Today, while I was on break from class, I was pissed. I went off on a Tweet Rant on how my douche bag partner didn't show up for our PowerPoint presentation today, eventually I went off about other things that pissed me off. A tweet popped up in my twitter feed about Occupy Wall Street and Occupy Boston. Well, that pissed me off and I went off about how stupid I feel it is. As a human being, I am allowed an opinion. Regardless of how valid or invalid, sound or unsound, my arguments may be, I am still allowed an opinion. Here are my tweets that are followed by supporters comments towards the Occupy movements:
why do you RT the garbage that spews from the fingertips of people like: @StebsClutchShot it only infuriates logical minds
I'm sick of people busting their balls, while protestor protest jack shit. You can't achieve success without working hard for it. #Occupy
Taxpayers of #America deserve a thank you note for funding your outlandish and un-American protest. #Occupy
This received no comment, but a retweet
I am not sure how I can communicate to each of these people with my opinions. I am not about to start political debates on twitter and go back and forth with several people. Maybe I'll just tag them in it and assume they will read it if they have time.
I guess for starters, I am going to put a nice little PR spin on this. I can't say everyone who is protesting in Boston or on Wall Street are a bunch of bums and low lives. Some people there are supporting a cause they believe in. As an American, you have that right. Burning an American flag is a right an American has. I may not believe in that, but it falls under Freedom of Speech. As is this protest. Americans are voicing their displeasure towards the Corporate Politics and their greed in America. Fair enough.
My political views: I believe in Democracy. I believe in Capitalism. I believe a man has the right to make as much money as he wants. I believe in small government. I feel the government should not have a say in your life. I believe in lower taxes. I hate taxes, so does everyone else, but public works (school, libraries, etc...) have to be funded and I am content with that. I feel that when a country is in economic chaos, over taxing people is not the way to approach the situation. If people are losing their jobs, they don't have money to afford anything. Thus being taxed with not money is counterproductive. Laissez Faire. So, with that being said, I have a very conservative/Libertarian view. I am all for the Tea Party movement, because they fit my political philosophies.
I have many issues with Occupy Wall Street/Boston:
- My major issue is, what's the point? This protest has been going for about a month now and finally we have the goals (sort of). Many people are saying "down with capitalism" or "end corporate greed" or "end government bailouts" etc... Those are mixed ideas. You have some that contradict the others. You can't have that. You need to unite under one idea and push forward.
- Another demand I heard (correct me if I'm wrong) was that for the major corporations to pay the people. Wait, what? Now, I'm not entirely sure the exact wording of this, but it mentioned corporations equally distributing money to the middle class and below. Simply going off of the premise, what gives you the right to get that money that someone earned. I don't care if he's in the top wealthiest Americans. He earned that money. Bill Gates earned ever dollar he made. Steve Jobs earned every dollar he made. That one is called Socialism. Say you're a 4.0GPA guy at you school. And the Dean of the college or university wants everyone to have equal GPAs to make the school look better. But the only way to do that is giving some of GPA points to those other students. I assume you wouldn't approve. You earned that GPA. Why should someone piggyback off of your hard work and dedication to your studies? So why piggyback off of someones hard earn pay. Hey, it's all about the Benjamins.
- A lot of the other demands are silly. World peace, end world policing and capital punishment, a lot of fillers, reminiscent of the good old 70's with hippies smoking weed, drinking and having sex, protesting wars and so on. Yeah...
- Another issue is the people protesting. Some of them are misinformed people who are joining a cause for the sake of joining a cause. They're basically doing it for the story. Not all the people protesting are these people, but a good chunk of these people do exist and are ruining your demonstration. And guess what? I'm funding your little protest. Yup, so is my dad, mom, sister, everyone on my street, and so on. We are the tax payers and we are funding your cluster fuck of a protest. I for one, am not happy.
- Are you sure you guys are protesting the right people? I mean, yeah, sure Wall Street does some shady things. That's slightly hard to refute, however, I propose this question, who regulates these things? The government. Who do the corporations payoff to get some people to look the other way? The government. Who's job is it to devise a way to get the economy going? The government. Don't you think, maybe, you should take that protest to Washington DC, preferably to 1600 Pennsylvania Ave (that the White House to all you misinformed protesters)?
Not everyone has the same issues. People are working multiple jobs to support themselves. Some people live at home like I do. I have one credit card. I make about $100 a week and I'm racking up school loans like it's a job. Let's face it most of us work hard to get where we are. The economy is shitty. Unemployment is 9.1%. We have a President, who may mean well, but is in over his head. He doesn't have the experience to get us moving in the right direction. Putting worthless money into a shitty economy is not going to jump start it. Leave it alone, stop fiddling with it and let correct itself. It may take a while, but at some point, it will correct itself. Government handouts need to stop. The government needs to give the power to the people and let our voices be heard. It is our God given American right to have our voices heard and no one can take that away from us. We employee these people through the election process. It's time they start doing what they were elected into office for. Wall Street is not the central problem. It starts in Washington.
I want feedback. Leave some comments down below with your thoughts and ideas. Tweet me with your thoughts too (@StebsClutchShot)! Pass this off to your friends and neighbors and priest and veterinarian and shrink... Everyone!! We're all in this together.
While I do appreciate the gesture of taking to this forum for a more well hashed discussion, I would like to point out in doing so you have effectively hidden this conversation from the very people who need to be reading and commenting.
ReplyDeleteThis is a national discourse that needs to be held in such a venue. To simply say "I am not sure how I can communicate to each of these people with my opinions. I am not about to start political debates on twitter and go back and forth with several people" is to (in essence) back away from a legitimate discussion; which clearly was not your intent.
Now, with that out of the way.
There is a clear and concise goal: limit the private sector's influence on national policy.
Yes, there are a number of issues the collective movement would like to address, and most people don't have a truly informed opinion on all of those issues. However, that is no different than the rest of the nation. In addition to the fact most movements begin in such a manner. This whole thing is VERY young.
What matters is they have gathered for the same over-arcing reason; which they have. The Bankers Association of America has over 450 full time lobbyists in D.C. working for just them. There are barely over 500 elected reps fighting for every interest of the entire nation. That's grossly unbalanced. When the economic priorities of a few supersede the welfare of the masses I will stand up EVERY. TIME.
Also, keep in mind that the largest and most profitable corporations pay ZERO (yes, exactly zero) dollars in taxes. So every bit of aid they get from the government-even minor aide such as the fact that we have a national defense budget to protect their national and international expansion- they take (for free) from everyday tax payers. The long held belief was that business and business leaders create jobs and bolster the economy, thus we have to do everything we can to appease them and keep them around. Unfortunately history bears a different truth. A truth that shows an unprecedented halt in growth, and subsequent collapse of the private sector as a direct result of the tax breaks given to these "job creators". Instead of using that money, given to them in good faith for new jobs, they have cut jobs, cut wages and tried to use the government as scapegoats for policies they funded (with our tax dollars) and pushed through.
So yes, the wages that everyone worked so hard for, were grossly inflated through legal work arounds and laborer neglect.
The cry for higher taxes, and moreover, tax reform is geared to HELP the lower and middle classes. They would actually get more money, even if they're taxed more in certain areas.
But don't get me wrong. I know Washington is just as culpable as Wall St. That's why we're asking for systemic change ala campaign finance reform.
I think that just about covers all of your talking points, save for those that seem to be a comment on the character of the protestors rather than their cause. A convenient and, frankly, far too easy of a distraction. That's why the ISSUES don't get discussed on a national stage.
When I meant reaching out to people I meant to the people that had responded to my tweets. I probably could have made that clearer. 140 characters just isn't enough space to discuss something as massive as this topic. So that was the reason behind this post.
ReplyDeleteI am fully aware that major corporations don't pay taxes and believe this should change. I feel there should be an equal share of the taxes. Everyone pays X%. The percentage, however, is an area of concern that could probably be left for discussion on a rainy day.
Isn't it fair to say that private sector corporations have just as much of a right to have a say in national policy as the people? Some amendments and national policies could have lasting effects on large corporations. They need their voices heard to help shape those sorts of things.
Then you have the unions out their taking more control of things making corporation look like the underdogs. I don't want to paint the picture that unions are bad. In fact some are good, however, a good chunk of them are destroying the private sector. This could be just me, but why hasn't anyone gone after the unions?
At the end of the day, it still falls on the governments responsibilities. And for me, I guess that should be the starting point of many issues at hand.
I'm in favor of a flat tax. More specifically, a high flat tax that guarantees health care, education and retirement. The problem with the flat X% tax (ala Cain's 9-9-9) is that it perpetuates the current wage gap (and in Cain's case worsens it).
ReplyDeleteWhat should someone, whose career wage ceiling caps out under 70k (ala teachers, preachers and nurses) do when the costs of living continue to rise disproportionately to their wages? It is appalling to think that that individual-having done all that is reasonable and to be expected of an average citizen-should be left to struggle. If we were under libertarian rule I would have no issue with unchecked prosperity, and private over public policy. However, the primary goal of a UNION is to strengthen the collective.
People without money, can't buy products. Companies that can't sell products lay off workers and reduce wages to maintain their bottom line. Those laid off individuals can no longer buy other companies' products and the cycle (unregulated)continues. If that doesn't seem like a case for government intervention, I don't know what could be stronger.
Increasing taxes on the poor (which a flat tax would do in almost every case) weakens the economy, and it's immoral to boot.
I share your grievances with unions, and believe they too should be held accountable for their actions against the populous interest. That's why I (and most of OWS) believe campaigns should be exclusively financed publicly. And while I do agree the major industries of America should have a voice, allow me to reiterate a point from my earlier post. There are 535 elected officials serving the entirety of the U.S.' more than 312 million people. There are currently 11,674 lobbyists in D.C. That means there is ONE PERSON to represent the vast interests, wants and needs of more than 584,000 people. The banking industry alone get's nearly 500 advocates.
I'm willing to give Banks (or any industry) a seat at the table. One seat for 584,000 U.S. CITIZENS they employ.
Well, I'm skeptical of Cain 9-9-9 tax plans. It sounds nice though.
ReplyDeleteThe nurses and teachers around where I live can make more than 70k. I don't know it that's just a New England thing or maybe they just have a good union, but they make more than 70K a year. You also have to look at a teacher salary because, they only work 180 days of the year spread out over 9 months. So regardless, 70K for 9 months is just dandy in my books.
And I believe in order for people to be consumers they have to make enough money to purchase things (Ford was on to something). Something needs to be done about that for today's standards. The minimum wage needs to be raised. In MA, minimum wage is $8 and even that is a bit low for the average person.
Everyone has this bright idea that the random "Tax free" weekend is going to spike the economy up a bit. Usually doesn't make a drastic enough of a change. Lowering taxes will put more money in the people pockets Reducing the government should just be a must.
You seem to have a dislike towards lobbyists. Just think, if you get ride of all those lobbyists and stick to one per company, they'll be a lot of lobbyist unemployed... just saying.
And while on the subject, how about them backroom deals. That's another disgusting thing that needs to be looked at. And again, that all falls on the government.