Occupy Wall Street could change your life....but will it?
Before we begin, let me state a few things outright that don’t need to be argued about.
The common criticisms, really, of anyone who supports Occupy Wall Street: The media definition of “socialism” and the idea that if you support financial reform that you believe everyone rich is evil.
First and foremost, any idea that I am criticizing protesting should be stopped right now. I fully and wholeheartedly support protesting. I believe in everyone’s right to say what they believe regardless of how I personally feel about it. I also do not believe that protesting is pointless. However, I will say that I think it is only one step of many.
Second, allow me to state emphatically that I do not believe that “rich” people are evil.
It’s possible and actually probable that some of them might suffer from a lack of compassion and arrogance in that they perceive themselves to be above the rules the rest of us are to follow but, evil, no. And I also do not think we should have to live barren, spartan lives. Life can be hard enough without even one or two creature comforts.
In fact, I believe everyone should have some luxury in their lives. I like my pretty frocks and fancy vodkas as much as the next girl. That said, I do not feel entitled to any of these things. Nor do I feel like I should hurt other people to have them. As the phrase “pursuit of happiness” is not decorated with an asterisk that footnotes: It does not matter what you do to get it.
Third, that making rules for a level playing field in the financial world does not make one an evil, Liberal socialist (I might add that believing in a form of socialized health insurance {note I said “insurance” not “health care”-there is a difference, everyone} does not make you a socialist either, but that is a discussion for another time) who believes anyone who makes more money than they do should be hung by the neck. I do not think anyone who learns that someone became a successful business person by actually using hard work is going to have contempt for said business person. Now, to learn someone is a millionaire because they knowingly sold faulty mortgage loans to people who do not understand the financial jargon thrown at the everyday consumer; well, contempt is probably going to be followed closely by anger.
And finally, at least for the moment, please note I do not believe you need to fight every perceived wrong in this world and I am also by no means trying to absolve those on Wall Street, the government, the world economy or global market for any of the wrong doing they’ve participated in.
BUT, and this is a BIG one, if Occupy Wall Street as well as the voters send the loud and clear message this next election that financial reform is an issue that must be addressed, what happens next?
Whether you realize it or not, that is entirely up to you.
The question is: Do you believe you did your part by participating in the physical protest and/or voting in the national election for the candidates who support reform, and then go back to your life as it was before? Are you at the very least sympathetic to the OWS cause?
If you answer, “Yes,” to this, or have not considered this, you’re not changing anything.
Not one little thing.
The hard truth of all this is that we are responsible for own behaviors and the decisions you make every single day of your life support the ill gotten gains of the 1%.
The current condition of the market was jettisoned into the disaster it is by the sub-prime loan crisis. I.e.: Selling money we didn’t have, and couldn’t afford to borrow, to people who are not knowledgeable in this subject, and sadly, probably trusted the banker who offered to help them buy a home for their family. This was not building the American dream. It was people ripping off those who want the American dream.
But that is only currently. The economy, with the help of some of the wealthy, has had us teetering on the brink of disaster for some time because of dishonest business practices propped up by our government. And the only reason it happens is because we let it.
Now maybe you’re thinking, “How could I possibly be a part of this?” You get up and go to work everyday. You’re not wealthy. You went to school, got a degree would like to have a home, a family and you’re not hurting anyone else, are you?
Let’s start with how you get to work everyday. I’ve no doubt some of you bike, walk, and ride the bus. But a whole lot of us do not. We drive our cars. We drive them to work, to the store, to the bank, etc… Somewhere to the tune of 129 million of us drive our cars.
You have kids, no time, errands to run, you are busy.
I’m pretty sure it’s no secret at this point in our history that the oil industry is CORRUPT.
It is also clear that the oil industry will do whatever it takes to keep you driving your car. From convincing you that you are less of person if you don’t drive the right car to invading countries under false pretenses to ascertain the nation’s resources. Maybe that’s too heavy to think about. Then think about this: Goldman Sachs alone bought and sold 860 million barrels of oil in 2008. Why would a financial firm buy oil? They did this so they could, in fact, artificially drive up the price of oil on the market. Which, simply put, makes oil very, very expensive for you.
Let’s be clear here, I am not saying give up your car. At all. If you can and do, good for you. That’s not realistic for many of us but what is realistic is that, as with any tool, we can decide how we use our cars and, in turn, our oil. As a bonus we can send a clear message to those who think to squander the world’s resources and manipulate you to make money. Use your car less. Use your car differently. If each of us drove our car to work one less time a week we would take an estimated $18 billion dollars a year away from these companies. I would have to guess that would make someone take notice.
Support women and men running for office who will work to stop oil speculation. Some believe that putting an end to oil speculation stands to cut oil prices by half. Some think more. But we’ll stick with half and well, that half is a lot of money for us not them.
Times are tough and money is tight. Of that there is no question. Many of us are sitting under crushing debt. Some of that debt is set up so that we never get out from under it, and the average American household is holding approximately $8,100 to $9500 in revolving debt. The average interest is 14% without counting the various fees you can occur for late payments and various usages. I recently read a financial report which estimated that Americans hold 600 million credit cards. I couldn’t believe it. That’s 2 for every person–man, woman and child. That is a staggering number.
The best part about telling you all this is how hard it is for me to pin down actual numbers to give you. I’ve looked and looked for information. I have read a few conflicting reports here and there including that people pay off their balances every month. Well, if that were true I’d have to wonder where the idea that people have credit card debt came from. But something I learned a long time ago was to always consider my source of information. It’s almost more important than the actual information itself. Because in reality someone can tell you anything. The question would be: Why?
Credit card companies don’t want a bad reputation and neither do their investors. So why would they want you to hear that they set up the revolving credit system to keep you under their “care” for your entire life?
So, say, who owns VISA? Well, over 20,000 financial institutions. Financial institutions whose sole purpose is to produce money for their investors. Not you. The very people who have made you feel like you can’t live without your credit cards are the same people who created the mess we are in. With all your student loans, car payments, rent and/or mortgage, I imagine you feel like you can’t survive without that piece of plastic. So be it.
Here’s what you need to ask yourself: What are you really paying for with your credit card(s)? What can you currently live without? If it’s not food, water or your doctor bills(yep, isn’t that nice?), get rid of it. It is not worth helping someone sit on a yacht while you struggle. AND that is precisely what you are doing. If you can’t live without a credit card or say even want credit cards, get them from credit unions. Look for cards with a conscience. True. Sounds impossible, but most credit union cards now even carry options to use benefits to donate to charity. Help those who need it by your choice and help yourself!
So those two things I just wrote about are pretty important. Very important, actually. But there is something that stands out in my mind as more important than anything else you can do. It doesn’t require giving up your car or your credit cards, but it does require your involvement. If I understand correctly that’s what this is all about, right? Us not them. Tired of someone else running the show. Making ourselves HEARD and reminding ourselves what democracy is supposed to be.
You need to learn about your candidates and vote. And so there’s no misunderstanding me: NOT JUST IN THE NATIONAL ELECTION. People complain and complain that they feel their votes mean nothing on the national stage. But what would happen if you started at the bottom and worked your way up?
What would you say if I told you that a recent City Council election in St. Paul was decided by 36 votes? (Never mind that voter turnout was abysmal at 15%.) Those of us here in Minnesota especially should understand how important each and every vote can count. (Franken/Coleman anyone?)
We patted ourselves on the back here in Minnesota after the last presidential election. No doubt, we did a good job by having the highest voter turn out in the country, but look what it took to get us out there. It’s also worth noting Obama took the election with some of the strongest grassroots organizing to ever happen in our country. Grassroots means you and me. That means starting with those on the first level and moving through to the top. A pyramid can’t stand without a base and the base is the largest part of the pyramid. If your mayor doesn’t represent what you believe, how can he tell your governor? How can your governor communicate with your senators? Stop your reactionary voting and stop voting only in national elections. Get involved and informed.
All the information you need is out there. Most of the time you can get it without even trying. Spend a few minutes getting to know all your candidates. I think you’ll be very surprised by what you learn about them and yourself.
It’s going to be very cold in parts of the country very soon. People are going to want to see their families for their holidays. People are going to get sick and arrested. Many people already feel as though they don’t have the time to physically attend a protest or maybe even feel it doesn’t change anything, even if they do agree with the message. That’s why it’s so very important that we take this message home with us. Because if we don’t change the way we behave and spend our money, they won’t either.
This is only the first stage of the class war. And it IS a war. It was declared on us when we were trying to have lives. Well, now we know what it is and how it’s happening. We have to fight it or be in it forever. We must remember it’s not fought with violence or weapons. It’s fought with our decisions.
What you must remember is that this job is shared by all of us and just because you can’t fight every battle does not mean you should not fight any. Because like it or not, change begins with us and there are A LOT MORE OF US than there are of them. A LOT MORE.
Sources:
The Washington Post
Star Tribune
Fair Vote Minnesota
My brain
MSNBC online
U.S. Dept. of Transportation
U.S. Census Bureau
And thanks to the Mysterious M for helping me gather the numbers and double checking the math.
