Weddingbee boards

@Miss Longcoat:  I definitely know what they're saying.  The mentality in the U.S. is that if you go to college, at least around here, then you're guranteed a job like it was even 10 years ago.  Now it isn't a gurantee, but before you went to college you were fed the kool-aid that you need a college degree and that there'll be jobs for you.  There is such a great amount of educated people that the competition is just too great even if you graduate at the top of your class in college.  I've watched people with several internships, 4.0s, volunteer work spend 12+ months trying to find jobs.  I really sympathize with recent college grads, mothers trying to re-enter the workforce, older people after being laid off, etc.  It's a really tough market for anyone really.  And then there's a lot of people who believe that their job is untouchable and that they'll have job security really look down on a lot of people associated with the Occupy movement.  Unfortunately, the idea of job security is being broken.

I do think they need to get more organized.

I knew that I wasn't guaranteed a job after graduating college, even though I was in the honors program, graduated early, and had a really high GPA. I had two internships completed before I even graduated. During my senior year, I was well aware the job market was dwindling (how you could you not know that?!) so I started looking and applying for jobs 6 to 7 months before actually finishing my degree. I started reaching out to companies to see who would be looking for new hires at the time I'd be done. Even though not much came of all my effort during school, I learned where to look, how to apply for the right jobs, and what I could expect. I knew that even though I had a college degree, I wasn't guaranteed a salary at a good company. Instead, I accepted an internship. It was paid hourly, but I learned all the skills necessary to get hired on full time in less than 3 months.

Long story short: I didn't expect the government (or any company for that matter) to provide me with assistance once I entered "the real world." I worked hard for my degree and so I worked equally as hard to get my full time job.

They make me so infuriated I can barely stand to watch the news reports about them. That dude's 100K college education must have been at a pretty crappy school if he thinks the demands of his movement would ever actually work. As I said in a previous post.. they need to spend some time reading economics text books rather than starting bon fires in the middle of Oakland.

@CorgiTales: Agree completely.

@CorgiTales:  Didn't you JUST say it's the government's job to fix everything.  Now you are saying they don't want government assistance?

@CorgiTales: I'm not saying they expect goverment assistance, per say, but going off what the OP heard a protester say: "We all just spent almost $100K each to get advanced degrees but no one told us there wouldn't be jobs waiting for us when we got done. The system is seriously flawed."

The system in that regards isn't flawed. No one forced anyone to spend $100K on advanced degrees and promised jobs at the end. It's not the government's responsibility to provide jobs for most of the country or to tell people what's ahead of them. I don't know how that protester didn't know about the job market from watching the news.

I think a lot of people are missing the meaning of the movement. Are there few that proably feel entitled to a job, yes, but I don't think that is the majority. I think it had to do with the way corporations are able to effect laws, making it easier for those at the top to make large salaries while providing little for their employess. I believe America should be run by people, not corporations. The people that having been paying for the mistakes of these companies has not been the people running them, but the middle class worker.

This is my thoughts on the whole thing:

@Widdget: "I am just tired of all of it and they are really making it hard to get around town so that I (who actually pays taxes and works for a living) can get to my job."

I am sure many of the protestors do have jobs and pay taxes. I know I protested earlier this year in my state and my husband and I definately make more then an average income for people our age and definately pay taxes.

@Boston Bee:  Here is a published list of demands.  If you ask me there is a WHOLE lot of government assistance included in there.

In addition, I think they're message has become fogged, and it's hard to tell what exactly they want anymore because of conflicting statements such as the quote from the OP. If it's "Occupy Wall Street," why is a protester complaining about not having a job after spending money on college? Shouldn't they just be complaining about government bailing out big buisinesses? Analogies are great to explain something, but when making a point about the government and Wall Street, you can't compare it to goverment and individual people. It's inherently and intrinsically NOT the same.  At all.

I think they have so much they want to express about the down economy that the point of the movement has become foggy and it's losing it's original power.

I wish they'd be more focused.  I wish they'd pick one issue that more people could rally behind.  If they focused on executive compensation, I think they'd have a lot more impact.  Saying an entire industry is bad doesn't work.  Saying the few at the top of an industry are bad might work.

I have to admit that when Bank of America complained about not collecting enough fees, I kept wondering if the CEO didn't make $1.9 million per year in salary, if they'd be in the same boat.

I agree with alot of the PP. 

They are complaining that their Classic Studies degree are now useless.  Where was your advisor before now?  Did you think you were going to make money with a degree in Latin?

Not only are they complaining about useless degrees and expecting to be paid big bucks immediately upon graduating, they are actually causing other people to loose their jobs.  21 people were layed off from a cafe in the area due to people being forced around the protesters. 

@CorgiTales: i basically agree with everything you've said :)

@LGenz: OH you just made me seriously LOL and now I have to forward the link to my co-worker. too funy