Why I'm Against OWS Movement

Before I start, let me stress that I do believe that current Social, Political and Economic trends need to change. I honestly believe that the direction that we are all heading in is fraught with eroding not just the average persons’ purchasing power to zero, but the average persons’ ability to purchase the most fundamental necessities of food and shelter. It is a divisive future, cleanly cut to divide the rich and poor and if most think they are poor now, they truthfully need to redefine their personal definition of poverty, before the future redefines it for them.
Now, the following is why I am against the OWS protests based on conversations with supporters to conversations with a few protesters in London and personal experiences in general.

As noble as their intentions are, the OWS movement lacks any credible alternative. The movement itself is plagued by contradictions and lacks unified direction. There are protesters/supporters who generally believe that the Government is primarily at fault, there are others who believe the banks are at fault, most believe that the rich in general, regardless of guise, are at fault and then there are many who believe that the entire Capitalist concept is at fault. Many of the protesters are well educated and come from good backgrounds. These protesters seem to have a greater discontent towards their Mickey Mouse degree not giving them an automatic six figure sum job than anything else. There is an overtone of those who currently have the six figure jobs are clearly to blame and therefore the entire concept of Capitalism must be fraudulent and a lie, at least until these six figure earners relinquish their lucrative hard earned roles to those same protesters who want to hang them from the street lamp posts. There are a few who come from deprived parts of town. They are the ones who neglect the fact that they themselves are on benefits, taking more from the tax payer than any rich person has ever done. They want the lavish lifestyle, but certainly don’t feel that they should work for it, besides, no one in a bank has ever worked for their position, no, through the eyes of the so called deprived, those banksters were born in to it, the rich were all born in to it!

Although the banks are the primary target, many feel that it is the rich in general, the so called 1% that are to blame and they should take on greater social responsibility i.e. share the wealth. They seem to want the rich to pay at least 70% tax of their wealth and yet in the same confusing manifesto are against slavery. They seem to despise these global organisations, these conglomerates, for their lack of empathy towards the common man. They seem totally unaware that many of these global organisations provide a service or product(s) that millions use; in turn they employ thousands of workers worldwide. I love how one guy was against Google, then in the same sentence utters “All you need to do is Google OWS to see how global this has become”. I do believe that there are certain energy companies that exploit an essential need for the sake of billions in profit each year. However, it seemed that these companies are getting overlooked or just lumped in with the generic rich 1% label. When really these energy companies are the worst of the bunch and how did they get to the position of controlling energy? Government policy of privatisation, that’s how!

To the banks themselves, I could not care less for them. I am no supporter of a service which has become a necessity that will give me 0.2% interest for my savings but then loan out the savings to the next man for 5%+. However, to blame the woes of the world on your local Bank is somewhat short sighted. You can blame the children for taking cookies from the jar, but ultimately the jar should’ve been well out of reach and the punishment for doing such an act so severe that the children would not even think of gaining access to begin with. To me, the buck lies with Government and Central Bank.

The policies of these two entities dictate much if not all of how the economy is run and much of our daily lives. When you look at the global economy it sits within the Central Banking system, the BIS and the IMF for the most part and is implemented by the Governments of this world. What is strange is that none of the OWS movements that I have seen or noted have graced any of the above with their presence.

The OWS movement could stand for issues that really do affect us. Why is nobody protesting at tax increases? Why is nobody protesting at companies sending jobs abroad? Why is no body protesting at immigrants taking the jobs that the indigenous population are apparently too lazy to undertake? Social housing given to those least deserving? Why aren’t they protesting at Private Landlords charging the Earth in rent? Energy companies being allowed to rake in billions in continual profit year after year? We seem to want our cake and eat it and at the same time seem to think there is enough cake to go around that each of the 7 billion residents of Earth should be able to live the same lifestyle as the rich, unaware of just how obviously flawed this dream truly is.

However, I do not solely blame Government and the Central Banks. I believe many of us are to blame.

How many took out mortgages at 100% and still could just about cover the interest only payments just to own a property? How many run up credit card debts to buy consumer products or to go on holiday three times a year? How many get loans out for simply the sake of vanity? How many claim benefits without any thought for the working tax payer who is paying for those benefits? How many throw away their free education? How many got degrees in the past based on what they would like to do rather than what would offer a financially viable career at the end? How many would rather be unemployed and wait for a six figure job than go out and get several jobs if need be? How many want all of the above but would rather undertake a life of crime than a life of graft?

The Capitalist system works. India, China, Brazil and Russia have all been adopting it because it comes with great wealth and relative wealth for people who under current systems have very little. What we in the West have forgotten is that it comes with hard work too! In the 19th Century the rich paid zero tax, but it saw the fastest gain of accumulative wealth in the lower classes. This was due to a far higher work ethic than today and a government willing to look after its own. We have far more at our disposal now than we did then, with far greater opportunity, even in these apprehensive economic times, but we fail to see the forest through the trees. If the truth is known, we are all guilty for this economic downturn. Whether it stems from taking advantage of a free service or apathy towards not standing against irresponsible Government spending sooner, we are all to blame.
Government and Central Bank policies are made to continue grand prosperity for the perceived 1%, but also relative prosperity for the rest. We can all make something of ourselves if we truly believe in our own ability to better ourselves and place our futures in our own hands. Government, of every country, must be made to look after their own people. However, at the same time their own must contribute to look after themselves....

...I agree with government help for those that contribute or who are unable to contribute, but I find it hard to attack the rich when our own welfare bill in the UK is 170 Billion and growing and the vast majority of that goes to people who have no intention to ever help themselves.
The rich are not the only ones with responsibility, we all have a responsibility and it starts with individual responsibility. From that, change will happen. This OWS movement will amount to nothing more than a few left wing celebs wanting to jump on the bandwagon to further their careers, a lot of disruption and a lot of protesters getting colds as winter approaches. To the unemployed ones don’t forget to pick up your free prescription on the NHS/tax payer tab! Don’t forget to tell the Pharmacist that we live in an awful country, the working guy standing next to you who pays £7.50 for his prescription will frowningly agree with you and you can then return to your warm Social housing abode and organise the next failed anti-capitalist rally on Facebook while eating KFC and listening to your Ipod. These are terrible times indeed!

Don't take this the wrong way, but I believe that you just don't understand the underlying message behind the whole "Occupy Movement". (And, for this, I definitely place blame on a mainstream media who seems to be thriving on confusing the movements main mission!)

Yes, the movement has attracted anyone and everyone with any sort of gripe about their standard of living and their quality of life, but you must try and find the unifying message.

Here goes... they want democracy.

As it stands now, the military-industrial complex determines foreign policy, the agro-industrial complex determines agricultural policy, the banking industry determines financial policy etc, etc...

In a nutshell, money has taken over governments world-wide, who have long ceased to make decisions based on the good of "the people", and have focused on those who have the means to line their pockets and fill their campaign accounts.

This is what must change, and it does not require any radical systemic changes... simply applying the laws already in existence to the top .001% (yes, that is the real number, just harder to chant) that are applied to the rest of us would do the trick!

the Billmeister

reply to post by Billmeister


See now I agree somewhat with that, I can understand what you're saying there. However, the majority of people I have spoken to want the system to totally collapse. This to me is not just counter productive towards any progression of a country as a whole, but without any form of alternative, any form of contingency against basically a total system collapse, to me it is encouraging a country to fall apart. They blame almost every rich person, even though there are rich people that have worked harder than probably all of them combined to achieve what he/she has achieved. Why should they give up their wealth?

Also, the banks being the target. What you say is very much true, but why aren't they targetting Government or even the Central Banks? Fed? BOE? Here in London they are outside St Paul's! All that is doing is stopping visitors to St Paul's!

I agree that what we need is democracy and what we have is certainly not democracy. The problem I have is democracy can easily be a point of view. There will always be people who will not benefit regardless and so will simply complain no matter what you have in place. It is these people that I was talking about, people who will not do a thing to better themselves.

I agree that the banks should not have been bailed out and bonuses to executives of bailed out banks is just insane! Yet, it was the Government and Central Banks that agreed to this. There are issues that affect us all that regardless of what we have in place, will never go away. Individual greed and lust for wealth, regardless of financial status, is a disease that plagues the globe. As I said, may be we need to change within ourselves, before we can demand the 1%(or however many) to change. Otherwise, what right do we have to dictate to others if all we want is for them to give up billions so that the billions given up is given to people who simply can't be bothered to work, ever, but want the Cribs lifestyle? I still do believe with all my heart, that there are too many out there that even if they were given a well paid job, would choose unemployment over work and I do believe that becuase I know too many like it.

The system does need to change and so too the greed of all these guys not content with making a million pounds, instead wanting millions and millions, does need to change. However, don't forget that there are many wealthy people out there that really do invest in wothwhile schemes and projects, funding everything from design to construction and running costs and donate to charities massive amounts of money. I just think, although I can see a future where the line is drawn between rich and poor, I just think we need a) an average working tax payer leading this movement and b)a credible workable alternative. At present we have neither and this is why I'm against it, because to me, this whole thing will amount to nothing, because it has no unified direction and credible alternative for the majority of people to get behind and support.

You need all the working classes behind it, without them, this thing is a non-starter, regardless of what movements spring up in whatever country or what celeb wants to further their career by supporting it, it will simply burn out.

reply to post by SecretFace


Ahh, I stand corrected... you do get it.

I honestly think that many differing, and sometimes extreme views are all getting jumbled in to the Occupy Movements and then treated by some as though it were some kind of unified voice.

That is why I try to boil it down to the one unifying message.

Again, I doubt that the majority have it against rich people. I believe the real anger is directed to illegal behavior (often admitted, yet allowed to settle out of court!) and blatant conflict of interest which permits a select few to gain extreme advantages over the rest.

Admittedly, this has been ongoing, since the beginning of organized society, however, it seems to have reached a turning point, where government policy has permitted these select few to pass on any and all losses to the public, while hanging on to every ill gotten gains they may have swindled out of honest people.

And yes, of course, there will always be a few "leaches" who try to unfairly benefit from a social welfare system... in my opinion, they are just as bad as the .001% that is being targeted by the marches!

the Billmeister