I own a small business in Brooklyn and recently my business partner, Nick Radice, and I were discussing the latest civil disobedience sensation known as Occupy Wall Street.
I own a small business in Brooklyn and recently my business partner, Nick Radice, and I were discussing the latest civil disobedience sensation known as Occupy Wall Street. Not unlike many of these protestors, we too are in our 20s, are broke, have lost professional jobs and could not attain new ones as a result of the economy. We grew up in middle class households and have college degrees. We voted for Obama and we wear clothes one might consider of the hipster dernier cri. We should be out there Occupying Wall Street, right?
Wrong. Unlike the 99 percenters bumming social change in Manhattan’s Financial District, we refuse to buy in.
To make ends meet while my business grows, I work at a wine shop and that nets me a whopping $12.50 an hour. As a bonus for my ears, I am privy to humoring whatever bat-shit crazy political stance my customers offer up as they wait for me to ring up their booze. Lately, I’ve been getting customers buying hooch on their way to Occupy Wall Street. Funny, because I don’t recall seeing any of the Little Rock Nine being armed with flasks of Evan Williams. Anyhoo, today this British girl with legs that nearly scraped the ceiling strutted into the shop wearing a see-thru dress. She was particularly amped because she was on her way to the protest and asked if I would like to go. I said no thanks. Without skipping a beat she asks, “Why not? Don’t you hate the banks?”
And there my friends lies the problem with Occupy Wall Street. There is a considerable lack of education on what caused the economic crises and therefore we are playing the blame game. To make matters worse, there seems to be no clear resolution being offered by the protest’s organizers. And if you are reading this and saying, “Well, the giant corporations could just give us the money,” then you sir are a jackass. That mode of thought is reserved for friends of successful rappers who thought that they’d be getting a free ride out of the hood.
Upon listening to the sound bites of the Occupy Wall Street protesters, you will find that their motivations for participating range from joblessness to student loans to Big Government to the stock market to corporate greed to “Oh man, there’s a microphone in my face, better come up with something intelligent.” And the solution appears to be nothing but this mythical buzzword that Obama swindled us with in 2008: “Change.” Did any of these protestors do any bit of research on the economic collapse of 2008 to get a clearer picture of why we are where we are? Or were they too busy Googling how much McDonald’s CEO Jim Skinner makes a year in comparison to a fry cook in Vietnam?
Alas, this is not the entirely the people’s fault. President Obama, who bailed out the big banks and General Motors, and who will get a considerable amount of campaign funding from these entities for so doing, is now currently doing his part to exacerbate Occupy Wall Street’s message by also blaming banks. Obama remarks that hidden fees, practices and “derivative cocktails that no one understands” have “exposed the economy to enormous risks.” Right, so, we are in this shit because of overdraft penalties? I could go on, but I can’t hate on Obama because co-opting Occupy Wall Street is a brilliant reelection strategy.
So, the question becomes who or what do we blame for this economic crises? The answer is simple: Everybody is at fault. As my business partner Nick Radice explains, the cause is a general attitude that people can do or get whatever they want with no sacrifice, limitations or responsibility. This applies to the government (massive retirement and health insurance programs that are now underwater). It applies to the absurdly dysfunctional tax code. It applies to the Rust Belt, in thinking we don’t have to take really serious actions to stay competitive globally. It applies to Wall Street in thinking that quick money comes first regardless of repercussions. It applies to the Federal Reserve in thinking that it can keep low interest rates and not expect a huge debt bubble to inflate and burst. It applies to individuals who didn’t save and took on too much debt.
The point Nick is making here is that everyone is at fault for thinking that we could have everything and sacrifice nothing, and that the future would never come.
I simply don’t see the point of scapegoating the banks, government or even one president’s failure to make a dollar out of fifteen cents (at least he tried). To think that the blame lies on any one factor speaks volumes on our nation’s ability to think reasonably. We don’t need to hold our breaths ’til we pass out for America’s 1% to say, “Okay you win!” We need to look at the whole system, find the flaws and correct them, which means everyone must sacrifice — real sacrifice, not camping in a private park (homeless people do that shit all the time).
Lastly, hipsters, I hate to break it to you but living in a tent in one specific spot with a meditation area, a soup kitchen and an Internet center for a few weeks based on this romantic ideal that you will change the world isn’t a protest — it’s a Phish concert.
-JESSE S. GADDIS
@SandyRiverside
Send “Dear Street Carnage” letters to SBTVC@StreetCarnage.com.
I think the protest is great, I hope it spreads across the nation. It’s fantastic to see this country show some passion about something aside from “American Idol”, Dancing with the Stars” and some fucking sports team. Welcome to the rest of the world, America.
I have a hard time understanding how “wall street” and/or “big banks” are responsible for the fraudulent practices of literally thousands of individual brokers/appraisers nation wide.
Similarly, the “owe us a living” mentality of college graduates is sickening: “I majored in English and now I can’t get a job……FUCK THE BANKS!!” I’m not sure how to rationally respond to this thought process. Guess what? If you would have majored in computer science, healthcare, engineering, chemistry, or ANYTHING THAT REQUIRED MATH, you would be gainfully employed the instant you graduated. The world doesn’t need more lawyers, kids.
That said, camping is fun.
Ron Paul is a fucking clown. He looks like Pinocchio and sounds like a whining penis hole. Why do people like that little fucker and his bitch evil son so much? Fuck those two.
@veruca
nothing like starting out your rebuttal with an insult. maybe you never heard that you don’t have to be disagreeable to disagree, but of course not, reading your post it’s obvious you are infected with the right virus: you must be right right right.
you and the status quo and the MSM.
remember it was richard nixon who said: “We are all Keynesians now” and they didn’t call him tricky dick for nothing.
you distortions and fallacies are too numerous to address, but here is a short article and a video that does a pretty darn good job of it.
“…if we continue to listen to Keynesians in the next decade instead of those who tell us the truth, zero will start to look pretty good. The end result of destroying the currency is the wiping out of the middle class. Preventing that from happening should be our top economic priority.”
–Ron Paul
http://www.lewrockwell.com/paul/paul629.html
Keynesianism Delivers a Decade of Zero
captain midnite
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=J0cp_DyfiRU
Americans are the best trained set of idiots in the world. Go through high school doing stupid community service projects no adult would bother with to put on your college app, take out $75k in student loans for four years of theoretical bullshit in a directionless degree, graduate into an economy where you couldn’t get a job wiping shitty asses and the first thing that comes to mind? I need to get my Master’s. HAHAHAHAHAHA
@the cold fist of s
Regardless of how you think he looks or sounds, it’s because unlike everyone else he hasn’t been bought and paid for!
1. The federal govt. MANDATED that MORE money be given out to people who were bad candidates for loans. This was a politically motivated decision and was also rooted in an incredibly naive philosophical outlook. That outlook is reinforced by political shill economists with the right political credentials *cough*Krugman*cough* who will support questionable policies until their dying breath.
2. In exchange for these mandates, the federal government would leave the private sector to its own devices. “Laissez faire,” and “free market” (lol). So banks (predictably) did what they do best, by attempting to make as much money as possible. The most viable way to do this was by signing people onto credit lines that would never ever ever be paid off and then bundling the bad candidates into various arcane financial instruments (traunches) that they would sell to the global market (mortgage backed security). The federal govt would “stimulate” financial activity by forcing liquidity into the system and meet their political aims as well by “helping the little guy.” The ratings agencies and regulators would look the other way because the banks AND the federal govt told them it was no big deal.
3. The federal officials responsible for this clusterfuck are made up of many Democrats and Republicans. It was, to an extent, bipartisan (although Dems like Barney Frank really milked this whole thing quite a bit and if you take calculating assessment of who backed what, the Democrats look like shit on this one).
4. When the whole house of cards starts to collapse the American people were told that the only solution was to build more structure underneath the crumbling house by throwing more cards (cash) underneath. It appears that didn’t work, so now a bunch of young people have a hilarious amount of debt and no marketable skills or real-world experience. This is the end result. Whose fault is it? The assholes who borrowed too much, the assholes who lent out all the money and the assholes who told the assholes that all those assholes should be given a bunch of money.
Maybe these people who make more money than you didn’t steal or cheat to get it.
Maybe they are smarter than you.
Tough to accept, I know. But being envious and jealous of others isn’t going to pay your bills.
do they owe us a living?
As much as I’d like to avoid empathizing with the 20 year old hobos occupying wall street, I do have to say “business owner” doesn’t have any idea what he is talking about. The USA is not Greece, and until the yield on our 10 year treasury bond reaches 20%, there’s no chance of us becoming Greece. So, since we are not in any danger of an unwilling default, and can essentially make money off of borrowing money – our bond yields are that low – it’s not a matter of everyone sacrificing. Rather, it’s a matter of everyone paying their fare share as we borrow our way into a true economic recovery. There should be a financial transaction tax, a higher rate of taxation for those making over $250,000 a year and / or making a living from capital gains. Banks should be “ring-fenced” to provide a barrier between investment banks and commercial banks, or more popularly we should see a return of the Glass Steagall Act, in order to stop mortgage backed securities, etc. There should be a cap on executive pay. GE should pay more than…..I don’t know….zero dollars in tax every year.
But beyond all that, idiots like “business owner” should read a paper once in a while to gain a broader understanding of what is actually happening in the world economically. This great recession was caused by the undoing of financial regulations over the past 30 years and the near bankrupting of federal and state governments through Republican tax policies. The reality is, if we don’t tax more aggressively, and regulate banks, we will have to do with less. Less health benefits, less social security, fewer roads, fewer bridges, less groundbreaking technology, less educated people; and the list goes on. So, “business owner”, when your business has to do business in a world where all of those things exist at a lower standard, how competitive do you think you’ll be in the global marketplace?
@veruca
The “most prosperous years our country has had, consisted of the Gilded Age when Govt regulation and taxation were at a minimum.
As usual, Ron Paul explains it all.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4PkfoocSRMU&feature=youtu.be
If you borrowed $50,000 to finance your Community Studies or English Literature degree, you are an idiot. I feel pity for your situation, but you are responsible. Two reasons.
1. For thinking that going to university is some sort of default right, and that it will land you a sure job despite reality being VISIBLY different. An undergrad degree don’t mean shit, and there is no reason to get one in most cases. Not everyone needs university.
2. Lots of places have free/cheap post-secondary education. Use your time/money (10s of thousands of dollars and 4-6 years) to move to France and get an edumacation for free. Voila.
Besides noting that this writer is, obviously, a boring, overgeneralizing, intellectually dishonest idiot, I want to draw your attention to a few great zingers in the comments. Too many comments to read, but from the ones I did I give you the best.
Co-winners:
1. Jeff — “Just the kind of well-balanced reportage I would expect from a website created by a multi-millionaire “youth culture impresario.” Gavin must be sweating a bank run harder than Jimmy Stewart in “It’s a Wonderful Life.” Don’t worry, you can always go live with Penny Rimbaud’s septuagenarian balls at Dial House, you neo-con turd.”
2. Anonymous — “Great Article, Jesse. Glad you took time out of your day to pat yourself on the back for the hard work and dedication you have put in to both job’s of yours. Keep making me and your step-mum proud.”
-Dad
http://latf99p.com/
hey, you know what pisses me off than some jackass thinking he’s smarter than everyone else? Some jackass thinking he’s smarter than everyone else
The author suggests that during times like these it is tempting to look for a scapegoat. How true. I hope that scapegoating is a thing of the past.
While this messy situation brings out emotional responses such as blaming those who took out crappy loans for college, or for real estate, what is lost is the author’s other point, and that is we as a society must critically evaluate how the structures that have been put in place over the past few decades have led us to this point in time. Perhaps this is why your comments section on this topic is so varied; people are tired of blaming others, instead, they seek a consensus of opinion.
The bailouts of financial firms was disgusting but I feel no sympathy for people who took out loans they can’t pay – that’s just fucking dumb.
The Daily Rash wrote about my favorite protester, a middle-aged North Carolina man who still lives with his rich parents, traveled to New York to protest people like his parents! http://www.thedailyrash.com/many-middle-aged-wall-street-protesters-still-living-with-their-parents
Just curious. Why are the protesters supposedly targeting Wall Street, but not Obama, or the Democratic Congress. They were in power, without any restraint of the so called obstructionist Republicans for 2 years. So, why are the protesters not furious with the Obama administrations handling of the economy? That’s why I think this is all a farce.
@ Social Register -
That is definitely a great explanation of what happened.
@ Tim -
It is absurd that people don’t hold the Democratic Congress responsible. Keep in mind: we had a Democratic Congress since 2006, in the Bush Administration.
Ultimately, I think Obama will be held responsible, because he is the leader of the country. The President is who people look to towards for at least optimism and a resilient message. But instead he is ridiculously unpresidential: making excuses, scapegoating, and casting blame. That isn’t leadership.
Most of the key players from Obama’s administration either have come from Wall Street, or went there after leaving. Peter Orszag went to Citigroup. Larry Summers advised for hedge funds and took immense pay packages. Rahm Emanuel was paid millions at the investment bank Lazard for simply being there. Bill Daley, Obama’s current Chief of Staff, was a fat-cat banker at JPMorganChase. And on and on…
If you’re angry, then direct it at the right place: the Democrats who keep suckering you into believing this leftist nonsense. They’re laughing all the way to Martha’s Vineyard at your stupid asses.
dialogue and the sharing ideas and information are good things, so if at the very least this is all it brings out, its a good thing.
i just think it doesn’t have to be perfect to be good enough to get on board
“the enemy of a good plan is a perfect plan”
the internet is going nuts right now over this, im learning a lot, and the argument on some websites is extremely intelligent and well-informed.
Saying “everyones at fault” is cool, but some people are 180,000,000,000 times more at fault than others (and they’re holding the solution$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$
The question is if anyone IS to blame, and if so who?
i think the small group of people holding all the money are starting to look very guilty right now (although they are probably incapable of feeling guilt)
or are we just blaming them for the rise of China and India?
Are they actually to blame for the rise of China and India?
Is the rise of China and India at our expense?
Are they sociopaths and do they need to be held to account for their actions?
My question is: are you willing to assign blame, and if so, hold to account.
im thinkin ‘no’ & ‘no’. the first one being because the second ones too hard
Just because there is a bunch of idiot protestors dosen’t mean the system isn’t broken.
This article was written by someone ‘ignorant’ of economics.
how predictable was this article? “get off my lawn…” everything.
A cabal or conspiracy of billionaire financiers that pull the strings of the world and oppress the ignorant masses. Isn’t that kind of a cliche at this point? Isn’t it the theme of … Nazi propaganda?
http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_XU9x8G7khv0/TCOqxvQMdnI/AAAAAAAAQDg/2TYX_0Pv_qs/s1600/8.jpg
http://www.ushmm.org/museum/press/kits/propaganda/images/prop_9.jpg
http://dont-tread-on.me/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/Cartoon_LOL_04_rothschilds.png
WELL I AGREE WITH JESSIE GADS, WE ALL KNOW THAT THE FINANSCIAL CRISIS WAS CAUSED BY BLACK/CHICANOS/’PACIFIC ISLANDSER’ LOL WHOM BORROWED MONEY TO MAKE A MORGADGE HE COUDL’NT PAY OFF TO BUY A HOUSE TOO BIG. WELL WHOSE FAULT IS THAT? NOT THE BANK THAT I KNOW OFF
one of the best commentaries about the entire mess. thank you, from a right-wing extremist.
[...] reflection on #Occupywallstreet by a twenty-something hipster-ish business owner: To make ends meet while my business grows, I work at a wine shop and that nets me a whopping [...]
Awesome piece.
Cluster, I think the point this hipsterish shopboy is trying to make is that he’s actually sucking it up and working and also works on his own business which I may ascertain will provide local jobs down the line (if successful). Like so many of the kids in his generation at this protest, he is not looking for this quixotic notion of equality of income, or some sort of system overhaul to make it happen for him. He’s doing it himself. Are you really knocking the DIY work ethic? I wouldn’t be disparaging about this opinion piece in that area per se. I think his treatment of the banks lacked strong support and chalking it up to “overdrafts” was either a joke or an over cite, or both.
Moreover, protesting for weeks seems like a luxury someone who works hard for little money like him just can’t afford. At $12.50 an hour, could you? Would it be worth for you to leave your job just so you can join a crowd that has no clear goals other than “to get people talking”? Are you that big of a follower yourself? I admire this kid’s balls for posting why he won’t be participating at OWS, especially on a site like this. Well done, kid.
FUCKING THANK YOU. I’ve been saying the same thing and people are telling me I’m just like Fox News. And you speak much more concisely than I do. For real man, God Bless ya!
I think all he’s saying is that the strategy behind this protest is asinine. obviously shit is real fucked up
does anybody else have the feeling that despite all this postive rabble rousing
that the state of affairs of our country will only be getting worse from here on out? And that when and if they do get better will it only be an echo of what happened in Germany at the end of the Weimar Republic?
Who’s going to be our charming best selling author Hitler?
Allah bears witness that none has the right to be worshipped but He, and the angels, and those having KNOWLEDGE (also bear witness to this); (He is always) maintaining His Creation in justice. None has the right to be worshipped but He, the Almighty the All Wise.” – Quran 3:18
Wish more young people had the same amount of wisdom as this guy.
Shut the fuck up Gibreel
Why is it so hard for people to figure out that Ron Paul is the answer:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WUYDt7kC3Z0
If you don’t like corrupt Big Business, then why on earth would you support its enabler: Big Government.
Big Government — always and everywhere — has led to corruption and misery. In contrast, broad prosperity is created in societies with a high degree of economic freedom — in which America used to lead, but has now fallen behind.
You would think that with all the burdensome education debt that everyone is complaining about, someone would have picked up a history or economics course along the way…
How the fuck is the girl with three fatherless kids making $7.25/hour and spending every last dime to pay for clothing, food, and rent – and now getting surcharged for owning a BOA debit card that she uses to pay for the stuff – at all responsible for our current economy. It’s obvious that you’re deliberately missing the point here. If you have something to contribute about fixing these problems, problems that you somehow manage to avoid mentioning in depth, write a hilarious blog entry about that. For now, be cool and cynical in Brooklyn, and let the others do what they do. You’ll get it someday.
Who’s to blame i don’t now, the politicians aren’t representing the people and are only thinking about the present and not the future. Left right, it’s all bullshit, who is stuck in the middle… They teach us in school when you’re young to respect laws to be generous politicians who can’t agree on anything, and rather see the other side fail, then to come up with solutions for the future… They are only out for their own interest, which are interest of the corporations who exploit and break what they cannot fix everything and anything to keep control of their wealth and power, they are the real crooks laws are made for own interest, they pick and choose who to put in office, and who makes them get away with this, complacency, the politicians. They are modern day monarchies and we are the serfs… The politicians only corporate puppets who put on a show and talk about bullshit morality, that has to do with nothing but nothing, and use the illusion of religion, to blind us about the realty of real issues, like health care, cancer And rather see Goverment go bankrupt so they privatize, government institutions. Things aren’t so black and white.. Excuse me..
the politicians let them get awy with this, by clearing the their path..
I protest the occupy wall streeters by writing blog entries and having opinions that I will literally do nothing more with than this.
its about participating in democracy, something people are having a hard time getting their head around.
also: hippies aren’t cool, therefore i will never get involved.
students may be optimistic and naive (middle class whatever whatever insert appropriate worldly and jaded insult here) but often times its kids like these who kick shit off and get things happening
wah wah wah you work at your job.
i work blood out of my hands on building sites for fuck all and i’ll get behind these motherfuckers
when the rest of the working people start getting behind this shit you better change your tune.
also check out how tiananmen square started – it was the students who got out there and protested, and before you knew it half the fucking town turned out and got involved.
hate all you want but the kids are alright
Nothing is worse than the 1% of self-righteous brats.
To the dipshits railing against all English majors who can’t get jobs… uh…
You realize R&D is like, the first thing cut in a recession right? I’m a fucking neurobio major and I’m working a shitty customer service job.
I think the important thing about the protests that this writer is missing is that these issues are now a conversation. We’re now talking about this stuff in big open ways. I have a hard time respecting the generalities this person makes about the protesters. Yes, it’s right to say that the big cultural problem at hand is the lack of responsibility and accountability across the board. However, I could do without the judgement and the hatred toward the situation. The final line of the piece is quippy and clever but not the least bit accurate. I wish there was less judgement in this piece and more information sharing.
@FORK:
Your Chile / Argentina example is some NEXT LEVEL ignorant shit.
Chile was plunged into disaster by their right-wing economic “experiment,” and had to resort to bailouts and some renationalizations to stay afloat (primarily mines, which funded a good part of their “miracle” when commodity prices improved).
What growth they have had has concentrated in a few hands, for example fruit plantation owners, producing the most resource intensive / least sustainable agriculture on earth.
Argentina on the other hand almost became a first world country through import substitution (a variant of “socialism,” although too much power still left in corporate hands) then got fucked by right-wing dictators and then the IMF who came to enforce the dictators bullshit loans.
And then they went “rogue” on the financial world’s asses, following untested advice of “radical economists” and then things have improved a ton there. This is all a gross simplification but I could have a deeper convo if anyone cared enough.
ps – F Ron Paul, Paultards go back to your caves and leave the 99% to protest in peace : P
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