is over.
People like me aren't angry and
disheartened because there are rich people and poor people, they are
angry and disheartened because of the way in which many people connected
to the financial institutions in this country have gotten rich while
getting away with staggeringly unethical behavior in the name of
capitalism (but I'll get to our government and their role later). If
you're reading this and own a home, chances are its worth far less than
what you owe on it. You are underwater and probably don't even realize
it. Are we all supposed to just sit back and say, well, that's
capitalism? That's how things work in America? Predatory lenders and
corrupt banks who preyed upon people's dreams are allowed to get a huge
bailout while families are being forcibly removed from their homes? And
please don't talk about personal responsibility. You and I both know
that uneducated, unaware people were sought out
by predatory lenders. TV ads and mailers made it all seem so easy, so
attainable. People were sold a bill of goods about how easy it is to own
a home. And when the bubble burst, responsible people like us saw the
value of their home plummet while the banks got huge bailouts and the
executives got huge bonuses. Do you begin to see why the 99% movement
has emerged? It's emerged from the kind of horrifying double standards
that allow this to happen in the "greatest country on earth". For me,
it's not an attack on capitalism, it's an attack on dirty, thieving,
conniving, greedy monsters who pretend that everything they're doing is
somehow allowed in a free market because individuals need to take
responsibility for their actions.
Unlike this person
hiding behind their diatribe, I am not content to give my son an
inheritance of this version of the "American Dream" in which his goals
are dependent on a government intent on minimizing regulations that tie
directly to his ability to create a life for himself. Where are the
bailouts without conditions for the families who have been kicked out of
their homes? Not everyone who has debt is a loser who buys IPads and
brand new cars when they can't afford it. Jobs are lost every day and
not always as a result of that employee's bad decisions. The next time
you walk through the doors of your place of work, get down on your knees
and thank God that you did because we have gotten to a place where
simply having a job that pays you and insures you, puts you in an elite
group of people. Having a job you love? That probably puts you in a
different 1%.
Government is no longer for the people by
the people and of the people. It's not that there is a 1%, it's that
we're ruled by them. They do not represent my family any more than they
represent that mystery person hiding behind the poster. Overall, about
200 members of Congress are millionaires. This doesn't include the
value of their homes, their world class health care and five times the
vacation time that most of us have. There are even a handful of
lawmakers who are worth tens or hundreds of millions of dollars.
Congress is getting wealthier at a rate nearly twice that of the general
population. "Of the people"?
Unlikely. But to whom do I assign the blame? How about the citizens
who keep putting these thugs back into office time and time again. Want
a very current, classic example of people we hired playing chicken with
our lives and the economy? Read this:
http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/politics/2011/11/two-senate-jobs-bills-headed-for-failure-today/
I
stand in support of the OWS movement because it is creating a much
needed dialogue in this country. Whether you stand in support or
opposition of this movement is not as important to me as the fact that
you are talking about it.
