Who are you to decide how much money I make and how I should spend it?

I normally relegate my political posts to my politics blog or the popular Douche of the Day, but this is something I had to share with everybody.

The Occupy Wall Street protests have been going on for about a month now. To me, the protestors symbolize much of my generation who don't want to put in the necessary effort to achieve success. They'd rather take handouts than work hard to succeed.

Today I shared a link on Facebook to the story about Peter Schiff, a CEO who protestors dub as part of the "1%." Schiff visited a protest to have an honest conversation about their demands. (I suggest watching this video before continuing.)

After I shared the link to the post, a friend of mine from college wrote a comment saying what the protests mean to him (emphasis mine):

It's not that he needs to pay more in taxes; he just needs to make less money. More of the money made by whatever company he is CEO for, needs to donate more and put more back into the lesser paid employees. Why does the person who cleans the toilets for a company like his make barely enough, when he himself stacks more money in a year than he or his dependents could even spend? That's all I really disagree with. Corporations are corrupt in the sense that their business practices in such a manner that does not coincide with the CEO's belief in the value of life. Being CEO, he has the power to change that, I will protest with OCCUPY for that change.

I'm sorry, but who are you to decide how much money a CEO is allowed to make? Who says you should decide how profit should be spent?

The leaders of companies spend long days for years to achieve the success they have. They miss time with their families to see their businesses succeed. People are motivated by making money, so if people who start companies aren't incentivized by a big payday for becoming successful, what's the point in even trying at all?

On top of that, many of the protestors are protesting against the bailouts that banks and financial instutions received over the past few years. However, it's surprising to me that none of them seem to realize that the bailouts were institued by the guy they voted in as president, Mr. Barack Obama. Why do they continue to go after the institutions who were the beneficiaries of the bailouts rather than the guy who handed them out in the first place?

To those older than me, I'd just like to apologize for my generation. We are a generation raised under the belief that we should be handed success rather than achieving it on our own. We would rather complain about not being able to find a job than to actually go out and make ourselves marketable. But I maintain that success is achievable; it just has to be pursued.

In college, I took on a handful of internships, then began several entreprenurial projects of my own in addition to having a fulltime job. I want to be successful, but I realize it's not something that is going to be handed to me. If I want to be successful, I have to make it on my own. I wish more people my age understood this concept, rather than making fools of themselves complaining about the unjustness of society.

Success is achievable. People should spend more time pursuing it than asking the successful to share their success with them.

Why there aren't any well-paying jobs in America

From an email chain (no, I don't normally read them). But it's too good to not pass on.

John Smith started the day early, having set his alarm clock

(MADE IN JAPAN)
for 6 am.

While his coffeepot
(MADE IN CHINA)

was percolating, he shaved with his electric razor.
(MADE IN HONG KONG)

He put on a dress shirt,
(MADE IN SRI LANKA)

designer jeans,
(MADE IN SINGAPORE)

and tennis shoes.
(MADE IN KOREA)

After cooking breakfast in his new electric skillet,
(MADE IN INDIA)

he sat down with his calculator
(MADE IN MEXICO)

to see how much he could spend today. After setting his watch
(MADE IN TAIWAN)

to the radio
(MADE IN INDIA)

he got in his car,
(MADE IN GERMANY)

filled it with gas,
(from SAUDI ARABIA)

and continued his search for a good paying AMERICAN JOB.


At the end of yet another discouraging and fruitless day checking his computer,
(MADE IN MALAYSIA)

John decided to relax for a while.


He put on his sandals,
(MADE IN BRAZIL)

poured himself a glass of wine,
(MADE IN FRANCE)

and turned on his TV,
(MADE IN INDONESIA)

and then wondered why he couldn't find a good paying job in AMERICA.


AND NOW HE'S HOPING HE CAN GET HELP FROM A PRESIDENT
MADE IN KENYA.