Where is the outrage and the protests????
Let's start with full disclosure - I am a big believer in capitalism, abhor communism, have mixed feelings about unions and have voted for both parties and a write in once for Mickey Mouse as protest vote. I believe that everyone should pay taxes at the percentage set for them and that the government needs an efficiency expert from the private sector. I believe that no one wants to be average and that wealth to have more than just basic needs met is what actually leads to innovation and hard work. There should be a safety net, federal guidelines and laws that protect the environment, people and most of all a return to personal responsibility. I am not all left or right or even middle - but find myself in all of those places depending on the issue.
So now you know a little about me - tip of the iceberg - cause politics and history as well as trying to understand how I can make a difference are all topics that I can talk about for hours...which I won't here.
What I want to know is WHERE IS THE OUTRAGE ???? Where are the protesters from the 60s ? Occupy Wall Street...please - lame - Occupy This (add Queens twang) to get meaning. I am appalled at what is going on around me and more so at the way the media and the majority of people are just taking it (oh please do not bring up Europe which protests for a day to get out of work...throw them a day of vacation and they too back down). WHERE is the Outrage ??? Westchester Medical Center - laid off nurses and other hospital support staff ..to be outsourced to a company that get this ...rehires said laid off staff at per diem rates (you work you get paid...no holidays, no sick day, no vacation days get paid), did I mention that the board and new CEO who instituted this "cost saving measure" got bonuses and increases in pay during this same time? If you do not care about the staff...think of yourself as a patient in a place like this and oh yeah your hospital bill is the same not a penny less. WHERE is the Union showing up on every news channel and loudly saying in an election year WHAT THE F&*K????? oh yea they stopped caring I guess too. GE CEO is hired by Obama (now I would have expected this from Romney) to be Job Czar (maybe Mr O you should have looked up history before - czars in Russia were all for the monarchy and they did things like pogroms and starved peasants leading to a little thing called the 1917 Revolution that led to Mother USSR...remember them??) so maybe that is right. This is the guy whose company pays no federal taxes, gets federal money and now has taken the billions (read that right folks) that were given to GE (you know from taxpayers money) and built a factory and created jobs...guess no one told him that it should have been in the US not CHINA!!!!!!
WHERE IS THE OUTRAGE? How come no one is taking these candidates to task on these things ? Where are the jobs? How do we ensure that while I am all about helping the world we look around and help the people of this country find jobs - keep jobs - get salaries to pay those taxes ??? Instead we sit around and debate if $250K a year is wealthy - well it is not chump change but it depends where you live and you will pay more of a percentage and feel it than the millionaire who is in the same tax bracket. You are not wealthy in many parts of the country at that salary pre-tax - but you are not LeBron...nor will you ever be so can we not pretend they are one and the same. We sit around and complain about doctors (you know those people who went to school forever, have debt when they finish said school oh and save your life) and have the NY Times tell us not to get physicals because it costs insurers money...umm don't we pay them to have that covered??? We worry about a woman's right to choose - to birth control - instead of worrying how to get her and her partner and that child she may choose to have a future!
WHERE IS THE OUTRAGE? That never mind $250K a year, the average American family is making less than they were and that they are sinking fast ...that we push you to get a college degree and then what?? hope your parents like you enough to fit you in the space they have since they may not have enough money to retire anyway???
WHERE IS THE OUTRAGE??? That CEOs and Boards of Directors keep getting bonuses, since when are those part of your salary and not extra for a job well done?, for short sighted strategies that ruin companies and for earnings that are not based on revenue but on job cuts???
WHERE IS THE OUTRAGE???
No one likes to be poor, been there and IT STINKS, everyone wants to be successful and make money to not worry about their rent, mortgage, kids college, vacations, food --- I believe in capitalism but I believe in checks and balances. I think bonuses and big salaries are a good thing if they are earned not as a reward for being someone Gordon Gecko would be embarrassed to be compared to. I believe in democracy and I actually believe in the United States with all it's flaws...I guess I am just outraged that our business leaders and government leaders no longer believe in the United States and have come to only worship at the altar of the moment that feeds their pockets.....
So now you know a little about me - tip of the iceberg - cause politics and history as well as trying to understand how I can make a difference are all topics that I can talk about for hours...which I won't here.
What I want to know is WHERE IS THE OUTRAGE ???? Where are the protesters from the 60s ? Occupy Wall Street...please - lame - Occupy This (add Queens twang) to get meaning. I am appalled at what is going on around me and more so at the way the media and the majority of people are just taking it (oh please do not bring up Europe which protests for a day to get out of work...throw them a day of vacation and they too back down). WHERE is the Outrage ??? Westchester Medical Center - laid off nurses and other hospital support staff ..to be outsourced to a company that get this ...rehires said laid off staff at per diem rates (you work you get paid...no holidays, no sick day, no vacation days get paid), did I mention that the board and new CEO who instituted this "cost saving measure" got bonuses and increases in pay during this same time? If you do not care about the staff...think of yourself as a patient in a place like this and oh yeah your hospital bill is the same not a penny less. WHERE is the Union showing up on every news channel and loudly saying in an election year WHAT THE F&*K????? oh yea they stopped caring I guess too. GE CEO is hired by Obama (now I would have expected this from Romney) to be Job Czar (maybe Mr O you should have looked up history before - czars in Russia were all for the monarchy and they did things like pogroms and starved peasants leading to a little thing called the 1917 Revolution that led to Mother USSR...remember them??) so maybe that is right. This is the guy whose company pays no federal taxes, gets federal money and now has taken the billions (read that right folks) that were given to GE (you know from taxpayers money) and built a factory and created jobs...guess no one told him that it should have been in the US not CHINA!!!!!!
WHERE IS THE OUTRAGE? How come no one is taking these candidates to task on these things ? Where are the jobs? How do we ensure that while I am all about helping the world we look around and help the people of this country find jobs - keep jobs - get salaries to pay those taxes ??? Instead we sit around and debate if $250K a year is wealthy - well it is not chump change but it depends where you live and you will pay more of a percentage and feel it than the millionaire who is in the same tax bracket. You are not wealthy in many parts of the country at that salary pre-tax - but you are not LeBron...nor will you ever be so can we not pretend they are one and the same. We sit around and complain about doctors (you know those people who went to school forever, have debt when they finish said school oh and save your life) and have the NY Times tell us not to get physicals because it costs insurers money...umm don't we pay them to have that covered??? We worry about a woman's right to choose - to birth control - instead of worrying how to get her and her partner and that child she may choose to have a future!
WHERE IS THE OUTRAGE? That never mind $250K a year, the average American family is making less than they were and that they are sinking fast ...that we push you to get a college degree and then what?? hope your parents like you enough to fit you in the space they have since they may not have enough money to retire anyway???
WHERE IS THE OUTRAGE??? That CEOs and Boards of Directors keep getting bonuses, since when are those part of your salary and not extra for a job well done?, for short sighted strategies that ruin companies and for earnings that are not based on revenue but on job cuts???
WHERE IS THE OUTRAGE???
No one likes to be poor, been there and IT STINKS, everyone wants to be successful and make money to not worry about their rent, mortgage, kids college, vacations, food --- I believe in capitalism but I believe in checks and balances. I think bonuses and big salaries are a good thing if they are earned not as a reward for being someone Gordon Gecko would be embarrassed to be compared to. I believe in democracy and I actually believe in the United States with all it's flaws...I guess I am just outraged that our business leaders and government leaders no longer believe in the United States and have come to only worship at the altar of the moment that feeds their pockets.....
Great points and there is actually plenty of outrage. The question you should be asking is not, "Where's the outrage?" but "What can we do to make a change?" Really, I'd like to know the answer. We have a political system in which most people who do vote select the lesser of two evils. So please to tell us to vote. I vote in every primary and every election and nothing changes. Ever. So, my outrage festers. Then I become resigned. What else can we do?
ReplyDeleteUnfortunately, we are turning our outrage on ourselves and each other. My viewpoint may be a little skewed because I am an emotional over eater but the fact that 2/3 of the US is overweight or obese is not purely ignorance (though that plays a large part). As Carissa states above, the sense of frustration, futility and powerlessness that most people feels is I think obvious in this statistic and many others, including the persistence of violence in our culture. The amount of power and money that is being spent to divert our outrage away from the true source cannot be underestimated. I am not so dismissive of OWS in large part because it was the most vocal display of the justified anger we've seen in far too long and it was actually pointed in the right direction. The legalized violence with which those protests were met was absolutely meant to further suppress an already frighteningly suppressed populace. Indeed the outrage is there but it is not directed where it should be.
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