Tuesday, October 25, 2011

Occupy Denver

Listening to radio and TV interviews of tent colonists down at civic center here in Denver made it clear. Some of the folks were not sure what to be upset about.

Let me provide a guide to anyone who is perplexed about that is going wrong with the good old USA. The tent people were not clear as to why they were upset. The sure know something is not right.

Someone asked me what is the message of the Occupy Denver. We won't know for a while, just like it took humanity a long time to realize the revolution Gutenberg brought on with his bringing moveable type for printing bibles. Reformation anyone?

Back to my list of possible focus of anger.

1. 1% of Americans own 90% of the wealth in the country. Get your attention.

2. Medium disposable income for all Americans has gone down and not gone up in recent years.

3. You are worse off than we were 15 years ago. Starting to boil?

4. We have a 9.1 % national unemployment rate.

5. 16% of Americans are working part time and wish they could work full time to provide for their families.

6. 21% of the unemployed, underemployed as the economists call these people, have given up looking for jobs. That's almost 1 of 5 Americans.

7. 32 % of African Americans fall in the underemployed category. Starting to simmer?

8. Police, firefighters, teachers pay higher taxes than the average hedge fund operator.

9. General Electric made 4 billion dollars in profit last year and paid not one penny in federal taxes.

10. Things are getting so bad for some of the smart rich folks, Warren Buffet and Bill Clinton, are now saying they don't need the tax breaks Congress has been giving them. They want to pay more in taxes. And the last time I gave money to our Denver Treasury, it is tax deductible. The city is like a charity.

Anyone want to recite the old line from the Psalm: "To your tents, Oh, Israel."

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