WHAT DO I THINK OF THE OCCUPY MOVEMENT? ARE ALL THOSE UNDER-EMPLOYED, NOT EMPLOYED, THE 99% JUST LAZY GOOD FOR NOTHINGS? WHO NEED TO JUST GET A JOB AND STOP COMPLAINING. That was one bloggers opinion. I wasn’t going to post on this. Tired, think I am battling a cold or something. Moreover, I don’t like getting political on my blog, I do my ranting on Facebook. But now I can’t resist. So let me list some thoughts.
- I have mixed feelings.
- There is a problem
- It isn’t one that is solved by saying stop complaining and get a job.
- It isn’t just evil Wall Street, greedy banks, the power of lobbyists, the other party, the immigrants, the out-sourcing of jobs.
- All sorts of greed seems to be in the mix.
- I also fault excessive consumerism.
- I believe in capitalism, but a regulated capitalism.
- I worry about the environment, but from much of what I read, many green products are in the money making business and are making more money than impacting. I worry that less developed countries will continue polluting.
- I also think there are too many nonsense regulations all for the wrong reason–mostly to prevent frivolous law suits.
- I think consumerism is a problem, but buying keeps the economy a float.
- I just don’t understand why anyone needs millions of dollars.
- I don’t understand the money paid to movie stars, popular musicians. and star atheletes.
- I don’t like how much it costs to run for political office and think that has to be equalized.
- I think everyone deserves enough to eat, to feel safe, to have a roof over their head and a decent education, access to knowledge and freedom of belief–not just in America but all over our world
Let me list some of what I think might help.
- Dis-empower the drug lords by legalizing all drugs, taxing and controllying them as we do alcohol, the deadliest of drugs. Legalize, control, and tax prostitution.
- Tax not-for-profits including churches.
- Increase the taxes on the rich.
- Increase corporate taxes.
- Encourage small self-sustaining homesteading communities.
- Stop aiding corrupt governments
- Collect the monies owed us by the United Nations.
But in all honesty, these are just ideas and I have no idea if they are would helped I hope the people in power know better than I do. I am not optimistic that there will be any real change. The rich and power have had their way for a long, long time. Thousands of years in fact. Democracy is still a noble experiment and while hopeful, I am also fearful.
Topic #280: Across the U.S., and now elsewhere in the world, a protest movement is rising calledOccupy Together. You can read live updates of the original Occupy Wall St. event, that’s still going. Also take a look at we are the 99%, a related website where people interested in the Occupy movement are telling their stories.
Write a post where you give your point of view. Do you think these protests are a good thing? Do you agree with their belief that there’s something wrong?