Tuesday, October 11, 2011

The 99%

Listen to this-
"Don't blame Wall Street. Don't blame the big banks. If you don't have a job, and you're not rich, blame yourself," ~Herman Cain candidate for president.

Now this-
“The fact is these people are anarchists. They have no idea what they’re doing out there,” ~Long Island Republican Congressman Peter King 

And this-
"I regard the Wall Street protests as a natural outcome of a bad education system teaching them really dumb ideas." ~ Former Speaker of the House and 2012 presidential candidate Newt Gingrich








Republicans, just when I thought they couldn't get any more stupid. Besides their dismissive belittlement of the Occupy Wall-Street protesters they also seem to be blind too. Among the groups who are a part of these protests you can find labor unions, airline pilots, librarians, students, the handicapped, the elderly, and just your typical everyday citizens. The Republicans can't see anything but bored kids with purple hair. I keep hearing the Wall- Street protesters compared to hippies from the 60's. I wasn't around in the 60's and a lot of the protesters weren't either. They haven't just been protesting the wars, they have more than that on their minds.I can't tell you every issue that the Occupy Wall Street protesters are upset about but I can speak to my frustrations. I spent $75.00 at the grocery store last night. Among the few bags I left the store with were several products that had been quietly downsized. The trend lately is to lower the amount of product you bring home as if by magic. One of the magic tricks is changing the container shape a little cone shape at the bottom of the jar or bottle can saves lots of money. You are hardly going to notice that bottle of katsup only gave you 17 servings instead of 20, right? The katsup makers are counting on that. take a good look at all the items you purchase next time you go shopping and you will see what I mean. From Oreos that lack the filling they had in the past to laundry soap that comes with a 'easy pour' spout which also includes a bottle that holds just a few ounces less detergent.
 Making products using the cheapest materials, changing the unit of measurement so that even though the package reads the same, you are  getting less and paying more. Another trick is to make things look like they are being made easier for you because the company cares about your quality of life. Those little Coke bottles that are 'serving size'? Yea, that 'convenience' is costing you.
  Do you have medical coverage from your employer? Do you have to pay for part of it? Most of us do now. In fact the 'medical coverage' offered by most companies should be called 'medical coupon' since some aren't getting much more than a slight discount from what they would pay if they got coverage on their own.
   The Feds put some rules down on banks, pretty mild rules IMO. One of these rules regulated the amount a bank could charge you for using your card at a store. It really bothered me I would drive around to save $.02 per gallon on gas only to come out even cause of those charges.  The banks considered the amount of revenue they would lose because of the new regulations and figured they needed that money. Now you can pay the bank a lump sum of $5.00 per  month to use your bank card on top of the lowered fee they charge you at the time of your purchase.
 Gas prices go up hand in hand with oil prices. Even though the oil has been purchased ahead of the price hike you can expect the price to instantly rise if oil prices go up. Now if you think about that then you could expect that gas prices would go down along with the current oil prices, right? Hell no. IF gas prices go down it is at an incredibly slow pace. As a result of this practice and the raising of prices "just because" every so often the oil companies have been making record profits. When anyone complained about it the oil companies would reply "supply and demand" expecting that to shield them from any further negative image caused from their price gouging. Well yea there is a demand because people have to use their cars to get  to work to pay their bills, like gas for the car. Public transit is not even close to being an alternative for most people so they have no choice but to drive. The demand is forced and that is a bit unfair. I can understand if the oil companies were looking at some hardship that was going to hurt them if prices didn't go up but that's not the case because they are making record profits. Making record profits at a time when so many people are struggling to get a job and keep their homes seems a bit cold. I'm not saying they stop making money, make a profit, but RECORD PROFITS? The raise in gas prices also costs us more in increased price for goods and services because companies pass the rise in overhead down to the consumer.
  At this time about half the country has heard about the Occupy protests. Of those people 19% disagree with the protesters on their basic core issues, one of  which is corporate greed.
 19%....that is a very small percentage. In this country how many issues can you think of that only 19% of the population disagree with it? That figure alone should strike fear in the hearts of every politician in office and especially those who are sitting on their stupid fat asses talking shit (republicans)
   That idiot Newt has some nerve saying the 99% are a result of a 'bad education' cause obviously his math skills are shit.   

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