The Sanchez Report

The Hypocrisy of Occupy Wall Street

Hey OWS protesters, your hypocrisy has reached epic levels.  You don't represent 99% of Americans, you  represent the radical, left wing 9%, who never passes up an opportunity to protest against capitalism and corporate america. You dream of a communist or socialist revolution and yet you can't present one example of a country that has succeeded in creating this utopia. You want to blame Wall Street and corporate america for our problems? You want to do away with mega, multinational corporations? You say banks are stealing and robbing America? Get real.

You're probably using an Apple iPhone to communicate. If it wasn't for Wall Street, Apple would have never gone public and raised the money necessary to grow into the amazing company that it has become. You're probably wearing cool looking clothes made by a "mega" clothing manufacturer who also went public with the help of Wall Street banks. The electricity and gas supplied to your house is provided by your local utility whose stock trades on the NYSE and who pays a dividend to the 1% who you want to punish. Your car was made by a multinational corporation. The gasoline supplied by a Big Energy company. Your grocery store is probably a "mega" company as well. The sleeping bags and tents that you're living in were manufactured by companies who relied on funding, loans and equity investment provided by Big Banks. Your ability to use social media like Facebook and Twitter exists because the venture capital and banking community took on the risk and provided capital to fund great ideas. Those videos that you filmed of your protest are now viewed around the world because of sites like YouTube. Guess what? YouTube was funded by venture capital firms who you want to penalize by making them pay huge taxes and yet expect them to continue to back and develop these great new technologies. The music that you listen to was produced and recorded by record labels, owned by mega global media companies. Do you know who supplies capital to these Big Banks and Venture Capital firms? Yup, you guessed it, wealthy individuals. The 1% who you want to blame for our financial mess. Do you know what life would be like if banks, multinational corporations and wealthy investors didn't exist? Have you ever been to a poor, undeveloped third world nation? Is that the society you envision? Our country has paid a heavy price including the shedding of blood to give you the right to protest and the means to live a relatively comfortable life with all of the modern conveniences that you demand.

I rarely agree with Alec Baldwin's political views, but during his visit to the Occupy Wall Street encampment he made a point to defend capitalism. From Yahoo News:

Alec Baldwin visited the Occupy Wall Street protests in New York City this week, where he found himself defending the very institutions the demonstrators are protesting: Banks, capitalism and the rich."You have to have capital markets in this country," Baldwin said. "You can't not have strong capital markets in this country or this country is going to go down the tubes. ... Capitalism is worthwhile and capitalism demands the flow of money. ... You want the banks to do what the banks do."

There's nothing wrong with companies making a profit to provide that convenience along the way. That my friends is the beauty of capitalism. It's not perfect and not everyone will succeed, but it has lifted more people out of poverty compared to any other economic system known to man. Your solution has been tried before. Just take a look at North Korea, Cuba and the former Soviet Union. How did that work out for them?

Occupy Oakland Does Not Represent The Other 99%

So these protesters claim to represent 99%? Yeah right... 99% of Americans don't throw paint, rocks and bottles at cops. We don't run around city streets like a mob trying to take over a city. We don't want to end capitalism. We don't defecate and urinate in public plaza's. We don't burn American flags while holding up signs of Che Guevara or signs that read Demand Socialism Now. Go home and take a shower you spoiled brats!

I grew up in the City of Oakland. It will always hold a special place in my heart. It's one of those cities that defines who you are as a person. The city has had a rich history of political activism and culture. Protests have long had a place in the city, but these Occupy Oakland activists have raised the bar of stupidity. After several weeks of protesting, it's still not clear what they represent, what they want and how they intend to fix things. From my vantage point, it's a group of primarily, white, college educated young people who do not live in Oakland, but tend to run to every radical left wing protest that pops up from time to time.

In one way, they have done something that Conservatives couldn't have done on their own. They have demonstrated to Middle America that they do not represent the 99%. They have pushed Independents even further away from the Liberal position. The Occupy Movement has the support of President Obama and the leaders of the Democratic Party, but they also have a list of supporters who truly define who in fact supports this movement. The infamous list includes the Nazi Party of America, the Socialist Party of America, The Communist Party of the United States, the terrorist state known to the world as Iran, North Korea, China, Venezuela and Cuba. Ladies and Gentlemen, this is a far cry from the Tea Party movement!

 

The First Post

Today marks the start of my blogging career. No, this is not my full time gig, it's just a part time passion of mine. I'm a very opinionated person and I often find myself in the middle of heated debates and thought provoking conversations with friends and so I decided to channel that energy into my own personal blog. My interests span several areas including US politics and foreign policy, military affairs, and public policy in my hometown, Oakland, CA. Having been a co-founder of a social finance start-up, VestMatch.com, I do not consider myself to be a social media novice but this is indeed my first foray into the blogosphere. I'm an avid reader and consumer of news from various sources including blogs, but I've always considered personal blogs to be something of a platform for individuals looking for attention and suffering from a case of self importance. After all, who really cares what one thinks about certain issues?

The catalyst that pushed me to launch this blog is really the historical events that we are witnessing everyday in this country. From the economic meltdown to security matters facing the United States, to the escalation of crime in urban areas like Oakland, there is no shortage of crises' facing Americans in the 21st century. My goal is to share my thoughts, ideas and recommendations about these areas that I find to be interesting. I hope that my approach to explaining these issues helps the reader understand them better and as a result, help them form their own opinions. I encourage readers to respond and comment no matter what their political leanings happen to be. In fact, I hope that my comments and posts are so thought provoking that they elicit replies from opposing viewpoints.

What do I hope to accomplish by launching this blog? Well, I have a unique background having worked on Wall Street for firms like Lehman Brothers, Salomon Smith Barney and the NYSE Euronext. I've also experienced the life of an entrepreneur in Silicon Valley. On top of that, I'm a Lieutenant in the United States Navy Reserves with a deployment to Iraq and Kuwait under my belt. You add my Puerto Rican and Mexican ethnicity into the mix and it creates a different perspective that is not always represented in the mainstream media. My background does not make me an expert in these areas, but it does provide the ingredients for a spicy conversation and debate. The challenge and question that I ask myself is will anyone visit and read my blog? More importantly, will they even care what I have to say? Time will tell!

Today marks the start of my blogging career. No, this is not my full time gig, it's just a part time passion of mine. I'm a very opinionated person and I often find myself in the middle of heated debates and thought provoking conversations with friends and so I decided to channel that energy into my own personal blog. My interests span several areas including US politics and foreign policy, military affairs, and public policy in my hometown, Oakland, CA. Having been a co-founder of a social finance start-up, VestMatch.com, I do not consider myself to be a social media novice but this is indeed my first foray into the blogosphere. I'm an avid reader and consumer of news from various sources including blogs, but I've always considered personal blogs to be something of a platform for individuals looking for attention and suffering from a case of self importance. After all, who really cares what one thinks about certain issues?

The catalyst that pushed me to launch this blog is really the historical events that we are witnessing everyday in this country. From the economic meltdown to security matters facing the United States, to the escalation of crime in urban areas like Oakland, there is no shortage of crises' facing Americans in the 21st century. My goal is to share my thoughts, ideas and recommendations about these areas that I find to be interesting. I hope that my approach to explaining these issues helps the reader understand them better and as a result, help them form their own opinions. I encourage readers to respond and comment no matter what their political leanings happen to be. In fact, I hope that my comments and posts are so thought provoking that they elicit replies from opposing viewpoints.

What do I hope to accomplish by launching this blog? Well, I have a unique background having worked on Wall Street for firms like Lehman Brothers, Salomon Smith Barney and the NYSE Euronext. I've also experienced the life of an entrepreneur in Silicon Valley. On top of that, I'm a Lieutenant in the United States Navy Reserves with a deployment to Iraq and Kuwait under my belt. You add my Puerto Rican and Mexican ethnicity into the mix and it creates a different perspective that is not always represented in the mainstream media. My background does not make me an expert in these areas, but it does provide the ingredients for a spicy conversation and debate. The challenge and question that I ask myself is will anyone visit and read my blog? More importantly, will they even care what I have to say? Time will tell!