Forum Post: Some belated parental advice to protesters
Posted 13 years ago on Oct. 26, 2011, 8:47 p.m. EST by maryhicks
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Here, then, are five things the OWS protesters’ mothers should have taught their children but obviously didn’t, so I will:
• Life isn’t fair. The concept of justice - that everyone should be treated fairly - is a worthy and worthwhile moral imperative on which our nation was founded. But justice and economic equality are not the same. Or, as Mick Jagger said, “You can’t always get what you want.”
No matter how you try to “level the playing field,” some people have better luck, skills, talents or connections that land them in better places. Some seem to have all the advantages in life but squander them, others play the modest hand they’re dealt and make up the difference in hard work and perseverance, and some find jobs on Wall Street and eventually buy houses in the Hamptons. Is it fair? Stupid question.
• Nothing is “free.” Protesting with signs that seek “free” college degrees and “free” health care make you look like idiots, because colleges and hospitals don’t operate on rainbows and sunshine. There is no magic money machine to tap for your meandering educational careers and “slow paths” to adulthood, and the 53 percent of taxpaying Americans owe you neither a degree nor an annual physical.
While I’m pointing out this obvious fact, here are a few other things that are not free: overtime for police officers and municipal workers, trash hauling, repairs to fixtures and property, condoms, Band-Aids and the food that inexplicably appears on the tables in your makeshift protest kitchens. Real people with real dollars are underwriting your civic temper tantrum.
• Your word is your bond. When you demonstrate to eliminate student loan debt, you are advocating precisely the lack of integrity you decry in others. Loans are made based on solemn promises to repay them. No one forces you to borrow money; you are free to choose educational pursuits that don’t require loans, or to seek technical or vocational training that allows you to support yourself and your ongoing educational goals. Also, for the record, being a college student is not a state of victimization. It’s a privilege that billions of young people around the globe would die for - literally.
• A protest is not a party. On Saturday in New York, while making a mad dash from my cab to the door of my hotel to avoid you, I saw what isn’t evident in the newsreel footage of your demonstrations: Most of you are doing this only for attention and fun. Serious people in a sober pursuit of social and political change don’t dance jigs down Sixth Avenue like attendees of a Renaissance festival. You look foolish, you smell gross, you are clearly high and you don’t seem to realize that all around you are people who deem you irrelevant.
• There are reasons you haven’t found jobs. The truth? Your tattooed necks, gauged ears, facial piercings and dirty dreadlocks are off-putting. Nonconformity for the sake of nonconformity isn’t a virtue. Occupy reality: Only 4 percent of college graduates are out of work. If you are among that 4 percent, find a mirror and face the problem. It’s not them. It’s you.
There thousands upon thousands of people supporting this movement who are hardworking Americans who did everything right, studied, worked hard, etc., and then lost their jobs for corporate downsizing, lost their homes to illegal foreclosures, had their water poisoned, their health destroyed, etc., because corporations rule our government. We're not asking for hand outs. We're asking for Democracy to be returned to the people, and corporate money and corruption to be ejected from OUR government. While a lot of people are tagging along with the movement with other agendas, this is the one thread that ties all Occupy protests together. Corporations aren't people. Banks wrecked our economy, and then profited from it, while good people lost their jobs and homes and health. Jobs are farmed out overseas. Corporate toady lobbyists regulate our environment (really deregulate). Corporate CEOs make billions sitting at a desk while the people who labor for them struggle to feed their families. Labor, environmental and financial regulations should not be for the corporations, who profit most from deregulation and practices that exploit and harm others, to decide, but the people. As long as corporate money owns our government, we have no real democracy. THIS IS WHY WE PROTEST! If you're not angry, either you're not paying attention, or you're profiting from the exploitation and misery of your fellow Americans.
For the record, I am a business owner. I'm in my office now (9pm) taking a brief moment from working to check the news, etc. I've been working since about 7am. I'm not lazy. I'm not asking for hand-outs.
I'm not camping on the town green, but I support the protests. I know far too many good people who have lost their jobs and their homes, who lack health care, who work two jobs and can't keep their bills paid. This is not the America I was promised as a child.
EXCELLENT and so well put, "tonybaldwin"! I applaud you as a TRUE PATRIOT.
I love my country and my people. That is why I protest, indeed.
They weren't illegal foreclosures. People went into those subprime mortgages and are as much to blame for the state of the economy as the bankers who allowed unfit people to take a mortgage on a house they couldn't afford. Don't say something if you aren't 100% sure of it, we need facts. :)
You want facts? Proof of illegal foreclosures?
http://www.wptv.com/dpp/news/region_s_palm_beach_county/law-firm-says-it-has-proof-of-illegal-foreclosure-system
http://www.ritholtz.com/blog/2011/01/us-soldiers-losing-homes-to-illegal-foreclosures/
http://www.creditslips.org/creditslips/2011/02/occ-finds-illegal-foreclosures-critical-deficiencies.html
http://www.topfinanceblog.com/were-many-foreclosures-illegal/
http://www.palmbeachpost.com/news/plantation-foreclosure-companys-director-quits-amid-investigation-of-997521.html
http://www.chron.com/business/article/Criminal-inquiry-looks-at-banks-over-foreclosures-1694431.php
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-05-25/bank-of-america-unit-s-utah-foreclosures-are-illegal-state-says-in-letter.html?cmpid=msnmoney
That took all of two minutes to find.
Having glanced over the first few articles, I would like to point out that... Check your sources, not just FOX is very one sided!! And most of these articles are driven by emotion not logic. They call the bankers weasels, an emotional term to annoy the reader and make them distrust the banks... Now do I agree with what the banks did? no. But was it legal, yes. In the sense, that legally they went through the proceedings and people signed those documents, whether they read them carefully or not. Plus I would like to add after repealing the glass steagall act, what the banks did wasn't against any code... Oh and I almost forgot... Acorn, back in the 90s they called for banks to make loans and mortgages available to people who couldn't actually afford them. So the banks lowered the credit rating that someone needed as well as, people didn't have to show prove of income!!!! Caused by people saying 'poor' people aren't getting enough attention.. Please, you can site as many "sources" as you want, but you can't ignore the facts, what happened in the banks were some pretty shady deals, but unfortunately they were not illegal. Sorry to burst your little googling bubble :)
So. You're saying that when the State of Utah declared BofA foreclosures illegal, they were just being emotional? Or when federal investigators made similar findings? Or that the Securities and Exchange Commission's investigation of such practices was just sensationalism? You didn't read too well.
Jesus Christ man, that is not what I am saying at all... I said these articles were applying emotional rhetoric. They appeal to the reader, in the sense that you are clearly sitting at your computer pissed at me, you are emotionally attached to the idea behind these articles because that is what the journalist was trying to convey. Look, they haven't found concrete evidence, they said they were just starting the investigation, if it comes out to be 100% true, have fun you won, but so far from what I DID read (you dick) they didn't have conclusive evidence, these are just people trying to blame someone. People walked into those crazy subprime mortgages and are now trying to say they weren't responsible. It's the blame game. Look, we will never agree so, believe whatever you want, read whatever news you want and protest to your hearts content... Just know there are people of the 99% who love their country and don't feel the need to be so immature and play the blame game. I'm sorry if your house went through foreclosure and you think what happened was illegal, but I thought in our country it was innocent until proven guilty.... chew that little piece of justice
“All real estate foreclosures conducted by ReconTrust in the state of Utah are not in compliance with Utah’s statutes, and are hence illegal,” Shurtleff wrote. - http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-05-25/bank-of-america-unit-s-utah-foreclosures-are-illegal-state-says-in-letter.html?cmpid=msnmoney
Is that not clear?
“Fundamentally, this decision is about holding the banks accountable for unlawful foreclosures,” Weinstein said. “It should be the banks who pay for their unlawful conduct, not the original homeowners.” http://www.boston.com/Boston/businessupdates/2011/10/foreclosure/L4Gl3gBBokZEwJZqLgstuN/index.html
Is that not clear?
How about this one? "The Government Accountability Office (GAO) has identified dozens of cases where mortgage companies appear to have illegally foreclosed on the homes of active duty military service members." http://www.startribune.com/business/121362304.html
Courts have ruled, in many cases, that foreclosures were executed ILLEGALLY. That means that, YES, they were PROVEN GUILTY. How much proof do you need?
I don't own a home. I rent. This has nothing to do with a personal vendetta. It has to do with the fact that, I LOVE MY COUNTRY and MY PEOPLE and won't stand for them to be thrown out of their homes illegally. Do you understand that? I care about the American people who have been screwed over by the banks! Chew on that piece of justice. I know how the courts work. I work in the courts as an interpreter sometimes. Banks aren't convicted without a whole lot of evidence, and many courts have now convicted banks of performing illegal foreclosures.
At this point, it is a known and well-documented fact, Mr. Banker.
It is midnight here, now, and I've been in my office working on translations for the better part of about 15 hours, because, you know, I'm just a dirty hippy looking for a handout. I'm going to call it a day, now. Good night.
Dear Mary Hicks: It would benefit you to learn a little more about the broader movement and perhaps get in touch with a sense of justice before you criticize a movement consisting of millions of people across the globe agitating for change.
More like millions of people who like the notion of rebelling, because they think it's fun, and wish they hadn't missed the Arab Spring. In the New York Times YESTERDAY!! Most people protesting are people a little older than me, they are doing the same thing people did in the 60s, rebelling because it was cool to be a "nonconformist". Believe me, I agree there needs to be some change, the middle class is being squeezed, IM A MEMBER OF THE MIDDLE CLASS!!!!!!!!!!, but I think this is being taken wayyyy out of control and I truly fear for the future of this country if this continues.
Instead of wasting so much energy trying to insult people, perhaps you should take a few minutes to stop and listen. You do not have to agree with every point, but I'm sure there is something you could agree with.
nope :)
Then so long...
no you guys need to learn...
Silly-- you refuse to learn, but expect us to read what you post? Ummm. Nope :)
I don't expect you to read what I post, in all seriousness. I am angry and I need an outlet. If I could I would be down on Wall Street screaming at these idiots... I am not the silly one, I am the optimist who actually feels they can make a future for themselves without government handouts. So there, you can choose to ignore anything I write, I don't give a damn, I just hope to meet more people who like me are furious with what is going on.
1.) are you a mother? do you have kids of your own?
2.) again, people keep assuming things about ows supporters. well let me tell you:
mary, i have a job. i make 50K a year. i have loan debit- which i have every intention of paying off.i don't have dreadlocks or tattoos (like some how that matters...)
im not asking for a hand outs, im not asking for everything to be free. im just asking for this "mess" to be fixed. im just asking for the oppression to stop (noone should EVER lose their home from medical bills. etc). im just saying, "hey washington/WS what are you doing?" im asking for people to be accountable- just like i am being accountable.
I think someday in the future you will read what you posted here and you will be ashamed.
Fuck off mom
The lady has some points of course. But, does she know anything about unfairness, injustice, suffering, the poor? Probably not. There are those born into wealth and then those who earned it (some legitimately and honorably) and once they get there, they often rarely or never have a thought for the poor or dispossessed so busy they are attending the latest play, a dinner at an expensive dinner, wearing clothes that cost more than what a poor family needs to feed their family of four for a week or more. The statistic she quotes is meaningless since many college graduates are taking low paying jobs just to survive. This woman needs to be taxed at a much higher level. She probably wouldn't miss it. Is she a Christian? Probably not. Does she give a shit about anybody except her closest friends, her house, her clothes and her dogs? Probably not.
Awesome Post! You hit the nail on the head
Very nice.
Holy Shit, I love you whoever posted this!!! Finally some sense!!! Everyone needs to realize that we have to work as a society to change this economic problem, not attack all those who theoretically have, I am not the richest person in this country, by any means, but my parents work their asses off every single day so that we have what we have. My dad works 60 hours a week, he is an architect btw, not on wall street, and a few weeks ago my mom got laid off from her job, also at another architectural firm, you know what she did??? She didn't complain about the "man" putting her down, she sent her resume out, went to an interview, and now has a job again... Look at that!! I watched a video with a married couple who quit their jobs to travel cross country and live in the squaller on Wall Street... You did that to yourselves, don't go blaming anyone else you idiots.. Yes, the economy has issues that need to be fixed, but if the protesters knew anything they would realize that our economy is still stagnate because of our friend Greece. See, globalization has made all of our economies so incredibly interconnected, until Greece gets bailed out, which German (just today) said they would back 100%, economic stability will not come about, it just can't. It's what happened after Lehman went under, the entire market froze and the government realized it couldn't take the risk of letting other banks go under, this would have caused an economic catastrophe far worse than the Great Depression. So please, stop with your signs saying "bail out the people" because they already did, they saved our asses from complete destruction!! And please, I implore you, stop with the signs that say, "everyone should be poor so that everyone would be rich." cough cough Communism doesn't work people!!! We already have a mixed economy, capitalism with some command economy aspects, there is no reason to go all command, especially when history shows it DOESN'T WORK... So, I would highly suggest, stop protesting, try to get a job, because clearly they are out there, or try to further your education. (Many say the best time to be in school and keep going to school is when the economy is bad because you are bettering your chances by improving your own human capital and if you weren't qualified to get a job in the market, then you are better off out of it)... So yea, I'm just a teen who is sick of hearing this 99% stuff, I'm part of the 99% but I don't agree with this radical notion that revolution is necessary. We need to stop polarizing politics, which is to be blamed on both sides!!!!!, and really solve this problem. Thank you for reading this, if you did. :) Sincerely, a concerned Teen
Who said that we wanted to overthrow/destroy/end capitalism or even Wall Street? There's always a group of communists or anarchists or conspiracy theorists or flat-out crazies that will get involved with something like this because they believe our willingness to accept anyone with a desire to help fix things gives them a blank check to do as they choose and then sign it with our names.
Incidentally, I'm fully behind the protests, and I'm a computer science major at MIT. Underachiever? Pfft. Don't make me laugh; if you can call three to four hours of sleep per night underachieving then I want to see your schedule. I came from a working-class to poor family and I'm on track to make six figures in five or ten years even if things don't turn around. And yet somehow I'm still behind these people. Why?
Because my family went through hell in order to put my sister and I on the track we are now; my mom left a teaching job to homeschool my sister and I to keep us out of a dysfunctional inner-city school system, so we've been living on one rather precarious income since I was three. My dad's union job got through almost to the end, until a hedge fund by the name of Brynwood Partners took over and decided to break the union. We would not have survived the resulting eleven-month strike and plant closure were it not for a combination of unemployment benefits, food stamps when the chips were really down, and a strong community that really cared for us when we needed it most.
Here's the thing: because of our family and community my sister and I were uniquely equipped to weather the storm that hit us; not everyone is so lucky. Any number of small things could have derailed us at that point, and for every one of me who makes it through there are ten more who through no fault of their own get screwed out of an opportunity to move up.
I was raised the old-fashioned way; life doesn't owe you one particular outcome over another. Life doesn't owe anyone a job simply by virtue of their existence. Jobs, wealth, happiness: all of these things are earned. The one and only thing in this country that a man is owed is a free and fair opportunity to better himself, and it is these opportunities that have been drying up over the past three decades.
In the old days, if you were good with your hands and willing to work you could get top-notch vocational training and hold down a solid middle-class career with just a high school diploma (or sometimes not even that). In the old days, the ordinary American had opportunity after opportunity available to him and all that was asked of him in return was that he get off his ass and grab one.
These days, that's all drying up. Vocational training of the old sort is dying out, and half the new sort is provided by for-profit "colleges" that often screw unsuspecting students. Academic degrees leading to the professions are hardly for everyone, and whole groups of people get closed out of that game before they even realize they're playing. Getting a decent job of the type that sustained our parents and grandparents is getting more and more difficult.
In short, OWS and its affiliate movements will be happy to stop stinking up your parks and get jobs if you will point the protesters toward opportunities they can reasonably be expected to be able to take advantage of. Until then, they will stay exactly where they are and grow stronger and stronger until the system has no choice but to make these opportunities available to them again. And I will stand with them.
"Who said that we wanted to overthrow/destroy/end capitalism or even Wall Street? There's always a group of communists or anarchists or conspiracy theorists or flat-out crazies that will get involved with something like this because they believe our willingness to accept anyone with a desire to help fix things gives them a blank check to do as they choose and then sign it with our names."
You do realize that you basically described the primary groups behind OWS right? lol
No, it's not everyone and, like you, there are many who are sympathetic and drawn to it as far as issues are concerned. Not surpising since most of the things discussed here as you note have broad appeal and aren't anything new really.
However, the core of this "movement" comprises mostly groups who are, in fact, decidely anti-capitalistic. And, in fact, they are writing a check using your participation in order to leverage their own various purposes. As are outside groups like the unions and politicos. No, that's not a Glenn Beck conspiracy theory. Just ask them or look at the stated objectives on their web sites, interviews, correspondence during the planning, etc. They're not shy or hiding anything. They believe that they're right.
You can like it or not depending on your own personal leanings, but that's the fact of the matter.
Here's my thing: the movement still has potential. If the rest of the country signs onto Occupy Wall Street there will be enough moderates to drown out the groups above. They are loud and obnoxious minorities, but they are just that: minorities. If enough people come in demanding two or three basic things (most of which go completely across party lines) like campaign finance and lobbying reform, an end to outsourcing, and a return to Glass-Steagall, then we can take the movement back from the crazies and the troublemakers. If instead we choose to walk away from this, then you've just given Wall Street an excuse to paint all dissenters with the nutcase brush because see what OWS became?
My friend's dad, who works on wall street, wants the glass-steagall act to be reinstated, and I agree 100%, it's what really fueled the collapse, but it doesn't have to be done with a radical movement.
It sure isn't getting done any other way! Our "leaders" no longer listen to the people. They cater to the corporate lobbyists who buy them vacations and bribe them with dinners and fill their campaign coffers. THAT'S THE PROBLEM!
Our so-called "democracy" is owned by corporate interests.
My only thing is this: How exactly are we going to get something like Glass-Steagall through without a fairly strong, fairly strident movement? Look how much of a ruckus banks are making over Dodd-Frank, which appears to be fairly toothless compared to Glass-Steagall (BoA got away with both the new debit card fee and the derivative transfer, which is why I will never bank or do business with them) while the derivative thing is essentially the reason Glass-Steagall existed. Large groups of constituents may want to see it happen, but unless a certain modicum of continuous pressure is put on Congress politicians will give in to the people who finance their reelection campaigns.
This is also true both for campaign finance/lobbying reform and for an end to outsourcing: the right thing to do is not the immediately profitable thing to do, and as long as the people who put people in DC are motivated primarily by profit we'll see little or no progress on these issues. I got involved with OWS because I was hoping they'd become an issue-based pressure group advocating for moderate reform. I don't even mind if they're fairly radical because their presence then may scare the government into doing the right thing. I don't want to see communism or anarchism replace what we have, but if holding the threat of communism or anarchism over DC's head leads to common-sense moderate reforms then so be it. Hell, if us moderates are successful it's proof that the system can be reformed from the inside and we can drop the communists and anarchists like a hot potato.
It's not so much what OWS became as what it was from the beginning and remains. The moderate people around it like you are just that - people around it and not those who are driving it. I'd agree that there are various issues like those that you mention that have merit but from there it becomes more of a question of approach. That's where major differences in core values start to come into play and where I have to depart.
As long as we can get them to accept moderate reform as a step along the way to whatever they want to do, it's fine. We get the change we need, the radicals get enough of a sop that their fight is not as urgent as it is now, and the American people get their country back. If we get that through and they decide they want to do any of the things you're afraid of, we turn around and walk out. If necessary we scuttle the movement afterwards. If we throw away the movement now before we get anything from it we lose a valuable opportunity; if we throw it out after we've gotten moderate change then everybody wins.
Look I don't get why you had to comment your sob story to me, you think I'm a Kennedy or something?? I have zero connections and I believe the world owes me nothing; I know I have to work for every dime I will hopefully make. I'm sorry about your Dad's job, but what you fail to know about me is that I agree with you, college isn't for everyone and vocational training is disappearing in our country. My Opa was a tool and die maker for grumman, he worked his ass off and they were alright, my mom didn't get any help with college and had to pay for the entire thing on her own. Listen, I hear you, but what scares me (literally) about this protests are their radicalness. Do I think people have the right to protest? yes. Do I think there is clearly a problem? yes. But I don't agree with their, rather haphazard, message about radical change, overthrowing the order of things and so on. Change needs to come, but it won't come from people sitting on the streets. And by the way I'm a senior in high school, IBer all the way!! lol, and I'm currently applying to schools, want me to name them?, I'm literally not an idiot, please believe that, and I know you clearly aren't either, but let's be realistic here. There are opportunities, people are hiring, it is a known fact that the private sector is slowly hiring, my mom three weeks ago was the exception when AECOM let her off, but they are hiring. However, it is known that the government is cutting back on spending and not hiring, so I don't know the exact people down on wall street, so I can't give a case by case, obviously, but there are opportunities out there for them. And clearly a social welfare net, as you so helpfully pointed out, that will try and do its best to catch them if they fall. I just don't like people who complain, simple as that, and I think they are whiny, self-righteous asses who were promised that life would be fair. You clearly stated that you know life isn't and that you will have to work for what you earn, so good luck at MIT (toured because of my mom, but unfortunately even though my math scores would suggest, I'm not into engineering or science) and I hope you at least understand where I am coming from. I am not a tea party member or anything like that, I'm someone sitting in the middle, waiting for my life to begin, and worried that this could possibly screw up my plans for the future, if its radicalness did cause some sort of revolution. And by the way, when I mentioned the extremely radical posters, those were ones I saw that were taken in Occupy Philly, by this hippy girl who used to go to my school. Just saying.
I understand your fear, and if you've noticed I'm not exactly too enthused with the desires of certain groups to rip up the system any more than I am with the desire of bankers and large corporations to rig it for their benefit. I want an assurance that the safety net that caught me will be there for everyone else who needs it, that the banks will be brought to heel, and that this country will begin to move back toward a diversified economy offering dignity and employment to everyone willing to work for it.
Give me that and I'll be happy; I'll not throw my lot in with anarchists or communists or any other group that wants to do something stupid. My point to you is that the radicals you dealt with at Occupy Philly may be there, and they may be loud, but they are decidedly not what OWS is about and it's not necessarily fair to judge the entirety of the movement based on small groups of radicals.
Look on the opening page of this website... the fist (major symbolism there!!!) and "the only solution is WorldRevolution" is right there!!! I'm sorry this group as a whole, yes generalized, scares me because within a most likely not so radical group, radicals can grow strength. It has happened in history. The French people wanted bread, they were starving, but it was the radicals like Maxamillion Ropspierre (Butchered that spelling) who had all of the aristocrat's heads chopped off. The fear is real because the danger is real. There is a possibility that the only way this movement will really gain momentum is with a leader and that leader will most likely be able to harbor radical beliefs. Things need to change, but I am all about compromise between reps and dems before throwing the baby out with the bathwater, if you know what I mean. This is all that really angers me and to a large extent frightens me.
As long as we can get them to accept moderate reform as a step along the way to whatever they want to do, it's fine. We get the change we need, the radicals get enough of a sop that their fight is not as urgent as it is now, and the American people get their country back. If we get that through and they decide they want to do any of the things you're afraid of, we turn around and walk out. If necessary we scuttle the movement afterwards. If we throw away the movement now before we get anything from it we lose a valuable opportunity; if we throw it out after we've gotten moderate change then everybody wins.
Jobs aren't falling off of trees, kid. A lot of people have been trying to find work for upwards of two years without finding work. Others have only found part-time jobs, and even working two such part time jobs, can't make ends meet. Wages have stagnated while the price of everything has gone through the roof, while corporate profits are higher than ever in history. It used to be that one 40 or 50 hour/week job would provide sufficient income to feed a family, pay for a home, and health care. Those days are gone, and it's not because of a lack of resources, it's because the people at the top have hoarded all the resources and demand exorbitant profits for them, while refusing to pay those who labor in their benefit. Your mom got lucky. I personally know people who have been out of work for well over a year, who every day hit the pavement trying to find work, who can't find work in their fields and are over-qualified for other jobs. I know people who are working multiple jobs, and still have no health care, or can't keep food on the table. None of them are lazy, ignorant, or looking for a hand out. They want justice, they want equity, they want to work, and they want to be paid fairly for their labors, and they don't want to be squeezed for a loaf of bread so some corporate CEO can have a new yacht. Wake up. Unemployment didn't suddenly climb through the roof in 2008 and stay there because 10% of the country, people who had jobs and worked all their lives, just suddenly became lazy. You also have no comprehension of what communism is or what we are asking for. The Occupy protests aren't about instituting communism. They're about holding the banks and corporations accountable for their actions, ejecting corporate money and influence from politics, returning OUR democracy to the people, and building a more fair, lessbrutally exploitive economy.
Will you be my mother? lol
Bravo Mary Hicks, I couldn't have said it better myself. Please send this to every major newspaper in the country, (not all will print it, but some will)!
Well said. This OWS crap is a bunch of stupid nonsense.