My response to this editorial, not published by the University Daily Kansan:
"For someone who emphasizes the importance of education, Billy McCroy seriously needs to do his homework. In portraying the Occupy Movement participants as nothing more than uninformed whiners that are jealous of others, and in his defense of corporate banks, financial institutions, and the Federal Reserve, McCroy clearly exposes his own ignorance. In disparaging those calling for dignified employment opportunities and livable wages, he exposes an alarming disregard for others.
The Government Accountability Office recently audited the Federal Reserve for the very first time, thanks to a Ron Paul-Alan Grayson amendment to the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act passed last year, and found that the Federal Reserve secretly gave out $16 trillion in 0%-interest loans to banks and corporations around the world. Some of these same banks in the US have been foreclosing on homes by the millions since 2008, defrauding their customers and investors as exposed by the US Securities and Exchange Commission, and summarily raking in massive profits because of it. McCroy clearly sees no problem with any of this.
Besides McCroy’s lack of understanding regarding economic, political, and societal conditions in the world, he also attacks the very people who are standing up to the corruption that’s been exposed. Rather than fight for people’s right to not be exploited in areas of employment and pursue lives of value and dignity– things I assume McCroy wants for himself– he characterizes proponents of the living wage as people with no work ethic who are “draining the nation”. The members of Occupy Lawrence have had to balance work, school, and other daily responsibilities with their desire to confront social issues like corruption in an effort to make the world a better place. It would be great if Billy McCroy could educate himself on this fact."