Matt Taibbi starts out by talking about how he was having a conversation with a man and the occupy wall street movement came up. Here's the exchange:
"I hear Occupy Wall Street has a CFO" he said. "I think that's funny."
"Okay, I'll bite," I said. "Why is that funny?"
"Well, I heard they're trying to decide what bank to put their money in," he said, munching on hors d'oeuvres. "It's just kind of ironic."
Oh, Christ, I thought. He’s saying the protesters are hypocrites because they’re using banks. I sighed.
"Listen," I said, "where else are you going to put three hundred thousand dollars? A shopping bag?"
"Well," he said, "it's just, their protests are all about... You know..."
"Dude," I said. "These people aren't protesting money. They're not protesting banking. They're protesting corruption on Wall Street."
"Whatever," he said, shrugging.
Typical... a guy is trying to cut out the credibility of a movement that needs to be happening by stating they are trying to put 300,000 bucks in a bank....really man? Come on now. You walk down wall street with that much money in your pocket and see what happens to you. And then when that point is brought up, its dismissed with an in-arguable "whatever". He knows his point is invalid, and ignorant, but he can't admit that at this point. Oh no. Heaven forbid someone not know what they are talking about and admit a mistake.The next point he brings up is that the protesters are just envious of the rich...well no shit. They work 2-3 times as hard as the rich, but the rich get 2-3 times more money. CEO's can run a company into the ground and then "get federal money at 0% to loan out to us at 5-10%" Something is majorly wrong there. If that was me, the gov't would own everything I have, plus I'd more than likely be either sitting under an overpass or in jail (this is not a stab at the homeless, please don't take it that way).
The whole article can almost be summoned up by one paragraph: "And we hate the rich? Come on. Success is the national religion, and almost everyone is a believer. Americans love winners. But that's just the problem. These guys on Wall Street are not winning – they're cheating. And as much as we love the self-made success story, we hate the cheater that much more."
And I'm done now...I'm getting worked up about this when there is no need to. Posting the video of his interview so you can see what I'm talking about:
Actually, I think you are missing the point he is trying to make. I'm guessing you are for the OWS movement? I am against it. Yes, obviously they are unhappy with their economic situation. And a bit of their situation does come from the federal government, but the OWS protesters are not going about this the right way. Not to mention because they have not stated a specific and clear problem OR solution, it is hard to make any kind of progress or achievement. This leads people to believe they are protesting for something they are not.
ReplyDeleteSorry it took me a while to get back to your comment Anonymous, I never stated I was for Occupy. I'm for what they are standing for, which is the corruption and greed that is crippling our economy. Why is it that when companys get bailed out, their CEO's (mind you the same people that ran that company to the ground and needed the gov't to step in and help them out) still make their MILLIONS of dollars in salary? But yet if I were working for them, and made a slight error that cost them a few thousands of dollars, I would be out of a job.
ReplyDeleteThat's just one slight example of what I was backing Occupy for. Do I think they might be getting out of hand now? Yes possibly, but I still believe in what the movement is about. Not to mention, if they set a goal, or put what they wanted to see out there and it was simple, this movement would have disappeared because they would have been "bought out" by the people they are protesting. Doing it this way gets people to look at the situation as a whole, and make their own decisions, be it siding with them, or just finding what corruption is there. Either way, I think it needs to happen.
Thanks for your comments, if you would care to discuss this further (or in private) please find me on facebook, I promise I will hold an actual conversation and not judge based on your opinions, after all, everyone is entitled to them and that's what makes this country amazing!