Forum Post: Why I'm giving money to OWS and not Obama

Obama's a money machine. He's taking fat cats to lunch for $37,000 and becoming a bit of a fat cat himself. He doesn't need my $50, OWS does. I don't care what they do with it. I didn't know what Obama was doing with it when I gave to him in 2008. I will probably still vote for Obama. I vote in every election, and the Republican Congress is morally reprehensible, not much different than the Dem Congress before them.

My main gripe is how hard it's going to be for young people to pay off their debt, particularly student loans. We're all told "invest in yourself, go to college and grad school, you'll be valuable after that". And now what? If we can find jobs at all, they're paying $12/hour at best. Know how long it takes to pay off $60,000 at $12/hour? Neither do I, but it feels like it's going to be forever. I'm up to date on my debt right now, but I've received the rough calls from collection agencies like so many of the OWS protesters have, and it's a horrible feeling, like you've done your best but still somehow have turned into a miserable failure, all because you didn't mail a check to some faceless corporate bank.

So here's my idea on how to fix it: a federal work program for young indebted Americans, that first pays a regular cash minimum wage for the work, but also supplements that with debt forgiveness so that the total wage is about $20/hour. For example, you get $9/hour in pay PLUS $11/hour in student loans forgiven, total of $20/hour. In the federal budget, this is peanuts, certainly nowhere near the kind of expenditure they are making in dozens of other agencies.

Republicans like to talk about higher tax rates being a dis-incentive to work. Know what's a disincentive to work? When every penny you earn goes out the door to some banker you'll never meet, and you still have no hope of ever being paid off.

I know that cynics will say "boo hoo, you just want a handout to make up for your personal irresponsibility, you're a socialist". Well, first of all yes, everybody loves a good bailout, and I wouldn't mind students being the next group in line to get one. And as for me being a socialist, that's neither here nor there. What I'm talking about is INVESTING in young people - you know, the ones who are going to be growing into leadership positions over the next 20 years, when the current leaders are growing old and needing Social Security and adult diapers?

What would you rather we be doing right now? Participating in a work program to develop professional skills? Or becoming more financially desperate to the point that we say "maybe I just won't pay these bills, maybe I'll just drop out of society, break windows, and hate banks".

It doesn't matter what kind of jobs. We are diverse and multi talented. We learn quickly. Give us work.