I'd like to preface this by saying that I'm usually apolitical. I honestly believe that no one in politics truly has our best interests in mind, and thus we will be screwed no matter what happens. This bleak view makes me pretty apathetic, since it means there's no point in caring. Whether you agree or not is up to you, and I firmly believe everyone is entitled to their own opinion. However, I also believe that you should have some sort of basis for your belief and actually know what it is. And here we're approaching our actual subject.
Today's Daily Hate is brought to you by the Occupy Wall Street movement. I'm using movement for lack of better terms. I'm honestly not really sure exactly what it is, but it kinda looks like a movement. If a movement had no actual goal, no real stance, and the people involved had no idea what was going on. See, I've been curious about it, mostly because I don't understand why anyone would want to occupy Wall Street to begin with. I mean, it's boring as hell unless you're a financial wizard and its not like the stockbrokers can do anything about the problems inherent with the system.
What I have gathered about the OWS thing is that it's a movement against corporate greed and corrupt government.
Okay, I can get behind that. I mean, stuff like the Enron scandal isn't cool, and companies should try to look after their workers and not just work them to death for peanuts. And, well, they do say we have the best government money could buy. Makes sense. But did I also mention that these people are also against income inequality?
Let's say that again. Income inequality.
Now, correct me if I'm wrong, but the U.S. has a capitalist economy. This means that most businesses are privately held and for profit, which belongs to the owner of the company. This would further imply that if you created a better mousetrap, sold the crap out of it and got rich, the profits would be yours to do with as you pleased. If you didn't create the better mousetrap (or anything else) and just worked for the guy who did, you'd earn a flat wage based on the work you did. You would not be entitled to any of the profits. This pretty much automatically means people are going to have different--unequal--incomes. Income inequality is inherent in the system. In fact, about the only economic system it's not going to be present in (and this is really only in theory) is communism, which doesn't work. You see, people are greedy. We always want more than what we have, unless we're some sort of monk, priest or nun. Capitalism uses this to the economy's advantage by encouraging it--if you want to make more money, work harder, create an even better mousetrap than the other guy, and you will be rewarded. This also encourages innovation and provides a wider market of goods and services to choose from. Also, the business owner who makes more money is able to provide more and better paying jobs, because 1) he needs more staff to keep up with demand and 2) he mas more money to give the staff. Communism, on the other hand, pretty much guarantees stagnation because, well, why should you work harder than absolutely necessary? It's not like you're going to be rewarded. You're going to get the same ration of soylent green whether you make ten steel lawn darts or fifty.
Not that I'm saying soylent green is people or anything.
And this is what they want?! I really doubt that. Part of the problem here is that many of those protesting are really just pissed that they can't pay their bills or they can't get a job. Those are legitimate problems and as someone who was formerly barely making enough money to pay the interest on her student loans and is now back in school to retrain for a better pay line of employment, I understand, I really do. But telling the rich people to give you a cut of money you did nothing to produce is not the way to do it (and I'm not saying all rich people earned their money, either, just that you shouldn't demand handouts). Remember, it they can't be rich, that means you can never be rich, either.
These people are angry (rightfully so), but have no direction and don't understand how the system is actually supposed to work. They want a quick fix to a problem that was decades in the making, and are so busy pointing the finger at whose fault it is and who should fix it that they're completely oblivious to what's actually going on. The current economic problems can't be blamed on any one business or group--it took a lot of people doing to wrong thing to get where we're at. For example, take the housing market. It crashed because banks gave out loans to people who couldn't afford to pay them back. And yeah, there were shenanigans on the part of the banks, with predatory lending and such, but the people who took those loans out bear some of the responsibility, too. You hear complaints about all the speculation with the stock market. Well, I hate to break it to you, but people buy and sell stocks based on how well it's going to do. You don't know for a fact that Company X is going to do well, you're betting that it will. That's how it works. It's really not that much different from betting on a horse race, if you think about it. I'm not saying speculative stock exchanges and subprime lending didn't contribute to the problem, but I am saying there's more to it than that.
The guys on Wall Street didn't cause your problems, and the vast majority of them can't do anything to fix them. Banks can change their lending practices so this doesn't happen again, but they can't fix the current problem. Protesting against Wall Street does nothing, except show how ignorant you are. I barely follow economic news, and I can poke holes in your argument and support them with fifteen minutes of research.
And don't even get me started on the whole 99% thing. Of course the top one percent is the wealthiest. It wouldn't be the top one percent otherwise! What about the top 2-25%? They're also pretty rich. By picking these numbers, you're implying that 1% of the country has nearly all the wealth. You're trying to imply that 99% of the country is living in poverty or homeless which, frankly is absurd. Damn it, do your math, and your research!
Yes, our economic system is in dire peril and yes, our government is corrupt (but still better than many other nations, I must point out), but if you want something done, at least complain to the right people. March on your state capitals, protest in Washington. If you want to shout at the banks, go ahead! But do it at their corporate headquarters, not on Wall Street. Yes, some banks are located there, but a good number aren't. Some are in Midtown Manhattan. I know for a fact that Bank of America and BB&T are actually operated out of North Carolina. The New York Stock Exchange is not responsible for your problems, it's just an indicator. Yelling at it is like shouting at a swarm of bees.
Better yet, instead of standing around holding signs and shouting, why not try to be part of the solution? Write your congressman, invent that better mousetrap and start your own business, create some jobs yourself. If you're charismatic enough, why not try running for office and fixing the system from within (then again, maybe not, if you think Wall Street is responsible for our problems). Work together to come up with a solution to address the problem from our end (we the people do share part of the responsibility, after all).
Yes, the system is broken, but screwing over the banks and corporate America is not going to fix it. (Actually, considering the number of people employed by corporate America and the banks I think it's quite likely to make things worse). Adjusting government regulations so that they both protect and serve the people (whether that is increasing or decreasing them) will fix it. Penalizing businesses and individuals for not following those regulations will fix it. Figuring out a way to make it profitable for industry to operate domestically again (which will provide more jobs that have a living wage) will fix it. Educating people on how to function within society and how to be fiscally responsible will fix it. And some compassion and patience from the people who aren't struggling right now will help, too.
This, while funny, will not fix anything.
(And if you want to live in a communist country, move to China.)
Rant over, crawling back into my hole now. Feel free to leave inflammatory comments below.
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