I have no desire to occupy Wall Street. Not that I think it’s a bad idea. I think it’s a great idea, I just have no desire to participate. Maybe that makes me part of the problem.
On the other hand, heading down to Wall Street would take me away from my day job and since I’m fortunate enough to have a job that entails holding corporations responsible for their actions, it’s probably better that I stay here.
Besides, I’ve done my time on the protest lines through the years and while I hope I’m not succumbing to some sort of mossbackery, I have family responsibilities I didn’t have back in the day. (Beside besides, as I sit here trying to get this thing written, I’m getting calls from the OWS people, telling me the NYPD is likely to boot them from Zuccotti Park in the next 48 hours and can I help them find a place to be for the next stage of the protest? Dunno what they think I can do from northwestern Vermont, but I’m making calls.)
I will admit to envy. In all the protests, sit-ins, lockdowns, direct actions and street theater in my resume, I always felt we were swimming upstream. The issues we were trying to call attention to were every bit as important as the economic injustice we face today, but none of my protests ever seemed to capture the zeitgeist the way the OWS kids have. (This is not about you, Mark.)
Another useful thing about the OWS protest is that it’s a simple device for informing you of who in politics, media, your friends, family, etc. is a jerk and who is not. Of course the Republican presidential candidates bash OWS – they’re churlish by definition (and scared out of their pants), but there are any number of otherwise intelligent people who should recognize the scent of history when it wafts under their noses. Go back and read those column inches about civil rights and anti-Vietnam protests. The jerkmeter worked back then and it will be working in 2031.
Most of the misguided commentary I hear and read, along the lines of “those stupid, pot-smoking kids, just spoiled brats” seems to be lifted from the Chicago Tribune, 1968. “Kids today” is still a popular refrain, accompanied by the head shaking. Just as it was 43 years ago, “kids today” are struggling to figure how to make their way in the world we adults made. Kids, on behalf of my generation, I apologize.
Last year, Adrienne gave me a copy of Michael Lewis’s The Big Short, about the 2008 financial meltdown. It’s a good book, so with Moneyball the movie coming out, I read Moneyball the book, which is also good. (Two words, however, for Mr. Lewis: Earl Weaver.)
Now I’m reading Liar’s Poker, published in 1989 and is – inadvertently – about sowing of the crop of mortgage-based debacles through the global system of finance. It’s also – inadvertently – about how quickly things change and how easily our memories fail. Chapter One concerns John Gutfreund, then-CEO of Salomon Brothers, known as the “King of Wall Street.” On page 14, Mr. Lewis says that in 1986, Mr. Gutfreund was paid more than any other Wall Street CEO – $3.1 million dollars. “Three millllion dollllars!” Kinda makes you feel like Austin Powers, doesn’t it?
Gotta Be Cool on Wall Street *
I have no desire to occupy Wall Street. Not that I think it’s a bad idea. I think it’s a great idea, I just have no desire to participate. Maybe that makes me part of the problem.
On the other hand, heading down to Wall Street would take me away from my day job and since I’m fortunate enough to have a job that entails holding corporations responsible for their actions, it’s probably better that I stay here.
Besides, I’ve done my time on the protest lines through the years and while I hope I’m not succumbing to some sort of mossbackery, I have family responsibilities I didn’t have back in the day. (Beside besides, as I sit here trying to get this thing written, I’m getting calls from the OWS people, telling me the NYPD is likely to boot them from Zuccotti Park in the next 48 hours and can I help them find a place to be for the next stage of the protest? Dunno what they think I can do from northwestern Vermont, but I’m making calls.)
I will admit to envy. In all the protests, sit-ins, lockdowns, direct actions and street theater in my resume, I always felt we were swimming upstream. The issues we were trying to call attention to were every bit as important as the economic injustice we face today, but none of my protests ever seemed to capture the zeitgeist the way the OWS kids have. (This is not about you, Mark.)
Another useful thing about the OWS protest is that it’s a simple device for informing you of who in politics, media, your friends, family, etc. is a jerk and who is not. Of course the Republican presidential candidates bash OWS – they’re churlish by definition (and scared out of their pants), but there are any number of otherwise intelligent people who should recognize the scent of history when it wafts under their noses. Go back and read those column inches about civil rights and anti-Vietnam protests. The jerkmeter worked back then and it will be working in 2031.
Most of the misguided commentary I hear and read, along the lines of “those stupid, pot-smoking kids, just spoiled brats” seems to be lifted from the Chicago Tribune, 1968. “Kids today” is still a popular refrain, accompanied by the head shaking. Just as it was 43 years ago, “kids today” are struggling to figure how to make their way in the world we adults made. Kids, on behalf of my generation, I apologize.
Last year, Adrienne gave me a copy of Michael Lewis’s The Big Short, about the 2008 financial meltdown. It’s a good book, so with Moneyball the movie coming out, I read Moneyball the book, which is also good. (Two words, however, for Mr. Lewis: Earl Weaver.)
Now I’m reading Liar’s Poker, published in 1989 and is – inadvertently – about sowing of the crop of mortgage-based debacles through the global system of finance. It’s also – inadvertently – about how quickly things change and how easily our memories fail. Chapter One concerns John Gutfreund, then-CEO of Salomon Brothers, known as the “King of Wall Street.” On page 14, Mr. Lewis says that in 1986, Mr. Gutfreund was paid more than any other Wall Street CEO – $3.1 million dollars. “Three millllion dollllars!” Kinda makes you feel like Austin Powers, doesn’t it?
Keep it up, kids, you’re doing the right thing.
© Mark Floegel, 2011
* Why has there not been a revival of this song?