Occupy a bathtub already

:eusa_clap:

Some belated parental advice to protesters

By Marybeth Hicks

 

Call it an occupational hazard, but I can't look at the Occupy Wall Street protesters without thinking, "Who parented these people?"

As a culture columnist, I've commented on the social and political ramifications of the "movement" -- now known as "OWS" -- whose fairyland agenda can be summarized by one of their placards: "Everything for everybody."

Thanks to their pipe-dream platform, it's clear there are people with serious designs on "transformational" change in America who are using the protesters like bedsprings in a brothel.

Yet it's not my role as a commentator that prompts my parenting question, but rather the fact that I'm the mother of four teens and young adults. There are some crucial life lessons that the protesters' moms clearly have not passed along.

Here, then, are five things the OWS protesters' mothers should have taught their children but obviously didn't, so I will:

• Life isn't fair. The concept of justice - that everyone should be treated fairly - is a worthy and worthwhile moral imperative on which our nation was founded. But justice and economic equality are not the same. Or, as Mick Jagger said, "You can't always get what you want."

No matter how you try to "level the playing field," some people have better luck, skills, talents or connections that land them in better places. Some seem to have all the advantages in life but squander them, others play the modest hand they're dealt and make up the difference in hard work and perseverance, and some find jobs on Wall Street and eventually buy houses in the Hamptons. Is it fair? Stupid question.

• Nothing is "free." Protesting with signs that seek "free" college degrees and "free" health care make you look like idiots, because colleges and hospitals don't operate on rainbows and sunshine. There is no magic money machine to tap for your meandering educational careers and "slow paths" to adulthood, and the 53 percent of taxpaying Americans owe you neither a degree nor an annual physical.

While I'm pointing out this obvious fact, here are a few other things that are not free: overtime for police officers and municipal workers, trash hauling, repairs to fixtures and property, condoms, Band-Aids and the food that inexplicably appears on the tables in your makeshift protest kitchens. Real people with real dollars are underwriting your civic temper tantrum.

• Your word is your bond. When you demonstrate to eliminate student loan debt, you are advocating precisely the lack of integrity you decry in others. Loans are made based on solemn promises to repay them. No one forces you to borrow money; you are free to choose educational pursuits that don't require loans, or to seek technical or vocational training that allows you to support yourself and your ongoing educational goals. Also, for the record, being a college student is not a state of victimization. It's a privilege that billions of young people around the globe would die for --- literally.

• A protest is not a party. On Saturday in New York, while making a mad dash from my cab to the door of my hotel to avoid you, I saw what isn't evident in the newsreel footage of your demonstrations: Most of you are doing this only for attention and fun. Serious people in a sober pursuit of social and political change don't dance jigs down Sixth Avenue like attendees of a Renaissance festival. You look foolish, you smell gross, you are clearly high and you don't seem to realize that all around you are people who deem you irrelevant.

• There are reasons you haven't found jobs. The truth? Your tattooed necks, gauged ears, facial piercings and dirty dreadlocks are off-putting. Nonconformity for the sake of nonconformity isn't a virtue. Occupy reality: Only 4 percent of college graduates are out of work. If you are among that 4 percent, find a mirror and face the problem. It's not them. It's you.

 

Marybeth Hicks, a wife of more than 20 years and mother of four children, lives in the Midwest. She uses her column to share her perspective on issues and experiences that shape families nationwide.

 

 

 

Some belated parental advice to protesters

By Marybeth Hicks

 

Call it an occupational hazard, but I can't look at the Occupy Wall Street protesters without thinking, "Who parented these people?"

As a culture columnist, I've commented on the social and political ramifications of the "movement" -- now known as "OWS" -- whose fairyland agenda can be summarized by one of their placards: "Everything for everybody."

Thanks to their pipe-dream platform, it's clear there are people with serious designs on "transformational" change in America who are using the protesters like bedsprings in a brothel.

Yet it's not my role as a commentator that prompts my parenting question, but rather the fact that I'm the mother of four teens and young adults. There are some crucial life lessons that the protesters' moms clearly have not passed along.

Here, then, are five things the OWS protesters' mothers should have taught their children but obviously didn't, so I will:

• Life isn't fair. The concept of justice - that everyone should be treated fairly - is a worthy and worthwhile moral imperative on which our nation was founded. But justice and economic equality are not the same. Or, as Mick Jagger said, "You can't always get what you want."

No matter how you try to "level the playing field," some people have better luck, skills, talents or connections that land them in better places. Some seem to have all the advantages in life but squander them, others play the modest hand they're dealt and make up the difference in hard work and perseverance, and some find jobs on Wall Street and eventually buy houses in the Hamptons. Is it fair? Stupid question.

• Nothing is "free." Protesting with signs that seek "free" college degrees and "free" health care make you look like idiots, because colleges and hospitals don't operate on rainbows and sunshine. There is no magic money machine to tap for your meandering educational careers and "slow paths" to adulthood, and the 53 percent of taxpaying Americans owe you neither a degree nor an annual physical.

While I'm pointing out this obvious fact, here are a few other things that are not free: overtime for police officers and municipal workers, trash hauling, repairs to fixtures and property, condoms, Band-Aids and the food that inexplicably appears on the tables in your makeshift protest kitchens. Real people with real dollars are underwriting your civic temper tantrum.

• Your word is your bond. When you demonstrate to eliminate student loan debt, you are advocating precisely the lack of integrity you decry in others. Loans are made based on solemn promises to repay them. No one forces you to borrow money; you are free to choose educational pursuits that don't require loans, or to seek technical or vocational training that allows you to support yourself and your ongoing educational goals. Also, for the record, being a college student is not a state of victimization. It's a privilege that billions of young people around the globe would die for --- literally.

• A protest is not a party. On Saturday in New York, while making a mad dash from my cab to the door of my hotel to avoid you, I saw what isn't evident in the newsreel footage of your demonstrations: Most of you are doing this only for attention and fun. Serious people in a sober pursuit of social and political change don't dance jigs down Sixth Avenue like attendees of a Renaissance festival. You look foolish, you smell gross, you are clearly high and you don't seem to realize that all around you are people who deem you irrelevant.

• There are reasons you haven't found jobs. The truth? Your tattooed necks, gauged ears, facial piercings and dirty dreadlocks are off-putting. Nonconformity for the sake of nonconformity isn't a virtue. Occupy reality: Only 4 percent of college graduates are out of work. If you are among that 4 percent, find a mirror and face the problem. It's not them. It's you.

 

Marybeth Hicks, a wife of more than 20 years and mother of four children, lives in the Midwest. She uses her column to share her perspective on issues and experiences that shape families nationwide.

 

Marybeth should join L Power. Ill teach her how to ban people, and then I can retire.

Only four percent of college grads are out of work? Proof, please. I call BS. I've heard much worse number, closer to 50% for young people.

 

And again, I ask the question of derivatives. Can anyone say they like them? Or robbing employee pension funds to fund massive golden parachutes? Or taking out life insurance policies on your own employees? Bad shit like this. When executives are compensated hundreds of times more than their employees, more so than ever before, where does the line get drawn morally?

We had a freak snowstorm here in NY. I guess the protesters only like 70* and sunny

 

 

 

Pussy

 

Real reason: iPod died.

Only four percent of college grads are out of work? Proof, please. I call BS. I've heard much worse number, closer to 50% for young people.

 

And again, I ask the question of derivatives. Can anyone say they like them? Or robbing employee pension funds to fund massive golden parachutes? Or taking out life insurance policies on your own employees? Bad shit like this. When executives are compensated hundreds of times more than their employees, more so than ever before, where does the line get drawn morally?

 

I like derivatives.... There is nothing inherently bad about them.... They are nothing new... They are just a different way to invest in products that are difficult to otherwise invest in. The fact that a lot of mortgage derivatives were BAD investments, is on the INVESTORS, not the vehicle of investment. Listen... NORMALLY I would say "Hey... ya made a BAD investment.... Thats how the cookie crumbles... Sucks to be YOU...." But it is a whole different kettle of fish when the institutions MAKING that bad investment are commercial investment banks.

 

But the government (rightly in my opinion) saved the banks from that bad investment. Should there be some OTHER penalty for making that bad investment? Probably, but I don't know what it is... They didn't BREAK THE LAW... So All this "send them to prison" stuff is silly. I suppose you could have made a requirement that the management of the firms lose their jobs.... But, that just means they go on in name, but now they are being run by people who know even LESS than the ones who fucked up.... It would have the same effect of forcing them into BK, and would have caused the financial crisis we were seeking to avoid. The protests of tarp really is the biggest case of "Cutting off your nose to spite your face" that Ive ever seen. Without Tarp, these people would have NO JOBS, AND any money they had in the bank would be GONE TOO... Yeah... That would be a lot better.

 

I dont know what that answer is... I know one thing though... I wouldn't have rewarded one of the main players in the cluster fcuk, by making him my treasury secretary.

Only four percent of college grads are out of work? Proof, please. I call BS. I've heard much worse number, closer to 50% for young people.

 

And again, I ask the question of derivatives. Can anyone say they like them? Or robbing employee pension funds to fund massive golden parachutes? Or taking out life insurance policies on your own employees? Bad shit like this. When executives are compensated hundreds of times more than their employees, more so than ever before, where does the line get drawn morally?

 

You call BS then throw out a number like 50% unemployment?! Please. I too have heard that its only 4%-5% unemployment for college grads and to be quite honest, every one of my friends who had been laid off a year or so ago ALL HAVE JOBS now. I like Bill O'Reilly's take on the 4% of college students being unemployed. He basically alluded to the fact that 4% of college grads are psychos or just morons who got through school so its totally understandable they dont have jobs....

You call BS then throw out a number like 50% unemployment?! Please. I too have heard that its only 4%-5% unemployment for college grads and to be quite honest, every one of my friends who had been laid off a year or so ago ALL HAVE JOBS now. I like Bill O'Reilly's take on the 4% of college students being unemployed. He basically alluded to the fact that 4% of college grads are psychos or just morons who got through school so its totally understandable they dont have jobs....

 

I'm assuming we just mean new college grads?

 

50% seems high, but 4% feels too low as well. I could have sworn it was at least 4% in the 2001/2002 recession.

I wasnt grouping new college grads into the unemployed. As they have no experience and most dont come racing out of college with a nice career waiting for them. I was speaking strictly of the unemployed, those who were employed and now are not.

I guess the Occutards were really Hippicrits after all.

 

Many “Occupy Wall Street” protesters arrested in New York City “occupy” more luxurious homes than their “99 percent” rhetoric might suggest, a Daily Caller investigation has found.

 

For each of the 984 Occupy Wall Street protesters arrested in New York City between September 18 and October 15, police collected and filed an information sheet recording the arrestee’s name, age, sex, criminal charge, home address and — in most cases — race. The Daily Caller has obtained all of this information from a source in the New York City government.

 

Among addresses for which information is available, single-family homes listed on those police intake forms have a median value of $305,000 — a far higher number than the $185,400 median value of owner-occupied housing units in the United States.

 

http://news.yahoo.com/nyc-arrest-records-m...-045625415.html

I wasnt grouping new college grads into the unemployed. As they have no experience and most dont come racing out of college with a nice career waiting for them. I was speaking strictly of the unemployed, those who were employed and now are not.

 

I'm not sure of your position on the matter, however your post demonstrates a common issue with recent college grads and young people in general and that is their sense of entitlement. Many feel as though they are entitled to $100k/yr jobs first year out of college. IMO these OWS people don't feel that they should have to work their way up the ladder and will be compensated if/when they are able to do so and find it much easier to blame the "overpaid" CEO for their perceived lack of compensation. I wonder how some of these people would feel if they busted their asses for years and made the sacrifices necessary to get to the top.

I wasnt grouping new college grads into the unemployed. As they have no experience and most dont come racing out of college with a nice career waiting for them. I was speaking strictly of the unemployed, those who were employed and now are not.

 

Well I can tell you that for all of 2009 and a good chunk of 2010, there were deserving college grads with years of work experience that didn't deserve to be unemployed in the vain of OWS lazy f***.

 

If now is anything like those 18 months, sure as hell the # is higher than 4%.

I'm not sure of your position on the matter, however your post demonstrates a common issue with recent college grads and young people in general and that is their sense of entitlement. Many feel as though they are entitled to $100k/yr jobs first year out of college. IMO these OWS people don't feel that they should have to work their way up the ladder and will be compensated if/when they are able to do so and find it much easier to blame the "overpaid" CEO for their perceived lack of compensation. I wonder how some of these people would feel if they busted their asses for years and made the sacrifices necessary to get to the top.

Huh? How the hell did you get that from his post.

Huh? How the hell did you get that from his post.

 

Thank you, i was wondering the same thing. I couldn't even figure out how to reply to his post it was so far off.....

Well I can tell you that for all of 2009 and a good chunk of 2010, there were deserving college grads with years of work experience that didn't deserve to be unemployed in the vain of OWS lazy f***.

 

If now is anything like those 18 months, sure as hell the # is higher than 4%.

 

And those were the years that many of my friends were laid off as I mentioned earlier. And of all those friends, every one of them has found new employment. Didnt happen overnight. But they did find new jobs. Im not saying thr 4-5% is fact, just what ive heard from a couple of different places. But it would make a lot more sense that people with college degrees have a lower unemployment rate then those without them....

I'm not sure of your position on the matter, however your post demonstrates a common issue with recent college grads and young people in general and that is their sense of entitlement. Many feel as though they are entitled to $100k/yr jobs first year out of college. IMO these OWS people don't feel that they should have to work their way up the ladder and will be compensated if/when they are able to do so and find it much easier to blame the "overpaid" CEO for their perceived lack of compensation. I wonder how some of these people would feel if they busted their asses for years and made the sacrifices necessary to get to the top.

 

 

This is a phenomenon that Ive been seeing for a while now... And the more prestigious the college, the more pervasive the problem is. I know law firms that WILL NOT hire graduates from certain Ivy League law schools (Cough HARVARD Cough).. Why? Because a LOT of the people who graduate from those colleges, think that GRADUATION is the goal, and once they have that degree, they don't have to work any more... Even worse, some think GETTING IN was the end of the goal, and they haven't learned what they should have while they were there... All they got was a hunk of paper.

 

Graduating college is NOT the end.... ITS THE BEGINNING. You are now just another kid with a college degree. It may get you an interview, but its your attitude and work ethic that will get you, and keep you, employed.

 

Take a look at those top 1%ers... How many of them are UNDER 50?- VERY FEW. How many have spent the last 30 years clawing their way into that 1%? MOST OF THEM...

This is a phenomenon that Ive been seeing for a while now... And the more prestigious the college, the more pervasive the problem is. I know law firms that WILL NOT hire graduates from certain Ivy League law schools (Cough HARVARD Cough).. Why? Because a LOT of the people who graduate from those colleges, think that GRADUATION is the goal, and once they have that degree, they don't have to work any more... Even worse, some think GETTING IN was the end of the goal, and they haven't learned what they should have while they were there... All they got was a hunk of paper.

 

Graduating college is NOT the end.... ITS THE BEGINNING. You are now just another kid with a college degree. It may get you an interview, but its your attitude and work ethic that will get you, and keep you, employed.

 

Take a look at those top 1%ers... How many of them are UNDER 50?- VERY FEW. How many have spent the last 30 years clawing their way into that 1%? MOST OF THEM...

 

Combine all of that with the pervasive entitlement of the Gen Y mentality...not good.

Huh? How the hell did you get that from his post.

 

I wasnt grouping new college grads into the unemployed. As they have no experience and most dont come racing out of college with a nice career waiting for them. I was speaking strictly of the unemployed, those who were employed and now are not.

 

I was using my phone when I made that post and the bold sentence grabbed my attention, which is why I quoted him. This is also why I stated that I didn't know where he stood on the matter. I was mainly just addressing the topic which also came up in a recent discussion with an acquaintance who is an OWS supporter. He made complaints about there being such a disparity between CEOs' salaries and employees' salaries, as well as how many of our friends coming out of college aren't making $100k. It frustrated me that he thought everyone should make $100k because they graduated from college, and even more so because he thought that someone who has likely busted there ass in addition to making countless sacrifices over the years should take the hit to provide the $100k salary. My point was lost with him, but it was that if you want to achieve something, you need evaluate your situation, where you'd like to be, then take logical steps to get there, and protesting is not a logical step. I want a Lamborghini; some people on this forum have them, and the Lamborghini dealership sure does, so should I now go occupy a Lamborghini dealership or members' front yards?

 

I do think that college graduate unemployment is higher than 4%, however my view could be skewed by the area I'm in and how many people with college educations I see working at the mall. Here in the DC area, we have many people who come from all over the country and world to work, many having graduate degrees. The competition is high in this area and a graduate degree is almost a necessity to find a "good" job. The exception, I feel, is in IT where experience and/or technical certifications can sometimes substitute traditional education.

 

This is a phenomenon that Ive been seeing for a while now... And the more prestigious the college, the more pervasive the problem is. I know law firms that WILL NOT hire graduates from certain Ivy League law schools (Cough HARVARD Cough).. Why? Because a LOT of the people who graduate from those colleges, think that GRADUATION is the goal, and once they have that degree, they don't have to work any more... Even worse, some think GETTING IN was the end of the goal, and they haven't learned what they should have while they were there... All they got was a hunk of paper.

 

Graduating college is NOT the end.... ITS THE BEGINNING. You are now just another kid with a college degree. It may get you an interview, but its your attitude and work ethic that will get you, and keep you, employed.

 

Take a look at those top 1%ers... How many of them are UNDER 50?- VERY FEW. How many have spent the last 30 years clawing their way into that 1%? MOST OF THEM...

 

Exactly. A perfect example of this is a friend of mine graduated two years ago with a finance degree. He interviewed with Charles Scwab, Wachovia, BOA, etc., and received a few offers, however when the offers weren't what he envisioned, he decided not to take any of the jobs. I've told him that the needs to demonstrate that he can take the knowledge gained in school and apply it to the real world before he will be compensated in the amount that he feels is appropriate. His response is that he will do this or that, which will compensate him more than the aforementioned companies' offers in three months. I have yet to see anything.

 

I was using my phone when I made that post and the bold sentence grabbed my attention, which is why I quoted him. This is also why I stated that I didn't know where he stood on the matter. I was mainly just addressing the topic which also came up in a recent discussion with an acquaintance who is an OWS supporter. He made complaints about there being such a disparity between CEOs' salaries and employees' salaries, as well as how many of our friends coming out of college aren't making $100k. It frustrated me that he thought everyone should make $100k because they graduated from college, and even more so because he thought that someone who has likely busted there ass in addition to making countless sacrifices over the years should take the hit to provide the $100k salary. My point was lost with him, but it was that if you want to achieve something, you need evaluate your situation, where you'd like to be, then take logical steps to get there, and protesting is not a logical step. I want a Lamborghini; some people on this forum have them, and the Lamborghini dealership sure does, so should I now go occupy a Lamborghini dealership or members' front yards?

occupy my front yard at your own risk. I'm not as friendly as the Oakland pd riot squad.

I do think that college graduate unemployment is higher than 4%, however my view could be skewed by the area I'm in and how many people with college educations I see working at the mall. Here in the DC area, we have many people who come from all over the country and world to work, many having graduate degrees. The competition is high in this area and a graduate degree is almost a necessity to find a "good" job. The exception, I feel, is in IT where experience and/or technical certifications can sometimes substitute traditional education.

 

 

 

Exactly. A perfect example of this is a friend of mine graduated two years ago with a finance degree. He interviewed with Charles Scwab, Wachovia, BOA, etc., and received a few offers, however when the offers weren't what he envisioned, he decided not to take any of the jobs. I've told him that the needs to demonstrate that he can take the knowledge gained in school and apply it to the real world before he will be compensated in the amount that he feels is appropriate. His response is that he will do this or that, which will compensate him more than the aforementioned companies' offers in three months. I have yet to see anything.

Reminds me of that line from national lampoons christmas vacation. When the Griswalds ask why cousin eddie has been unemployed for 10 years. "He's holding out for a position in management".

 

 

And another thing. Would someone introduce these fuckers to the works of Jean-paul Marat??? They share the same politics but at least maybe his hygiene habits might rob off on them to the benefit of us all...

<double post please delete>

It has been posted in this thread before but depending on what your degree is weighs heavily on whether or not you're forced to flip burgers. If you went to school to learn to take pictures or paint, but no one likes your pictures or your paintings, then you made a bad investment and might have to flip some burgers.

 

My point was lost with him, but it was that if you want to achieve something, you need evaluate your situation, where you'd like to be, then take logical steps to get there, and protesting is not a logical step.

 

I was using my phone when I made that post and the bold sentence grabbed my attention, which is why I quoted him. This is also why I stated that I didn't know where he stood on the matter. I was mainly just addressing the topic which also came up in a recent discussion with an acquaintance who is an OWS supporter. He made complaints about there being such a disparity between CEOs' salaries and employees' salaries, as well as how many of our friends coming out of college aren't making $100k. It frustrated me that he thought everyone should make $100k because they graduated from college, and even more so because he thought that someone who has likely busted there ass in addition to making countless sacrifices over the years should take the hit to provide the $100k salary. My point was lost with him, but it was that if you want to achieve something, you need evaluate your situation, where you'd like to be, then take logical steps to get there, and protesting is not a logical step. I want a Lamborghini; some people on this forum have them, and the Lamborghini dealership sure does, so should I now go occupy a Lamborghini dealership or members' front yards?

 

I do think that college graduate unemployment is higher than 4%, however my view could be skewed by the area I'm in and how many people with college educations I see working at the mall. Here in the DC area, we have many people who come from all over the country and world to work, many having graduate degrees. The competition is high in this area and a graduate degree is almost a necessity to find a "good" job. The exception, I feel, is in IT where experience and/or technical certifications can sometimes substitute traditional education.

 

 

 

Exactly. A perfect example of this is a friend of mine graduated two years ago with a finance degree. He interviewed with Charles Scwab, Wachovia, BOA, etc., and received a few offers, however when the offers weren't what he envisioned, he decided not to take any of the jobs. I've told him that the needs to demonstrate that he can take the knowledge gained in school and apply it to the real world before he will be compensated in the amount that he feels is appropriate. His response is that he will do this or that, which will compensate him more than the aforementioned companies' offers in three months. I have yet to see anything.

 

Understandable, I agree with pretty much all you are saying and share the same position as you. As far as the 4% its just a number ive heard thrown around.

Occupy protestors dont want jobs.... They just want to bitch about not having jobs- VIDEO PROOF HERE

Edit: OOOPS! haha RD beat me to it as I was writing the post! You can delete mine RD

 

This experiment was set up by Accuracy in Media (AIM) to see if these protests are really about jobs. The applications were real, only one was put in to gauge current events - an application for the failed solar company Solyndra.

Video Description: "After more than a month of protest demands for better employment opportunities and benefits, Accuracy in Media saw fit to test their desires with...employment applications. Our "headhunters" were treated to every excuse as to why these jobs aren't good enough for them. We guess middle management opportunities with healthcare and 401k benefits aren't desirable anymore."