What is it We Want? What if that is no longer Possible?

At first I was dismissive of the Occupy Wall Street crowd. No more (as of 10 or 12 days ago).

No, most of these folks don't know exactly what they want... and, no, this is no uni-faceted special interest group... there are a lot of pieces to the puzzle, and many of those pieces are MIA.

I have no answer for the crowd. I DO have some suggestions for individuals within that crowd.

Trust me when I tell you, you are NOT all in this together. It may feel that way now... take a look at the people involved at the Woodstock festival lo these many years ago... some of the performers and organizers are on their last leg; others are multi-multi-multi millionaires. Somehow, I doubt the folks on the right side of that equation are interested in providing for any of the needs of those on the wrong side. Nope, in the end you are on your own... unless you have family... and even then family is not like government... you are required to give as well as take.

I hear the complaint about no jobs and crushing student debt. Ok, fair enough. What if there are NEVER going to be enough jobs in the corporations you folks are protesting to provide you with the standard of living you expected when you signed the doted-line for that student loan? What then? Are you going to protest until death do you part?  The government can't FORCE corporations to hire you (at least not yet... and command economies have not experienced much success throughout history)... what are you going to do if you can't have the job you expected, the house you expected, the car you expected, the vacations you expected, the engagement ring you expected...?? Because I think that that is the case from- now-Mother-F***in on... or at least for a decade or 2, which for our purposes is the same thing.

I watch in horror as young adults (late 20's early 30's) endlessly discuss what the president "should" do... yet they don't notice that time is getting away from them. In my experience, the only folks that can "catch up" from spending half of their young adulthood in school are people with critical and barrier-to-entry training, such as surgeons, certain legal specialists, and technology wonks.... not working until 30 while going into debt for an education that does not include actual training has demolished the futures of millions. Heck, 75% of American families either could not, probably not, or probably could come up with $2000 in an emergency... got that? The second best economic quartile is not entirely sure they could come up with $2000!

It would seem that most people don't know how to provide for themselves in the information and industrial economies... and they no longer know how to take care of their basic needs like billions do in the 3rd world everyday (ever been to the mountains of Peru? The jungles of Columbia or Southeast Asia? I have... saw a great deal of subsistence living going on with no Food Stamps from the government nor rioting)... but they do know how to go to school and get into to debt... they just don't know how to operate in the real world sufficiently to be able to put together $2000. None of that will get fixed by protesting - unless you go after the really bad guys:

The University/Industrial complex.

And why are these guys getting a pass??

We need to educate the populace... but who can afford $200k for an undergrad degree in the humanities? The children of the 1%, that's who.  The University/Industrial complex saw the limits there and convinced millions to take out a mortgage for an undergrad degree. Somewhere along the line the children of the 99% felt that they were entitled to storybook weddings, and diamonds, and vacations in the South of France, and a total of $400k in private school educations for the lovely couple, etc...  I've been poor and I've been rich. Rich is better - but you don't get there by going into debt for education (as opposed to training. There is a huge difference between the 2... surgeons are trained, accountants are trained, plumbers are trained, engineers are trained... if your education did not give you specific training that would enable you to make a living, it was just that - an education. Don't you feel smarter, Ms. Starbux barista with the "women's studies" degree?). The 99% really need to understand what defines financial security - and it ain't 6 figures in student loans, a mortgaged house, and a leased Bentley.

So protest! I was dismissive at first but have come around and applaud your efforts... but I won't delude you like the Woodstock generation (who have taken complete advantage of you folks). There may never be a job in a corporation with health benefits and a pension for you. You might not be able to live in New York, vacation on the Vineyard, and BBQ with Muffy and Biff on the weekends the way the brochure from the admissions department of your University said it would be... In fact, I am pretty sure that for the vast majority of you that that is a certainty.

The other certainty is that it is very likely that you will never pay back your student loans. Yet I doubt the government is going to forgive those loans irrespective of how much you protest. Best to ask for things that can actually be had. I leave that to you.

So keep at it, get what you can... and then get to work building your lives... because the government can't do that for you... not to put too fine a politically-incorrect-point on it, but the group most associated with protests and marches in America has not exactly benefited too much from that activity.

In the end it is your own decisions that you must live with.