Wall Street Whiners

If you are from the future and reading this....please go to whatever device you have to look up historical events. When I was a child, it was encyclopedias. Just so you don't have to research what an encyclopedia is, it is a series of books, divided alphabetically by topic. For instance, if you want to research birds, you would grab the "B" book and look it up. As an adult, the most popular tool is the Internet. Specifically, "Google" or "Wikipedia". If information is found there, it's a good at the bible in terms of using it for credibility of your argument.


I mention this because this particular post is in reference to an event that is currently happening, this fall of 2011. It's called Occupy Wall Street. Look it up. For now, at this moment in time it is a bit confusing what the protesters are actually protesting for. Maybe by the time you folks from the future are reading this, the "movement" will be over and someone can time travel back to 2011 and let me know.



There are a couple of issues I have with "Occupy Wall Street". The first issue I have is that if you take 10 people from this group of protesters, isolate them and ask them what they are protesting, you will get 10 different answers. They are united only by the fact that they are camping out together in New York City. One person will say "I am here because my parents lost their jobs and could not pay their mortgage. Now the bank foreclosed on them and it's not fair!" My response to that: Ummm, what's not fair about that? It's called collateral. They agreed, in writing that the bank owns or partially owns the house until the debt is paid in full. You don't pay, they take it away. Think about it in smaller terms. You bring your shirt to the dry cleaners. You don't pay the bill, you don't get your shirt back. What's not fair about that?



Another protester will cry "Rich people should give their money to poorer people". Huh? You mean despite giving to charity, having money taken out of paychecks for social security, unemployment benefits and a ton of miscellaneous taxes, they should fork over more money to people who either don't have jobs or do have jobs but make less money? If kids in school today are not promised that if they study and do well, they can get a great job and make lots of money..what would motivate them to do it? Let's put in another way. You, as a parent give your child $5.00 a week allowance. In order for him to earn the money, he must clean his room, feed the pet, set the table for dinner and put his dirty clothes in the hamper. Imagine if your child was then forced to give $2.00 each week to his classmate who does not get an allowance or gets only $1.50 a week allowance. How is this equal? How is this fair? Now YOU are the one paying for some other kid to do nothing. If your kid is forced to give almost half his allowance to some putz who probably doesn't have any chores, do you think he is going to do his at home? Nope. He is going to say "screw you, mom and dad. Why should I do all this work to just give what I earned to Joe who doesn't have to do chores? I think I'll pass on the chores, do nothing and then perhaps Mary will give me half of her allowance instead." Put that on a grander scale. Why should Mr. CEO who stays at work until 10:00 at night and misses the school plays have to fork over what he earned to someone who punches out at 5:00 everyday?


I recently had a facebook discussion with someone who stated that (direct quote) "anyone who earns over $200,000.00 should give money to those who don't make as much. How many toys can a person have?" Are you fucking kidding me? When I debated her, I gave my allowance example. How would she feel if it was her school aged kid giving away his hard earned money? Then she started singing another song. She then twisted her position to state that people put too much emphasis on working long hours and not quality time with family. That we should have learned from 9/11 what is most important. This is what I'm talking about...you confront a Wall Street Whiner about what they are fighting for and they fucking change the story. So, is it forgiving loans, the rich paying for the poor or the hard workers who should pay more attention to their families instead of working so much? By the way, if someone wants to work harder to become more successful and make more money..who cares? It's their life, let them live it. If they have regrets when they are older about it, so be it. But don't push your life opinion on them.



I understand that many of these people who are camping out at the park all day are either unemployed or have flexible hours in which they do have all this free time to protest. I have NEVER been to a protest. If I wasn't working, then I was looking for a job. However, if they have all this free time to hang out in the city shouting and waving signs about corporations (not much word about government) helping out the less fortunate, WHY AREN'T THEY USING THEIR FREE TIME TO HELP THE LESS FORTUNATE!!!!! These people are obviously in a position to kill time. How about donating some of that time to a place like Meals on Wheels. Instead of crying how you need help, go out and deliver a meal to someone who is disabled and can't leave their apartment. How about signing up with Big Brother / Big Sister. At 3:00, put your freaking sign down and pick up a kid at school. Take them to the park, play checkers, teach them how to pitch a tent.


I truly believe that many of these whiners are kids who grew up receiving trophies, even though their team lost. Kids who received accolades for doing a mediocore job. It was, and kind of is still is the trend to do these things to not only be "fair", but to increase confidence and placate irrate parents. It obviously has back fired. Now the kids are adults and they don't understand that life really isn't always fair. That you don't get a high paying middle management job just because you went to college (I've been out of college about 20 years and have worked since then. I don't even make what they are expecting). Remember the days of walking into an office and turning in your unsolicited resume? Now these people just post their resumes online and expect employers to come to them.



Don't get me wrong. I agree with their right to congregate and their right for free speech (obviously, I have a blog which gives me the ability to say whatever the frig I want). I also have compassion that there are unemployed people. Its sucks to be broke. But what confuses me the most is that I see job postings online. Indeed.com, ziprecruiter.com, monster.com, etc. On my way to work I even saw a huge banner outside of Wendy's restaurant "NOW HIRING". There are jobs..apply for them. It may not be six figures. It may not be what you studied in college. So what? Start from the bottom, even maybe learn a new trade while you're at it. When is this protest going to end? When every single person has a job and can pay their bills? That's not ever going to happen. So, as my husband says to me, "Don't complain unless you have a solution". To "Occupy Wall Street", I just gave you your solution. Quit yer whining.