Sunday, November 27, 2011
Introduction to the thoughts of a 23 year old: Beer and Economics
Introduction to the thoughts of a 23 year old: Beer and Economics: It’s Sunday and I’m driving my car to Astoria, Queens to link up with an old friend of mine that I met in my freshman year of college. We de...
Beer and Economics
It’s Sunday and I’m driving my car to Astoria, Queens to link up with an old friend of mine that I met in my freshman year of college. We decided to have lunch at this restaurant named Boulder Creek and I must say the food there was phenomenal. Upon seeing him, I realized he brought two of his friends along to join us. I didn’t mind - they were cool guys and we’ve had lunch together on several occasions. We decided to have a large plate of onion rings, buffalo wings and beer. The Jets game was on and although I love football my attention was focused solely on the topic of conversation, which was the economy.
We’re all college graduates; me and my friend are both in law school. The two other guys work full time as an accountant and police officer. We are all from middle class families. We were fortunate to have parents who raised us with values and instilled in us the idea of working hard. We all agreed that our country provides a lot of great opportunity for those that are willing to work hard for it. Me being an African American and all three of them being Greek-Americans; we generally agree that the problem is class-warfare. I don’t have a problem with those working hard and reaping the benefits of wealth. I have a problem with these crooks abusing their power for stealing from tax payers.
As an economics major - it is baffling that the SEC has consistently turned their backs on these corporate executives who have greedily done what’s in their short-term interest. What’s even more baffling is that this country has constantly and will continue to bail out these institutions. Maintaining US corporate profitability is the single goal of this Congress. Because that is what the corporations who own the Congress paid for when they bought the Congress. The pride of business which inhabited this country is now dead. The definition of success became getting the most for doing the least. It became about getting away with what you can and the only issue was getting caught.
Meanwhile the middle class continues to struggle. Wages are not increasing. Prices in oil and crops are constantly rising. Unemployment is at 9.6% and the government does not account for those who have given up searching for employment. All these thoughts are brought to the surface as we continue drinking our beer. We are looking at the future and we all project that we are confident and sure that we will be successful. We are fearful of showing any weakness or doubt because we want to appear strong. To be honest the legal market is not good right now and unemployment is not improving. We argued, debated and went back and forth on these ideas but in the end we all agree that it’s an unfair fight. The rich will continue to win. The poor will continue to get free benefits. We’ll see how long that last because the Republicans are contemplating on cutting Social Security, Medicaid and putting limits on welfare. And of course the middle class suffers to keep their head above water. Why do you think the people are marching on Wall Street. They were not just bums on the street. They understand that not only are more difficult times possibly around the corner, they know that the current government will likely do as it has historically done, which is to protect the rich and powerful at the expense of the long term interests of the middle class.
After we finished our onion rings, buffalo wings and beer we all wished each other well. We all went to our separate cars and went our way. But this topic time after time keeps popping up in almost every conversation I have with people. Is it because I have an economics degree? Maybe. I think people are really concerned about their future. Perhaps they should be.
We’re all college graduates; me and my friend are both in law school. The two other guys work full time as an accountant and police officer. We are all from middle class families. We were fortunate to have parents who raised us with values and instilled in us the idea of working hard. We all agreed that our country provides a lot of great opportunity for those that are willing to work hard for it. Me being an African American and all three of them being Greek-Americans; we generally agree that the problem is class-warfare. I don’t have a problem with those working hard and reaping the benefits of wealth. I have a problem with these crooks abusing their power for stealing from tax payers.
As an economics major - it is baffling that the SEC has consistently turned their backs on these corporate executives who have greedily done what’s in their short-term interest. What’s even more baffling is that this country has constantly and will continue to bail out these institutions. Maintaining US corporate profitability is the single goal of this Congress. Because that is what the corporations who own the Congress paid for when they bought the Congress. The pride of business which inhabited this country is now dead. The definition of success became getting the most for doing the least. It became about getting away with what you can and the only issue was getting caught.
Meanwhile the middle class continues to struggle. Wages are not increasing. Prices in oil and crops are constantly rising. Unemployment is at 9.6% and the government does not account for those who have given up searching for employment. All these thoughts are brought to the surface as we continue drinking our beer. We are looking at the future and we all project that we are confident and sure that we will be successful. We are fearful of showing any weakness or doubt because we want to appear strong. To be honest the legal market is not good right now and unemployment is not improving. We argued, debated and went back and forth on these ideas but in the end we all agree that it’s an unfair fight. The rich will continue to win. The poor will continue to get free benefits. We’ll see how long that last because the Republicans are contemplating on cutting Social Security, Medicaid and putting limits on welfare. And of course the middle class suffers to keep their head above water. Why do you think the people are marching on Wall Street. They were not just bums on the street. They understand that not only are more difficult times possibly around the corner, they know that the current government will likely do as it has historically done, which is to protect the rich and powerful at the expense of the long term interests of the middle class.
After we finished our onion rings, buffalo wings and beer we all wished each other well. We all went to our separate cars and went our way. But this topic time after time keeps popping up in almost every conversation I have with people. Is it because I have an economics degree? Maybe. I think people are really concerned about their future. Perhaps they should be.
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