That's the problem with a leaderless movement. I am sure there are plenty of people who want real changes that help all but their voices get drowned out by the dummies who yell loudest. I feel sorry for those who are there and want to see effective regulations on Wall St. to avoid the kinds of problems markets have had in recent years, or more responsible government.
I agree with you, Keith. The people getting the media attention are the freaks and freeloaders. And when you have a 24/7 takeover that's what you will get. People with jobs have to go to work. I think if everyone in America had a clear and honest understanding of what happened and what is happening on wall street there would be an outc ry for regulation. It's not about taking money from the wealthy...it's about implenting rules that govern ethical business conduct.
Do we have corporations that have taken advantage and ripped off people? Absolutely. Just like we have unions who have gone way over the edge. It really is kind of ironic to see the media brand Republicans as the tools of the corporation and ignore Obama's connections and the Democratic connections to the greed corporations. Much has been made of GE's massive income and paying no US taxes along with moving massive numbers of jobs overseas. So who does our President appoint to head up a jobs commission. Why, none other than the head of GE! Greedy non tax paying corporations have an ally in the White House, but for some reason the media can't seem to notice that. If the Occupy Wall Street faction wants to protest corporate greed, they should add all politicians and all unions into the mix. I love it when someone says "You are greedy! Give me your money!" Isn't this just another example of greed?
I agree with you 100%, I never went to college after high school, just the US Army and now I am a respected Facility Technician at a hospital. I fought long and hard to get there. As far as I'm concerned you are not a stupid mechanic, to do what you do there is a lot to know When it comes to the OWS, I am all for freedom of speach but I think it is a waste of time. The CEO's are not goint to listen to them, if it was not for businesses (both big and small) there would be very few working
I hear what you are saying but I wouldn't put Union's in the same class as the fianancial institutions on Wall Street. First of all we are talking about billions and billions of dollars difference. And the actions of Union's didn't result in hundreds of thousands of people losing their homes and the collapse of the economy. There's greedy and then there is ethically corrupt. Most of my life I have been "anti-union". But I am beginning to see that we again have a need for them. In a sense Union's are responsible for the creation of the middle class. The wages they achieved for average workers translated throughout the economy to non-union workers, as well. I agree that they reached a tipping point in their demands. Globalization and effective transportation have enabled Corporations to obtain cheap labor overseas. You could argue that the primary role of a corporation is to create profit and so they are doing the right thing. But the cheap labor is there because the people in those countries are in many ways exploited. There are few if any environmental or labor standards. But somewhere along the line, the secondary role of a corporation, being a "good corporate citizen", has been lost. They are choosing to sacrifice the well being of the nation and it's people in favor of higher profits. Unions bear responsibility too, in that they just kept demanding more and more. And, absolutely, the Democrats are just as much puppets as the Republicans. The only way you get to be President today is with the backing of the people who are really in power. Scary.
lol. for the record i dont think im a "stupid"mechanic....i just laugh about it due to how few people actually trust their mechanics. inside joke i guess.lol
Don't you pretty much have to be a computer tech to be a mechanic these days? I look under the hood...can't find the carburetor...then shut it... lol
lol. ummm, not sure what you drive but most carbs dissapeared around 1988. imports kept them a little longer. but yeah, theres a lot more to it now than 15 or 20 years ago.
With the complexity of today's vehicles, I don't think there is such a thing as a stupid mechanic. They're pretty darn involved these days. Brewster I would put a ton of blame on the unions for the problems we're facing now. The unions pushed so many businesses out of the US because of their demands that were totally lacking in reality and with their political clout. Do you really think that allowing someone to draw unemployment for two years is a good idea? All that says to me is that we now have an unemployed person who can sit at home and draw their unemployment checks and then think about going back to work when the benefits run out. Everyone I know that is looking for help can't find it. Reduce the unemployment benefits and you'll see people get back to reality. Bottom line for me is that unions are the breeding ground for protecting the incompetent and lazy with ludicrous job rules. Performance should be what keeps someone on the job, not seniority. Did you see that the average Ford union employee has a package that pays them $58 per hour? What do you get for $58 an hour? Instead of performance by the employees I see that Ford has dropped in the quality ratings. Thanks UAW! All the unions do now is to make political contributions to buy off another politician. They stifle competition and accountability. At one times unions served a good purpose. Now they are very little other than another tool the Chinese can use to take US and Canadian jobs.
A few years ago I read that Walmart was China's 7th largest trading partner. We could blame that on consumers short-sightedness, going to the cheapest price without considering the impact it has on domestic jobs. True, an auto worker making 58.00/hr seems nuts. Especially if there is validity to the stories we have all heard about their lack of productivity. We certainly all noticed the dramatic drop in quality of car from the big three. Union's went too far. But consider that until recently these automakers were still highly profitable despite this. They simply built the cost of inefficiency into the price of their products. Eventually they could no longer compete with offshore products. And because a guy could make 58.00/hr working on an assembly line, the guy in the front office made good money. And so did the retailer around the corner who sold them his products. And those people paid taxes to their community that maintained essential services like roads, fire dept, police, schools, etc. etc. Today a corporation produces products at sometimes a 5th of the cost, overseas. Their profits skyrocket. So now you have very profitable corporations and high domestic unemployment and soaring government debt with drastically reduced services. I believe the answer lies in tarrifs. Want to import products from China or India? No problem. 40% tarrif (or a figure that puts the production cost competitive with domestic production) which goes directly toward the national debt. The trarrif compensates for the lack of environmental and labor standards in the originating nations. It will never happen though. Because corporations, not politicians, run the country.
