Occupy Wall Street

[dan_s]

Take five minutes to watch this video and tell me what you think. Frankly, I am very worried about what America is turning into. Most of us are well healed and we will be fine. I worry about our children and especially our grandchildren.

http://forums.bowsite.com/TF/bgforums/t ... MT#3288935

I grew up in a blue collar family. My father was in a union and voted Democrat no matter who the candidate was.

When I was in high school I never dreamed of my father buying me a car or that I would not have to work to support myself. In fact, my father made it perfectly clear that when I graduated from high school I would be on my own. He told my two sisters the same thing. We accepted this because we knew my father had been working three jobs to pay our ways through high school. He grew up in even tougher times, post depression. At age 16 my father worked as a welder on a truck assembly line and lived on his own in a small appartment above an old garage in St. Louis. The family farm went broke and he was totally on his own to survive at age 16. He joined the navy at age 18. Many of his friends were killed in World War II and the Korean War. He is now 84 and lives in a small two bedroon dupex in South St. Louis county. He is a Cardinal fan so he is happy and proud of his redbirds.

We all wanted better for our own children. We wanted a world with less stress and more comforts. As a result many of us have failed as parents. Today's 20 somethings feel they are "entitled" to the good life without working for it. Not everyone of course, but a high enough percentage that we face a crossroads. Entitlements will bankrupt the country. Actually, they already have.

If western civilization does not rekindle the work ethic soon, our way of life is at risk.

[setliff]

i too grew up in a blue collar family in the 40/50's. my single mom raised me and a brother as a waitress.

i have found it interesting as to how my kids (6) have each grown more conservative as they have matured.

so, i think these protesters will grow up, also. reminds me of the hippy's of the 60's.
the solution is to get someone into the race next year that can beat obama.

forget all the social agenda issues. Beating obama has got to be the objective with second being to control congress.

[k1f]

I think this topic is inappropriate for this board because it disregards economic fundamentals - which EPG exists to study. Whatever else they may be doing, the protests are calling attention to distortions in economic power that threaten all of us. The fundamentals tells us that the TBTF banks are still crippling the finance system here and in Europe; that their political influence is warping government; and that their derivatives and other instruments of leverage are unaccountable and out of control. Likewise, illicit corporate manipulation of economic power, as in Enron and other major frauds of recent years, has allowed an incompetent elite to capture a historically disproportionate share of the nation''s wealth - and to escape all accountability. IMO it's dysfunctional for us as investors to be worrying about unemployed protesters while we tacitly whitewash the corporate malfeasance and incompetence that have been damaging all of our investments and well-being. I'd suggest we pay more attention to business realities, less to our social prejudices.

[gjames]

Dan:
Kudos to your Dad and his generation! I have great admiration for all of them! What a contrast between their work ethic and the young thugs camping out in parks today. It is complete ignorance of economic fundamentals, perpetuated by a pathetic public school system, that has led these punks to camp out in parks with no coherent message instead of to a productive job. Every one of the supposed ills of capitalism that they complain about can be traced to too much government interference in the private sector, yet they call for more government "solutions". These are facts, not social prejudices.
Dan, thanks for all you do!

[dan_s]

k1f is correct in that this discussion may be inappropriate for this board. I should have posted it under Other Topics.

However, I am very concerned for the young people. They have only known the good times. Those with the entitlement mentality are in for rough times. Those which study hard and work hard will be fine. We now have four grad students working as interns here at EPG. I pound this concept into them whenever I can.

I kept my sons in very competitive sports leagues as they grew up and I coached many of their teams. IMO it kept them out of trouble and taught them that hard work pays off.

IMO Washington is broken, not just Obama. Yes, the guy needs to be replaced but not just because I happen to disagree with his liberal agenda. IMO the man has no economic sense. We need leadership that is pro-business to get this country back on track. I do agree with K1f that the big banks are a major problem.