Write to the Point It's not about equality, but rather opportunity

The Occupy Wall Street crowd is still at it, weeks into their inhabitation of parks and streets in New York. It has spawned offshoots in cities across the nation, including one in Spokane.

And people thought nothing ever happens here.

As the number of people grows, the more diverse and radical some of the messages become.

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Aside from the occasional protestor who can't seem to figure out why they're there, let's turn to one of the more dominant messages presented at the protest.

Many of the signs at the Occupy Wall Street protest focus on student loans. So then, why are these masses of mainly college students in front of a financial institution? It would make more sense for them to be in front of a college's administrative office.

After all, it just takes a quick few moments to realize that an individual university has more price-setting control for tuition at that school than Wall Street. Instead of merely pointing a finger at Wall Street, questions should be directed to the university. See if that institution has any ability to lower tuition prices, and if not, why?

As I've said before, we've given students the false hope that upon graduation, employers in their field of study will be awaiting with wide and open arms. Once students get out of school, that reality is starkly different. A video from the Spokesman Review at a larger Oct. 14 protest only proves that this is a false expectation.

One 2009 EWU computer science graduate was at the rally, and said that he was unable to get a job after graduating. In an interestingly capitalistic twist, the man actually started his own computer consulting business as a result of not being able to find a job. At this point, he's the only employee, but that seems to be how many businesses are created.

Our country gives entrepreneurs an equal chance to start a business. One thing it doesn't guarantee, though, is equal success. Taking a chance incurs the same possibility of failing just as it does of succeeding. It's a risk.

The difficulty in unemployment has even hit a friend of mine, who has taken to the blogosphere to write about his experiences with a great sense of humor. It's quite a brilliant quick fix, until a more permanent solution comes along.

But, since the college age crowd at Occupy Wall Street isn't in front of a university, that should lead one to question if this is about something bigger than what's being played out by the media.

Let's ponder that for a moment.

Signs in both Spokane and New York call for people to pay their fair share in taxes. This is something that everyone can get behind, seeing as it's an easy concept to grasp. But, I ask the protestors: What is that number? What is a fair share?

Should that number not be zero, then how can they explain a company like General Electric, which worked the current 8,000-plus pages of the country's tax code to evade paying taxes? A few other names to add to that list are those who have visited the protests in New York, including Russell Simmons, Michael Moore and Kanye West.

With all of the name-dropping involved in the protest, can it really be grassroots?

Personally, I find it hard to believe that it sprung out of nowhere. When a Craigslist advertisement appears offering to pay people $600 per week if they go and protest in Occupy Wall Street, that's not a truly grassroots movement. That's a hired employee. Yet, that's what we're seeing with some of these protestors.

There are questions needing to be answered regarding these protests to better figure out what their background is. Where is the media chatter over who started them and the speculation like we saw with the tea party movement last year? After all, it's only fair to cover both sides equally.

Equality of coverage, now there's a concept.