Raise the Hammer

I just want to throw in my 2 cents (feel free to tell me that I'm talking out of my ass if you think so! Hahaha!). The bottom line for me is this: I think the current system is broken/not workable/easily manipulated by people with lots of money, but unfortunately many of the people who are complaining/protesting/making noise SEEM (not ARE, just SEEM TO BE) to be the takers of society. The lazy seem to be looking for more handouts, which might not be the case.

I rarely see productive members of society protesting the current system, and I think that leads to bad optics. I'm sure many will point out that people won't protest a system when it's working for them (ie: the rich/well off enjoy the status quo), but I don't think that's totally true. The system works well for me, but I still see it as broken. Just because I am hardworking, a self-starter, and someone who has never asked for a handout in my life (even when unemployed) does not mean that I cannot see negative aspects in the way things are going, and how this can negatively affect people of all stripes.

Truth is, unregulated capitalism ultimately leads to person A taking advantage of person B because of greed. If greed was a non-issue, then capitalism would be fine. But because we always need more more more, things get stretched out to the limit. A world without greed, huh? Ha!

Now, I'm not a proponent of communism/socialism (I think is stunts creativity & hard work and rewards the lazy), but there seems to be the need of some sort of mix of the two. I dunno... Canadian companies must manufacture 75% of its products on Canadian soil, but they get HUGE tax breaks to make up for the loss in revenue being paid out to higher paid employees. this in turn allows for more Canadians to be able to purchase the more of their products, and at a slightly higher price, and reduces the strain on social services (more people employed). I'm not an economist, so this might not make sense in real terms, but it seems to make sense to me.

I like the idea of these "Occupy" protests being educational, and not confrontational. I just think that it gets the message across better rather than feeding the "toss out the angry hippies" crowd. The more people know about the system, the more they might want to make a change for the better. I think education is key here.

Sorry for the babble... had to get it off my chest! Happy Monday, everyone!