The brilliance of Occupy Wall Street

I know I’ve been on this horse for a long time. But, there’s just so much to say about Occupy Wall Street. Since it’s a Friday, I’m going to share videos from YouTube about this and provide my commentary.

My idea for this started with Steven Crowder’s video for the week. So to understand where I’m starting from, here’s the video:

Well this inspired me to look into some videos right from OWS. What are these people thinking?

The first piece of entertainment involves a guy complaining about racism (which I didn’t know was part of the OWS mission). He complains about people calling white people crackers and saying that it’s wrong when anyone says that white people are part of the problem. Oh wait, that’s what he does. His definition of capitalism, by the way, is the middle finger. I missed that one in my econ classes. Be warned, there is a LOT of profanity… because apparently profanity helps make someone sound sane and rationale.

“Name a black person who has the power to control anything in this country?” Did he really ask that?!?

This next one cracks me up! I knew it was going to be interesting when it starts off with one person calling another “Comrade.” But the real gem is when a woman complains about paying taxes on her unemployment. Hold on. Now I’m not sure how exactly the taxes work on unemployment, but let me get this straight. She gets free money and then the people who give her the money ask for a little bit of it back? She then complains about corporations that are profitable getting more breaks tax-wise than she is. I question that, but let’s run with it. She thinks it’s upside down that someone who is profitable is treated better than someone who’s not producing anything? I’d like to see where that kind of thinking would get us as a nation. Actually, I take that back. I don’t want to see that because I would be in the middle of it. She then says these corporations are doing nothing. She just said they’re profitable. I challenge her to do nothing AND be profitable. There can only be one Snooki and that role is taken.

Runner-up on this next video is the guy who goes on about how corporations are ruining health care and how he worries how it will impact his daughter and how he wants her healthcare guaranteed. Having had a battle with cancer, I know how corporations work in health care. When I needed a scan, there was a big “GE” logo on the machine. Who produced the drugs I needed? Medical corporations. It was a network of “evil corporations” that brought the doctors I needed together. We could get corporations out of healthcare, but that also means we’re probably headed back towards a world of leeches and other medieval kinds of healthcare. But enough talk. Enjoy!

Next up is a student complaining about how we’re pretty much trapped when it comes to going to college. I agree. But isn’t that more because we’ve made the high school diploma practically worthless? She should Occupy a classroom, not Wall Street.

But it seems I’ve stumbled on why the Occupy Wall Street movement exists. The problem is misinformation. Take the guy in this upcoming video:

He talks about a politician. It sounds like he’s saying “Harry Brawn.” I’ve never heard of Harry Brawn. I did an internet search and came up with nothing. There was a Harry Browne. Looking through some books he wrote, he’s clearly a capitalist. Between “The Secret of Selling Anything” and “You Can Profit from a Monetary Crisis” he’s hardly in line with the movement.

He then makes up stuff about the 5th Amendment saying that it says that the people have the right to vote on anything Congress passes. Here’s the 5th Amendment for you:

“No person shall be held to answer for a capital, or otherwise infamous crime, unless on a presentment or indictment of a grand jury, except in cases arising in the land or naval forces, or in the militia, when in actual service in time of war or public danger; nor shall any person be subject for the same offense to be twice put in jeopardy of life or limb; nor shall be compelled in any criminal case to be a witness against himself, nor be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor shall private property be taken for public use, without just compensation.”

Anyone who knows the very basics of the Constitution knows the 5th Amendment covers things such as double jeopardy and self incrimination. It’s not an amendment about Congress, but the rights of the accused. Maybe if this guy spent some time in a government class that taught the Constitution, then he wouldn’t be so gullible.

Finally, I want to take a look at what Occupy Wall Street is accomplishing. They set out to take down the corporate fat cats and stand up for the little guy. Well, how’s that working out?

And yet, Apple Stores and Bank of America branches across the nation are open for business

The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly of Occupy Wall Street

I thought it would be a good idea to break down what we’re hearing out of these nuts at Occupy Wall Street. After all, since they apparently don’t have anything to contribute to the workplace (if they did, they’d go to these things called jobs), it might be interesting to see what they have to say.

 

The Good

While I’ve heard that if you can’t say something nice, don’t say anything at all, it’s really hard to do that with this crowd. However, I wanted to stay true to this. I figured that even a broken clock is right twice a day. So it shouldn’t be too surprising to find something that the NYC campers have gotten right.

One common theme at OWS is in regards to the bank bailouts and how those were a mistake. That’s very true. The banks should have just failed. Americans were insured thanks to FDIC and it wouldn’t have been as disastrous as some painted it to be. Those who could run quality banks that didn’t take stupid risks could have stepped up and filled in the gap. If there was any concern about lost revenue, the government could have selected to allow dollars that have left the US for tax reasons to return to the country tax free and we could have new investments to make up for any loss that may have happened.

As far as those who had more in a bank than what they were insured by the FDIC, well that’s their problem. I’ve heard from a number of people who bring up cases like Enron. Well if there’s anything to be learned from Enron, it’s that we shouldn’t put all our eggs in one basket. We constantly hear about building up a nest egg and we take that a bit too literally as a single egg can only be in one place. Here’s a novel concept: Have nest eggs and put them in different places. That way, when one goes bust, it’s not the end of the world.

The Occupy Wall Street Crowd also seems to be opposed to crony capitalism. Well they can join the Tea Party and a number of conservatives. I hear Michelle Malkin and Sarah Palin complain about this more than Keith Olbermann. While most comparisons between the OWS crowd and the Tea Party are completely misguided, this is the one and only place where they are similar. I just find it interesting that I haven’t seen too many signs about Solyndra at the protests. Perhaps they aren’t against all crony capitalism. They’re just against the cases they don’t agree with. So much like the broken clock, OWS is right on two occasions.

The only thing about their these two complaints would be that it shows how misguided OWS really is. The bank bailouts and crony capitalism are things done by Washington and not Wall St. The government didn’t have to give hand outs to these organizations. Why are they camped out in New York?

 

The Bad

The Occupy Wall St Crowd constantly says that they are the 99%. Actually, that’s far from the case. They’re more like the 1%

• Around 7% of the people in the world have a college degree
• Only about 45% of the countries in the world are free
• Less than 9% of people in the world own a car
• About 20% of people in the world own a TV
• 40% of people in the world don’t have indoor plumbing
• They’re asking for iPads and iPhones which would put them in a global minority
• Then there’s water
• A 5 minute shower uses more water than some people in developing countries use in an entire day
• 884 million people lack access to safe water. That’s about one in eight
• Half of the world’s hospitalizations are attributed to water-related illnesses

In the case of OWS, a number of them have college degrees, own a car, have a TV, have indoor plumbing (or have been using a cop car as a replacement), and can get clean water. Given all of this, OWS is closer to representing the 1% of the world than the 99%.

 

The Ugly

I could go into the sanitary issues currently at play in the hippie camps, but that’s all too easy. And since a picture is worth a thousand words, I’ll just use a couple of those.

I like the sign that says “Capitalism Doesn’t Work” in the background. In this camp of socialists, garbage collectors apparently don’t work. If nothing else, that’s enough for me to side with the greedy capitalist fat cats.

I like how the hippies are using cardboard for signs and then just abandon them. I wonder how many of them are tree huggers.

OK. Now that we’ve poked fun at that, let’s focus on the complete ignorance in one statement I’ve heard all too often from the OWS movement. They say corporations aren’t people.

When I was in high school, I had some money set aside for my college education. Well, I wanted to increase the amount of money in that pot. So what did I do? I bought stock.

I didn’t buy a lot, but at one time, I was part owner of Advanced Micro Devices (AMD), a corporation that makes computer processors. I was a part of that company. If the company went belly-up, I would have lost something. I was invested in the corporation.

Corporations are people who have come together for various reasons. Some are looking to make some money so they can live out their dream. Others are trying to create a product or service that people will like. When a corporation fails, people are the ones who are hurt because they were a part of that corporation. If corporations weren’t people, then when Enron went south, nobody would have cared. Nobody would have argued to bail out GM or Chrysler if corporations weren’t people.

But then OWS doesn’t understand this. They just see “corporation” and think of it like it’s a machine. They don’t think of the car salesman who’s working to support his family by selling cars with a corporate logo on it. They don’t think of the bank teller when they see a giant “Bank of America.” They don’t consider the engineer who earned his/her position by being the best at what they do when they look at a computer. They look at a corporation and think it’s a robot. That’s far from the truth. Corporations provide jobs, products, and services for all of us. The same can’t be said of these bums who are trashing a park and not producing anything for the rest of us. Corporations came together and put together my computer, phone, and meals. These socialists came together and put together a giant pile of garbage and the biggest indictment of the American education system to date. That’s just ugly.

So as OWS goes into another week of camping in a park and no clear voice, keep in mind that while there’s some good, it’s outweighed by a lot of bad and a whole lot of ugly.

Let’s Focus on What Lasts

So my Twitter feed has been blowing up regarding Kim Kardashian’s wedding. Now let’s ignore the fact that Kim Kardashian makes almost no real contribution to society (Just edging out the Occupy Wall St. crowd in real relevance). But instead look at our culture’s reaction to the whole event.

We, as a nation, have become obsessed with weddings. It has become our primary focus when it comes to relationships. A number of sources report the average cost of a wedding being over $25,000. That’s a down payment on a house! There’s even people who hold the title “Wedding Planner.” We’ve become so focused on that one day that we hire people to make it perfect.

From just observing our culture, it appears that people get married so they can have a wedding instead of having a wedding so they can get married. This is the most backwards thing we have going on as a country.

I’m reminded of a story I heard from a pastor friend of mine. A couple he was going to marry was spending thousands upon thousands of dollars on the wedding. Yet, when it came to a $45 fee for premarital counseling, they turned away from it, saying it was too expensive. So despite evidence that suggests premarital counseling can increase the chance that a couple will stay together, they couldn’t cut back on the wedding cake or flowers in order to afford it. Instead of “’til death do us part,” their marriage runs the risk of lasting as long as the cake or the flowers.

Yet, where is our focus? It’s on the wedding day. It’s on a 24 hour period and then for some, the week or so honeymoon after it. That’s all indicative of why we have such a high divorce rate in the US. It tells quite the story.

Why isn’t our focus on the 50 year wedding anniversaries? Where are the $25,000 celebrations of a marriage that lasts? Why do we champion a one day event that can be negated by a few legal documents? But here we are… a nation obsessed with weddings.

Now I’m not married. But when I picture the idea in my head of being married, I don’t immediately think of the flower arrangement. I don’t imagine the bride’s dress. What I picture in my head looks more like this.

Well, not quite. I wouldn’t have a mustache and I wouldn’t have a hat like that. But that’s the idea.

Let’s redirect our focus. Instead of being obsessed with weddings, let’s get excited about marriage. Perhaps that will help out our country more than anything else.

Ignorance or Arrogance? The President Presents a Lack of Understanding

This week, President Obama held a press conference discussing a number of issues, but center stage was the President’s jobs plan. It ended up being a display of either Obama’s ignorance or arrogance.While this applies to a number of issues that were discussed, the part that stuck out the most were claims regarding the Republicans and their jobs plan.

One thing Obama said was “They’ve given me a list of, well, here’s the Republican job creation ideas: Let’s pass free trade agreements.”

If Obama did any homework, he would know that the Republicans have offered more than that. In fact, free trade isn’t their central push. The center of the Republican jobs plan is to cut back on excessive regulations that make it hard for companies to invest and build. That can be seen in the legislation they’re pushing and passing in the House of Representatives. But that’s not the picture painted this week by the White House. President Obama acted as if the Republicans are doing nothing and offering nothing.

This can be seen in other statements by Obama “…they haven’t given a good reason why they’re opposed to putting construction workers back on the job, or teachers back in the classroom.”

It’s not about putting construction workers or teachers back on the job. It’s that these approaches don’t amount to much. They don’t generate work through their work. Once the road is built or the school year is over, that’s the end of the story. It’s clear that Obama’s mentioning these jobs because how could anyone be opposed to putting teachers to work and construction workers on the job? It’s clear because these are the occupations he goes to over and over and over. He said “teachers” nine times and “construction workers” four times in the press conference. By the way, the Republicans did say why they’re opposed to Obama’s plan. The Republicans did that back in the middle of September. Either Obama’s ignorant or too arrogant to actually listen to the other side.

This wasn’t a one time thing. President Obama also said that anyone out there who’s thinking of voting against his bill “needs to explain exactly why they would oppose something that we know would improve our economic situation at such an urgent time for our families and for our businesses.” Again, the Republicans did that almost a month ago.

More ignorance came up when Obama said “If it turns out that there are Republicans who are opposed to this bill, they need to explain to me -- but more importantly, to their constituencies and the American people -- why they’re opposed and what would they do.” How many times do the Republicans have to say why they’re opposed to the bill until Obama understands that they’ve done this. Also, this shouldn’t be an “if” statement. Anyone who follows Washington knows that there are Republicans who are opposed to the bill.

Obama stuck with this whole thing, saying that Republicans are opposed to things such as tax cuts. He said “It is now up to all the senators, and hopefully all the members of the House, to explain to their constituencies why they would be opposed to common-sense ideas that historically have been supported by Democrats and Republicans in the past. Why would you be opposed to tax cuts for small businesses and tax cuts for American workers?” Again, the Republicans have said what they don’t like about the bill but they also talked about what they did like. In the memo released back in September, the GOP stated they liked eight different parts of the Obama jobs bill including tax cuts. But Obama didn’t hear that for some reason. It’s as if he wants to be in gridlock with the Republicans. He’s not trying to find common ground and he’s not showing urgency. If he was, he’d just run with these parts of the bill and work on the others later.

The urgency issue is one that Obama did stress during the press conference. He used the phrase “right now” four times in his opening. He went on to say it more than 15 times regarding the economy. I’d say that Obama views the matter as being urgent, but he said that the Senate would vote on his bill next week. On the same day, House Speaker John Boehner released a statement praising the House for passing a part of the Republican jobs plan. During the same week, the House would consider another bill limiting regulations on businesses. This isn’t “next week” talk. It’s here and it’s now. If anyone acting “right now,” it’s Speaker Boehner and the GOP.

President Obama also proved himself ignorant of the arguments being made by his opposition. He said “And historically, Republicans haven’t been opposed to rebuilding roads and bridges. Why would you be opposed now?” It’s like he really doesn’t understand why, with our massive debt and out-of-control federal spending, Republicans would be opposed to building roads and bridges. It’s like going to Abraham Lincoln’s wife the day after the President was shot and saying “I don’t know why you didn’t enjoy your time at the Ford Theater. You usually love going there!”

This was not a display of leadership. It was a little over an hour of finger pointing and blame games. By showing up completely clueless to a press conference, Obama ended up looking completely ignorant or arrogant. Neither are characteristics that resonate with voters.

Sign of the times

I’ve been keeping tabs on the Occupy Wall Street movement mostly because I find the whole thing incredibly hilarious. But I also find it incredibly disturbing, a sign of the times, and an indicator of a rough future.

Before what’s going to be a rather sad discussion, I thought I’d both inform people what the whole Day of Rage ordeal is and give people something to lighten the mood.

Tweet about that corporate greed!

So here we have a group of people complaining about, well, money. Just about every video or picture I’ve seen involves people that don’t look like they’re starving or incredibly poor. That whole line in that video about tweeting about the corporate greed on the iPhone is very telling. They have iPhones… that require data packages around $30/month… and aren’t the cheapest things to buy.

I think of all of this and I’m reminded of a few historic events. The first I thought of is Shays’ Rebellion. The key difference is that Shays was flat broke and was an unpaid veteran, not a whiney hippie with a film degree, but there are connections. Both were upset with the current leadership and it largely had to do with money.

Another historical event I think of is the French Revolution. Again, monetary disputes proceeded the violence. Because of this angst, we also got the guillotine as a symbol of what happens when people don’t toe the line.

I’m still not done. Remember the Nazis of Germany? What was an issue in Germany that let them rise to power? It was a horrible economy in Germany where inflation was out of control and unemployment was high. What caused Germany to be in that situation? It was the printing of money to pay off incredibly large debts that Germany had to pay under the Treaty of Versailles. People allowed a anti-Semitic murderer lead their country because their first concern was money.

When people start getting upset over cases of the “have and have-nots,” history shows that things turn bad, quickly.

Let’s face it. This world will never be perfect. We’re always going to have our problems. What’s telling is how the people of the world react to certain problems and what problems they get the most upset about.

Here are a few other issues going on in our world:

• Mexico is considering offering two year marriage contracts, negating the whole “’till death do us part,” bit.
• A pastor in Iran is facing execution for being Christian.
• We have students in this country who can’t read.
• We have kids getting hooked on deadly drugs
• We have kids who aren’t growing up as a part of a loving family
• We have actual people in America starving
• Virtues like honesty, character, and discipline are disappearing from our American culture
• Our media offers little of intellectual value and instead provides numerous products of low moral fiber.
• The drug trade is killing people left and right

And yet which problem are people protesting right now? It’s over who has stuff and who doesn’t. I’m not saying people should let others walk over them and ignore injustices. What we need to do is prioritize what’s wrong with our world. On the top of the list is NOT what a group of 20-somethings walking around in their designer clothes with their fancy cellphones are complaining about.

The guy with the fancy cell phone and the guy holding the sign with the nice pair of jeans need to get a clue.

Tattoos are expensive. You have money. Quit your crying.

Similar tents can be purchased for upwards of $400 at Cabela’s.

Where’s the cry to end the killing of innocent people in the noble name of giving people a high thanks to the modern drug trade?

Funny how this guy doesn’t have a marriage vow duct taped to his mouth.

These people and their message won’t fix our world. There’s an old saying that the best things in life are free. These things are family, love, and strength of character. And yet these things are disappearing from our country as well. Where’s the protest? Where are the people storming the elements of our world that are hurting those things? When a law firm had a billboard that said “Life’s short, get a divorce,” where were the tents outside their establishment? Where are the people holding signs outside a drug cartel’s estate? Where are the protests over kids who are getting a poor education? It’s just not there.

Occupy Wall Street is a sign of the times. We’ve forgotten what’s important. We’ve become obsessed with the all mighty dollar. As long as that is our focus, it doesn’t matter what happens with these protests. History has shown that our future is going to be dark.

What I’ve Been Up To

It’s been a while since I've posted anything here. I haven’t forgotten or ran out of things to say. I’ve been finishing up another project of mine. It’s been something I didn’t know if I could finish and I don’t know where it will go from here.

I’ve been writing a book. I started it back in about April discussing what I believe to be the problems with American education today. I figured since I had spent a great deal of my professional career in education, I thought that that would be a good topic for my first book. The reason I’ve been absent from this blog is that I’ve been pouring just about every free hour I’ve had into getting this done.

I submitted it to a publisher and I’ll be on the lookout for other potential companies. If anything comes up, I’ll let people know. So stay tuned.

So far, it’s been a learning experience. I still can’t believe I finished it. I don’t know if I’ll ever get it published, but it’s been a growing experience for me. I do have an idea for another book that goes over what I believe to be is the true war on the Middle Class. I’ll need some serious help on that one with research and other things, but I think it could really offer an interesting view on that whole discussion.

There it is. If anything results from it, I’ll be sure to share it here. Until then, posting on here will return to normal.