A little antidote to all of this Occupy Wall Street nonsense
- Thread starter whoisjohngalt
- Start date
I have to admit I havent been following the news behind this issue much, though I agree with the student above's statement, its more or less how i lived my life and is mainly the reason I am where I am today. by being smart and slowly working my way to the top I have achieved what I own. key word is own, nothing I have with the exception of some rental properties left have any debts towards me. I believe people who were caught with their pants down were the ones who are not planning properly for their own future, it is entirely your responsiblilty to make sure that you are taken care of (not all eggs in one basket, relying on work to support etc)
though on the flip side, my beef with "wallstreet" is their apparent immunity and ability to flaunt at our expense, irresponsibility to the max. there is no such thing as too big to fail. the big businesses in my opinion are already a fail. so we have to start over with some other business in place, big deal. thats what the banks tell us all the time right?? cant pay your mortgage or rent? tough luck, your out on the street. that same principle should be applied to any business or political figure, and more so when it is our money being played with.
The message shown above should be taken and applied by all people and businesses alike. if you cant live within your means, scale back. If you cant manage your business within its respective means, scale back or it will shut down. plain and simple.
though on the flip side, my beef with "wallstreet" is their apparent immunity and ability to flaunt at our expense, irresponsibility to the max. there is no such thing as too big to fail. the big businesses in my opinion are already a fail. so we have to start over with some other business in place, big deal. thats what the banks tell us all the time right?? cant pay your mortgage or rent? tough luck, your out on the street. that same principle should be applied to any business or political figure, and more so when it is our money being played with.
The message shown above should be taken and applied by all people and businesses alike. if you cant live within your means, scale back. If you cant manage your business within its respective means, scale back or it will shut down. plain and simple.
I think a big part of the protest though is that the powers-that-be (Wall Street, government) are NOT living within their means, and are passing the debt burden onto people like this hypothetical student who is just sitting back and taking it.
Personal responsibility is great, but what gets peoples' ire up is when one group (say Germany) works hard, saves money, does all the right things, and for their troubles they are pushed to bail out Greece.
Nothing against the Greeks, but Greece is a small island with a small population and few natural resources. How on earth does its economy deserve to be anything but Third World?
Personal responsibility is great, but what gets peoples' ire up is when one group (say Germany) works hard, saves money, does all the right things, and for their troubles they are pushed to bail out Greece.
Nothing against the Greeks, but Greece is a small island with a small population and few natural resources. How on earth does its economy deserve to be anything but Third World?
If Obama had not placed the same Goldman Sachs shitheads in charge again, and had ordered the Justice Department to prosecute the thieves and robber barons on Wall Street to the full extent of the law, these protests would not be happening.
They are basically protesting one set of laws for the rich, and one for everybody else.
When I went to university it was easy. I could make enough in easily available good summer jobs to pay my way, get reasonable loans to make up the rest -- that I easily paid back in a few years. This is NOT the way it is anymore. Kids today are screwed, no matter how frugal they are.
And i will bet my ass that that photo is not a real placard.
They are basically protesting one set of laws for the rich, and one for everybody else.
When I went to university it was easy. I could make enough in easily available good summer jobs to pay my way, get reasonable loans to make up the rest -- that I easily paid back in a few years. This is NOT the way it is anymore. Kids today are screwed, no matter how frugal they are.
And i will bet my ass that that photo is not a real placard.
Way back many years ago I went through a college trade course whilst working a full time night job and going to class 8 hours a day....the average completion time of the course I was in was 18 months....I did it in 6 months and got the second highest score in the history of the final exam.
With hard work it can be done.
SR
Obviously you and many others do not understand the nature of the problem.
No one bails out the little guy - the little guy loses his home, his job, everything - the banks, wall street get bailed out with our money. Then they get big bonuses at the end of the year, and it's business as usual.
Wall Street / Big Banks are all for free markets and deregulation so they can make more money, and when they mess up their the first ones at governments doorstep with their hand out asking for hand outs.
They want to socialize risk.
If you have to be a douchebag and pretend like you really are this ignorant to how things really work - go ahead it's a free country.
As I recall from the great HST thread you seem unable to engage in debate without resorting to demagoguery and personal attacks. There is nothing to be gained here.
The occupy wall street protest is about how the financial sector engaged in criminal and fraudulent activity, created an economic crises, and collected $13 trillion from taxpayers to bail themselves out. In the interim no one was arrested, perpetrators collected healthy bonuses, and ordinary people who were victimized either through losing their homes and or their jobs got nothing. It may also be related to the US having the highest income inequality in the industrialized world (10% of the population has 80% of the wealth), and the current real unemployment rate is around 20%.
But, these facts are pretty darned complicated, so charming little anecdotes about pulling oneself up by your bootstraps and babbling about self reliance are probably easier to focus on.......
But, these facts are pretty darned complicated, so charming little anecdotes about pulling oneself up by your bootstraps and babbling about self reliance are probably easier to focus on.......
I've been thinking about what kind of pearls of wisdom I could toss out to celebrate my 100th post on PERB. I've been thinking about my next trip west and how I want to connect with several of the lovely ladies out there.. Sandi and Kristy, Ingrid, Beautiful Sexy Anna, Yoko.... Maybe tie in my milestone post (well, it's a milestone to me anyways), by posting something witty and charmingly innocent about the wonderful SP's out in Canada's most beautiful province.
I guess that will have to be put on hold cause I just have to say that Ned F just hit a home run in my books with the above comment. :clap2::clap2::clap2:
It's all well and good to protest this and that but consider the alternative. Had there been no bail out, what sort of financial disaster would we be looking at today? The bail out was ill-conceived, without significant conditions attached to them but did bring about much needed stability at an extremely volatile time.
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30 hours is not much. I used to work something similar in college (microbiology/computer science). Two 8 hour shifts on the weekend, one 8 hour shift on Friday after school + 1 4 hour shift on Tuesdays.
Sure, I didn't party or socialize outside of school much, but I also saved my money to continue paying my tuition without taking a student loan. Lived with roomies and paid minimal rent, etc...
Totally workable, if you are willing to sacrifice. I grew up poor so never expected much and appreciated the chance to go to college.
But part of the problem is we don't know what "would" have happened. What we do know is what did happen -- that the crooks who caused it have made out like bandits, and are still doing so, and suffered no consequences for their crimes. And that nothing has changed.
The average student at UBC or SFU has 15 hours of class time per week. Add in another 20 hours for reading/studying for a total of 35 hours per week. If someone is serious about getting a degree or diploma, then adding in another 20 - 25 hours of work per week should not be to stressful providing you are willing to forego some social activities and free time. I know i did it and I am not a genius nor did I rely on "prayer". At the end of the day, if you are willing to work hard, work smart and not rely on your "entitlement", you can get ahead.
Well we can always speculate and project. What do you think would happen in Canada if say the Royal Bank, BMO, Scotiabank and CIBC were to fail after massive defaults on their outstanding loans?
I was about to attempt to post something logical about this topic, then I realized why bother. Topics of this type tend to be of interest to two types of folks, the left or the right.
The left as history has shown tend to favor the Robin Hood mentality, take from the rich and give to the poor. Unfortunately this never elevates everyone to the highest common denominator, but rather tends to bring everyone closer to the lower end. In a capitalistic society this is a real bummer for incentive, once incentive is gone the rest tends to be history.
The right on the other hand don't generally begrudge anyone else anything, they just want to hold onto what they have. Funny thing though, it tends to be the right that create all the jobs. Go figure....
The left as history has shown tend to favor the Robin Hood mentality, take from the rich and give to the poor. Unfortunately this never elevates everyone to the highest common denominator, but rather tends to bring everyone closer to the lower end. In a capitalistic society this is a real bummer for incentive, once incentive is gone the rest tends to be history.
The right on the other hand don't generally begrudge anyone else anything, they just want to hold onto what they have. Funny thing though, it tends to be the right that create all the jobs. Go figure....
Luckily, I bank at TD.
What I would like to think would happen, is that if the officers of those banks committed serious financial crimes that caused that to occur, they would suffer the same consequences as if they had stolen the money at gunpoint. And that they definitely would not still be in charge.
Lol, this is comical. Lets just set school aside for one moment and look at life out in the real world. Find me an individual who has succeeded in business and didn't do so in part by working 60-70 hours a week. Christ, send me to school and I will hold down a 30 hour a week job, keep my grades, and still find time for a beer with my buddies. All of that will take less time that I currently spend building a career out here in the real world.
Maybe you should go back to first page and check the links that show the true nature of the inequalities that exist in the US today. The rich are not just interested in holding on to what they have -- they keep getting more and more.
The "left" and "right" in this context is bullshit. It is the rich against the rest of us, the ever-shrinking middle class.
In the faculty I got my degree in, nobody maintained a 3.8 gpa, nevermind a student working fulltime.
I am not saying people cant take school and work at the same time. I did so myself. But to say it doesn't effect grades is what I am getting at.
Students with money, that can afford to live on campus and not work, have a huge advantage over others.
I personally worked, and commuted to SFU from Aldergrove.
And more to the point that I believe that letter is fake, and looks like it is written by someone wanting to show support for their position.
