By snoadmin
The Occupy Wall Street protests have been going on for just under two months now, and an end does not seem to be approaching any time soon.
The movement is intended to decry the lopsided distribution of wealth in the United States right now, but it seems the protesters are only being a contradiction to their own cause.
In New York, Wall St.’s Milk Street Café owner Marc Epstein — a once prosperous café and catering service — was forced to fire 21 employees as a result of a 30 percent business plummet due to the Occupy Wall Street movement. What sort of point about the economy can a movement prove when it’s putting small businesses out of work.
Shamil Cepeda — one of the employees who was laid off from Milk Street Café — told the New York Post, “If [the protesters] would just go get a real job, helping real people, that would help a lot more than just taking up space and shouting at people and putting others they claim to care for out of work,” she declared.
New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg was also quoted in the New York Post about the real culprit behind our nation’s economic downfall: “It’s not the banks that created the mortgage crisis. It was, plain and simple, Congress who forced everybody to go and give mortgages to people who were on the cusp.” Bloomberg continued, “They were the ones that pushed the banks to loan to everybody, and now we want to go vilify the banks because … It’s easy to blame them.”
Both Cepeda and Bloomberg’s statements were right on the dot. First of all, by “occupying” cities, protesters are not doing anything but showing that they’re upset about the way things are right now — that’s it. So what do they think is going to happen? Obama will finally take the “99 percent” into account and things will change for the better? No. These types of things take time. If we could fix our economic situation with the flip of a switch, wouldn’t we have done that already?
In Los Angeles, farmer’s market vendors that normally set up on the City Hall lawn every Thursday have experienced a 40 to 60 percent drop in sales because protestors refused to move their tents. Talk about obnoxious.
Protesters decided not to move after an Oct. 19 vote, during which most voted to move, and only a handful voted in opposition. However, since a unanimous decision is required to take action, the handful won. Since then, rules have changed. Now, a 90 percent vote is required for action to be taken.
Silvia Ibarra — a farmer’s market vendor and mother of three — expressed to the Los Angeles times the loss of sales she has undergone since Occupy Los Angeles protesters set up in front of City Hall.
“Now I’m out $60 a day, $240 a month,” she said. “That’s gas for a month, or two or three bills.”
If the “Occupy” movement’s objective is to raise awareness of the inequality, then they’re wasting their time. We’re not blind. We see what’s going on, whether we’re the 99 percent or not.
And, if they’re objective is to create a movement that will inspire a change in our economic state, then they’re still wasting their time. The saying goes, “be the change you wish to see in the world.” Get out of the streets, find a job and contribute to our economy instead of taking away from it.
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