Some belated advice to those who don't get it

I received another email reprinting a column written by conservative writer Marybeth Hicks back in October regarding the Occupy Wall Street protestors. I was going to respond to the sender of the email but, since she is an older relative, thought better of it and, instead will vent here. What is in italics is taken directly from the column followed by my responses.

There are some  crucial life lessons that the protesters' moms clearly have not passed  along. 

That free speech guarantees under the First Amendment of the US Constitution and the right to protest only apply to wealthy, conservatives?

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.

True, but the playing field has become disproportionately tilted to favor the few with talent who were fortunate enough to be born wealthy. Though I disagree with their political views, I deeply admire men like Clarence Thomas and Herman Cain. These were men who were born into poverty and through their own sweat and hard work reached places in their careers that their grand-parents couldn't have dreamed of. With the high costs of education and the increasingly closed doors to those without a college diploma, I wonder if they could have done that today. I don't think it is so horrible to make sure our children can afford the same opportunities.  “We may have democracy, or we may have wealth concentrated in the hands of a few, but we cannot have both.”

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.

Come on, you know what they meant. They hear stories of a magical time where, if you were smart enough and worked hard, you received a taxpayer paid tuition-free education (or at a low cost). Now, they can spend $50,000 to $100,000 just to go a public university. Even CUNY, which was free 40 years ago, is closing in on $30,000 to pay for a four year degree. How many poor and working class young adults are being locked out from college due to costs? At a time when even low level blue collar jobs require some sort of skill set, we are dooming many to a life of working behind the counter at WalMart. Repeat this argument for taxpayer paid health care, similar to what Europeans and Canadians receive. But any talk of a similar single payer health insurance is fought like crazy. Profits for private and public corporations take precedence over the actual health of patients.

and the 53 percent of taxpaying Americans owe you neither a degree nor an annual physical.

Everybody pays taxes, just not all are wealthy enough to pay income taxes. You gotta make enough money to pay money. If paying more income taxes then those in the projects mean my children are better educated and safer then those without money and we are able to live in relative comfort with money left over for toys like a flat screen TV and go on vacation, then count me as one who is happy to pay taxes. Not that I love paying taxes but I consider that a worthy cost of success.

While I’m pointing out this obvious fact, here are a few other things that are not free: overtime for police officers 

Who told the cities they had to deploy such a huge police force (aside from their corporate masters) to deal with a few hundred protestors (higher on weekends)? Winter was coming, the protestors would have gone home soon enough. Don't want to spend so much on OT, don't over-react. 

and municipal workers, trash hauling, repairs to fixtures and property, condoms 

Condoms? Tax-payers were paying for condoms? Really? She had me with trash hauling and repairs to property, and, if she had mentioned it, lost business to store owners in the immediate area, partially caused by the NYPD over-reaction, but condoms? Sheesh. There were plenty of legitimate gripes and she says something silly like implying taxpayer supported sex? Sigh.

Real people with real dollars are underwriting your civic temper tantrum.

Again, if you are not conservative and anti-Obama the First Amendment does not apply.

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. 

Unless you are a bank or other financial institution deemed too big to fail of course. 

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.

While I agree no one forced these kids to take out large student loans to study art, it is hard for them to pay those loans back if they can't find a job in any field where they can earn enough to pay back those loans. Kids coming out of college with small mortgages are going to be unable to move out of their parents' homes and spend money on cars, houses, electronic toys, restaurants etc for many years. In other words, money that could be spent on things that create jobs will be spent on paying back the banks and making a few rich. Yet, while banks and corporations can declare bankruptcy to get rid of debts they can never pay back, students can't (unless they are unable to work, so nice). So banks get money and those businesses who depend on consumers to spend money close or don't even open.

I equally blame college administrators for this for not helping to keep tuition costs lower. At least CUNY has, more or less, kept tuition fairly stable -- when adjusted for inflation, I was surprised to see the tuition I paid in the mid 1980s was roughly the same as the tuition being charged today.  

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.

Even soldiers on the battlefield get a little R&R now and then. And I've seen a lot of footage that showed somber protestors, at least at the start. Seriously though, by the end, I agree that it did seem as if things were getting out of hand. The OWS protestors made an error by not declaring victory sooner and moving things to the next level, which requires more organization and dealing with those in power like the Tea-Partiers were able to do. That is OWS protestors biggest failure.

I may not agree with all they have to say, but they are saying what needs to be said and debated on such as money in politics, Congresspeople get their own form of legal insider trading, the Glass-Stegall Act and corporate person hood to name a few. Even if you don't agree with them, the debate would be good for the country.

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.

I've seen plenty of well dressed, professional looking people among the OWS protestors. Kids had piercings and tattoos when I was in college over 20 years ago. All managed to hide them (or remove the piercings) for job interviews or at work, but happily displayed them when out on their own time. I imagine that is the same today. These kids aren't at work or on job interviews, they are on the street (or were on the street). A better reason for them not finding jobs: we've exported many of these starting jobs overseas, more experienced workers, laid off from their own jobs, are taking the remaining  entry jobs, older workers aren't retiring because they can't afford to and corporations stocking money in the bank instead of using it to expand.

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.

My company just had another round of layoffs. Those let go were not let go due to performance reasons, they were let go because a new guy is now heading our division and decided he needed to show that he could make our parent company more money so about 3% of the workforce, all college educated (and some beyond that) were told they have 30 days to find another position in the organization or they can call the out-placement firm. I'll be sure to tell them that it is their own fault that their paychecks interfered with a few receiving their end of the year bonus.

It's not just trickle down and income inequality

It would be nice if trickle down economics led to job growth here in America. Instead it has led to cuts in spending for infrastructure, such as roads, rails and schools, things American businesses need to succeed. At the same time, instead of investing in exporting goods and services, those at the top are using their money to export jobs and wealth to other countries.

President Obama pointed out trickle down has led to greater wealth inequality in a speech the other day. And of course, the GOP candidates attacked him for this (except for Texas Governor Rick Perry who wants to protect the majority Christians from acting like decent humans and being nice to those of other faiths), note that they can score entertainment points and continue to advocate that being ultra-conservative is all that this country needs. And the beat goes on.

Unfortunately, what neither side is pointing out, is that income inequality is a global phenomenon, not just an American one. Over 25 years ago, I took a few classes in labor studies as part of my major. I really can't recall much from those classes except for two things: the first being the professor pointing out that American unions became international to recruit workers in developing countries to bring their standard of living up to our middle class standard or they surely would bring ours down theirs.The second was marching on a picket line in solidarity with Eastern Airline pilots at LaGuardia Airport while the professor sang union songs on his guitar (which is not pertinent to this post but it was interesting). If that professor were still around (he died from cancer over two decades ago) he would probably be very sad to see how right he was. Globalization and technology have done what corporate bosses of the early 20th century weren't able to do.

Wages for the middle classes world wide will continue to decline as long as middle class workers continue to compete against one another. However, saying all workers should join international unions to better bargain is too simplistic and wasteful, some will always be able to get a better deal for themselves based on their skill set as well they should. But we need some sort of international floor where well paying jobs can't be shipped off to another country with skilled employees willing to work for pennies on the dollar, until their wages get too high and those jobs move elsewhere. While that may be good for corporations, it is not great for those left behind. 

However, creation of that floor is not going to happen tomorrow. It will be many years until those developing economies embrace the notion that the way to succeed is not to exploit the masses for the benefits of a few and allow real unions to form. And it will not solve the problems of those with low skills have in finding work, especially as that type of work gets automated. The only thing the lower and middle classes can do is to constantly improve their work skills, and hope they can afford to pay to do so. 

While life is better for many Americans than it was for others 50 years ago, such as gays, women and minorities, it has gotten worse more recently for most of us as the affects of the current conservative movement, begun in earnest as the progressive moment reached its peak, reaches its own peaks. While it is true that the average American income has been declining for many years, what we the people need to remember is this: while it is not just us, we do have the ability to turn things around. United we stand, divided we fall; divided we stand, united we fall. Either we the middle class continue to vote to raise taxes on ourselves to allow the rich to continue to exploit us, or we make our stand here and now. We're all in this together.