I think I understand what is going on with the Occupy Wall Street movement. They want life to be more fair. They think that the unfairness of life and our current economic woes are the direct result of banks policy and the greedy, evil corporations on Wall Street. Hence the gatherings across the country to protest the profits of these evil companies and banks.
The vast majority of these protesters, however, cannot elucidate what it is that they want exactly; what it is they are trying to do, they simply want things to be fair. So, basically, the way that I'm reading their goals is they want the wealth to be redistributed evenly amongst the masses. They want to have a part of the earnings of others labors, they want something for nothing. I've heard other pundits define this as an attempt start a "Tea Party" like movement across the left. But where the Tea Party had a clear cut, well defined goal the Occupy crowd has no clue. PROTEST! It worked in Egypt, right?
A lot of our current economic woes can be traced directly to Carter Era Policy that was put in place to try and make things "more fair". I've actually heard the argument that "...if I couldn't afford it, the bank shouldn't have given me the loan..." Really? Really? No, you should be able to look at a loan and determine if you could pay it back or not. Was there predatory lending? Absolutely. Lending Acts passed by our government from 1968 to the present day kinda allowed this to happen. Shoot, the gov't even got into the predatory lending business themselves. But in the end it still comes back to the borrowers. Who applied for the loan? Who should have read the loan papers? Who signed the paperwork? The Borrower. And the Lenders (usually more than just "banks" per se) used gov't policy to justify what was happening.
So, now it's come back to bite us in the butt and the 99% are in the streets demanding their fair share.
So, let me as them this question: WWJD? Jesus? No, Jobs. What Would Jobs Do?
Most everybody in the world has heard by now that we lost another Great American yesterday. Mr Steve Jobs, the man who brought about the personal computer revolution, lost his battle to cancer. I offer my condolences to his family who are no doubt hurting and missing him today.
But, how would Mr. Jobs respond to this situation? The man was kicked out of the company that HE started! Did you hear him cry that it was unfair and pitch a fit in the street? Nope, he got involved in another project and helped get Pixar Animation off the ground. Then, when the idiots ran Apple into the ground he went back and TURNED IT INTO THE BIGGEST COMPANY IN THE WORLD! You never heard him cry and whine about life being unfair. He simply got over himself and refocused and carried on with life.
And if you truly don't like how a company or bank operates then don't use them! And let the companies that do business with them know that you won't be doing business with them either as long as the affiliation lasts. Be prepared to stick to your guns and do without "stuff" in your life as a result. You don't like KFC because they are mean to chickens?? Fine, boycott all Pepsi products. Do research and find out who all supplies stuff to KFC and stop buying their products. Get your friends and family involved, they get their friends and family involved and pretty soon KFC will either be out of business as they can't sell stuff or get supplied or you will get live, free range chickens in your order that you can do with as you please.
So, to my friends who are occupying Wall Street and protesting capitalism, either truly divest yourself of everything that the free-market system supplies in your life, move to a truly communist country (are there any?), or ask yourself how you can get a piece of the American Dream. What Would Jobs Do?
Rest in peace, Mr. Jobs. You will be ever remembered with the likes of Edison and Ford.
No comments:
Post a Comment