The Occupy, Tea Bag, 99% Problem

I just love how the Republicans and Tea Bag crowd continue to decry the Occupy Wall Street movement. Little do they know but at least when it comes to the Tea Bag party ... they are not unlike their Occupy breathren. Both groups vocally protest their dissatisfaction with the way things are being run. One group chooses to blame the government, the other group blames the fat cats.

Tea Baggers come out against Occupy Wall Street - OWS come out against the Baggers and there's a free for all somewhere in Central Park. It's not unusual to have these sprig parties sprout out every election cycle. There was the Green party, the Ross Perot party, the Gary Coleman party (okay - that was a typo..) But the prevailing two parties have remained relatively unscathed throughout history. That's not going to change anytime soon - but the reality is that as populist as some candidates have been (ahem, Obama) ... what matters is their service to the American people. Despite the Republican view on this, I subscribe to the belief that our electorate is there to represent the American people ... not American corporations and businesses.

That's why I haven't signed onto the OWS crowd as much as I've embraced the 99% movement. Because it's the 99% that continues to work hard everyday, see to their child's education, care and provide for their family while getting hammered by the lack of rise when it comes to salaries. That's why there's no single breadwinners in families these days. That's why both parents are needing to work to make ends meet and try to lay some sort of foundation for their family's future. Benefits are getting slashed, health care is out of reach for so many Americans, and there's a significant amount of the right side of the aisle that has NO PROBLEM with it. Our previous President once said that it's "uniquely American" to have such problems....

"Corporations are entitled to maximize their profits."
"Corporations have a duty and responsibility to their shareholders."
"It's not up businesses to take care of their employees..."

Really?

These are the folks you're protecting?

This is the philosophy you subscribe to?

The Tea Baggers and Republicans that continue to defend big business - they themselves fall well within the 99%, they continue to protect big industry, big banks, big pharma and big oil ... for reasons that simply don't make sense. The illusion that if you give the rich enough money - it'll trickle down to you - is a proven falsehood. The rate of salary increases have remain stagnant since Reagan's infamous boondoggle. The rich remain rich, while the poor remain poor and the middle class finds themselves on the endangered species list.

Even though they themselves are equally susceptible to the other 99%'ers out there in terms of job and benefit security. Sure - they have a nice paying job and can complain about others not doing enough to get their own damn job. Easy for them to say when unemployment has suffered mightily under the great recession. Easy for them .... until they find themselves on their own receiving end of it. Companies have no loyalty to their employees - as we've seen with the shift of jobs overseas. If you get a life-threatening condition - Sarah Palin's death panels will instantly be enacted to ensure that because you have become a liability of the company and you will lose your job and your benefits. It's all about profits, right Sarah?

Try treating cancer on unemployment after you've already emptied out your life's savings that you had HOPED was going to buoy your retirement ... and let's see if you still want to protect big pharma.

These folks are equally affected by the deregulation of food, water, air, and work conditions. Is profit really worth it if your water is laced with ignitable gas? Or the beef you get at the store tainted and contaminated? Or the factory you work in has asbestos in the walls and ceilings? Is the profit worth it to you then? The 99% seeks the balance against businesses and corporations from polluting and endangering employees lives for profit. A well known company that won't settle $300k in OSHA fines and making work condition improvements while guarding their CEO's $4 million salary (and $6 mil mansion) just doesn't resonate well with the 99%ers. It's not that we don't think a CEO is worth $4 million. "The market sets the rate" - and I'm okay with that, but if you're doing it at the EXPENSE of others - then I'm not going to be okay with that. Whether its petitioning to loosen pollution controls or having agencies turning a blind eye to their unfair business practices. "Everything in the name of profit" has become the new mantra for the 21st century, "damn the employees and the world we build it on, I want my 4th yacht because I've grown tired of the first 3."

Elizabeth Warren, who is now running for Senate in Massachusetts has it right. “There is nobody in this country who got rich on their own. Nobody. You built a factory out there - good for you. But I want to be clear. You moved your goods to market on roads the rest of us paid for. You hired workers the rest of us paid to educate. You were safe in your factory because of police forces and fire forces that the rest of us paid for. You didn't have to worry that marauding bands would come and seize everything at your factory... Now look. You built a factory and it turned into something terrific or a great idea - God bless! Keep a hunk of it. But part of the underlying social contract is you take a hunk of that and pay forward for the next kid who comes along.”

That's not socialism folks. That's being socially responsible. The false information of Rush, the banter of Beck and the mis-guided network known as Fox ... all do their part to press forward with the fear of socialism. Even though they casually neglect to point out that we already live in a pretty fair amount of socialism as it is ... not everything can or should be turned into a capitalized profit. Elizabeth's point is simple: everybody is responsible for paying back to society in order to get back from society the kinds of things we all enjoy. The problem is that with corporations going overseas and doing everything they can to avoid paying their taxes like G.E., then there is no investment happening back in the country that allowed them to flourish to begin with. Anyone who believes that's a form of socialism really needs to examine their history and look back at what socialism actually was back in the days of the Soviet Union - who was a Socialist Republic. The nation was impoverished and kept that way ... there was no 1%, there was no middle class, there were no SUV's or WalMarts where you could buy your flat screen TV using your Visa card. If you truly think you know what socialism is - then you can clearly see that this country is not even close to the big red scare like Fox continues to advertise.

If you're finding yourself protecting the 1%'ers ... then maybe you should begin to ask yourself why. When the majority of the 99%'ers make up folks on the Democrat and Republican side - it's no longer a political issue, but an ideological one. It's not that I want all of us to feel entitled to what they have. That's not my argument. But when these companies focus on profit over responsibility - then that's my argument. If you're not going to show much loyalty to the country that gives you the right to have your business, or to the employees that work hard for your company ... then you really need to sit down and examine why your loyalties are with businesses who conduct themselves as cowardly as they do.

Are you trying to protect your job? Your stock portfolio? Are you content being complicit as these companies lay off workers or break the laws - forcing them to work over 40 hours but not be entitled to the benefits of a full time employee? Are you sleeping well at night with your $100/quarter dividend check because the company you're invested in wants to lie and cheat to stay ahead? Is that the capitalism dream that you subscribe to?

Is that your definition of what America is about?

Then I challenge you to examine how you got to think about yourself over your country. Were you misguided by the man sitting behind the golden microphone who thinks pretty highly of himself? Or were you misguided by the network that claims to be fair and balanced - yet is anything BUT fair and balanced? If you're offended that I'm tackling your two big idols it's because I take great offense of those that seek to put the country behind its citizens and the companies that have enjoyed an incredibly open expanse when it comes to making profit hand over fist.

This country was founded with a unified, hand-in-hand approach that made us stronger than any nation around. While Rush and Fox are entitled to spew whatever opinions they care to - they're doing so irresponsibly and for the sake of themselves. I'm not espousing that we need to revert to a Soviet Socialist regime, but there has got to be a balance with this out of control "it's all about me" attitude that it's okay to disavow the principles of this country ... just so you have some spare change in the jar at the end of the day.

Morally - even Jesus would be mortified.