Occupy Wall Street Demands

When I talked about the occupy wall street crowd last time I mentioned that none of them could describe what their objective was. Well since then I've actually found a web sight where they do mention their objectives. I was a bit surprised to learn than some of their objectives I sort of agree with in a round about way. Most of them however would be completely destructive if they actually got their way. I thought I would go through their objectives one my one and describe what I thought would happen if they were actually able to get everything they wanted. 


The "Occupy Wall Street" protesters have listed 13 proposed demands from their website.


Demand one: Restoration of the living wage.


I thought we had this and it was called “minimum wage”. I'm not sure but I think a living wage is a minimum wage of $20/hr. If we had to pay the guy flipping burgers in McDonalds $20/hr then you can say good by the dollar menu. Everything will be much more expensive, we'll have higher unemployment especially among teenagers and if we don’t impose tariffs on imports then it would result in a greater trade imbalance causing many domestic companies to go out of business.


Demand two: Institute a universal single payer healthcare system.


This would eliminate what is left of the free market system amongst health care and put a cap on the doctors wages. This would result in a shortage of doctors, longer waiting times and eventually rationing of life saving procedures. Old people and the handicapped would be allowed to die in order to give the limited resources to younger people. Since I’m now considered “older”, I don’t like this.


Demand three: Guaranteed living wage income regardless of employment.


I actually proposed this idea as a form of welfare but my “living wage” was just barely enough to allow someone to not starve. If every citizen received a basic living allowance then this would eliminate abuse. 


Demand four: Free college education.


I might actually be able to go along with this one. I believe education would solve many of our problems.  I would use a voucher system that is good for qualified programs (not something like ebonics) and if you aren’t passing your classes then you’re out of there.


Demand five: Begin a fast track process to bring the fossil fuel economy to an end while at the same bringing the alternative energy economy up to energy demand.


Unless you want energy costs to sky rocket you can’t end fossil fuels on a fast track. I would encourage domestic energy (coal, oil and gas) and discourage foreign energy with tariffs. I would definitely fast track alternative energy of all kinds (wind, nuclear, solar, bio-fuels etc).


Demand six: One trillion dollars in infrastructure (Water, Sewer, Rail, Roads and Bridges and Electrical Grid) spending now.


There goes our taxes again. If we had actually done this with the last trillion dollars we spent (instead of bail out the banks) I think we’d be in a lot better situation now though.


Demand seven: One trillion dollars in ecological restoration planting forests, reestablishing wetlands and the natural flow of river systems and decommissioning of all of America's nuclear power plants.


Nuclear power is the only viable source of energy that produces no pollution of any kind. I do think we should create more national parks but a trillion dollars may be a bit out of line.


Demand eight: Racial and gender equal rights amendment.


I thought racial and gender discrimination was already illegal. If we want to put it in an amendment though I’m fine with that.


Demand nine: Open borders migration. anyone can travel anywhere to work and live.


I fully agree that immigration should be VASTLY simplified but do we really want to allow open borders to terrorists, drug smuggling, criminals and people with nasty diseases?


Demand ten: Bring American elections up to international standards of a paper ballot precinct counted and recounted in front of an independent and party observers system.


This is one demand that I can completely agree with.


Demand eleven: Immediate across the board debt forgiveness for all. Debt forgiveness of sovereign debt, commercial loans, home mortgages, home equity loans, credit card debt, student loans and personal loans now! All debt must be stricken from the "Books." World Bank Loans to all Nations, Bank to Bank Debt and all Bonds and Margin Call Debt in the stock market including all Derivatives or Credit Default Swaps, all 65 trillion dollars of them must also be stricken from the "Books." And I don't mean debt that is in default, I mean all debt on the entire planet period.


Huh??? That would be interesting. I’ll have to think about this one. I think I could actually go along with this. Debt causes a LOT of problems and personally I think we'd be a better off if we didn't have it. Just watch the price of houses plummet if you had to pay cash for them.


Demand twelve: Outlaw all credit reporting agencies.


Well if you don’t have debt then you don’t need the reporting agencies. If we do have debt then you kind of need to know what your risks are or else interest rates will sky rocket for everyone.


Demand thirteen: Allow all workers to sign a ballot at any time during a union organizing campaign or at any time that represents their yeah or nay to having a union represent them in collective bargaining or to form a union.


As long as it is a secret ballot then I'm all for it. Unions are good when they're needed but if they're not needed then they shouldn't exist. I would not allow unions for public employees. Then you have the fox guarding the hen house. Tie public employees wages to the private sector and you'll be fine.