Occupy Wall Street and greed

The Occupy Wall Street (OW) movement is indeed about greed, but it is not about the supposed greed of the wealthy or the Wall Street bankers as the supporters want us to believe. It is really about the greed of the occupy movement supporters. It’s about the jealousy and greed of people who have not, or could not realize the amazing opportunity of this great country.


OW would have us believe that the success of the wealthy somehow prevents the rest of us from getting ahead. But did Bill Gates having billions prevent Michael Dell from inventing the Dell computer? Did the domination of Sears stop Sam Walton from building the largest store chain in the world? The fact is as long as we maintain the level of individual freedom we have enjoy in the past and we are not strangled by government rules and regulations, there is nothing institutionally stopping anyone from any level of economic success.

Somehow this group thinks occupying public property and preventing other citizens from using it will solve income disparity.

Somehow this group thinks trying to prevent citizens from going to work because they don’t like the work they do will lift poor people out of poverty.

Somehow this group thinks breaking the law, injuring police officers, destroying other citizen’s personal property and defacing public property will level a playing field they think is tilted towards the wealthy.

I cannot help but think of all the good these thousands of people across the US could have accomplished in the same amount of time as they have been “occupying” public spaces.

If all the food and money that well meaning but miss guided people have donated had been sent to food pantry’s or programs to help the poor.

If all the time spent protesting had been put to use helping habitat for humanity or the United Way.

If all this effort was put toward promoting political candidates that would make a difference.

If all those people had just worked a job, paid taxes and then donated their earnings to the less fortunate.

The so called wealth disparity OW says they are protesting against is an example of miss-use of statistics. The census data that is quoted to prove the great income disparity breaks income in the US down to five quintiles, each quintile represents 20% of the income ladder. So as an example say the top wage earner made $100, each quintile would represent $20, the lowest people making 0-$20, the next $20-$40 and so on.

In the latest census numbers from 2010 we find that households in the top 20% of income bracket (wages over $116,000) receive 50% of the income paid out overall, a number absolutely unchanged for the last 10 years! And a number only changed about .1% since 1993. So the income disparity was about the same during the Clinton administration as it is today, I just don’t remember mobs of citizens complaining during the tech bubble of the 1990’s. Even more deceiving, the census numbers do not take into account the number of households in each income group. In looking at the numbers we find that not only is there a higher % of the population making over $100,000 a year than under $24,000 but the over $100,000 group (corrected 2010 dollars) has been getting bigger in the last 45 years!

So really to have a truly equal society as the liberals define it we need a lot of poor people and not very many rich people, is that what we really want? In order to have true income balance in these types of statistics you need a lot of poor people to make up the income of one rich person. So we have more rich people making more money than fewer poor people, is that really a surprise? Also not reflected is the census data is many kinds of government assistance that raises the standard of living for the bottom quintile. We are taxing the rich to transfer that wealth to the poor but we do not count that transfer wealth in the equation. Even the top 1% number often referred to by occupy Wall Street is misleading; the households in the top 1% wage bracket represent 3% of the total households!

The Occupy Wall Street movement offers no solutions, does nothing to help the low wage earners move up the income ladder. Just a group of jealous greedy citizens that think they deserve something that they have not paid for or earned. Just misguided people who think you can make the poor richer by making the rich poorer.

Do you ever wonder if we wil ever learn.

Ninety four years ago at 11am on the 11th day of the 11th month, the guns fell silent on the western front signaling the end of WWI - The War To End All Wars.

Since then, we have fought major wars in WWII, Korea, Vietnam, Kuwaiti, and now the long wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. American servicemen have also paid the ultimate sacrifice in: Somalia with Black Hawk down, the Iranian desert with the attempt to rescue the Iranian hostages, Cambodia rescuing the crew of the Marquez, Granada, Beirut, Saudi Arabia, Yemen and Panama. Additionally hundreds of times we have asked our military to perform humanitarian missions all over the world.

Yet, the one constant, is the immediate draw down of the American Military at wars end. After WWI, the military was suppose to be reduced to 500,000 but because of budget concerns it quickly fell to 280,000 and then over the next few years to 110,000. A number that is only 10,000 more that the defeated German army was allowed by the Treaty of Versailles. It is as if we think that “this truly will be the last time” we will be required to send American servicemen into harm’s way. But history has proven the folly of that thought pattern and time and time again American servicemen have been forced to pay the price when we send them into combat under-equipped, under-trained and with two few numbers to accomplish the task asked of them without unnecessary loss of life.

At Corregidor, American military, poorly trained, under staffed with no plan for evacuation was no match for the superior Japanese Army. This situation led to the Bataan Death March. At the start of Korea, America sent troops into combat that had never fired their weapons and had never received any combat training. Many valiantly held to the last man in the defense of the Pusan perimeter, holding on to prevent the total defeat of the South Koreans while waiting for reinforcements that came too late.

And now, once again, we are talking about repeating the same mistake that history has shown us again and again doesn’t work. Budget talks in Washington have led us to the conclusion that slashing defense spending is the only way to reduce the federal deficit. Although in 1950’s we spent 60% of the federal budget on defense and today we barely spend 20%. The lowest levels since WWII and we are told by the Left that it is too much.

Today on Veterans Day, if we really want to honor our Veterans, we may want to ask our representatives in Washington to approve funding for the men and woman serving now at a level that they can perform the job we will inevitably ask them to in the future.

Ronald Reagan said – “Of the four wars in my lifetime, none came about because the U.S. was too strong”. The best way to deter tyrants is to make sure they understand that we have the resolve and the means to defeat them.

Our Servicemen have voluntarily agreed to lay their lives down in defense of our freedom, the least we can do is give them the proper tools to do the job and pick up the tab.

An open letter to all Republican candidates:

I have been getting a number of solicitations for contributions to the GOP in the last year. I had every intension of contributing during this election cycle because I view the defeat of Obama as paramount to our nation’s future.

As a very conservative Republican, I must say that I am disgusted with the tone and actions of Republican candidates during the recent debates. The childish bickering and finger pointing does nothing to further our cause, does nothing to inform the public, and does nothing to help Republicans build a coalition that can win this election. I do not need our national candidates to tell me what his or her opponent has done; I can do that research myself. I need the candidate to lay out a vision and ideas on how they plan to take this country forward. The political handlers that are using the “go negative” play book should realize they are destroying any chance of a Republican victory. Reagan would be as disgusted as I am with the behavior of these so called “Conservatives”.

Until I see that type of grownup commitment, I am withholding my financial support for anyone. I vowed after the disaster of 2008, where we let a light weight, know nothing win the Presidency that I was done voting for a candidate just because he was not as bad as the other guy. Either we put a viable person forward that does something besides criticize their fellow Republicans, or I will support no one. A childish, glory seeking Republican is no better than a democrat in my book.

I assure you that main stream conservatives all have a similar belief. If we continue down this ridiculous path we will once again find ourselves defeated in November. I plan to forward this message to all the candidates but I hope you will pass along the feelings of the voting right.