As Occupy Wall Street activists clogged New Yorks Zuccotti Park protesting corporate greed and Occupy SF hit San Franciscos Financial District on Wednesday protesting corporate greed the world learned that Steve Jobs perhaps Americas most beloved modern capitalist had died at age 56.
The protesters claim to represent the working people the 99 percent of Americans who according to their blog are getting kicked out of their homes must choose between groceries and rent and are working long hours for little pay and no rights if theyre working at all. They are getting nothing while the other 1 percent is getting everything.
We are the 99 percent they proclaim.
Jobs was probably about 0.000000000001 percent.
Yet Jobs and the 99 percenters have much in common. These activists represent the iGeneration. They grew up with iPods and laptops. Theyre tweeting from smartphones. Theyve grown up with pricey new gadgets and monthly plans that keep them plugged into Wi-Fi and 4G.
They carry signs and post their stories on the Web about the five-figure debt that theyve incurred -- some for tuition that hasnt landed them a good job others in credit card debt -- and theyre angry that Washington bailed out Wall Street but hasnt done much for them.
Like members of the tea party theyre angry with Washington. But theyre also scared not the way tea partyers fear losing their hard-earned assets but in the way young people are fearful in a bleak economy. Is Following Your Dreams supposed to be this Terrifying? one young womans sign reads. $60000-plus in debt from my student loans and 11 percent interest rate.
At a news conference Thursday President Barack Obama said the OWS protests express the frustrations that the American people feel.
Tea Party Express strategist Sal Russo sees the occupiers as yet another effort bolstered by organized labor and MoveOn.org to establish a tea party on the left -- with the help of a complicit news media that often painted his co-believers with unflattering stereotypes. They would say that (the) tea party is people who wear Colonial hats have signs and are a bunch of nuts Russo observed.
Obama played that game two years ago when he quoted a letter he had received from a woman who told him I dont want government-run health care. I dont want socialized medicine. And dont touch my Medicare.
The Occupy Wall Street movement has its standouts too. Its website features an unofficial list of demands which include not only a universal single-payer health care system and free college education but also open borders immediate across-the-board debt forgiveness for all and outlawing all credit reporting agencies. Former Weather Underground radical Bill Ayers issued a collective statement that a democratic government derives its just power from the people but corporations do not seek consent to extract wealth from the people and the Earth; and that no true democracy is attainable when the process is determined by economic power. So dont tell me that the right has a monopoly on crazy talk.
Or that the Dems unlike the GOP dont have a problem with their base.
Besides though the manifestos provide plenty of fodder for scoffing they distract from the protests sad personal stories. The We Are The 99 Percent shows a gallery of anguish felt by people who are struggling -- even losing the struggle -- to stay above water.
Now I think these folks are wrong to believe that more government from Washington is the answer to their problems. They say they want to restore the American dream but their remedy looks too much like the Greek nightmare.
As Russo noted their big claim is that they think we need to have a bigger more intrusive government in our lives. After four years of George W. Bush and Obamas increasing federal spending exponentially while the economy floundered it should be clear that model has failed. Mainstream America will not follow the occupier playbook.
Voters may sympathize with these unemployed kids -- but theyre not going to toss them the keys to the car.
As Jobs advised students in his famous 2005 commencement speech at Stanford University you may be scared and you will make mistakes but dont be trapped by dogma.
Debra J. Saunders at dsaunders@sfchronicle.com. To find out more about Debra J. Saunders and read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists visit the Creators Syndicate Web page at www.creators.com.
As Occupy Wall Street activists clogged New Yorks Zuccotti Park protesting corporate greed and Occupy SF hit San Franciscos Financial District on Wednesday protesting corporate greed the world learned that Steve Jobs perhaps Americas most beloved modern capitalist had died at age 56.
The protesters claim to represent the working people the 99 percent of Americans who according to their blog are getting kicked out of their homes must choose between groceries and rent and are working long hours for little pay and no rights if theyre working at all. They are getting nothing while the other 1 percent is getting everything.
We are the 99 percent they proclaim.
Jobs was probably about 0.000000000001 percent.
Yet Jobs and the 99 percenters have much in common. These activists represent the iGeneration. They grew up with iPods and laptops. Theyre tweeting from smartphones. Theyve grown up with pricey new gadgets and monthly plans that keep them plugged into Wi-Fi and 4G.
They carry signs and post their stories on the Web about the five-figure debt that theyve incurred -- some for tuition that hasnt landed them a good job others in credit card debt -- and theyre angry that Washington bailed out Wall Street but hasnt done much for them.
Like members of the tea party theyre angry with Washington. But theyre also scared not the way tea partyers fear losing their hard-earned assets but in the way young people are fearful in a bleak economy. Is Following Your Dreams supposed to be this Terrifying? one young womans sign reads. $60000-plus in debt from my student loans and 11 percent interest rate.
At a news conference Thursday President Barack Obama said the OWS protests express the frustrations that the American people feel.
Tea Party Express strategist Sal Russo sees the occupiers as yet another effort bolstered by organized labor and MoveOn.org to establish a tea party on the left -- with the help of a complicit news media that often painted his co-believers with unflattering stereotypes. They would say that (the) tea party is people who wear Colonial hats have signs and are a bunch of nuts Russo observed.
Obama played that game two years ago when he quoted a letter he had received from a woman who told him I dont want government-run health care. I dont want socialized medicine. And dont touch my Medicare.
The Occupy Wall Street movement has its standouts too. Its website features an unofficial list of demands which include not only a universal single-payer health care system and free college education but also open borders immediate across-the-board debt forgiveness for all and outlawing all credit reporting agencies. Former Weather Underground radical Bill Ayers issued a collective statement that a democratic government derives its just power from the people but corporations do not seek consent to extract wealth from the people and the Earth; and that no true democracy is attainable when the process is determined by economic power. So dont tell me that the right has a monopoly on crazy talk.
Or that the Dems unlike the GOP dont have a problem with their base.
Besides though the manifestos provide plenty of fodder for scoffing they distract from the protests sad personal stories. The We Are The 99 Percent shows a gallery of anguish felt by people who are struggling -- even losing the struggle -- to stay above water.
Now I think these folks are wrong to believe that more government from Washington is the answer to their problems. They say they want to restore the American dream but their remedy looks too much like the Greek nightmare.
As Russo noted their big claim is that they think we need to have a bigger more intrusive government in our lives. After four years of George W. Bush and Obamas increasing federal spending exponentially while the economy floundered it should be clear that model has failed. Mainstream America will not follow the occupier playbook.
Voters may sympathize with these unemployed kids -- but theyre not going to toss them the keys to the car.
As Jobs advised students in his famous 2005 commencement speech at Stanford University you may be scared and you will make mistakes but dont be trapped by dogma.
Debra J. Saunders at dsaunders@sfchronicle.com. To find out more about Debra J. Saunders and read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists visit the Creators Syndicate Web page at www.creators.com.
