I originally wasn't going to post about this, because well: Who on earth could be against Occupy Wall Street?
But then, much to my complete inability to understand, some people actually are against it.
I can not, for the life of me, understand how this can be. I mean, seriously, peaceful people gathering to protest greed.
Not corporations. Greed. There is a BIG difference, and I think that is why people are supposedly against it- because they don't understand it. (Or, they only watch FauxNews and for some reason believe what is said on that so-called station).
Liberals and democrats are all for businesses. We're all for hard work. What we are NOT for is CEO's getting a 27% pay increase while middle-class workers get a 2% pay raise. What we are NOT for is CEO's pocketing millions of dollars while they ship jobs overseas. What we are NOT for is CEO's taking billions of dollars of bail-out money, and holding on to it: refusing to lend so that thousands of small businesses go under.
What is to like about those CEO's?
Let me give you a personal example.
My mom lost every penny of her retirement- retirement she had dilligently saved for over 30 years of dedicated service at Washington Mutual. When it went under (in very shady circumstances if there ever was one), she lost EVERY. SINGLE. PENNY.
What did Washington Mutual's CEO get? He got paid 21 MILLION dollars for 17 DAYS of work.
Yup, TWENTY ONE MILLION for 17 DAYS.
What hard-working middle-class citizen thinks that is just great? Fair? Reasonable? Right? What true, hard-working American is not furious that we live in a society where that is not only OK, it's acceptable?
That's what Occupy Wall Street is about. It's about this top 1% who DID NOT work hard to get where they are. They simply screwed the most people.
And, I'm so incredibly SICK of people saying that the poor are lazy. I grew up so poor the stories I could tell you would make your head spin. But my dad was, and still is, the absolute hardest worker I know. He worked three jobs to make ends meet. Those bastards on Wall Street who stole my entire mom's retirement have no clue what hard work is- they have never done what my Dad did. They have never sacrificed and worked like I watched my dad.
The janitors, mechanics, and factory workers are the TRUE hard workers in America. Screw you Republicans who think if you have money it's because you "worked harder." Screw you Herman Cain for treating the poor like trash, saying they just need to work. Screw every person who honestly thinks that "working hard" automatically equates to making money.
I have, unfortunately, seen how the "real world" works. I saw my mom cry for weeks while some Wall Street hypocrite took everything from her.
So, yeah, I'm pretty pissed at Wall Street. Not businesses and corporations in general. At these selfish, greedy, despicable men (who I am absolutely certain will rot in Hell someday) who are stealing from the working class, and then blaming the working class for being in such a plight.
And if you're not angry, you don't get it. Start researching, and you'll be angry.
UPDATE: I will note, that I do NOT think the violence in Rome is OK. The protests in the USA have been incredibly peaceful. In Denver, the leaders of Occupy Denver actually went around the park and collected and got rid of anything that could be used as a weapon (large rocks, sticks, etc.) and held several meetings discouraging violence. Even though the police came, it was incredibly peaceful with no violence from either side. Peaceful protests should always be encouraged in a country that claims democracy.
