For the past month we have been watching with astonishment as the Occupy Wall Street protests have given voice to angry Americans who have had just about enough of Wall Street’s greedy, unethical and immoral practices.
I think we can fairly blame much of the current world financial crisis on the financial/banking industry’s incredible ability to quietly manipulate the markets and government in its never ending pursuit of greater and greater profit margins.
I am referring specifically to the bundling, tranching and selling of mortgages on the secondary market. What they did led directly to the loss of confidence in financial institutions and their subsequent insolvency. They misrepresented and sold their products to investors worldwide, many of whom were pension funds and other investor groups who held the the wealth of ordinary Americans.
These banking institutions caused financial harm to many who had worked all their lives to put together a retirement nest egg. These Wall Street moguls were, and still are, little better than Bernie Madoff. Sadly none of them are in jail and they have successfully prevented regulators from reigning in their free wheeling and quite possibly illegal schemes.
It gives me no end of pleasure to finally see protesters taking to the streets. My hat is off to them. What has taken them so long? They certainly are not a mob as Eric Cantor called them. They are pretty much the equivalent of the Tea Party that is also making a long overdue statement about government fiscal irresponsibility. By the way, the big government spenders are in Congress as well as the executive, but that is food for another letter.
This morning it’s all about Occupy Wall Street and the worldwide protests by the people who are finally calling for reform of the financial and government policies that have wrecked havoc with ordinary people everywhere.
Specifically they are protesting “social and economic inequality, corporate greed, the influence of corporate money and lobbyists on government” and most of all the complicity of government at all levels to the unbelievable Wall Street excesses.
As the financial meltdown occurred we were bombarded with fear mongering by government, big financial corporations and the duped press until we all believed our only recourse was was the bailout.
Well, we did it. We bailed out Wall Street and the automobile industry. In so doing we sold out the American people. Our thanks was Wall Street executives took huge bonuses just as if they had done nothing wrong.
Meanwhile the real estate industry tanked. Bankers used the bail out money to shore up their bottom lines instead of putting it into the market place where it was supposed to go.
Now what do we have? Property values in the toilet, borrowers underwater with their mortgages and many out of work as the “great recession” slips into a second dip. We also have Wall Street executives collecting big bonuses as Congress refuses to extend funding benefits for the long term jobless.
It is nearly four years later and absolutely nothing has been done to help the many, many Americans who are in financial distress. If there is any meaningful relief to the damaged mortgage holders by either the banking industry or government I sure don’t know about it.
Instead of offering relief to mortgage holders who are unable to repay their predatory loans banks are foreclosing and home owners are being evicted. Thank you Wall Street, thank you Congress, and thank you, Mr. President. What a mess.
Is it still unclear who is running Washington? Nothing has changed, absolutely nothing. Wall Street and big corporations are having their way. Now, finally people are taking to the streets in protest and I hope they stay in the streets protesting until government — yes, government — does something to help the needy in this country. And for sure I am not talking about further tax cuts for the wealthy.
There is a myth, several actually, that pervade our capitalist society. One is the idea that the wealthy are the job creators and the rest of us need to clear the way for them to make more money so they will create more jobs for the us.
Another is the idea that the rest of us should defer to the wealthy to run government since we, the underclass, are not really smart enough or clever enough to do it.
Finally we are told over and over again that if one does not have a job it is his own fault (Herman Cain).
Every week The Citizen runs articles by august conservative writers from propaganda mills like the Center for Vision and Values (Paul Kengor and Mark Hendrickson), Tribune Media Services (Cal Thomas) and Creators.com (Walter Williams and Thomas Sowell) in support of conservative ideology. Their concerted goal is to brainwash the underclass — you know, the ones who are on the lower end of the socioeconomic scale, into supporting programs and policies that clearly favor those on the upper end of the socio-economic scale.
They are forever defending the rich and seldom, if ever, have anything favorable to say the working class.
Finally there is Mr. Terry Garlock, a self-styled conservative pundit who writes very well. Unfortunately bad ideas well articulated are still bad ideas. They are particularly diabolical, however, when well stated as Mr. Garlock does.
Who will argue against success and self-sufficiency? Not me. In fact I don’t want to take any money from the rich, unless of course, their wealth was accumulated at the expense of underpaid, over-worked benefit-less and mistreated workers.
I am particularly disdainful of corporations who take their manufacturing to third world countries and pay pennies to the workers and bring their finished goods back to the United States and sell them for the high dollar. These are the greedy who will sell their souls for a dollar.
When challenged about this, they blame government red tape and high taxes in order cover their misdeeds. They leave for the low labor costs they can get overseas and they do not pass the savings on to consumers here.
Have you seen the cost of athletic shoes and other apparel manufactured in Vietnam, China, Indonesia, Mexico and other places? Are these manufacturers aware that we need jobs in America? If it were up to me they would surrender their passports upon leaving U.S. soil. They are traitors.
Mr. Garlock thinks greed is good. I’ll bet his favorite movie is “Wall Street,” a great movie that appears to glorify greed while really decrying it. Capitalism is our economic system, but it is flawed. It is vulnerable to all sorts of excesses that decent people despise.
Mr. Garlock appears to believe that it’s all about the money; that if it isn’t profitable it isn’t worth doing. Nothing could be further than the truth.
Unfortunately, Mr. Garlock parades Steve Jobs as the poster child for greed. Steve Jobs was an American icon who made a bunch of money, but was not motivated by greed. He was motivated by passion for his work, making a worthwhile contribution, personal relationships, making a difference, thinking big, keeping it simple, passing on his celebration of life and sharing the wealth and the credit for for his corporate success. His salary at Apple was one dollar per year. He was truly a giant and will be sorely be missed. Bill Gates, Warren Buffet, Jonas Salk and so, so many more great men do/did what they do/did, not for the money, but the love of doing it.
I am not advocating taking anything from the rich. I just don’t want to subsidize them. Contrary to conventional thinking being rich is not so easy. It has its own set of problems. Ask a lottery winner, or a Walton or Donald Trump.
The norm for human beings is not to have great wealth. Having too little is a curse, having enough is a blessing and having more than enough can be obscene. The excessive compensation of corporate leaders is just as obnoxious as that of some professional athletes. It is an abomination, especially at a time in this country where so many are having a hard time.
It is immoral for Wall Street execs to parade their wealth in front of children who are hungry, elderly who eat dog food, people who live in cardboard houses (there really are such things, I have seen them), people who live in the streets and people who cannot seem to get their share of the American pie.
The Bible tells it like it is: It is harder for a rich man to get into heaven than for a camel to go through the eye of a needle (Matthew 19:23-24).
Everyone should have enough, and if that means the rich must take a little less, so be it. I am far from rich, but I feel just a little uncomfortable when I think about how much I have and how little some others have. I don’t want more if it means another does without. Call me a “bleeding liberal.” I like it and you wouldn’t be the first.
David Browning
Peachtree City, Ga.
