The Great American Campout

Ok I'm not going to lie, this post has absolutely nothing to do with life concierge'ing.  You've been warned.

If you have followed my various blogging projects for awhile, you know that I'm not a big fan of protests as they are commonly executed.  A bunch of people get together, waste a bunch of time, inconvenience the people they're trying to convince, and generally leave behind a giant mess.  Their messages are muddled, their tactics inefficient.  Maybe that's why they spend so much time chilling in parks.  I was unemployed for four months within the last year, I didn't go to the park.  I looked for jobs.  I looked online, I looked offline, I went to interviews, I networked.  I don't remember going to a single park to find a job or make a political point.  And now I'm employed.  Just saying.

So I don't understand the Occupy (insert city name) movement.  A bunch of unemployed or underemployed people get together in the middle of a city and "occupy" (stand around and hold badly designed signs while obstructing pedestrian and vehicular traffic) a space in order to protest "the rich" and "big corporations."

Feel free to mentally insert any one of many snarky comments here about finding a job with one of those corporations rather than protesting them if you wish.

I say this as a person who does not now, nor have I ever, been employed by a corporation in my post-college career.  In fact, 90% of my career has been spent in not-for-profit industries.  But those corporations being protested FUND the non profits that I work for.  Without corporate donors, this guy would be unemployed, and would then be unable to write this blog that is read by all of 4 people.  Oh, and whenever a disaster struck, Americans (and people around the world) would have to rely on the American government for assistance.  Yes, the same people it took four days to get water to the Superdome.  Just saying, we tend to put those corporate dollars to good work.

And I'm a bit confused over all this fuss about "profits."  This is hard to say without sounding condescending, but I feel like maybe the Occupiers just don't understand.  Corporations don't make profits to pile the money in a big room to look at it and go HEY LOOK WHAT WE DID.  It is true that businesses are saving more now than before due to economic uncertainty, but their goal isn't to hoard money and go running through the streets saying I HAVE IT AND YOU DON'T.  Nope, they take that money, and they distribute it.  They distribute it to executives, to workers through salaries, stock options, bonuses and 401k retirement plans.  They distribute it to stock holders who have invested in their companies as a legitimate means to grow their dollars (legitimate investing being a paramount requirement for any modern economy).  And then those people take that money, and they invest in OTHER companies, so that they may be successful.  So that they may HIRE people, and then pay those people, and that those people may go out and buy goods and services, which means even more companies can HIRE people.  They take that money and they donate it to my employer so that we may help people.  You can't have an economy without companies.  Sorry folks, just doesn't work that way.

And I'm also unsure about why they are targeting "the rich."  Most business owners, stock holders, investors, pay huge sums of taxes that could otherwise be used to hire people, while working their asses off - all while risking their own worth if their businesses should fail.  They pay their government first, their employees second, and themselves last.  If you make more than $68,000 a year, you are in the top quartile of American wage earners.  Rich just isn't what it used to be.

What is obvious is that these protesters are angry, frustrated, upset.  So are the rest of us.  What is less obvious is just who they are mad at and what they want done about it.  It seems they are frustrated about the same things I am - economic turmoil and uncertainty, and an unwillingness of our "leaders" to do anything to fix it.  But their anger seems misdirected.  "Wall Street" (corporate businesses) and "the Rich" (small business owners) aren't responsible for this quagmire, they are merely facing the same constraints as the rest of us, and have reacted accordingly.  If we had real economic leadership who was willing to face hard choices (I'm looking at both sides of the aisle here), the money would flow, the economy would right, and these protesters could get a job (though they may have to leave their park to look).  I guess protesting a faceless "corporation" is easier, or at least easier to justify against their misguided understanding of a free economy and left-wing political ideology, than demanding more of their elected leadership and being disappointed at those results.

Hopefully they will recognize this soon and leave the park.  Leave it clean.  And leave it before tonight's rush hour.