I have a whole lot of thoughts about the Occupy Wall Street movement so I'm just gonna lay 'em out in no particular order.
1. Many, many, many people in the US own mutual funds or are stockholders (mostly through their 401(k)s). And because those people own stock, they are benefiting from capitalism in the form of dividends and stock splits and 8% return on their investments over time. Capitalism is an ugly beast at times, but just as the Tea Partiers who yelled for smaller government and in the same breath said "Don't Touch my Social Security" were uninformed, so are many of the Occupiers who bitch about capitalism.
2. Yes, the banks were stupid to give mortgages to any Tom, Dick or Harry who asked for one. But the Toms, Dicks and Harrys should have considered a little more whether they could actually afford a $300,000.00 home if they were only making $25,000.00 a year. Banks are always willing to lend someone WAY more money than what they can actually afford. You buy what you can safely afford. Period.
3. Despite what we think, we do not need iPhones. We do not need to spend a zillion dollars a month so we can text our friends to tell them we are sitting at home doing nothing. We do not need to furnish our homes completely the instant we move in. We do not need to own 65 pairs of shoes. These are things we WANT. And we have decided, as a society, that what what we WANT trumps good common sense. (And if what you want cannot be paid for in a month's time (when your credit card bill comes due), you DO NOT buy it.)
4. The recession has been a bitch, to be sure. But unemployment among college-educated people is 4.2%, compared to 9.4% among those with only a high school degree. And while many of those with just a high school degree are dropping out of the work force completely, many college educated folks are slowly finding jobs.
5. I graduated from college 16 years ago, way before this recession. The same was true then as is true now---some degrees are interesting but kinda useless. They in NO WAY guarantee you will get a decent-paying job or a job in your degree field. As an English major, I can speak from experience. Those folks I know who majored in history and sociology and psychology are NOT working as historians and sociologists and psychologists.
Thus far it sounds as if I am very anti-Occupy Wall Street, but I am not. I am not 100% behind it, but I am not 100% behind anything.
I do feel compassion for many, many people out there who are working full-time and still require food stamps or have to use state-sponsored health care programs for their children and themselves because their employer doesn't offer it. I feel compassion for older workers who need a job and were let go because companies can hire younger workers and pay them less. I feel compassion for women who unexpectedly became pregnant and had to drop out of college to care for their newborns and work. I feel compassion for people who had health crises that depleted their savings and are now struggling, working paycheck to paycheck. I feel compassion for people whose parents never taught them how to be financially sound, to balance a checkbook, to not use credit as a form of "free money."
I don't know when I learned it, but it didn't take an Economics degree for me to understand that nothing in life is free. If there is any good to come from this recession, it is for people to remember this.
1. Many, many, many people in the US own mutual funds or are stockholders (mostly through their 401(k)s). And because those people own stock, they are benefiting from capitalism in the form of dividends and stock splits and 8% return on their investments over time. Capitalism is an ugly beast at times, but just as the Tea Partiers who yelled for smaller government and in the same breath said "Don't Touch my Social Security" were uninformed, so are many of the Occupiers who bitch about capitalism.
2. Yes, the banks were stupid to give mortgages to any Tom, Dick or Harry who asked for one. But the Toms, Dicks and Harrys should have considered a little more whether they could actually afford a $300,000.00 home if they were only making $25,000.00 a year. Banks are always willing to lend someone WAY more money than what they can actually afford. You buy what you can safely afford. Period.
3. Despite what we think, we do not need iPhones. We do not need to spend a zillion dollars a month so we can text our friends to tell them we are sitting at home doing nothing. We do not need to furnish our homes completely the instant we move in. We do not need to own 65 pairs of shoes. These are things we WANT. And we have decided, as a society, that what what we WANT trumps good common sense. (And if what you want cannot be paid for in a month's time (when your credit card bill comes due), you DO NOT buy it.)
4. The recession has been a bitch, to be sure. But unemployment among college-educated people is 4.2%, compared to 9.4% among those with only a high school degree. And while many of those with just a high school degree are dropping out of the work force completely, many college educated folks are slowly finding jobs.
5. I graduated from college 16 years ago, way before this recession. The same was true then as is true now---some degrees are interesting but kinda useless. They in NO WAY guarantee you will get a decent-paying job or a job in your degree field. As an English major, I can speak from experience. Those folks I know who majored in history and sociology and psychology are NOT working as historians and sociologists and psychologists.
Thus far it sounds as if I am very anti-Occupy Wall Street, but I am not. I am not 100% behind it, but I am not 100% behind anything.
I do feel compassion for many, many people out there who are working full-time and still require food stamps or have to use state-sponsored health care programs for their children and themselves because their employer doesn't offer it. I feel compassion for older workers who need a job and were let go because companies can hire younger workers and pay them less. I feel compassion for women who unexpectedly became pregnant and had to drop out of college to care for their newborns and work. I feel compassion for people who had health crises that depleted their savings and are now struggling, working paycheck to paycheck. I feel compassion for people whose parents never taught them how to be financially sound, to balance a checkbook, to not use credit as a form of "free money."
I don't know when I learned it, but it didn't take an Economics degree for me to understand that nothing in life is free. If there is any good to come from this recession, it is for people to remember this.
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