Staff Editorial

The Issue: Occupy Wall Street protesters are advocating against corporate greed and the increasing divide between the rich and poor.
Our Stance: The protesters are justified in their demonstrations; however, they fail to realize the entire scope of the problem, and are somewhat hypocritical in what they choose to fight against.

The Occupy Wall Street movement has grown in the past several months from New York City to other cities across the nation, including Phoenix.

Its message against greed and bringing financial fairness to our society has rightly resonated with many Americans.

After all, the richest one percent own 40 percent of the nation’s wealth, according to ThinkProgress.org.

Plus, the economy’s initial downfall several years ago was heavily brought on by those who were rich.

Investors offered up too many sub-prime mortgages, which could not be paid off. Then, in return, the federal government bailed them out.

To put it all in perspective, wealthy people crashed the economy, were then bailed out, remained rich and all the while the majority of Americans were left with a lousy job market.

So, one can easily see why these protests are occurring, and frustration will inevitably ensue after these events.

The only problem is that these protestors need to think harder about what they want. Discussion can only take one so far, and a socialist system is out of the question.

Right now, their demands such as socialism or the end of corporations are non-negotiable, so creating some concrete change will prove useful with their efforts.

On another point, where is the gusto for Occupy Hollywood, or Occupy Athletes? All attention is being forced on the financial elite, but very little on the other wealthy people that bring services to the middle class.

Tiger Woods not sharing a vast majority of his $75 million a year salary, according to Forbes, is extremely unjust and greedy.

Although these athletes did not create a complete economic meltdown, they still hold on to a disproportionate amount of wealth.

The specific protest messages can also seem disconnect and unrelated. For example, in photos of protests across the country it is not uncommon to see a “Legalize Marijuana” sign.

Perhaps the legalization of marijuana issue is somehow related to corporate greed, but even if that is true the connection is weak and in the meantime is a distraction from the main focus.

Lastly, it would be nice to see these Occupy protesters focus more on poverty. Even though many of them are unemployed, they should still be fighting not only for their cut of the wealth, but the people who are even poorer than themselves.

They are not the only ones who are hurting.

Staff Editorial by Ian Beck ’12 and Alex Stanley ’12

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