A friend of mine who lives in the East Village sends me a message last night:
"so i'm walking home from a favored eatery where i sit at the bar and read non-essential stuff...
OK it's a swedish place where i love the meatballs and the herring and the mexican server who says "bon appetito!"
but i digress...
there's chanting around the corner, so i walk over, and sure enough there's a small mob outside of
St Vincent's Hospital (closed two years ago) reciting a prepared speech.
Satellite TV cameras abound!
I tried to take pictures of the signs (Unlimited medical care is a constitutional right!) but it was too dark.
Occupy Wall Street is apparently franchising its fame (notoriety?)
There was a guy dressed up as the Monopoly game millionaire with a sign that said "Don't tax me. I gave at the office!"
Despite the police surrounding
the episode, there was a wonderful pungency of that certain purple smoke.
So I hung around inhaling to experience the benefits second hand.....God, i love this town!"
**************************************
I had to laugh - as OWS has become a bit of a joke (ok, a big joke) in NYC amongst those of us who get it. You know - most of the 1% AND the 99%. And a pain in the ass for everyone who lives or works anywhere in or around Wall Street.
OWS appears to be a bunch of whiny kids who either couldn't or wouldn't get into college, some whose courses just haven't started yet and want to enjoy the end of vacation, a few folks who have been laid off and find it easier to hang around their buddies all day taking advantage of free wi-fi, free food and medical care, and the occasional free drugs of other kinds and a LOT of people there for the photo ops and their 15 seconds of fame claiming they are just "trying to change the world".
I'm not going to get into their complaints about society in general except to say "wanna do something about it?"
Sitting in a public park hollaring about change isn't going to make it happen. (altho I suspect as soon as it gets really cold we are going to see a LOT fewer folks in that park)
The financial industry didn't collapse solely because the individual financial firms were greedy. The fears during the aftermath of 9-11, and the laws in place, allowed the actions the institutions made to get people home loans (always believed a way to increase consumer spending and prevent recession) and resell them for profit. Now we are closing the barn door after the horses escaped - but isn't that the way most new laws have been made over the centuries mankind has had a legal system in place?
Why the heck do you think somebody came up with the original Ten Commandments?
Whining about credit card interest rates? Don't use credit cards. Complaining about the cost of college tuition? An awful lot of poor folks have managed to get themselves an education by getting good grades, working two jobs while going to school, finding scholarships and grants, and paying off their loans after graduation. Anyone who wants to get a diploma can find a way to go. Choices - remember?
And stop the whole 1% vs 99%. Those 1% were either lucky enough to be born into the wealth their hard-working parents, grandparents, or great-grandparents made, or fortunate enough to have the brainpower or good genes to make it happen on their own (think Bill Gates, Steve Jobs, Mark Zuckerman).
So, in my humble opinion, if you don't like the tax laws, or the banking laws, or any other kind of law of the land - go work for a candidate you believe in. Get them elected to start making the changes you want.
Alternatively, get off your ass and put your own name on the ticket.
But perhaps hard work isn't their idea of how to "change the world"......
PS: As of October 12, this group has cost the NYC Police Department $3.2 million on overtime. Click here for more information on OWS |
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