99% ers?

Meet Darth Raymunnn. He’s the Co-Founder of a lil’ marketing operation known as Oomph!, and oddly enough, has a blog about his scooter that he drives to work. Except it’s not usually about scooters at all, rather about beer, aliens, or in this case – the Occupy movement aka the 99%’ers (or whatever else they like to be called) and a whole bunch of other political stuff. He has some interesting things to say about them. Take it away, Darth Raymunnn!

Scooter Nation—

They protest corporate greed and income inequality. They’ve highlighted so often how the wealthiest 1 percent of Americans have so much political influence that their rallying cry, written on signboards, which has become “We are the 99%.” But just as the 99% Wall Street protesters – or Occupy Wall Street movement – was gaining momentum and attention across the United States, some of its participants took time out to mourn the passing of one of the wealthiest corporate icons of them all: Steve Jobs, worth an estimated $7 billion, former CEO of Apple, the world’s No. 2 most valuable corporation.

R. Luke Dubois, a professor of integrated digital media at the Polytechnic Institute of New York University in New York:

On one side, people are railing against corporate greed, and they’re doing it on iPads and iPhones from a company that trades at $400 per share. […] Jobs was such a beloved person in comparison with someone like Bill Gates because his passion for people, and having fun, and making lives better always came through in his products and message. That’s rare among billionaires, says Dr. Sobel-Lojeski

[Evan: despite Gates’ countless humanitarian, philanthropic and otherwise great ventures coupled with his promise to disperse his entire fortune upon death to various charities, but hey that iPad sure is sleek]

Nation—

Okay, where to begin? Here is a survey that David Maris conducted for Forbes Online detailing the 99%’s unifying themes – with my commentary sprinkled in. Enjoy!

Here is what our survey of the Occupy Wall Street protesters found:

• 80% of those polled said that the rich should pay higher taxes and that it’s fair that approximately the top 10% of tax payers pay more than 70% of the taxes in the US and about 40% of employed people pay no income tax. – Huh?
• 93% say that student loan debt should be forgiven – Except, colleges are businesses. Their product is education. And you bought their product with a loan. Pay it back. DUH!
• 98% believe that health care should be free – Again, who’s paying for this? Oh wait, you should be entitled to it because you are an American right?
• and yet, 32.5% think the government will do a bad job managing healthcare – DUH!
• 98% believe that Insurance companies make too much money and some of their profits should be taken to pay for more healthcare for others – Insurance companies are businesses too. We live in a capitalist country so you want the government to tell businesses how to spend their money?
• 95% believe that drug prices should be controlled (by the government) – Or at least, drug companies shouldn’t be able to gouge prices and/or make less of a drug in order to raise the price?
• 44% believe that instead of spending money on ObamaCare, we should spend it on jobs today, while 30% believe that we should do both, and 27% say ObamaCare was a fine use of money – Again, who’s paying for this? Taxpayers – because nothing is free. A “fine” way to spend your money.
• 88% agree with the statement that “The government should put some controls on CEO pay – like limited to 20x or 30x the lowest paid employee.” – Though I think CEO pay has gotten crazy, we live in a capitalist – and democratic – country and you can still vote with your dollars. Don’t like the company? Don’t pay for their products. I wonder how the protestors would feel if they were a CEO.
• 93% believe that communications like cell phone and internet access should be a right and not just reserved for the rich and we should have free internet and cell phone service as a national goal. – These people are on some serious drugs if they think this should be a national goal.
• 54% do not believe that the Obama stimulus program was a good idea. But giving away free money is perfectly fine for cell phones – DUH!
• 84% said they think that if a bank decides to implement a $5 debit card fee, the government should not allow it, while 16% said let them do what they want—customers can move. – Though I don’t want to pay it, banks have the right to charge a fee and I have the right to move to a credit union, voting with my dollars again. Like MECU – Baltimore’s Credit Union!

 

The same reporter asked respondents “1 to 10, with 0 = Horrible and 10 = GREAT, what are their impressions of the following organizations?”

Banks (such as Goldman Sachs) 1.2
Former employees include Robert Rubin and Henry Paulson who served as United States Secretary of the Treasury under Presidents Bill Clinton and George W. Bush. DOH!

Conglomerates 1.0
You believe in a bigger government but not big corporations? Where do old politicians go after they lose?

Oil Companies (such as ExxonMobil) 1.0
Give up your car.

Tech companies (such as Apple, Google) 5.2
As voted from my iPhone. Though 5.2 is pretty neutral, right? Can’t live without your phone, iPad or computer? Ever seen an American manufactured tech product? Probably not.

Auto companies (such as GM) 2.9
Don’t buy another car that was bailed out by the government. If you are set on buying American, buy from a manufacturer that’s standing on their own: win, lose, or draw, like Ford. America is about taking the chance to succeed and understanding when you fail you have to pick yourself up.

Drug companies (such as Pfizer) 1.5
See other answer above about drug companies.

Congress 1.7
The answer isn’t Einstein’s definition of insanity. DUH! Keep voting the same old people year after year dummies. Elect better candidates.

Labor Unions 6.5
Wow a 6.5, glowing endorsement. While unions have done a lot of good with safety at the workplace and have helped workers avoid exploitation, they also seem to have helped workers exploit employers. The power has shifted and the jobs will go away.

President Obama 5.1
President Obama claims his mortgage aid plan will help “responsible” buyers but not those who borrowed beyond their means. Isn’t that some of the protestors? Isn’t this the guy who said if elected he’d conduct an immediate withdrawal of troops and end the wars? How’s that change in your pocket – because that’s all you really have now from his being elected.

Hedge Funds 1.9
Hedge Funds follow a herd mentality, as do most fund managers of any sort. Isn’t that what the protestors follow, a herd mentality? When Hedge Funds all go long, the market rises—when they all go short, it falls. They tend to go one way, then the next—and the market experiences violent shifts from day to day, but in a narrow range without much of a trend.

WikiLeaks 7.1
I am a huge advocate of freedom of speech, but the code and regulations sphered around classified documents is an amendment to that freedom. The classification is there to protect individuals, and more importantly, to protect our country (and other countries).

Billionaires 2.3
There are about 1,011 billionaires in the United States and this guy isn’t one of them. (yet) – but they still love that Steve Jobs!

 

…Until next time