So. Occupy Wall Street. #OWS. The 99 Percent (which is totally untrue, by the way). It's a farce, and an offensive one at that. Despite repeated assurances that it's a broadly representative cross-section of society, the Occupiers remain mainly young university student types. Why? Because everyone else is too busy working for a living.
Think of it this way- even if Wall Street and the Super-Rich were to blame for all of life's problems, how is camping out going to fix it? What are the policy objectives? Who specifically will benefit? How will we transition from an unpleasant now to a successful future? No clue, obviously. But there are drum circles and call-and-response chants. Great. That will solve everything. Ironically, while mainly white over-privileged university protestors waste time demanding something, eventually, the children of immigrants are working hard and getting jobs. Sure, they are entry-level jobs at 20k a year, but that's life. In 5 years, while their whiny OWS peers are still suffering from student debts, companies are going to be managed by large numbers of people with names like Prabhakaran and Chen. Which, frankly, is how it should be.
What's my beef with all of this? It's easy. Nothing in life is free. Nothing. Somewhere, someone has to pay for whatever it is. "Free university tuition?" Ask the middle class in Québec how much they like subsidizing student fees province-wide. "Free health care"? Sure. Which is why Canada's highest tax bracket begins at 140k, with anyone making over 60k paying at least 40% income tax. And a 15% VAT. And gas taxes. And municipal taxes. Nothing. Is. Free.
And I'm tired of paying for the consequences of other people's poor decisions. You racked up 50k in student debt because you couldn't decide on which program you wanted to do? I hope you like paper hats kid. Start flipping some burgers, cause that interest on your loan won't pay itself.
Think of it this way- even if Wall Street and the Super-Rich were to blame for all of life's problems, how is camping out going to fix it? What are the policy objectives? Who specifically will benefit? How will we transition from an unpleasant now to a successful future? No clue, obviously. But there are drum circles and call-and-response chants. Great. That will solve everything. Ironically, while mainly white over-privileged university protestors waste time demanding something, eventually, the children of immigrants are working hard and getting jobs. Sure, they are entry-level jobs at 20k a year, but that's life. In 5 years, while their whiny OWS peers are still suffering from student debts, companies are going to be managed by large numbers of people with names like Prabhakaran and Chen. Which, frankly, is how it should be.
What's my beef with all of this? It's easy. Nothing in life is free. Nothing. Somewhere, someone has to pay for whatever it is. "Free university tuition?" Ask the middle class in Québec how much they like subsidizing student fees province-wide. "Free health care"? Sure. Which is why Canada's highest tax bracket begins at 140k, with anyone making over 60k paying at least 40% income tax. And a 15% VAT. And gas taxes. And municipal taxes. Nothing. Is. Free.
And I'm tired of paying for the consequences of other people's poor decisions. You racked up 50k in student debt because you couldn't decide on which program you wanted to do? I hope you like paper hats kid. Start flipping some burgers, cause that interest on your loan won't pay itself.
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