"In my work, a gut sense that something is wrong is at least enough to begin a conversation .... "

And for the first time edlorah and I can agree on something.

I feel like the OWS folks have their heart in the right place. I don't think they have the right direction yet but at least they are saying enough is enough and I am cool with that.

They are angry and I don't blame them because I am too and at the same people...Wall Street. I am very angry but not just at Wall Street but our government too that got in bed with them. And I am not pointing out the left either. I blame both parties. It has obviously been an ongoing thing in the beltway. Our government is corrupt and so is Wall Street.

Capitalism isn't a bad thing in and of itself when it functions properly but it isn't functioning correctly right now because of Wall St. and Washington and we need to get back to free market principles that are not highjacked and manipulated by the malfeasance that goes on these days with these characters.

I have no problem with that aspect of the OWS people because I feel the same way. What bothers me however is the sense of entitlement that I detect among them. I don't detect much in the way of personal responsibility. I see so many of them saying that they haven't been able to put their art degree, that they are heavily in debt for, to work in any appreciable manner.

Something like that is not Wall St. or Washington's fault. It could be though that their timing was bad and probably even unforeseeable when they chose that acedemic path. Let's face it though, we are in the worst recession any of us have ever seen and art is not high on the list of what most consumers are buying right now. That is not to say that we don't want artists either though. It is just tough to get by nowadays for everyone. The good thing though is that they have the time avaiable right now to speak out and I applaud that because I don't have it but I wouldn't mind demonstrating with them.

In 2007-2008 We got raped by Wall Street when the government declared all of those that got us into this mess as too big to fail and we were forced to make them whole (Thanks Timothy, Thanks Paulson you pricks) and here we are still in the same boat because the problems they created are far bigger than anything we knew and now we as citizens find ourselves on common ground and I hope to see some momentum but with less infighting.

The tea partiers are pissed, the students are pissed, OWSers and the average working joes like me are pissed and all at the same thing. Can't we all just get along for a real change?

I say this is a good thing because it has to stop and we all need to get together and change it. This can't go on for any length of time because I fear it may already be too late.

I am encouraged (to a degree) by the protests because at least we can open a conversation about what to do about our common misgivings without (hopefully) tearing each other down in the process which I see as probably their (Wall St./Govt) last strategy against us all. Lord knows they ran out of anything else that is helping the economy.