Well, I don’t know about you but I have had it to here with the Occupy Wall Street nonsense! I think that everyone is frustrated with greed and the government and I think that if there is well organized demonstration that can deliver a clear message I am in support of it. Of course, the Occupy protests have come up short on substance.
So, you’re mad at Wall Street! Where do we begin? There is so much that people can and should be angry about. The promise of change from Obama that really didn’t show any change for the better. Yes, things did change…they got worse! Bank bailouts, corporate bail outs, all upsetting for sure. But, let’s analyze things just a bit…
The Occupy group is extremely selective in who they have been targeting. Corporations are not really the only problem that our country has. And, are they even a problem at all? Most working people work FOR the corporations, whom without they would join the ranks of the Occupiers and be unemployed! Banks – yes, they suck. Too big to fail and all that. Well, these mandates for the bailouts came from the top down. But the Occupiers are not protesting Obama and his current white house, they are going after the beneficiaries of Obama’s mandates.
Let us go one step further, and this is really what my point is in this article. If you have a message I think groups like Occupy are important to raise public awareness. But their message has been diluted and misapplied. Maybe instead of protesting corporations who actually produce something that benefits the working class — maybe they should attack Hollywood actors and TV sitcom stars who reap more profits (all for themself) than the head of a business corporation. Sure, let’s pay the idiot Ashton Kutcher 3/4 of a million dollars weekly for his craft. Maybe this is $20 million a year — and he has produced dribble.
Maybe the Occupiers need to protect the sports world where athletes are easily making $20 million dollar contracts for playing basketball or baseball. Again, they provide no benefit to the working class, except the enjoyment of paying $150 a ticket to sit in the bleachers at Yankee Stadium. I think we have larger problems than Wall Street and the corporations.
In closing, maybe here’s something else people should think about — these indignants with Occupy have caused a massive amount of disruptions to the small businesses around the areas that they hold their protests in. They have also caused MILLIONS upon millions of dollars spent on police work while they march up and down. These millions of dollars are being paid by the 99% – it is coming right out of the very pockets they profess to care about.
Time to stop the bull and focus on directing the anger and protests where they belong. There is more than corporate CEO’s in that top 1% they squawk about and it’s time they start picketing them as well.
The comments in this article are reflecting the writer only (Martin Stevens) and not the readership or advertisers of the magazine, Retailers Forum.