We have all heard stories about Wall St. banksters who were troubled at the thought that Main St. thought they were a bunch of assholes. They have the mindset that they are entitled to rip the whole Country off, then have the taxpayers bail them out because they are "too big to fail." They have the mindset that when they arbitrarily force people out of their homes, they are just doing their job to protect the bottom line, and their own pockets. They have the mindset that regulations are oppressive, and therefore should be banned, after all the mindset says they can regulate themselves. They have the mindset that socialized losses, and privatized gains are their God given right. They have the mindset that they are immuned from prosecution because so far they have been, with the exception of one inside trader.
The night before last I read in the Peoria Journal Star where Caterpillar CEO, Doug Oberhelman, speaking to a business group in Canada, complained that Caterpillar cannot hire qualified hourly production people and welders, and that Caterpillar has to train all of these people because the education system is failing them. Caterpillar is a very wealthy company, largely due to their ongoing abuse of their labor force.
I wrote Mr. Oberhelman a letter and asked him if it had occurred to him that perhaps qualified people were going to other companies that pay better and have benefits for their workers. I ask Mr. Oberhelman if perhaps the devastating labor dispute of the 90's, and the resulting two-tiered wage, and zero benefits had perhaps tarnished the Caterpillar name in the communities where Caterpillar has a presence, and as a result no one wants to work for Caterpillar. I told Mr. Oberhelman that I still have friends working at Caterpillar, and they all say, "It just keeps getting worse."
Mr. Oberhelman has the mindset that the education system should produce people that are qualified to work in heavy industry without any additional training. I worked for Caterpillar for 31 years, 3 months, and 20 days, and I can assure you that no matter how good the education system is, it is not going to produce people that can walk through the door at Caterpillar, or most other places, and go to work without some training. But Mr. Oberhelman seems to have the mindset that the whole education system should be tailored to meet his needs.
Where does this mindset of the 1%ers come from? They are of the opinion that the entire population of the 99% should be hustling to meet their narrowly focused needs.
I am sure psychiatry has a name for it, but, not being a psychiatrist, I think it is insanity. Pure and simple insanity.
Since the republican party has made it their top priority to defend the 1% at all costs, and the democratic party has chosen in most cases to look the other way, insanity explains a lot. Is greed in it's simplest terms not insanity? Greed is a desire to have more than one needs or deserves. The desire is the insanity, and it is rampant in the 1%.
When the Occupy Wall St. movement first started, I couldn't help but wonder where it would go and what possible effect it could have. After all, it had no organization, no list of demands, and no leaders. But the longer it exists, and the larger it becomes, the shear brilliance of it is becoming very clear. When the 1% makes the necessary changes to their mindset, the Occupy Wall St. movement will go away. Brilliant! Simply fucking brilliant!