One of the best lessons of the Occupy Wall Street movement was so simple, our moms used to tell us the same thing all the time. Remember when you were just learning to talk, and sometimes it was hard to get out what you wanted to say, and mom would say, "use your words"? OWS was all about using your voice.
So despite possibly getting myself into all sorts of trouble, I'm gonna use my voice, in my own special way. But this time, it's as a shareholder in a clean energy company in Cleveland going down the toilet due to incompetence.
I've been volunteering for Cleveland's beloved Tremont Electric since May, 2011, makers of a passive kinetic energy harvesting technology that the whole of Cleveland thought would bring a new age of jobs. I got paid for less than a year of that, so I don't really refer to it as a "job." Jobs pay a salary. I am, however, a shareholder as well.
After all this time on the inside, plus 2 previous years on the outside buying into the hopes of a new clean energy economy for Cleveland based on the technology, it is now very clear the entire enterprise is....how to put this....a clusterfuck. If you want the gory details, go here.
For purposes of the video below, I finally snapped when our company president committed us to huge sums of money basically out of spite. Yes - out of spite. You know, the kind of thing a moron does. See said clusterfuck.
Lucky for me, I recorded the meeting. Don't worry, everything in this video was taped with the knowledge of the parties. It doesn't matter what they say, what matters is that I used my voice. I had fun making the video.
Here's why I'm posting it at Kos....other than I still have access to the company's account, which I created myself, and it's fun. This dirty stinking hippie Occupy ex-offender loser apparently has more business sense than the self-proclaimed conservatives driving a company that makes electricity out of nothing into the toilet. When you hear conservatives say the "job creators" are these sooth saying praise worthy swamis of capitalism, it's a crock.
And if you're a SHAREHOLDER in a company run by these dolts, you have rights to use your voice, but more importantly, a responsibility to use it. This is what Bill McKibben's efforts to divest from dirty fossil fuels is all about.
For me, though, I ESPECIALLY feel this responsibility because I'm a shareholder in a clean energy company that still, despite four years of UTTER INCOMPETENCE, STILL can make incredible change and help rebuild my hometown. I'm from Cleveland, I'm a Browns fan, you gotta do a whole lotta saltin' the earth over my grave to keep me down, and "firing" me from a "job" that doesn't pay a damn nickel because the leaders are incompetent sure ain't gonna do it.
I'm gonna get a lotta incoming for opening my mouth, putting my skills to use to do it, and raising my head above the water. Eh. What. Ever. Gotta be me. Doing the right thing feels damn great. Thanks for listening.
UPDATE: The company appears on ABC's Shark Tank Friday, April 26, 9pm. Spoiler alert - my last work for the company was legal analysis on the exit clauses of the contract. Hint. Also too, hilarious news I did not know of broke in Crain's Cleveland.
A byproduct of the company's financial struggles is three tax liens filed by the IRS and the Ohio Department of Jobs and Family Services between November of last year and April 3 totaling slightly less than $50,000. The liens reflect a failure to pay in a timely fashion employer contributions to federal taxes and state unemployment taxes.
I did the right thing, even though these people broke my heart.