Letter: Siding with Wall Street protesters

I went to Zuccotti Park to see what was going on there ["Preoccupied with owning a protest slogan," News, Oct. 25]. I was reminded of my years spent demonstrating against the Vietnam War.

As I walked around the park, I found many different agendas being advanced and very little in the way of a unified front. It's important to voice discontent. It's more important to offer a solution.

Wall Street isn't responsible for our problems, Congress is. Domestic economic policy is determined by Congress, not the White House. Stop any person on the street, and ask who the president is, and they will tell you. Ask people who their congressional representatives are, or what they are voting for, and 99 percent won't know. How can you expect your congressional representatives to represent your views if you take no interest in what they are doing as individuals? However, you can be sure they'll represent the views of the corporate interests that are putting millions into their campaign funds.

Corporate America is just doing what it's supposed to do: maximizing profits by investing in Congress. We should be doing the same. Start exercising your rights as a citizen. Find out who your representatives are, and if they aren't representing you, vote them out. Our Constitution gives us this ultimate power. It's up to us to use it. Otherwise, we have only ourselves to blame.

Larry Bassen, East Meadow
 

It is unfortunate that our economy has gotten to the point that a great many of us have gotten our college degrees and now can't use them ["Opposite jobs trends; Unemployment rate dips locally to 6.9% from 2010," Business, Oct. 26]. I wonder if it was worth it. I'm not saying that it was a wasted effort, mind you, but how do you tell your kid that education is the most important way to get a well-paying job, and then you yourself did not get any further in that endeavor?

When I was young the jobs I had were dead-end janitorial jobs, so I went back to school to earn a bachelor's degree. Unfortunately, although I have a state job, I am no further ahead than when I was doing those three dead-end jobs. I am also at a salary cap. In other words, I will no longer get paid any more than what I am making now, which is $30,000.

I have an idea: Let's close all the schools and tell our kids that education isn't important anymore. Put a broom in their hands, since they won't go anywhere anyway. Maybe the "99 percent" protesters have something there.

Donald Lee Warner, Wantagh
 

Of all the concerns I've heard raised around Occupy Wall Street, the one that stands out for me is exorbitant student debt. If we can bail out banks and automobile manufacturers, we should at least begin exploring how to get an entire generation (or more) of Americans out of debt and back into the American economy.

Most people have heard by now that student loan debt exceeds total credit card debt.

I have two children who finished their college educations this year. Both are faced with the bleak task of finding meaningful work to start paying down their school loans. I have plowed over $30,000 into each of my kids' educations, and it really didn't even make a dent.

How is a 20-something supposed to think about starting a business, buying a home, getting married or starting a family while carrying loans that come due starting in the next few months and continuing on for 25 years? We have effectively eliminated them from the American economy.

If you want to talk about a real economic stimulus, addressing this issue would be a great place to start.

Douglas R. Thaler, Port Jefferson Station