You were probably wondering where your favorite misanthrope was while this latest hippie bullshit du jour was going on. I was where all of the people who were occupying Wall Street weren’t: at work. Honestly, I was hoping it would just pass and I could ignore it, but it seems to be picking up some steam, and this has put the pen back in my hand. This is the logical illogical progression to the previous Tax The Rich movement of a few months ago.
Like most hippie bullshit the goal is unclear but the enemy is omnipotent. For people who need a movement to follow behind, the best ones are those that will never end. What exactly do the 99% want? I’m not totally sure but I think they want the 1 percent’s money, preferably directly but more realistically filtered through the government.
A friend pointed me to a rather hilarious website today called WE ARE THE 99 PERCENT. This sheds some light on the wants of the 99% from the 1%.
Here is an example photo from this site of many photos like this with transcriptions underneath:
In this photo above you see a woman who was allegedly impregnated 5 times by one of the 1%ers, forced into a mortgage and is actively being snubbed by landlords. I don’t mean to be unsympathetic or glib, because I really do feel for this woman on a human level, but I can’t imagine that this pitiful attitude is helping her or her 5 (!!) children.
- How does she know that no landlords will rent to her?
- Why is she looking at renting if she hasn’t been evicted yet?
- Surely she can work some job?
- Certainly there are government programs for a single woman with 5 children.
- In a sense though, and I mean this compassionately, what message does it send to people like this if we blame the rich 1% for this woman’s impressive series of missteps?
- Why does she think it’s their fault?
- What help could this woman be given that would give her lift off and not just encourage her to make more mistakes or wallow in the rubble of her missteps?
Here are the wants of the above 99 percenter:
- To not be fed lies
- For her degree to find her a job
- To not be in debt, depressed or struggling
- No more unpaid internships
- Not live at parents house
- Stability
- To not worry everyday
- To have been foretold that life would be this way (difficult)
Seems reasonable. Let’s move to the next one.
Above is a man who doesn’t realize that there is no debtor’s jail and he can simply stop paying his credit card and save the cash. Of course that would mean that he wouldn’t be entitled to more credit cards (pretty good thing actually for someone who is broke) that charge him high interest rates which is probably why he doesn’t do what I just suggested. Also he’s not wearing any pants.
Former Idaho Senator Larry Craig upset about situations that i’m 100% certain didn’t happen overnight. There’s a tube of Elmer’s glue on the couch behind him. He looks like the type that likes the taste of glue from time to time.
This is a common thread and the irony is appalling: people angry that they paid a lot of money for an education and aren’t being paid corporate salaries to pay off their loans. Again, like credit card man above this chick should forget about that debt and start living. Smile, you just got a free $75,000 education. People in other countries who must have money to go to college would gladly step into your shoes, except they probably wouldn’t pick the dumb major that you did.
More education bubble woes. I’d wager that her “dream degree” was not in English. How is it the rich 1 percent to blame that she chose a degree that is not in demand? Having a child seemed like a great idea for a graduating senior?
This just in: students are usually poor and must make sacrifices for 4 years in order to get an education. Up next: boiling water is hot.
Below this photo was this information supplied by the lady in the photo:
With no choice by to work for my mothers business, I have given up all hope in pursuing my dream. I never thought I’d be in this situation at my age. My parents moved here from Pakistan and had me and my brothers here in America hoping to raise their children in a better economy with opportunities and fulfilling dreams. But all we have gotten is grief and struggle. If we all stand together, we can change it all!!! NYer’s join me and MoveOn.org on Wednesday October 5th at City Hall Downtown Manhattan, for a march to stand for OUR dreams!!!
Poor girl has to work for her mothers business— wha what? Her mother’s business? Hoping for better economy and opportunities and fulfilling dreams? Wait, so the Wall Street guys don’t want a better economy? They like a shitty and volatile stock market? Oh my god this is maddening.
Ok i’m done.
The really frightening part of this is that all of this is just pure and simple envy. Sure there’s a lot of rich people in this country and sure they do evil rich people stuff sometimes, but every single one of these pictures are like examples of exactly what not to do. These people are mad that they have student loan debt without considering how fucking lucky they are that in this country you don’t need to be rich to go to college. The economy sucks because of the stupid mistakes of these exact types of people, not Wall Street. These people felt entitled to a house and easy credit they only planned to pay off if they sold their house for twice what they paid for it. Too bad everyone had this idea and nobody was able to sell anything or pay back anything.
$30,000 in credit card debt? At $20,000 did it occur to them to stop using the credit card? This is insane that this type of thinking is considered some kind of progress.
