Like most of you, I have been vaguely annoyed by the Occupiers in Zucotti Park and elsewhere.
I casually waved it all off with a flick of my wrist. I thought, oh geez, more boring-assed middle class white people whining and crying about how their useless liberal arts degrees that they crapped out by drinking/partying/beer-ponging their way through a college experience that was paid for by student loans and mommy and daddy, have not garnered them the following: their ohmigosh so totally well-deserved millions, a book deal, or an independent movie contract. For goodness' sake, it's their own damn fault for not being better planners and choosing a training & career path that would actually get them jobs.
I am aware that being affiliated with Occupy Wall Street labels one as being "liberal." I am probably as conservative as they come. I like to think I am an intelligent conservative who became that way after checking all the facts, figures, evidence. I also considered abstract concepts of morality and philosophy. It is not a blind emotional reaction to "society." I like to think I am truly a compassionate conservative, although that phrase has been bastardized by the evil corporate Republican behemoths. What does any of this have to do with OWS? I'm getting there.
For a few years now, I had been leaning somewhat fiscally conservative. And I still am socially conservative for the most part. Yes, even feminists can be social conservatives.
When I say fiscally conservative, I do not mean that megacorporations should be allowed to skim and fleece the working public. I simply mean that people should take responsibility for their financial decisions. I have zero sympathy for people that rack up tens of thousands of dollars in credit card bills for things like jewelry and clothes (f), or cars and tech gadgets (m), and then turn around and whine that they have no money.
I mean that people should not beer pong and party and smoke-pot their way through some BS liberal arts degree, and then expect to be able to get a $60,000-a year job straight out of college. It seemed that a lot of occupiers fell into this category of poor planning, lack of forethought, etc. I visited that website that had a bunch of photos of people holding up pieces of paper on which they detailed their problems. (I'm not referring to the demonstraters with the big clever pithy signs.)
In general, people that complain that they don't get enough money are often irresponsible liberals. So what if all their time was spent playing video games and getting drunk? Dammit, they're entitled to a high-paying job for which they have no marketable skills. So what if they got knocked up while unemployed, unmarried, and with no idea how to take care of themselves? Welfare, i.e. other people's tax dollars, will take care of the problem for you. What does any of this have to do with OWS? I'm getting there.
I have also known for a while that I am educationally liberal -- teach evolution, teach sex education with birth control, more funding for public education, more funding for college scholarships. Yet, for a long while I have remained fiscally conservative and everything that came with it-- capitalism, pro-ruthless cutthroat competition in terms of money.
But then something happened. I can no longer ignore the cries of the dying, starving, devastated, stretched to tearing and breaking middle class. There are teachers and nurses and auto repair small business owners who are protesting. And they have a valid point. I am now a fiscal somewhat-liberal. By that I do not mean welfare cheques for everybody. I mean give honest, hardworking Americans their goddamn money. I mean pay the poor goddamn frontline floor workers what they are owed. Pay them what their jobs are f'n worth.
Stop skimming off from their wages, stop shafting their earned money away from them and giving it to stockholders. Stop shunting money to international overseas banks to avoid paying employees. Stop giving it bullshyte equivocal names like "capital gains," "tax shelters," "the Cayman Islands," or the ilk. Stop setting up fake dummy corporations so that you can travel under Uncle Sam's radar. Stop stealing money from employees. Stop letting CEOs get away with robbing employees and taking all the money for themselves.
------
On an unrelated note, is Tina Fey like really va-va-voomy this season? She has been quite parallel-lined for as long as I can remember. But now this season, she is all voluptuous. Not complaining, it looks to be all natural, babe. Did she have a baby or something?
------
Links:
The Seven Biggest Economic Lies
October 11, 2011 By Robert Reich
http://laprogressive.com/economic-equality/biggest-economic-lies/
The Tax Foundation - Summary of Latest Federal Individual Income Tax Data
http://www.taxfoundation.org/news/show/250.html
Overworked America: 12 Charts That Will Make Your Blood Boil | Mother Jones
http://motherjones.com/politics/2011/06/speedup-americans-working-harder-charts
The Myth of U.S. Democracy and the Reality of U.S. Corporatocracy
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/bruce-e-levine/the-myth-of-us-democracy-corporatocracy_b_836573.html
Congressional Budget Office - Trends in the Distribution of Household Income Between 1979 and 2007
http://www.cbo.gov/doc.cfm?index=12485
How Does Teacher Pay Compare? Methodological Challenges and Answers
http://www.epi.org/publication/books_teacher_pay/
I casually waved it all off with a flick of my wrist. I thought, oh geez, more boring-assed middle class white people whining and crying about how their useless liberal arts degrees that they crapped out by drinking/partying/beer-ponging their way through a college experience that was paid for by student loans and mommy and daddy, have not garnered them the following: their ohmigosh so totally well-deserved millions, a book deal, or an independent movie contract. For goodness' sake, it's their own damn fault for not being better planners and choosing a training & career path that would actually get them jobs.
I am aware that being affiliated with Occupy Wall Street labels one as being "liberal." I am probably as conservative as they come. I like to think I am an intelligent conservative who became that way after checking all the facts, figures, evidence. I also considered abstract concepts of morality and philosophy. It is not a blind emotional reaction to "society." I like to think I am truly a compassionate conservative, although that phrase has been bastardized by the evil corporate Republican behemoths. What does any of this have to do with OWS? I'm getting there.
For a few years now, I had been leaning somewhat fiscally conservative. And I still am socially conservative for the most part. Yes, even feminists can be social conservatives.
When I say fiscally conservative, I do not mean that megacorporations should be allowed to skim and fleece the working public. I simply mean that people should take responsibility for their financial decisions. I have zero sympathy for people that rack up tens of thousands of dollars in credit card bills for things like jewelry and clothes (f), or cars and tech gadgets (m), and then turn around and whine that they have no money.
I mean that people should not beer pong and party and smoke-pot their way through some BS liberal arts degree, and then expect to be able to get a $60,000-a year job straight out of college. It seemed that a lot of occupiers fell into this category of poor planning, lack of forethought, etc. I visited that website that had a bunch of photos of people holding up pieces of paper on which they detailed their problems. (I'm not referring to the demonstraters with the big clever pithy signs.)
In general, people that complain that they don't get enough money are often irresponsible liberals. So what if all their time was spent playing video games and getting drunk? Dammit, they're entitled to a high-paying job for which they have no marketable skills. So what if they got knocked up while unemployed, unmarried, and with no idea how to take care of themselves? Welfare, i.e. other people's tax dollars, will take care of the problem for you. What does any of this have to do with OWS? I'm getting there.
I have also known for a while that I am educationally liberal -- teach evolution, teach sex education with birth control, more funding for public education, more funding for college scholarships. Yet, for a long while I have remained fiscally conservative and everything that came with it-- capitalism, pro-ruthless cutthroat competition in terms of money.
But then something happened. I can no longer ignore the cries of the dying, starving, devastated, stretched to tearing and breaking middle class. There are teachers and nurses and auto repair small business owners who are protesting. And they have a valid point. I am now a fiscal somewhat-liberal. By that I do not mean welfare cheques for everybody. I mean give honest, hardworking Americans their goddamn money. I mean pay the poor goddamn frontline floor workers what they are owed. Pay them what their jobs are f'n worth.
Stop skimming off from their wages, stop shafting their earned money away from them and giving it to stockholders. Stop shunting money to international overseas banks to avoid paying employees. Stop giving it bullshyte equivocal names like "capital gains," "tax shelters," "the Cayman Islands," or the ilk. Stop setting up fake dummy corporations so that you can travel under Uncle Sam's radar. Stop stealing money from employees. Stop letting CEOs get away with robbing employees and taking all the money for themselves.
------
On an unrelated note, is Tina Fey like really va-va-voomy this season? She has been quite parallel-lined for as long as I can remember. But now this season, she is all voluptuous. Not complaining, it looks to be all natural, babe. Did she have a baby or something?
------
Links:
The Seven Biggest Economic Lies
October 11, 2011 By Robert Reich
http://laprogressive.com/economic-equality/biggest-economic-lies/
The Tax Foundation - Summary of Latest Federal Individual Income Tax Data
http://www.taxfoundation.org/news/show/250.html
Overworked America: 12 Charts That Will Make Your Blood Boil | Mother Jones
http://motherjones.com/politics/2011/06/speedup-americans-working-harder-charts
The Myth of U.S. Democracy and the Reality of U.S. Corporatocracy
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/bruce-e-levine/the-myth-of-us-democracy-corporatocracy_b_836573.html
Congressional Budget Office - Trends in the Distribution of Household Income Between 1979 and 2007
http://www.cbo.gov/doc.cfm?index=12485
How Does Teacher Pay Compare? Methodological Challenges and Answers
http://www.epi.org/publication/books_teacher_pay/
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