Occupational Hazard

"Occupy Wall Street" shows the good, the bad and the ugly faces of class in America. Minus the good.

By this point, we have ll heard and seen the sound bites, the news feeds and watched as the mass media outlets desperately try to spin some epic news event out of this international movement for change, occupy wall street. Since I am NOT a news journalist, I will lead the coverage and the reporting to others. However, as a father, a modest man of honor and a citizen of the world, I applaud each and every participant – in every corner of the world – who dares to stand and show the world they are fed up with financial and social tyranny. This is the imperative of change and I am proud and delighted to be living in these times. Moreover, I am overjoyed my children are witnessing the embers of a coming revolution.

Acting on the mounting and now overflowing frustrations of a fed up majority of world citizens are now making what is the beginning of a wave of change that has been coming for long, long time. If you are somehow still unaware, a small fraction of the US (and world) privileged elite makes more than 70% of the wealth in the US. But they don't do it by earning. It is done by stealing taxpayer funding, double talking, betting on failure and obscene bonuses, kick-backs and underhanded financial borrowing and trading practices that put billions in the pockets of a small group of people who are already fabulously wealthy, while the rest of us literally die on the vine.

History warns us of these consequences –ever hear of Marie Antoinette?. The Czars of Russia? Even our ow founding forefathers warned of the dangers of having an elite class; a privileged few deciding on the fate and livelihood of the many. Even one of our most cherished Presidents of the 20th century, Republican Dwight D. Eisenhower, warned of the dangers of the military/industrial complex. If you are unaware, it is when the military is run by business interests and not by the best interests of our people.

The greatest horror is how few Americans seem to know or care about all of this. This past Halloween, I dressed in three-piece suit, with $20 Cigar sticking out of my breast pocket with a rolled-up $20 bill to light and burn it. I was representing the 1%. Of roughly four dozen people who confronted me on it, three even knew what I was. Granted, this is an obscure number, but most didn't even know what I was talking about WHEN I TOLD THEM who I was. As ever, if a headline doesn't have a Kardashian in it or isn't a sports-related or doesn't have a honorable mention on 'The Real Housewives of Berwin' then Americans just don't seem to care. It is a sad state of affairs that the people who are actually profiting off our collective misery (Sports stars, Actors & Starlets and Reality TV people) are the ones we hold in the highest regard.

People all over the world have begun to take a stand over the this blight of greed. Berlin. Zurich. Boston. Sydney. Tokyo. Montreal. Manhattan. Los Angeles. Paris. Atlanta. Rio De Janerio. The world community is beginning to wake up to the festering stench of greed. We have had enough. To wealthy: The wealth was never yours to begin with. Give back or it will be taken from you. The French Aristocracy found this out as did Czarist Russia or the Roman Empire. Now it's our turn.

All of this has happened before. All of this will happen again. If there will be no compromise, there will be tanks on the streets of every city in the world. Including yours. As the late Michael Jackson put it: "make that change." It's not too late.

Do the right thing everyone, our children are watching.