At least it was a good conversation anyway.
Yesterday I stopped off at the local McDonald’s for a cup of coffee. I grabbed a copy of the newspaper, went and sat down. I had no intentions, other than to enjoy my coffee and read the paper. But that’s not what was going to happen. After just a few moments, a couple of young men took the table next to me. They started a conversation between themselves. I didn’t mean to ease drop on their conversation but it was hard not to hear what they were saying. After a few moments of not agreeing with their conversation. I must have snickered louder than I had meant to. Because one of them turned to me and said, “So, I guess you don’t agree with me?” And we’re off, because I said, “No, not at all.”
Now before I can get into what we’re talking about, I’ll need to tell you what I found out about these two gentlemen.
Both of them are working for a radio station in a small town in Northwest Nebraska. They are Radio Engineers and they were on their way to Denver for training. One was a black gentleman in his late twenties - early thirties, tech school trained, with some college. The second one was a white gentleman in his early twenties, recently out of tech school, working a two year apprenticeship at the station.
The only reason I point this out is so you understand that the two of them were educated and in the business that would allow them access to the information, so they knew what was going on.
Now onto the conversation that, I overheard. The younger guy started a conversation by saying something about, the occupied Wall Street demonstrations. He pretty much agreed with what is going on, on Wall Street today. Of course I don’t believe the same way. The two of them discussed several things about the protesters or at least what they thought the protesters were there for. The second guy made reference to all of the legal actions that Wall Street has taken the last couple years. He felt that was why our economy is in such bad shape. He then brought up how people like Warren Buffett, billionaires and millionaires pay fewer taxes than the rest of us.
I guess by this time their conversation had gotten to me. I must’ve snickered or they caught me rolling my eyes, because the black gentleman, looked at me and said I guess you don’t agree. I then said that I didn’t totally disagree but I couldn’t actually agree with what they were saying. So the younger of the two asked me what I disagreed about.
I said first of all the protesters are in the wrong city. Although Wall Street wasn’t the scene of the crime they certainly didn’t help when it came to our recent economic downturn. But the real culprits are in Washington, DC. They ask me how I figured that. I then said, if Washington and the Federal Reserve actually set regulations to oversee the mortgage industry, such as Freddie and Fannie, banks wouldn’t have written so many bad loans. Banks are in the business to make money for banks. Then the other guy brought up Warren Buffett’s statement, about how he paid fewer taxes then his secretary. Mr. Buffett, because of his money, is in a position to take advantage of all tax laws and loopholes, which his secretary may not be able to take advantage of. I pointed out that Mr. Buffett most likely takes quite a bit of his income in ways that favor his tax situation. I also pointed out that anyone associated with Warren Buffett and takes advantage of Mr. Buffett’s knowledge and experience. Makes money and probably pays fewer taxes.
The younger guy that brought up the inadequacy, of who has all the money, and how little he made himself. I asked what he meant. He said the big fat cat bankers and people on Wall Street make millions of dollars a year and that he couldn’t make enough money to pay his rent. So I asked how much money he thought a millionaire might have made in their first job. He looked at me like I was crazy. Now I’m no millionaire, I asked them what he thought I’d made and my first job? He looked at me, and said with all due respect, I guess a couple bucks an hour. I then told that my first job out I school paid 50¢ an hour and at that time my father made less than two bucks an hour. You could see on his face that he didn’t believe it. But by that time two or three of the other local older guys had joined me at the table. Some of them are as much as 10 years older than me and said that they had started work for less pay than me.
Again we went back to millionaires and billionaires and how Warren Buffett and a few others have said that they are willing to pay more in taxes to help our economy out. I appointed out that I am sure that they actually do not want to pay higher taxes, but that they themselves are in the position financially, that paying higher taxes would put a financial strain on them. I personally believe that people now have been so blessed by our capitalistic system that people who used their own natural abilities and the education they have acquired, are willing to take the lead to help build a strong economy.
By this time they finish their breakfast and were ready to hit the road. The older of the two said he hadn’t really changed his mind but he did have a new way to look at how he felt about what was going on. The younger guy I felt was more angry than concerned about what was going on but it didn’t seem near as hostile when they departed. Actually he offered to shake hand saying it was a shame they didn’t have more time to continue the discussion.
After they left my coffee mates, tried to say how misinformed these two guys were. I reminded them how misinformed our views were and different back in the days of our youth.
