Wednesday, October 12, 2011

New Flash: Times have changed

I have been seeing a lot of comments on line from people saying negative things about the Occupy Wall Street protests and I am a little shocked. It seems like there is a large portion of the working population that likes paying taxes that amount to over half of their pay. It seems that many of these people are so proud of the fact that they work hard and pay taxes that they don't think there are any problems with the economy or with the financial system that has banks living off their tax dollars. It is beyond me as how people could be so blind. These are the very people that fall for the government argument that the financial system would have collapsed had we not bailed out Wall Street and the large corporations that were failing. The fantasy that the money was ever paid back from TARP seemingly went unquestioned by the public just as has the blatant fraud and criminal activity that has gone on with MERS and abuses to the chain of title laws that have served as a foundation to our country. I have news for all of you who think the rich on Wall Street are on your side, I have news for you if you think your sour side, I have news for you if you think your stock broker or pension fund manager is on your side and the news is they are not on your side. What is going on in the stock market is being fueled by high frequency trading by a very few select fund managers. The ability to manipulate stock is clearly apparent. There has been ridiculous swings in volatility that have happened on very low volume trading. The Wall Street Elite has effectively pushed out individual traders as per their mission to control all of the wealth in the country. They ruined the housing market for the little guy and have pillaged the middle class investor and left them out in the cold. First of all unless you have 25000 or more in a margin account you are not allowed to day trade. If you trade the same stock- buy and sell a particular stock on the same day it can get your account frozen. For example if you buy Google in the morning and sell it in the afternoon you have have used up one strike against you. If you do this more than 3 times over any 5 day period your account will be locked. Now with electronic trading there is very little chance that these trades will not go through or be reversed but the law gives the advantage to the bigger traders who can move a stock price from high to low in one day. If you have a gain and want to take it you have to be careful don't day trade more than 4 times or you will get locked out. The other issue is that unless you have a margin account, along with your 25000 balance, you can not day trade. If you are starting with 10,000 you can't day trade and unless you are approved to trade on margin you can't day trade anyway. The reasoning has been to avoid the stock market to be taken over by "unsophisticated" traders. The label is of course is derogatory and insults the intelligence of Americans. It also has been said that this was for the protection of individuals. However, it just puts up a barrier to entry rather than protect anyone. This is the United States of America and people are unable to invest their money and trade their stocks unless they have a substantial amount of money.

It would seem after the wiping out of trillions of dollars of wealth in real estate, stocks, pension funds, 401 k's and the like, that most people would see the disparity of opportunity that exists and it getting larger.  But what I hear most is people complaining that the protesters should not be complaining and that they should go out and get a job and pay more taxes. 

Now picture yourself a college graduate fresh out of school unable to find a job that pays enough to cover the bills and pay your student loans, and set aside something for your future.  Even if you don't understand how this would feel, you should be able to see how it is not a good sigh for the country.  If the current generation will have a lower standard of living than the prior generation it is a problem.  It is especially a big problem when gas prices are 10 times higher than 30 years ago or that food prices have skyrocketed while wages have gone down when adjusted for inflation.

The protests are not about getting something for free or for having a hand out.  Our country is based on opportunity for each and everyone.  We are taught that if we work hard you can always get ahead.  No matter what the self righteous will say or how they will insist they did it so everyone else should have to do the same opportunity to star with nothing and live the American Dream are not as prevalent.  What people that have been working all along have yet to see the complications from stagnating wages and stagnate growth.  Nor do they understand that when someone in their 40s loses their job and life savings their is a much higher likelihood they will have much more debt that will hinder their freedom to move quickly to find employment.  They also are likely to have family responsibilities and children living with them or a former spouse and moving away would mean leaving their children.  Moving away in this situation is also often prohibited by custody laws in certain states if one wants to leave with their children. 


So if you stop to think about things rather than reacting with vitriol you might see the reality that the protesters may be doing us all a favor. 

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