Occupy the Board Room!

Old and Forgotten | 14  

I do not fit the profile of the OWS demonstrators but I can understand the frustration. I’m 64 years old and have been on Social Security Disability since 2002. The fall of Lehman Brothers destroyed my primary retirement monies and I am now living on SSDI, long-term disability, and a small annuity. I’m doing better than some as I sometimes have $50 at the end of the month. Did I mention my prescription bill for 2010 was over $40,000? I couldn’t demonstrate even if I could get somewhere. Did I mention that due to glaucoma I’m blind in one eye and less than 50% vision in the other? Even if I could walk, did I mention the closest bus stop is over a mile away? I live in Palm Springs, Calif.; did I mention it gets 120 degrees in the summer?

My life is essentially over. However, I have university degrees in history and economics, and read extensively (what else passes the time well?). Are you familiar with the events that led up to the French Revolution? The inequity between the ruling class (the 1%) and the hoi polli (the 99%) was only slightly worse than it is in the U.S. today. Marie Antoinette had to watch the head of the Princess Lamballe paraded outside her prison window. Twits like Rep. Cantor rail against “class warfare.” Unfortunately, the 1% declared war on the 99% with the rise of Reaganism and “trickle-down economics” (did I mention that “trickle-down” originated as a joke on a bar napkin in a dive close to U.S.C.? Everyone at the table thought it was the most hilarious dumb economic idea they’ed ever heard of. Unfortunately, it works for the rich and they’ve managed to convince people that if the rich get richer, they’ll spend it. Nope, doesn’t work that way; they just buy more politicians).

For your own survival, please be less greedy. Just because something does not break the law doesn’t mean it is moral or ethical. In San Francisco (where BofA began as Bank of Italy in 1906 - just in case you are new), outside the former world headquarters of BofA sits a huge, polished boulder of black granite with lines engraved across it. In The City, it’s not uncommon to hear “Let’s meet at the banker’s heart at 1:30 for lunch.” Such is your reputation even if you are now in the hinterlands (I used to live in exile in North Carolina with what passed for family, and know whereof I speak).

If you want to discuss, I’ll be glad to. Unfortunately, I see the problem but have no power; you have great power but seem to prefer making the quarterly bottom line estimates for Wall Street. If you belong to the Christian faith, please refer to Acts 2 through 4. According to the Bible, you may be in danger; what profit a man to gain the whole world and lose his own soul?

The earth is a small planet and few of us get off it alive. Please do what you can to make it a better place to live.

Regards,

Jas. Ford Johnson
Palm Springs, Calif.