Is It Age? Some Say ‘Greed,’ I Say ‘Dividends’

Thinking again of my recent column that retold the prophesy of the late County Gazette Editor-Publisher F. Mervyn Kent, who foretold uprisings in the streets when welfare money ran out, consider the spreading discontent known as Occupy Wall Street.
That growing horde of disaffected protestors have emboldened themselves behind the makeshift shield of being have-nots lusting for things they see the rich enjoying. Like a child in a store wanting every toy, then crying because mom or dad says “no,” those legions of the unhappy don’t seem to understand this is capitalism, and it works when left alone.
By another name, theirs would be a proletarian movement by workers waving red flags, calling for the overthrow of the czar, overrunning the castle and claiming the czar’s property for ’the people.” That’s really what it is, and we are witnessing it nightly on television news. I deem it an unholy machination that is meant to redistribute wealth. Can’t happen here, you say? Yes it is.
After reading a story in the New York Daily News Oct. 13 about the hellhole those protestors made of a park that was not theirs, anyone would have to laugh at the sheer nerve of the protestors.
Living in squalor must have an allure for them, because that is where they placed themselves to show how “greedy” Wall Street can be. It’s not exactly bathroom humor, but once the unshaved and unbathed faced reality, they came to the realization they needed a place to “go potty,” and theirs was all filled up. They decided to power wash the place. (Don’t know where they scrounged up that ambition, but they did.) Then, they realized they had no electricity to run the power washer. Oh my, would they have the guts to ask those “greedy” businesses around the park to plug in?
Well, before that, nature came a-calling, and potty time could be put off no longer. So, they did what any self-respecting man or woman would do, they asked those greedy businesses around the park if they could use their bathroom facilities. Must have been quite a revelation to stroll filthy into a nice clean lobby and ask if it was OK to use the bathroom, a clean one with running water and toilet paper, soap and either towels (made by a greedy manufacturer, of course) or an electric (another lousy greedy outfit that brought the power there) hand dryer (made by a corporation of ridiculously greedy power mongers.) No doubt, after they had done what they went in there to do, and could breathe again, without panting, they problem spat upon the sidewalk in front of the building, because it was part of that awful, money-grubbing property owner.
Thank goodness, this nation still allows the freedom to invest in the open market. Did it ever dawn on those young men and women that, anyone, including themselves, with a few dollars to invest could become part of that enormous problem known as “greedy Wall Street?” It’s likely no one ever told them they could buy into the stock of most public companies for very little outlay. Then, heaven forbid it; they too would actually begin to reap the benefits (called dividends by us greedy stockholders) of this rotten-to-the-core capitalist society.
If they grabbed one of those much-hated (by them) journals of American commerce, such as the Wall Street Journal, Investors Business Daily or Barron’s, to name just a few, and if they could put down their protest signs just long enough, they might find a couple of stocks that appealed to them. The right ones would pay to use their money, and they, too, could become part of their much-hated, greedy society of shareholders.
There are millions of us small investors. Yes, believe it or not, there are loads of working folks who chip in a few bucks on a weekly basis to fund part of their retirements in profit sharing and 40l (k) plans. We don’t all ride Rolls Royces (although I would love to, a ‘65 Silver Cloud in particular). Our pitiful funds are not the be all-end all to live until the Lord calls us home, but they will buy a few toys along the way. Call us greedy for trying to save and put our money into the American economy, which needs every dollar it can right now.
Because of that, we small investors share in that corporate label, stuck on us by youngsters with snow-white intent who will likely change as the years pass, and begin to mature, as did the Vietnam War protestors and their ilk.
This writer can be labeled “greedy” with the moguls of corporate boardrooms across the land. I confess it was sheer greed that caused me to read an article in Barron’s that extolled the worth of two railroad companies. I gambled on the advice, bought a few shares, and bang, success, (or greed those whiners would call it.) Similarly, I looked under the kitchen sink, saw the stuff my wife was using to clean the house, read the label, and checked into the outfit that makes the cleaners and soaps. Wow, it’s greed come true, and it could happen to anyone.
I’m no Warren Buffett, but I can see where the guy got hooked on making money doing simple “greedy” math, providing jobs and wealth for many people, including himself. Oh, perish that thought!
What of the bathroom? I looked into that stuff everybody uses down there and back there. Some greedy outfit has to produce it, so I bought some shares of that company too. Now I smile with each roll of paper, knowing that greedy nature is helping, in a small way, to help fund my golden years.
The list could go on, but you get the picture. No titan of industry here, just an average guy who learned to apply the American investment system a bit late in life, but as it’s been stated, “Better late than never.”
Please be kind as I’m run out of town on a rail, tarred and feathered by whippersnappers who called me greedy. I was only doing what I thought we Americans were supposed to do. Yeah, that was in the old day, before redistribution of wealth put my money in the hands of someone who didn’t earn it. That’s the new American way, what a crying shame.