Occupy Acumen
When the occupying of Wall Street movement began, I will admit that I thought that it would be perhaps only a couple of days and everybody would go home. Nothing would've changed, but isn't that how demonstrations like these work? Make some noise, get a little publicity, then go home and continue your routine.
The movement is growing. There are demonstrations across the country including Milwaukee. But, let's ask the bigger question. What is being accomplished? There seems to be no coherent message. Everybody is a spokesperson. And, the movement is being lauded as the progressives' answer to the tea party. Yet the tea party had a message. They wanted smaller, less intrusive, less expensive government. And they were taxed enough already.
But what is this 99% all about? Is this really what America is all about? Should the children strive to be like the demonstrators? Their main complaint is the disparity between the income levels of the top 1% of the people and the bottom 99%. Okay, valid point. But, what else is there? How does screaming" unfair" fix the problem? What does their solution actually look like?
It seems like the demonstrators are just a bunch of people who are claiming to protest against corporate greed, but they themselves are jealous of the people who have become financially successful. They seem to be a bunch of whiners who were complaining that they went to college and came out with student loan debt. They got a degree but can't get a job in their field. They got the impression from their college professors that because they have a college degree, they should be able to take the world by storm. And when that doesn't happen, whine and complain. I've got news for them. There are many people who came out of college with student loan debt, got degrees but don't have jobs in their field, and were not the center of attention. This is called reality.
Standing and demonstrating is not going to wipe debt away. Complaining because you don't have your dream job and making $1 million a year is not going to make it happen. Here in America, people need to realize that there is opportunity. But people will scream that it is not fair, because it comes disguised as hard work. The top 1% in America, have done one of two things- they have decided that it is up to them to work hard and make their dreams come true and persevere whatever the cost. Or, you must choose the correct parents would've done so, or both. If you look at the billionaires today, most of them have earned their fortune in one generation. It is possible, but people don't want to put the effort forth to make it happen. It's easier to complain.
Have we reached the point in which now we have entire generations who believe that they are entitled to everything? Does the government over them everything they desire? The government has handed out Social Security and Medicare for generations, and now that health care coverage has become a right, has everything become an entitlement? We think you're being generous when we become so empathetic towards the poor that we want to give them food stamps and allow them to go to restaurants. We don't want people to feel bad because they're being left out from receiving their happy meal as an entitlement. What's next? Should we be giving coupons for Cadillacs sold that poor people have better self-esteem that just can't be earned if they are seen in a Plymouth?
Perhaps we are overlooking the obvious. We should be raising the minimum wage to $50 per hour so that workers will be able to support a family on $1 million a year. It seemed like only a few years ago, when we were all striving to be millionaires. But then, that would put us in that evil group of the top 1%.
If you take a look at the statistics of who makes it in America, you'll find that the achievement rate is actually very small. But these are the people that we should be following. We should not be getting in line to be like the people who are not willing to work hard and make a life for themselves. Yet we believe that the squeaky hinge gets the oil. Whatever happened to the days in which we aspired to be better than what we are now? Not just for the next generation, but for ourselves. It's time that we are reminded that we are not just making a living, but we are making a life. Successful people are self-made. But we are all self-made. Yet only the successful will admit it.
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