Comments on: Will Occupy Wall Street Occupy Your Front Entrance?

By: Luke Visconti

Luke Visconti — Sat, 29 Oct 2011 14:37:44 +0000

Thank you for your kind words.

I like your concept of “Technation” and I think you’re on to something because the Technation are the ones who have taken it on the chin while being a category in sharply short supply. The dirty little secret of our
unemployment rate is that most of the unemployed are not prepared for the jobs that need to be filled. There is an expense to offshoring those jobs – but companies are finding it more expedient to offshore them than to train people who didn’t receive a decent public school education (and/or have issues with drugs, the legal system, poor health, etc.). The military finds that almost 75% of age-eligible Americans do not meet its minimum requirements.

That leaves the Technation in the unenviable spot of being both vitally needed – and competing with hourly workers in countries all over the globe. Add to that pressure with my hunch that Generation X Technation
people were disproportionately screwed over by the sub-prime crisis in a way that is different from the lower middle-class Blacks and Latinos. They were the ones spending bogus home equity at P.F. Changs and the Macaroni Grill during the last decade. Now they’re upside down in their mortgage and taking a squeeze on pay and benefits.

Right now, we’re seeing this funk show up in the less than 20% approval rating for Congress. What happens when more of the health insurance falls on their shoulders (cutting actual take-home pay)? Not good. Luke Visconti, CEO of DiversityInc

By: KGREEN

KGREEN — Sat, 29 Oct 2011 08:15:26 +0000

Luke,

1st, I love you Man!, and I mean that without any implied suggestions or hidden innuendos. Thank you for not just having the ability to see the invisible masses but for having the integrity to stand up for them. For never calling anyone’s side an enemy but instead shining a light in a direction that all will benefit from. Thank you.

In regards to a corporation’s integrity being visible to it’s people; in as much as there are large masses of disenfranchised people on the outside of major corporations, there is a large mass of disenfranchised workers on the inside of major global corporations who I I think would argue that claim of visibility.

From my view, I see the manufacturing sector and in particular the bold line between “Management” and “Technicians”. It’s the place where Organizational Theory stops and Resource Management begins, where workers who make a salary reign and rule over their co-workers who are paid by the hour from the same company. Coworkers who walk past the same signs hung to reinforce the corporations core values and principles.

40 years ago, this group would have been prime targets for a union, but not today, Having to pay for protection services is ludicrous to this group in the same way it was ludicrous for Fredrick Douglass to have to have his freedom purchased for him.

For the last 20 years, the hypocrisy of High Performance Organizations has tainted and tired many but all have not given up hope that the the espoused values and principles might one day become the actual ones. Ironic or not, HPO’s have not killed the Theory Y worker. They are the bulk this group I’m speaking about, a group I call the Technation,

I wonder what affect it would have on the “occupy” movement and to the corporate world in it’s entirety if the Technation who are already “occupied within” decided it was time for their voice to be heard as well?

Regards,
Kat

By: Katt

Katt — Thu, 27 Oct 2011 23:21:23 +0000

I have a difficult time pinning responsibility (blame) soley on Tea Party or Republicans in Congress. It is time that Democrats stop wheeling and dealing with these parties in order to advance their agenda. Stand up and say, “NO” to policies that favor the few on the backs of the many. If we are not happy with our representatives that we elected to Congress, it is up to us to vote in someone else that will take a stand to defend our rights. Too many people complain about the current situations that our nation faces . . . some of these people are also the one’s that “don’t vote because it doesn’t make a difference . . .”

By: Luke Visconti

Luke Visconti — Wed, 26 Oct 2011 12:35:32 +0000

Like the president’s birth certificate, many people will not accept the reality that Black-, Latino- and women-headed households were purposefully steered into inappropriate subprime loans (when they qualified for prime loans). There is an August 2009 HUD report on the matter, and fines (Wells Fargo, for example) have been assessed for fraudulent sales. Why were those three groups steered into inappropriate subprime loans? They were the last three groups who were able to get access to mortgage credit and therefore were not as sophisticated (not as financially literate), in general, as white households that have had access to mortgage credit for decades before overt racial discrimination in the credit/capital market was addressed in the Community Reinvestment Act of 1977. I have noted that there is an attempt among certain groups to assess blame on the Community Reinvestment Act of 1977 for the mess we’re in, but in my opinion, it is primarily bigots who feel that way. I have yet to hear a good theory on how lower middle-class Black and Latino families were able to bamboozle the billionaires at Wall Street investment banks.

I note that it is my personal experience that I know how to get a better deal on a mortgage now, after buying four homes and as a business owner, than I had when I was wet behind the ears. Why people find this hard to accept when it comes to Black and Latino people can only be ascribed to bigotry, in my opinion. Luke Visconti, CEO of DiversityInc

By: Brad Gaskill

Brad Gaskill — Tue, 25 Oct 2011 21:44:40 +0000

“Tellingly, Black and Latino households were two to five times as likely to be sold inappropriate subprime loans.”

I’m curious and haven’t seen the stats. Is the above statement true because more Black and Latino households applied for these loans?

Thanks

By: UK

UK — Mon, 24 Oct 2011 12:36:25 +0000

Great article, but in the UK if you write such article the repercussions are swift and strong.

By: Michael J Sanchez

Michael J Sanchez — Fri, 21 Oct 2011 16:53:50 +0000

Kathleen, thank you for the suggestion to freeze Congress’ pay. That would surely have those suits sitting up straight!
I won’t comment, though, on the likelihood of the Legislative Branch freezing its own pay. I prefer living in the moment of hope that you created for me with your submittal.

Thanks to Luke also for an excellent and informative read. Hopefully those who need to know what you know will find a copy of your article on their desks, anonymously.

By: Luke Visconti

Luke Visconti — Fri, 21 Oct 2011 15:27:24 +0000

Dear readers: We had several emails like this – Blayne’s email was temperate in tone (and funny) so I thought I’d post it. I’ll bet similar witticisms were made by cronies to Mubarak, Ben Ali and Gadhafi – and they’re probably (nervously) being tossed around among al-Assad and Saleh’s loyalists. Yep, it’s all fun and games until the windows start to break. Luke Visconti, CEO of DiversityInc

By: Blayne

Blayne — Fri, 21 Oct 2011 11:42:10 +0000

One way to keep them away from your door is to hang up soap. Like you would garlic to ward off vampires. I suppose hanging dictionaries or Economics books would work just as well. What a joke.

By: Luke Visconti

Luke Visconti — Thu, 20 Oct 2011 15:16:17 +0000

I think the Occupy Wall Street movement can become much larger than the Tea Party movement because it encompasses the interests of more people. There is no reason a Tea Party person couldn’t participate in an OWS protest – there are several overlapping areas of interest. I don’t think the Koch brothers are happy about this reality – and the OWS people have to realize there will be active subversion of their effort by their agents. Luke Visconti, CEO of DiversityInc