On Wednesday, January 18th large internet companies such as Wikipedia blacked out their sites in protest of the Stop Piracy Act Bill (SOPA).  The nice-sounding bill threatens to destroy creativity and freedom of speech on the Internet by allowing the US Department of Justice and copyright holders authority to attack sites who enable or facilitate copyright infringement.

Imagine Financial Samurai sharing a piece of useful information on how to prevent credit card theft online, and the original creator is from some giant corporation who has a propensity to sue despite linking back and giving credit.  I will probably never bother to share this useful content in fear of having some overly paranoid lawyer sue me for SOPA infringement if this bill passes.  Our society is already litigious enough!

I’m proud of the Internet community for speaking out against SOPA.  The government, despite all its “good intentions” should not be in the business of regulating what we can share and say online.  Sure, there is a limit to what we can and should do, especially if someone is being untruthful, but for the government to get involved with what I can and cannot say on my own site is wrong and I am fiercely against SOPA and more government regulation!

You would think that those who are against big government would also be against big government who discriminates based on income, gender, and sexual preference, but you’d be mistaken.  To many, discrimination is OK, so long as they aren’t being discriminated against.

THE HYPOCRISY OF INCONSISTENCY

Let’s discuss income taxes. A progressive income tax system is clearly discriminatory.  Why does someone making over $380,000 have to pay not only a higher percentage of their taxes to the government (35% marginal tax rate), but also a much higher absolute amount of taxes vs. someone who makes $80,000 (25% marginal tax rate)?  Are the roads and libraries that much better for the wealthy?  After a certain minimum income standard above poverty, we should be treated equally with a flat tax.

There are people who believe it’s OK to vote on further raising another group’s income taxes, while not having to pay more taxes themselves.  How can we give people and the government this authority?  Imagine if one of the 40-50% of Americans who pays zero federal taxes votes for a President who wants to raise taxes on a group that already pays the most taxes.  The goal is to steal from one group to subsidize his/her own group.  This is shear hypocrisy.  We need to ALL pitch in if we’ve decided tax increases is the only way!  Just like we all need to accept lower services if cuts are to be made.

What about sexism?  We can all agree that sexism is wrong.  Men and women should have equal rights and equal pay for equal work.  So if everybody agrees that sexism is wrong, why aren’t more people up in arms about the government’s desire to tax couples making over $250,000 when they are targeting singles making over $200,000?  Why doesn’t $200,000 + $200,000 = $400,000?  The government expects inequality of one spouse upon marriage, that’s why!  Is one spouse suddenly supposed to go from making $200,000+ to $50,000 just because s/he got married?  This is nuts!

Very few people give a shit about the way government treats gender rights because very few couples make over $250,000.  But I’ll ask you again.  Is discrimination OK if you are not being discriminated against?  The answer is HELL NO.  Discrimination is never OK.

What about gender preference?  Why is the government in the business of regulating who we can and cannot love and what we can and cannot have if we marry?  Gay couples and straight couples should have the same rights.  Does being born gay make you a lesser being?  Does standing under 5 feet 8 inches tall make you a lesser man?  Should you have to pay more taxes just because you were born with red hair?  Of course not!  So why the hell is the government discriminating against gays and lesbians?  Why should a  straight man or woman dictate how a homosexual man or woman should live?  They shouldn’t.

If you studied American history, you will know that discrimination based on sexual preference is akin to racial discrimination in the 50′s and 60′s.  The government shouldn’t be in the business of relationships.

IF YOU ARE OPPOSED TO SOPA, PLEASE ACT CONSISTENTLY

If you are opposed to SOPA, you are against big government getting into your business of telling you what you can say, share, and write about online.  Since you are against big government, you should be against a government who practices discriminatory tax policy against people who already pay more than their percentage of income earned.  If you are are not subject to paying more taxes yourself, you have no right to tell another group of people what they should pay.  Yes, this includes those who say, “They can afford it” and other oblivious statements.  Instead, you should be fighting for equality in our taxation system.

If you are opposed to SOPA, you are against big government telling others who they can and cannot marry.  You are opposed to the government dictating the love of others and imposing sanctions against their rights because of their sexual preference.  Maybe you or your children will one day be targeted by the government, you never know.  Are you going to love your children less for being gay?  No, you will love your children unconditionally.

If you are opposed to SOPA, you are against big government penalizing you because of your sex.  You believe as an independent woman or man, you have the right to continue earning your income even when you get married.  You do no believe it is fair that $200,000 + $200,000 = $250,000 in the government’s eyes because of their sexist ways.

It’s OK to disagree, be it for moral, religious or personal reasons.  Just don’t impose your will on others, since they have a right to their liberties as well.

Alas, I know people will always vote for what’s in their best interests, even if it means screwing other people in the process.  Hence, despite all the noise about being against big government on the internet, we will have bigger government in the near future.  Forget studying hard in school.  Forget working 80 hours a week.  Forget starting a business on the side.  Forget one love and harmony.  Let’s just vote on politicians who will spoon feed us success and hurt others to better our own positions.  It’s much easier that way.  Oh yeah, and tell your representative to vote no on SOPA!

Readers, why do you think there are opponents of SOPA who also vote for big government?  Do people really just conveniently vote for what’s best for themselves?  Is discrimination OK if you aren’t being discriminated against?

Regards,

Sam

Photo: Iguana In Darkness, Yucatan Peninsula, 2010.  Sam.

If you are not a racist or bigot, and believe in equal rights for all please sign up for my RSS Feed or E-mail Feed to keep in touch.  If you are a racist, sexist, bigot who believes in inequality, and conveniently believes in policy that will only benefit yourself at the expense of others, I’d love to hear your reasoning why in the comments.

In my fiscally irresponsible state of California, Governor Jerry Brown (D) is proposing raising taxes on people making over $250,000 a year.  According to the SF Chronicle, 65% of those polled believe this is a great idea.  Well No Duh useless poll and uninsightful newspaper.  Most people or households don’t make more than $250,000 a year so of course they’d be for raising taxes on those income earners!

In fact, less than 5% of the population makes more than $250,000 a year, so why don’t 95%+ believe this is a great idea?  The reason is because Jerry Brown has also proposed raising the sales tax by another 0.5%!  Uh oh, suddenly since everybody has to pay for an increased sales tax, not everybody is for it!

Hey, what’s a 10.5% sales tax rate from the 10% now?  At least you have a choice in paying taxes, whereas if you are making above a certain income level, you don’t.  Let’s just raise sales taxes to 20% since rich people have a lot of money and buy way more things they don’t need anyway!

WHY ISN’T THERE PENSION REFORM?

I’m perplexed why the California government wants to raise taxes on all its citizens, but isn’t willing to reform their own pensions?  Is this not a double standard?  If the government really wants to help the schools, public transit, roads, and other state infrastructure, shouldn’t they reform one of the biggest fiscal burden in the State?

All the State has to do is lengthen the retirement age or increase the age at which someone can receive a pension.  You can retire at 50 if you want, but you’ll still have to wait 15 years until 65 to collect your pension, for example.  Pretty easy stuff.  The private sector doesn’t even have a pension, just a woefully inadequate 401K plan which one can only contribute $17,000 of their own money a year starting in 2012.  I doubt many private sector employees under 40 are expecting to receive their Social Security retirement benefits either.  Contrast that with tens of thousands of dollars of pension income for life, and it’s clear the dichotomy is huge.

Oh crap, I realize why there’s no pension reform.  Those making the laws are state government employees with pensions!  Why on earth would they be willing to sacrifice their own money for the good of the country, when they’ve sworn an oath to do what’s right for the State?  Silly me.

TIME TO UNDERSTAND THE NICE BUCKS

The average California state and local government employee makes $68,500 according to the 2008 US Census Data, while their average pension is $45,700.  Meanwhile, the average private sector employee wage is $46,500 vs. an average Social Security paycheck of only $15,000 a year with no pension.  The pension is literally triple the benefits received by the private sector employee!

Furthermore, the typical government employee works from 25-55 years old and then retires for 30 years while the private sector employee works from 25-65 years old and retires for 20 years.

There are more than 9,000 beneficiaries of CalPERS, the largest state retirement plan, who receive more than $100,000 a year.  That’s right, $100,000 a year+ for the rest of your life at a cost of $1 Billion+ dollars annually for this organization alone, and there are many more!

In other words, a State employee not only makes more while working, gets more while retired, and works for less amount of time!  Hook a brother up!

NOW YOU KNOW

Since everybody likes to spend other people’s money to fix the system and not their own, now you know why it is wrong to give people the power to raise taxes on others without paying more taxes themselves.

If you are a high income earner, usually defined by the government of $200,000 and above, you will always be screwed, even in a democracy thanks to mathematics.  You will be in the minority by nature due to your income, and everybody will want to get their hands on your money by voting to redistribute your wealth.

You must never, ever disclose how much money you make as a result.  In fact, if you can defer as much money as you can while living in a high income tax state or country, and receive distributions after you move, the better!  It’s important to pretend you are poor so nobody comes after you.  If the very government isn’t willing to make some sacrifices to help balance the budget, why should you?

Readers, I’d love to hear more about the shenanigans your State or Country is playing with regards to balancing their budgets.  Anybody out there from New Jersey, Illinois, and other fiscally irresponsible states? 

Note: I want to make it clear that this post’s aim is highlight the hypocrisy of the government, and is not an attack on any particular union group.  It’s only logical for each individual group to not give up some of their benefits for the greater good.  However, if that’ what we are being asked, then at the very least, government officials should reform their own pensions, and the pensions of all state employees if they are asking for more tax revenue from us.

Photo 1: Calwatchdog.com
Photo 2: Joshua Rauh, Northwestern’s Kellogg School of Management.

Regards,

Sam

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There’s a tremendous battle in Congress regarding balancing the budget.  The Democrats want to raise taxes and remove deductions for the highest income earners while the Republicans want to just cut spending without raising taxes on the richest Americans.  There has to be a combination of higher taxes and lower spending in order for there to be an agreement, otherwise the US economy will fall back into a recession since nobody will have any confidence to spend.

Given it’s the holiday season, one of the most perplexing issues is why the President and his party wants to remove charitable deductions for those in the highest two income tax brackets: 33% ($212-$380,000) and 35% ($380,000+).  There’s no doubt that the main reason why people give is to help people, however, the elasticity of giving is not vertical mind you.  There will be incremental negative consequences.

It’s estimated that roughly $300 billion of charitable contributions happen each year, with the large majority of donations coming from the wealthiest citizens.  The top 10% of income earners pay 70% of all taxes, despite earning 46% of all income.  The statistics for contributions are roughly the same for charity.

With the enactment of asymmetric policy against high income earners, some have estimated there will be a decline of roughly 2%, or $6 billion in charitable contributions per year.  2% sounds quite conservative, but regardless of the amount, there will be a decline in charity exactly during a time when charities need the money the most!

The poor have already suffered enough, let’s not make them suffer even more.  With the economy growing at an inadequate pace to soak up the ever increasing number of unemployed, we will see an increase in those falling under the poverty line.  More people needing assistance increases the financial burden on the government and a negative cycle ensues.

What the government needs to do is incentivize people to give even more, not less.  Individuals are much more efficient at identifying causes that need the most help, not big organizations.  I urge everyone to write, call, and speak up for the poor by denouncing the removal of charitable deductions for those who donate the most.

We should fight for the less fortunate always, and not just during the holidays.  Give what you can give to what you believe in.  We never know when we’ll need help, so until that day arrives, we fight for them.

Happy Holidays,

Sam

PS: Having issues containing your shopping beast?  I just wrote a new post on Yakezie.com called, “Controlling Spending The Fun And Easy Way“.  Go check it out!

I’m against big government.  Politicians are wasteful with our tax dollars and like to propose empty promises to maintain power. From that ding dong Congressman who sent pictures of himself in his underwear on Twitter, to Elliot Spitzer’s indecencies – when people have too much power, they let us down.  Given this view, I am perplexed why there are those out there who vote for more government!  Do you really want XYZ government agency controlling your every move and stealing from you?

60 Minutes recently did a terrific 15 minute spot about how Congressional lawmakers can freely trade stocks based on non-public information and the very bills they are voting on!  For example, if you are on the Healthcare Committee which is about to pass a law that requires all hospitals to provide the first $5,000 in expenses for free, you can actually short hospital stocks on this information even though nobody has a clue this bill will pass!

TELL ME WHY, WHY, TELL ‘EM THAT IT’S HUMAN NATURE WHY, WHY…

So I got to thinking, why do we allow Congressional insider trading to happen, when any one of us who acts on non-public information will go to jail?  The answer is simply that the public WANTS our Congressmen to enrich themselves since they provide us such great service!  If the public didn’t want Congressmen to have a leg up on real estate and stock deals, then we simply would elect officials who propose legislation to restrict this type of activity.

Everything is rational folks.  We feel sorry for our Democrat and Republican Congressmen and women who only earn $174,000 a year.   As a result, we allow them special opportunities the rest of us don’t have, even though the average household income is less than half their salaries!  Who cares if the top 5 richest congressmen are worth a combined $1 billion dollars.  We must help our leaders!

America loves big government.  If we didn’t, we’d have small government and less waste.  Watch this video and share your thoughts.  After you do, please don’t throw your computer out the window.

Readers, why do we allow the already privileged and powerful to play by different rules?

Anybody have a better reason for why Congressmen and women get to conduct insider trading?

Could you resist the temptation of not participating in IPOs and material inside information if you could earn hundreds of thousands of dollars in a week legally?

Photo: Our beloved Nancy Pelosi of San Francisco.

Regards,

Sam

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The debate rages on whether the top income earners who pay most of the federal taxes or the bottom 47% who pay little-to-none of the federal taxes, should pay more taxes and help our country.  Clearly, the answer is that everybody should pay some federal taxes, since everybody is benefiting from the federal government.

Have you ever stopped to think who is really being screwed here?  If you are paying little-to-no federal taxes, is the government, rich people, and corporations really screwing you?  If you are in this situation, are you hoping to pay more taxes so you can get screwed more?  You can’t have it both ways now.

Perhaps the people really being screwed are the “HENRYS”, the Higher Earners Not Rich Yet folks who are in the top income tax brackets (33%/35%), and who don’t make the majority of their income from dividends and long term capital gains which are taxed at 15%?  This is something to really think about here, because for some reason, people equate the Top 1% with the Top 0.1% who are indeed like Warren Buffet paying a lower tax bracket than many of us middle class citizens.

Here’s a quote from Edward which sums up the point quite well:

If you want someone to blame for your high effective rate of taxation (which isn’t really that high internationally) it is less “welfare queens” and more a system in which actually working for a living is disincentivized. You’re right about the bite of taxes if you’re a high wage worker (say lawyer, doctor, CFO at a small company). You’re easy to track so you’ll probably be paying close to 30% in income tax, 6% in payroll tax, 8% in state tax, 1-2% in unemployment fund taxes plus sales tax, fees and all the rest. Heaven help you if you’re a small business owner earning a few hundred k and eat self employment taxes too.  It’s not hard to go above 50% of earned income if you’re a hard working small business owner in the 130k+ range.

On the other hand you have rich people who are not high wage workers. Who didn’t spend decades of blood, sweat and tears getting either themselves or their small business into a position to have the enviable problem of a 400k paycheck. They are the “investor class” who pay 15% on most of their income since they’re buying and selling stocks is somehow privileged over letting everyone else do the real work that makes that stock rise.

Not only is there a much lower income tax on long term capital gains, but of course payroll taxes, unemployment taxes and all the rest fall away too. This isn’t even getting into tax dodges like “like kind” exchanges which can let you buy and sell investments with literally 0 tax liability year to year or carrying forward losses to offset taxes on gains.

Warren Buffet and Bill Gates mentioned that with their investments and portfolios they could literally defer any and all taxes until after they’re dead. One of the world’s richest man can literally pay nothing in taxes for a decade or more in our current system while a Manhattan lawyer who grinded it out for 20 years of school and 10 years of 80 hour weeks eats a 50% effective rate.

That’s where HENRY (high earnings not rich yet) comes from, the teeming masses of strivers who do actually pay a lot of taxes. The almost rich who subsidize the super rich investor class. Honestly none should be out more forcefully against the wall street plutocracy then the high income worker since nobody gets screwed over more in favor of Wall Street types then them.

Thoughts everyone?  Should the people right around the 1% be the ones protesting instead?

Here’s another scenario analysis to help the discussion going: Let’s say the 53% who pay all the federal taxes somehow get expunged from society.  What do you think happens to our economic system?  Let’s say the 47% who pay little-to-no federal taxes are expunged, what happens to our economic system?

Which scenario would you choose to live in and why?

Photo: Chopped Cock, Delos, Greece, 2011. Sam.

Regards,

Sam

You’re mistaken if you believe the 99% will just rage against the 1%.  They won’t stop until they protest against half of America, and then they will turn on themselves.  After reading all the “We Are The 53%” submissions, I was inspired to write my own. The 53% figure refers to the percentage of working Americans who pay for 100% of all federal taxes in our country. The 53% blog is a response to the “We Are The 99%” Occupy Everything movement, which also shares some moving posts about people who are having trouble getting ahead.  Unfortunately, there are also some incredibly misguided posts that put blame on others for their own mistakes.

The 99% movement doesn’t represent all 99% of us because the 99% isn’t one big pity party that we’re being made out to be.  Some of the reasons for protesting are down right embarrassing.  If you have student debt and can’t get a job, please protest your school’s career service office.  If you are against corporations, please don’t use an iPhone and then go charge it at McDonald’s.  If the damn insurance company is denying you benefits, protest right outside their corporate headquarters and at the homes of their execs!  There are thousands of first generation legal immigrants who come to the States, don’t speak English, and find a way to live a better life.  We at least have a head start with the English language!

The 99% movement might represent 10% of Americans who are fed-up and outraged by the super wealthy and our inept politicians and want to protest. For the rest of the 99%, we aren’t complaining.  Instead, we’re focusing on making ourselves better. We’re not depending on the wealthy or the government for anything.  We’re depending on our own initiatives to make things happen.  You do realize that we taxpayers made money bailing out the banks to the tune of $10 billion dollars right? Thanks Wall St!  We’re still waiting for GM to give us our money back.

Stop thinking about yourself and what the country and the government can do for you.  Start thinking about how you can add value to society and help someone before you help yourself.  Being selfish gets you nowhere because nobody will want to help you, especially if you are protesting the very people who donate to charity, provide students scholarships, help fund cures for cancer, and provide employment opportunities!

Here is my note. I hope you can share your own.

REPRESENTING THE 53%

• At 16 years old I went to work at McDonald’s from 6am to noon for $3.25 an hour on the weekends. The manager was abusive and told us to never speak Spanish, even amongst ourselves. I knew then that I never wanted to be poor, and despite the bad environment, I became the best damn Egg McMuffin maker the chain had ever seen.

• During junior and senior year of high school, when my friends wanted to play hooky and smoke cigarettes and weed, I told them I had to go to tennis practice and then study. That was a 6-hour affair after school every Mon-Thursday, and 4 hours on Friday. I already fucked up badly once and wasn’t about to do so again.

• In college, when my friends wanted to get plastered and hit on chicks, I gladly came along for a couple beers and a good time, but I never blacked out, doing something I’d forget and regret. OK, maybe I did just once, but I don’t remember.  My girlfriend and I studied for 6 hours on average every single day, all throughout the day. Who would employ us if we did otherwise?

• After college, when my friends were still sleeping, I got up at 4:45am to get to work by 5:30am for two consecutive years. There I worked until 7:45pm on average because that’s when the cafeteria opened, serving free dinner. Damn, I got fat working so much, but I wanted to save money because the Big City was expensive and I always felt broke. I didn’t blame Jenny Craig.

• Two years later, I got a new job offer with a pay raise and a promotion. The only catch was that I had to move cross-country to San Francisco, where I had no friends and no family. I was scared, but what the hell. I was young and left on Friday and started work on Monday. Here I got fit again by running every day until I was back to my normal self.  Screw Jenny Craig and her diets.

• Over a decade later, I no longer work 14-hour days, but still get in by 7:30am and usually am one of the last to leave. There is no face-time involved anymore. I leave when the job gets done and only when I feel comfortable I’ve earned my day’s pay. There’s no way I’m taking this opportunity for granted. It is an honor to be employed and I’m thankful every single day.

• Because I only work 10-11 hours a day now, I started a couple sites called FinancialSamurai.com and Yakezie.com. After spending 3 hours a day on average for 2 years writing content and connecting with others, my online endeavors have grown to a size that enables me to retire from my day job. I won’t be living it up in retirement because it’s not that much, but I can live freely if I want to. Anybody can build an online business if they have the dedication.  Everybody should start an online business if they have no job especially!  The government didn’t help me one bit. Instead, the government made it difficult to start a business and incorporate. It took 3 months just to get the paperwork done. The amount of paperwork was incredible and I needed help from a lawyer, which cost $200/hour. What a waste of money.

• I’ve paid over $100,000 in Federal and State income taxes a year since my late 20′s and yes, I have an accountant.  The $100,000+ a year is used to build our schools, fund our libraries, expand our roads, protect our nation, and provide medical care for our deserved senior citizens.  I try and forget how much I pay in taxes because I know I will never get that money back in return.  Why are you angry with me? I’m not angry with you for whatever amount you’re paying. Despite paying more in taxes than the average American income, the government wants me to pay even more while half the population pays no Federal taxes? Talk about a kick in the nuts, but I shut the hell up and pay my taxes and don’t complain.  However, if more is what the government and protesters want, how about Dilbert cartoonist Scott Adam’s idea of letting me drive in the HOV lane by myself whenever I want with my $4,000, 11-year old beater as a small token? Or maybe just a short “Thank You” letter from any government benefits recipient each time a check is cashed? At the very least, don’t attack me for being a law-abiding citizen who pays a ton of taxes!

• How much have you paid in taxes? Taxes are what keeps this country running.  Did the government and greedy corporations really take any of your money if you pay little to no federal taxes?  Don’t you think the people who should have the most beef be the ones who’ve paid the most taxes not the other way around?

* Look yourself in the mirror and ask yourself if you can wake up at 4:45am in the morning and put in 14 hours a day for several years. I bet if you do, you’ll get way ahead. In fact, I firmly believe you will crush your competition and achieve whatever it is you want to achieve.

* Ask yourself if you were a manager in a difficult economic environment whether you’d fire your top 10% best workers or your bottom 10% worst workers?  Of course you keep your best people.  Would you hire yourself?  Of course you would, but do you really think a job is a right?  I tell myself I am nobody everyday, and so should you.  That way, you’ll never be complacent, and never fall in the bottom 10% ever.

* Last year I donated five figures to charity and spent 30+ hours volunteering.  With the help of the Yakezie Network, we started the Yakezie Scholarship / Writing Contest which allows students looking for educational financial aid to compete and win over $1,000.  I will do the same every year until I retire, and then maybe I’ll focus on giving back full time.  Why am I a bad person?  I don’t do any of this for credit.  I do it in secret just because it’s a good thing to do.

• I am the 53%. There’s no way you will ever join us if you’re sitting around protesting. Each minute you spend protesting is another minute someone else is out there making a living.  You can hate us for being in the top 53%, but you should start hating yourself instead.  That way, you’ll be so disgusted with yourself that you will go to the ends of the earth to succeed!

* I stand by every single American out there who doesn’t complain why life isn’t fair, who never gives up, and who looks to put others before self.  I stand by those in the 99% movement who are doing everything they possibly can to survive.  Seriously, the insurance companies are a joke if they are denying people affordable insurance due to whatever reason.  Here’s my story on fighting an insurance scam.  The government is disgraceful if they aren’t doing everything possible to help our honorable veterans find jobs and flourish back at home.  How much more do they have to serve their country for goodness sakes without having to fight at home?  There should never be jobless or homeless veterans!  Fight on people!  Let’s just focus our frustrations at the right people!

* We are the 53%. There are literally tens of millions of us with our own stories.  Won’t you join us?

Readers and fellow bloggers, tell me you aren’t the only ones who feel assailed for working hard and making a living? Why do we have to feel ashamed for striving to be successful in our respective fields? Shouldn’t we feel proud of our accomplishments? What the hell did we do wrong?

I encourage all readers and bloggers to write their own 53% letter and tell your story of why you deserve to live.  If you are a reader and would like to have your story published here, I will do so.

Regards,

Sam

I have a confession to make.  When I was 19 and 20 years old, I was a paid protester.  I remember walking around the mall during vacation one day and getting approached by a guy who offered me lunch, a t-shirt, and a $10 gift card if I would protest outside a Macy’s store.

“What are we protesting?” I asked him.  “Oh, just the fact that we aren’t getting paid enough and don’t have enough hours,” he responded.  “We deserve to make more money!”

“Sounds like an excellent cause, sign me up!” I told him as he gave me all the goodies so I could walk around for 1.5 hours shouting a slogan in front of the store.  I was oblivious to what I was protesting since I was not one of them.  I just pretended to be a victim so long as I got a free meal and the $10 gift card to spend at Footlocker.  We didn’t have iPhones and iPads like all the protesters today.  We kinda had nothing.

DO IT AGAIN FOR THE EXPERIENCE

It was so fun to protest, I decided to do it again the next summer.  This time, it was in front of a Hilton hotel where plumbers were on strike, again for insufficient wages.  I received another lunch and $10 bucks as well as a sign that read, “Pay us fairly, or we’ll blow your shit up!“  It was a blast!

I admire the Occupy Wall Street movement.  I know some of them are paid or sponsored just like I was, while some of them really think that they are making a difference by sitting around and chanting.  You’d think it might be a better use of time working on their interview skills, resumes, and credentials.  But, sometimes, banging drums and hugging each other is just way too fun!

If I was unemployed and living at home, I’d definitely go out there and share the love of the people.  Times are tough, and if we can come together and sing, it feels great!  I do that all the time with my trusty old Martin acoustic guitar.  I know a lot of you don’t know exactly what you are protesting about, since taxpayers did make over $10 billion from TARP bailout money so far, and it was the government who provided all the goodies and not Wall St.  But, who cares?  It’s all about one love.

STAY CONSISTENT AND PERSISTENT

So to all my fellow protesters out there, carry on!  Everybody should experience one protest movement at least once in their lives.  It’s invigorating!  Not only that, it provides perspective and empathy once you’re on the other side of the fence.

Just don’t go protesting capitalism and then carry an Apple product and charge it at McDonald’s, the most profitable restaurant chain in the world.  Don’t protest animal rights while wearing leather shoes either.

Go naked to really fight rampant capitalism and income disparity!

Finally, if you’re one of the 50% of Americans who pay no Federal income taxes, then Wall Street and capitalism hasn’t taken your money one bit.  Have fun and keep up the good work!  Power to the people!

Regards,

Sam

We have a culture of blaming others for our problems and Main Street is now on a tear with this “Occupy Wall Street” movement that’s gathering steam.  The thesis is that financial institutions and anybody who has anything to deal with financial institutions are bad.  The government and the media help fuel the fire against Wall Street and make them scapegoats for the economic decline.  That way, they’ll hopefully deflect the blame away from themselves.

One man from one Wall Street firm stood up and had enough.  In 2010, he penned this letter below which started slowly circulating the web until it finally caught my eye.  The letter is just as appropriate today as it was last year.  He probably had nothing specifically to do with credit default swaps and other exotic instruments that helped cause our decline.  “Wall Street” is a catch-all phrase that leads to a lot of unwarranted stereotypes.

Just because you work at Bank of America as a teller doesn’t mean that you are to blame for Ken Lewis’ empire building when he bought Countrywide Financial and Merrill Lynch for prices nobody in their right mind would pay, which is now leading to massive layoffs.  Just because someone is a Latin America investment banker at Goldman Sachs doesn’t mean they are responsible for you buying 3 condos with minimal money down in Florida to try and get rich.  No, the guy buying the 3 condos is responsible………… or is he?

Just because you have massive student loans and can’t find a job, that doesn’t mean the US economist working at JP Morgan had anything to do with your situation.  Maybe it’s because you borrowed more than you could afford?  Or maybe it’s because you didn’t do well enough in school or go to a better school for that matter.  Why protest an irrelevant economist when you could protest right at your very own school!

If you are a raging populist, who is easily offended, and complains a lot, perhaps you shouldn’t have a read.  But, if you’re a normal rational person who likes to see both viewpoints, take a look and let’s discuss!  Remember, this letter is a retort against the media and the protesters who’ve attacked him, his family and his industry for months.

“WE ARE WALL STREET” EMAIL

“We are Wall Street. It’s our job to make money. Whether it’s a commodity, stock, bond, or some hypothetical piece of fake paper, it doesn’t matter. We would trade baseball cards if it were profitable. I didn’t hear America complaining when the market was roaring to 14,000 and everyone’s 401k doubled every 3 years. Just like gambling, its not a problem until you lose. I’ve never heard of anyone going to “Gamblers Anonymous” because they won too much in Vegas.

Well now the market crapped out, & even though it has come back somewhat, the government and the average Joe’s are still looking for a scapegoat. God knows there has to be one for everything. Well, here we are.

Go ahead and continue to take us down, but you’re only going to hurt yourselves. What’s going to happen when we can’t find jobs on the Street anymore? Guess what: We’re going to take yours. We get up at 5am & work till 10pm or later. We’re used to not getting up to pee when we have a position. We don’t take an hour or more for a lunch break. We don’t demand a union. We don’t retire at 50 with a pension. We eat what we kill, and when the only thing left to eat is on your dinner plates, we’ll eat that.

For years teachers and other unionized labor have had us fooled. We were too busy working to notice. Do you really think that we are incapable of teaching 3rd graders and doing landscaping? We’re going to take your cushy jobs with tenure and 4 months off a year and whine just like you that we are so-o-o-o underpaid for building the youth of America. Say goodbye to your overtime and double time and a half. I’ll be hitting grounders to the high school baseball team for $5k extra a summer, thank you very much.

So now that we’re going to be making $85k a year without upside, Joe Main Street is going to have his revenge, right? Wrong! Guess what: we’re going to stop buying the new 80k car, we aren’t going to leave the 35 percent tip at our business dinners anymore. No more free rides on our backs. We’re going to landscape our own back yards, wash our cars with a garden hose in our driveways. Our money was your money. You spent it. When our money dries up, so does yours.

The difference is, you lived off of it, we rejoiced in it. The Obama administration and the Democratic National Committee might get their way and knock us off the top of the pyramid, but it’s really going to hurt like hell for them when our fat a**es land directly on the middle class of America and knock them to the bottom.

We aren’t dinosaurs. We are smarter and more vicious than that, and we are going to survive. The question is, now that Obama & his administration are making Joe Main Street our food supply…will he live and will Joe Main Street survive?”

Is there any truth to this letter?  Should we blame financial institutions and people who work in financial institutions for our nation’s economic woes?  Or, should we blame people who borrowed more than they could afford and didn’t uphold their promises to pay off their debts?

If we bring down Wall St., will the rest of society get better or worse?  The one key point I disagree with in the letter is the author’s jab against teachers.  Teachers are woefully underpaid in my opinion, and have taken plenty of hits during this downturn as the government cuts back on educational funding.

Sometimes we just have to take a look in the mirror and accept responsibility for our own decisions.  But sometimes, it’s so fun to list out a bunch of random people and organizations to lay blame on!

“I blame you Mr. Barber for losing me money in the stock market!”

“I blame you Dr. Phil for me still being out of shape!” 

“I blame you Lindsay Lohan for why I can’t stop smoking these joints!

“I blame you Albert Einstein for not allowing me to get straight A’s in school!”

“I blame you Market Zuckerberg for not being rich by age 25!”

“I blame you Tiger Woods for cheating on my wife 30 times and getting a divorce!”

“I blame you Pace University for forcing me to go into so much student debt!”

“I blame you President Obama for why I can’t get a job!”

“I blame you Wall Street for everything that is wrong in my life!”

“I blame you readers for not making me a rich and famous personal finance blogger!”

Share your thoughts and more examples of blame, baby!

Kevin from Thousandaire has an entertaining write-up called “If You’re Going Occupy Something, At Least Pick The Right Place.“  Have a read!

Regards,

Sam