Occupy Wall Street; Ummmm… shouldn’t it be Occupy D.C. ??

I posted the following image on my Facebook wall earlier this week which touched a nerve with some friends of mine in the northwest:

A respected friend and scholar posted the following comment underneath this image on my wall:

That's nice, kid. Get back to me in 20 years' time when you no longer have access to cheap student accommodation, your savings have been wiped out by an illness or other catastrophic event, and you're still working in those three minimum wage jobs because all the good jobs have been outsourced to India by that same 1% whose culpability you doggedly refuse to acknowledge.

As for making it through college on two scholarships that paid for 90% of your tuition, that is about about as rare as unicorn sightings. You are correct about one thing, you are not the 99%. Everyone else is up to their eyes in debt paying for college. I am going to assume you are part of some organization that is footing their bills because I can't imagine someone getting a 3.8 is getting a free ride.... with your "decent" grades in High School.

See how much you will enjoy being laid off while in your mid forties or fifties, and how your various meds cost more than you make. Oh.. don't get sick or hurt.

You obviously didn't take Economics, or you'd realize Wall Street's bad decisions and frauds are costing us all and there's more cost to come. Grow up and look around at what's happening. You are being screwed and you don't seem to even know it. Oh... and another thing, kid. You're not debt free. The clowns in both parties who run this country spent $2 Trillion on wars of choice. Your share of that is about $5K. Today's Wall Street Journal will tell you that wages are down in this country and won't rise for at least 10 years.

There are 5 unemployed for every job opening. Median household income fell 23% between 2007 and 2009, and half of American workers now make $500 a week or less. The US has the 2nd lowest economic mobility in the developed world. So... considering your war debt and stagnant wages and the unemployment picture and the fact that you won't be buying a house anytime soon.... I have one question: Why aren't you in the streets?

Although I agree with many points, I didn’t really appreciate the delivery and disagree with the hipster whining. Instead of occupying the symptom go occupy the root. Why attack the arm if you really want to chop off the head? If you really want to call attention to the problem, GO OCCUPY THE WHITE HOUSE. I hereby call all those who currently camping out to grab their Starbucks and catch a train a bit further south. Tell them to balance our budget, not tomorrow, TODAY! Tell them to lead by example!

My reply to the above comments was the following:

By your the tone of your post, and degrading use of the word "kid", i can tell you are quite impassioned on this topic. Just to clarify, I was too white and too middle-class to qualify for any scholarships or grants (besides $500 book scholarship from a Seattle Times paper route I qualified for because of an early morning route I had for 5 years as a kid). I had to work hard in college, didn't drink/party, balanced my job and education every day for 4 years until I graduated and have continued to work hard every single day since. I lived with in my means and didn't take out a single loan.

Getting into my thirties and pushing to establish my career has been very depressing as most my savings/investments have been flushed down the toilet. I've had jobs I didn't necessarily enjoy, but humbly did them to the best of my ability until a better opportunities came along. I agree the Uber-rich are getting richer and the banks committed the largest instance of insurance fraud and should be held responsible. I have no idea what we are still doing in the middle east and I thought that was part of the "Change" that was promised with the incumbent president. I simply feel that the work ethic of America's young adults and the expectation to live the life style their parents had to build up over a lifetime has caused a tide of entitled-laziness. Instead of getting out there and making it happen, it has become i deserve this because I live and breath.

The general welfare mentality that able-bodied individuals feel justified from taking socialized monies instead of setting their pride aside and taking a less-than-desirable job is beyond me.
America messed up, we will need to suffer for a bit just like anyone else who has mismanaged their personal finances. The only rights anyone should expect is the right to Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness. I understand 'Pursuit' to be an action-word requiring hard work. I understand that you are implying big business is thwarting that pursuit. However a bunch of college students, assuming (as you did above of me) they squandered these loans that they freely borrowed to pay for a tuition outside of their means, living in apartments outside of their means and using those borrowed fund to purchase hoards of alcohol just doesn't ring true to me.

I did take economics. Twice in fact (i got a C the first time and wanted a better grade). I believe in Adam Smith's theory of the invisible-hand. Outside of regulating monopolies and ensuring free trade, I do not believe in government infringement. I do not believe in the bailouts. Bad businesses should fail in a free market economy. I do believe the banks and wall street should be held responsible for their role for purposely artificially-inflating the market for their own gain. I believe the answer is everyone learning again what it means to live within their means, beginning with the federal government leading the way by example. This will require deep cuts to programs that don't fit into the 'rights' mentioned above and the lack of political posturing. I also believe that we are going to have to feel the pain for NOT living within our means for so long, which means putting hour heads down like the buffalo caught in a winter storm and work hard to push forward. It's good to feel the pain. It's hard to appreciate the good without knowing the bad.

In conclusion, this is the time for the CHANGE that was promised. It's near impossible to make hard decisions when things are 'good'. The role of government should be checked against every new piece of legislature that hits the floor. I believe the role of government is to simply protect an individuals rights from being infringed on by someone else, to invest in the proper education of it's citizens and a social program to assist those who can't do for themselves and that's it. Everything beyond that is fluff and in my opinion does not belong in a Capitalistic society. Every publically run program WILL become bloated, mismanaged and does not belong in a free market economy. Once a dollar is committed to fund a government run program it takes times like these to trim it back.

Obama is still right, holding to his promise he made when he took office. It IS time for change. Time to step aside and give up the credit cards and step aside. The following summarizes my feelings (albeit using more swears than I would vocally express…). CAUTION: Do not watch if you are offended by profanity.

 

Why is he so angry you may ask? Well let’s see the grim summary at the general picture my fellow Americans are looking at:

On a lighter note, I came across this related poster and found it pretty funny: