I wrote a couple of weeks ago about Occupy Wall Street.  This protest has since spread to additional cities in the United States and into major cities throughout the world. The intent is to occupy, or take up space, in financial areas in a show of solidarity against the greed and a skewed path the global economy has taken.

Capitalism is bad and more specifically, greed is bad. I see sound bites of people like Michael Moore, who is a perfect picture of gluttony worth millions of dollars, saying that capitalism is the culprit and needs to go. I see pictures of protestors supporting the president of the United States, as if part of some organized campaign, and even see President Obama, who has given trillions of taxpayer money to bailout these suspect banks, sending his verbal support to these individuals braving the cold and police on the streets. I see these things and think: Is this Occupy Wall Street the real deal?

As far as capitalism being the villain, I would argue we have not lived in a capitalist society for quite some time now. The majority of the U.S. government’s budget goes to social programs, much of which has expanded exponentially since President Obama has taken office. Nearly 50 percent of the nation’s budget, which is taxpayer money or on loan from some foreign nation, goes back to the people in some extremely inefficient and wasteful way. I do not know what constitutes a “true” capitalist or socialist economy, but I would say that we are leaning more towards the latter, or some bastardized form of capitalisocialism.

But, we do not want to talk about that. We have been indoctrinated that socialism is evil and capitalism is the only way for a free and open society to operate. I agree with this. I believe that socialism and communism are too easily corrupted, and we only have to look to Europe for this, as nations riot and the European Union systematically collapses. But the kicker with that statement is that capitalism is also corruptible. There is no “free” market in the United States anymore (or the world for that matter). If you invest in the stock market, you can just as easily put your cash in an envelope and set it on fire. You would get the same results. The stock market has become a carnival game. You lose before you play.

And that is Wall Street. The other contender in the economy is the Federal Reserve. This is a private bank, the Federal Reserve, dictating all banking activities throughout the nation. What a great position to be in. This private bank controls the interest rates on all of our loans, who can or cannot open bank accounts, and secretly uses our collective money (in the form of taxes) to bailout foreign banks – all backed by the United States government. They have the ability to print money on demand, the United States Dollar which is currently the world’s reserve currency, and they have quite a few times in the past year and a half, flooding the market with more currency and devaluing it along the way. This is done on behalf of the United States government, but more importantly, for the welfare of United States citizens.

So, why are they sitting outside of Wall Street? Why are they protesting the fact that greed may be bad, even though we are by nature greedy? Why are they not outside of Congress, protesting the fact that they support and further the financial degradation of the American Dream? This collective frustration is not about capitalism vs. socialism or democrat vs. republican, but more about an economy directed to hurt the very people it is designed to support. We have been passive to a government that allows these predatory activities by private banking entities; we have been passive to the fact that Congress paid trillions of our taxpayer dollars to banks that would not say where the money went.

We have been passive to a government that has sent our industries overseas. Now we are unemployed with the hot breath of poverty breathing down our necks, and only now, after all the economy-crippling activities that the government has done over the past twenty years, are we ready to protest. I am glad you woke up America, but why Occupy Wall Street?