Occupy

I've been watching the Occupy X movement with intense curiosity and without a lot of comment although I did engage in a brief discussion on a friend's facebook wall about it.

I have kept my powder dry until now and I feel I have a good grasp of what the movement is about and what they want. I can infer from this list of demands that they are hoping to reform congress and pass different acts to place limits on, further regulate, and prosecute criminals they deem to work on Wall Street.

While I don't really agree with a lot of it I can see why they are angry. They feel disenfranchised. Well so do I and most of the other millions of Americans that didn't vote for Obama. That aside if you look over the demands you'll notice they demand that essentially criminals responsible for the banking, housing and whatever other crisis be prosecuted. I'm actually all for that, I'd LOVE to see Barney Frank, Chris Dodd, Jimmy Carter, and all of the other liberals who engineered the housing collapse (which triggered the banking bailouts) to go to prison. Don't believe me? Read this.

Second of all I know they are against income disparity. The growing rift between the rich and the poor. That is one that really tugs on the heartstrings. Poverty of course and how the rich control the money in the country has got to be a sticking point of the protesters. For those of you who know me I'm not anti-rich, anti-poor, or anti much else but I am anti-elitist. I have little patience for those of you who feel you are elite among many. I've met wealthy individuals and would hang out and have a drink with them and I've met poor, destitute idiots who felt superior in every way to me. It goes both ways. No one class is immune to its share of elitists.

So let's examine the poverty issue. Granted this article comes from Heritage.org however they draw their numbers from the Census Bureau so the numbers don't lie. It would appear that the poorest among all Americans have it better than around 70% of the world. We on average live better, have better homes, have better entertainment options, and a higher standard of living than many other countries.

So if a few misguided protesters are being driven by envy, well I'd say it's undeserved but likely rampant. I'd also like to point out that many wealthy athletes are exempt from a lot of the disdain exhibited from the Occupy crowds for some reason. Even the poor like to pull for their favorite team as I don't see Occupy Giant Stadium or Occupy Jerryworld in Dallas protests. That leaves me to believe that a lot of this jealously is urban myth. Something believed to be true and reinforced by media stereotypes such as music videos and athletic commercials. After they are seen over and over again on their color TVs in the houses of the poverty stricken they can't help but garner a bit of resentment.

I'm for the free market. I'm for earning your own way. I'm for student loans, grants, and aid and working to pay it back with your newly earned education. I'm for hard work and earning your way, I'm for living within your means, and I'm for living debt free. If you feel the banks are greedy and only want your money, DON'T APPLY FOR A CREDIT CARD WITH 30% INTEREST to get a new shiny thing! If you don't give them your money they have no power over you! At all, end of story!

Took me a long time to learn that lesson but we are digging our way out as you loyal readers well know by now. The rich, by and large, have earned their wealth. No one is stopping you from being as wealthy as you wish to be but you. Athletes, actors, musicians all earn obscene amounts of money and get little in the way of criticism from this crowd, why is that? Supposed overpaid fatcat CEOs are responsible for more than you'll ever realize when they run a company. Families depend on the decisions of those in charge, good decisions put food on the table and bad ones break a company and put people out of work. Try to sleep with that knowledge, all of that pressure on you and you alone.

Athletes can dunk a ball or throw a touchdown and get millions each year for that. Actors can put out a lousy movie and get paid the same as a great movie. So I'm not sure that the anger Occupy Wallstreet exhibits is directed in the right place or not. Something to think about isn't it whether you agree with me or not. I don't think there are protesters at the houses of Tom Hanks or Julia Roberts, you don't see a Occupy Tom Cruise movement do you?

I'm upset with Congress too and feel they deserve lots of reform. I've blogged about that before, and can sum it up by saying serving in congress is a privilege and not a career. You go, you serve, you go home.

Comparing the anger from the Tea Party and the Occupy movements does seem legitimate to me. Both are equally passionate in what they want but what they want is as far apart from the East to the West. The Tea Party wants restraint on government while the Occupy movement wants restraint on corporations...which (and I can't labor this point enough) hire people such as me and you.

Is it an organic movement? Who can really say at this point, I'd wager George Sorros is funneling money to them somehow and in some fashion though. While the Arab Spring was purely organic and led to overthrown governments the Occupy movement will not topple anything. It'll likely have very little effect over time. The 2012 elections will rid our country of our failure of a President and hopefully a liberal senate and we'll see gains in the house. Jobs will come back and the protesters will go away. Tax rates will lower, drilling will increase, oil prices will lower, and overbearing regulations will dissipate like a bad nightmare. Dawn will break and the country will be new and fresh again, free from the liberal grip that has held it's boot on the throat of freedom!

Well that's a bit dramatic but hopefully that's what will happen anyway:)