Author: Deborah Lewis, Garland
"A question for occupiers
"How did I become your enemy? How does vilifying me help? I have worked for a "big bank" for over 18 years. I earn a very modest income. I have never received one of the huge bonuses you talk about. I live in a 1,200-square-foot house. I am a single parent.
My "big bank" has over 250,000 employees, most of whom are just like me. We all have families and mortgages and bills to pay. If you continue to attack my "big bank" they will have to lay off more people. How will that help our economy? How will it help if I lose my job?
If I am your enemy, who on earth is your friend? I had nothing to do with the bad loans, the risk taking or the trillions of dollars of debt run up in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. I am as upset as you are. Probably more so. You should see what has become of my 401(k) plan. I will never be able to retire.
If you want to blame someone, go to George W. Bush's house. Or locate Angelo Mozilo, the former head of Countrywide Mortgage, and I will go with you.
But I am not your enemy.
Ms. Smith, it is a complicated but reasonable answer to say that you are your own enemy. Have you not ever, during the course of your employment not found yourself at odds with what your employer told you to tell your customers and that which you knew to be the truth? This never happens to you? Do you never feel a conflict between what you know and what you are told to say? If you have never had this conflict between your personal ethics and your employer's demands then you are a rare individual. The length of your employment, the modesty of your income, your lack of "huge" bonuses, the size of your house and your parental status are irrelevant, except to attempt to earn our sympathy. I for one am not buying it.
The size of your employer and the number of your fellow employees is also irrelevant. Consider the size of the Nazi war machine and those individuals who comprised it. Did they deserve a free pass because they were but one member of a large organization made up of single individuals who as small cogs in a big wheel. No, they absolutely did not.
You say you had nothing to do with the bad loans? Really, please tell me for which bank you work, at such a size that it has 250,000 employees, that did not participate in "bad loans." I will give you a public citation of how "your" bank did indeed participate in these bad loans.
You say you had nothing to do with the bad loans, the risk taking or the trillions of dollars of debt run up in the ware in Iraq and Afghanistan and that you are as upset as those occupying. Not true. You and I are in our small portion responsible for these things. Why? Because we allowed it to happen. Did we complain when our home values increased dramatically and are home equity with it? Did we think we too would ride this "hot air balloon" of our chief asset without ever thinking at some point the hot air would have to run out and our balloon come down to earth and reality? Did we rise up in righteous anger and with our pens put to paper complain to our Congress and the President? Did we do anything to help those who did go to George W. Bush's house (ranch) other than watch it on the nightly news and then switch over to "America's Greatest Loser" only to find out it had nothing to do with George W. Bush?
Ms. Smith the question you should be asking yourself, as should we all, is not "why me" but instead "why not me." We allowed this to happen by thinking we could escape the consequences of inaction by not participating.
Therefore, just like you, my 401k is a wasteland of investments I was told were a reasonable choice for a place to put my money when I wasn't using it. Well, I was wrong and so were the people who told me so. Read my previous blogs on Bank of America and you will see how we common folk, who are as average as average can be, allowed our leaders and employers to take our money and give it to the unworthy in the form of a guaranteed profit or a guarantee against loss, which is the same thing.
We did this through the sin of omission. We were asleep at the wheel because we thought someone else would pick up our slack. Turns out, they tried and failed to get our attention when it mattered. Now they try to get our attention to keep us from allowing the peril facing our way of life to grow any greater.
Then, again, asleep at the wheel you ask "why me."
The size of your employer and the number of your fellow employees is also irrelevant. Consider the size of the Nazi war machine and those individuals who comprised it. Did they deserve a free pass because they were but one member of a large organization made up of single individuals who as small cogs in a big wheel. No, they absolutely did not.
You say you had nothing to do with the bad loans? Really, please tell me for which bank you work, at such a size that it has 250,000 employees, that did not participate in "bad loans." I will give you a public citation of how "your" bank did indeed participate in these bad loans.
You say you had nothing to do with the bad loans, the risk taking or the trillions of dollars of debt run up in the ware in Iraq and Afghanistan and that you are as upset as those occupying. Not true. You and I are in our small portion responsible for these things. Why? Because we allowed it to happen. Did we complain when our home values increased dramatically and are home equity with it? Did we think we too would ride this "hot air balloon" of our chief asset without ever thinking at some point the hot air would have to run out and our balloon come down to earth and reality? Did we rise up in righteous anger and with our pens put to paper complain to our Congress and the President? Did we do anything to help those who did go to George W. Bush's house (ranch) other than watch it on the nightly news and then switch over to "America's Greatest Loser" only to find out it had nothing to do with George W. Bush?
Ms. Smith the question you should be asking yourself, as should we all, is not "why me" but instead "why not me." We allowed this to happen by thinking we could escape the consequences of inaction by not participating.
Therefore, just like you, my 401k is a wasteland of investments I was told were a reasonable choice for a place to put my money when I wasn't using it. Well, I was wrong and so were the people who told me so. Read my previous blogs on Bank of America and you will see how we common folk, who are as average as average can be, allowed our leaders and employers to take our money and give it to the unworthy in the form of a guaranteed profit or a guarantee against loss, which is the same thing.
We did this through the sin of omission. We were asleep at the wheel because we thought someone else would pick up our slack. Turns out, they tried and failed to get our attention when it mattered. Now they try to get our attention to keep us from allowing the peril facing our way of life to grow any greater.
Then, again, asleep at the wheel you ask "why me."
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