OMG. I have been supportive of the 99% movement because I do not like that billionaires’ net worth has gone up almost 300% in the last year while millions of hard-working Americans struggle to make ends meet, but now I am on the verge of truly being disgusted.
Today I read that Bank of America and other big banks are making money by charging fees to those who have no choice but to use pre-paid cards to receive their unemployment benefits. Charging fees to people who are stuck receiving their unemployment checks one way — through an ATM — is a new low.
I am not anti-corporation. I am not anti-profit. But there is a point where the profit motive slides down into total and complete greed at the expense of human beings. I am anti-greed. Where is the line between profit and greed? I don’t know, but it’s crystal clear to me that we’ve crossed it.
I do not advocate socialism. I don’t think the wealthy should pay for everything and the less fortunate should just receive. I do, however, believe a few things:
Corporations are not people. Period.
Taxes should be proportionate to wealth (i.e., fair).
Lobbyists should be regulated and transparent.
Congress, the President, and the Supreme Court should all be held to the same laws and regulations that the rest of the USA is.
Government for the people, of the people, and by the people.
No company is too big to fail. If a company fails, that’s the company’s problem. If unethical or illegal activities precipitated the failure, the guilty parties should be incarcerated (after a fair trial).
Servicemen and servicewomen (and their families) should be protected from any and all hardship related to the soldier’s service. There should be no adversity whatsoever for anyone who is willing to serve all of us in the most dangerous way.
The United States of America I want to see cares about all of its citizens (regardless of net worth), but also expects everyone to pull up their bootstraps and make their own way in the world. I would love to see a real connection between hard work and financial security. Too many people work harder than I’ll ever know and still have struggles I will never understand.
If you don’t want to work, that is your choice. Just don’t expect anything to be handed to you. If you run a multi-billion dollar corporation and feel entitled to keep making money hand over fist, that’s fine too. Just remember that you shouldn’t expect anything to be handed to you either.
Elizabeth Warren said it the best. “There is nobody in this country who got rich on his own. Nobody. You built a factory out there — good for you! But I want to be clear. You moved your goods to market on the roads the rest of us paid for. You hired workers the rest of us paid to educate. You were safe in your factory because of police forces and fire forces that the rest of us paid for. You didn’t have to worry that marauding bands would come and seize everything at your factory, and hire someone to protect against this, because of the work the rest of us did. Now look, you built a factory and it turned into something terrific, or a great idea — God bless. Keep a big hunk of it. But part of the underlying social contract is you take a hunk of that and pay forward for the next kid who comes along.”
