[Vision2020] Let's talk about OccupyWherever

[Paul Rumelhart]

There is a lot about this movement that calls to me on an emotional 
level.  The common man fighting the evil corporate overlords.  Citizens 
exercising their first amendment rights.  The 99% that are getting 
poorer every year standing up to the 1% that are getting richer every year.

However, there is a lot about this movement that I don't like, either.  
They are too unorganized.  They are showing a fine demonstration of 
frustration, but they are not making use of their current status to try 
to force any kind of change.

I would like them to change their targets a little bit.  Currently, they 
are targeting the 1% blindly, solely on the fact that they are doing 
better than everyone else.  I doubt that every single person making that 
much money is an evil money-grubbing bastard.  I'm sure that there are 
millions of not-as-successful evil money-grubbing bastards all 
throughout the spectrum.  What we need to do, in my humble opinion, is 
to focus on the evils of over-the-top greed and decry those common 
attitudes of "it's just business" or "it's easier just to game the 
system" or even "I have to have the new shiny because otherwise people 
will know I'm struggling".

 From what I've seen, the protesters were surprised when they were 
allowed to spend the first night, and after that point they were simply 
a beacon for those who are frustrated about our current system.  When 
the police ignited the media coverage by stupidly beating protesters, 
they found themselves in a situation where the world was waiting to hear 
what they had to say and all they heard were a thousand different 
opinions from a hundred different people.

In my opinion, they should focus on one thing: unbridled greed.  Let's 
make a distinction between the hard-working American following their own 
version of the American Dream and the insensitive bank mogul smoking his 
cigar and working to find the best way to screw his customers in order 
to meet his bank's projections this quarter.

Some things I'd like to hear from the protesters:

- It's OK to do well if you are playing by the rules and not trying to 
game the system.
- Any parts of the system that encourage unbridled greed should be 
looked at carefully.
- Gaming the system is not a capitalist virtue, it goes against 
everything our system of free trade was built on.
- Regulations need to be put back in place, it's not OK to make money by 
perpetuating fraud.
- Stop using sweatshops to shave $0.03 off the purchase price.
- Stop making contracts with unions that force companies to outsource 
because the labor costs are unsustainable.
- Simplify the tax code, remove company-specific tax breaks and 
loopholes in the tax law.
and finally,
- Stop going into so much debt as a country and as an individual.

I'm sure there are a million others.  Our system needs to be fixed, but 
simple anger is not going to fix it.  Someone will come along and 
manipulate that anger for their own ends and all will be for nothing.

What does everyone else think?

Paul