Kevin O'Leary is a Canadian Businessman, Investor, and all around douche in my opinion. Remember that a douche is a purely useless and unnecessary product that increases infection from within. When asked to comment on the fact that the wealth of the world's 85 richest people is equal to the 3.5 billion poorest people, he said he thought it was fantastic because it inspires people, gets them motivated to want better for themselves. To me, that fact shows blatant inequality ... so I guess O'Leary is fine with that.
Watch that clip HERE
Now when I first heard him say this, I was choked. I tried to vocalize to my hunny beside me, but as I tried to formulate a sentence ... the words were just not there. They kept changing and crumbling away like crumbs from a cookie as I tried desperately to figure out and put into words, exactly what is wrong with O'Leary's opinion. I guess he likely has some kind of degree that gives him much more credit than I hold, but I have one thing he doesn't have. The experience of starting over from very very little. I was discharged from my bankruptcy about two years ago and am now finally re-building my credit. I've been in this process for about a year now, and still am not at a place deemed acceptable for prime rates. This is after putting $1100 down on a GIC to secure my credit card! For Kevin O'Leary to imply that it is somehow something that anyone can easily do, just shows a clear and vivid disconnect from reality.
I've said this before, why are the people making the big decisions always rich? Rich and poor see the world differently. I've been both ... rich by my standards, and poor by many. I am different today because I spent a few years without credit. I put the time in keeping my eyes peeled for spare change on the street, cramming napkins in my purse for TP, and stealing butter pads from work to fry my Rice-a-Roni in! Those days saw me absolutely broke until my assistance check came in. There's a whole psychology experiment O'Leary should look into before he speaks on this again; the psychology of desperation that one very quickly feels when on social assistance aka Welfare. I worked two jobs on Queen's campus and barely made ends meet. And ... let's just say that it sometimes felt as though the workers at the office were simply playing fish as they would snail-mail me pages upon pages of bullshit instead of sending me the assistance I was entitled and promised. Not important enough to call on the phone. Not important at all.
In 2014 more than ever, it takes money to make money because it takes money to borrow money. I know there are success stories. I worked with one; a young Asian man lands in Ontario and with very broken English asks a restaurant owner for a job. Now some thirty years later, he is head chef at that same restaurant, owns several rental homes in the city, and grows some of the most exquisite orchids you'll ever see. But that is not happening today. O'Leary would be quite surprised to hear how many new hires are unable to afford a proper uniform before that first paycheck even. Ten years ago I worked for $12.50 an hour arranging the import of cars into Ontario. Today that job would be strictly minimum wage, yet rent is easily $250 more expensive than it was back then.
I also don't hold any kind of degree in psychology in order to express the lunacy in O'Leary's thinking from a clinical standpoint. But once again, what I have is even better. I have the experience of wrestling the inner voice telling me I suck. Cyclical thinking drowned me in a mantra about how ineffective, incapable, and worthless I was. How could I look up to the 1% and aspire to be like them, when every cell in my body believed me incapable of even the most menial of tasks. And why on earth would I feel this way? Because I have no real schooling in any one field, I have experience but not really successes, and I hold no accreditation to hang on any wall. I should shouldn't I? My high school reunion tells me I'm an underachiever. I have nothing tangible to show for my experiences, only short precis phrases on my tired resume.
I am the average minimum-wage worker in Canada. And with so many positions to fill, I should have my choice right? Perhaps, if one is willing to turn a blind eye to an employer's disregard for our Country's employment standards, but I for one am not. I could give you example after example of employers in this very city who break code on the daily. Another common view these days is seeing middle-aged university and college graduates selling clothing in the mall.
As O'Leary and his kind look down upon the 3.5 billion poorest, they see programs and opportunities abound. And for those looking up at the 1% all they can see are restrictions and guidelines that they don't meet. Employment requires education and education requires money. O'Leary's opinion is outdated and a bleary-eyed drunken-with-wealth view of someone else's reality. It's not logical. And it's not truth. Why the hell is he up there on a pedestal as though he speaks truth???
A final question for the douche: How can you have an educated and complete understanding of the world from that strictly near-sighted and antiquated viewpoint?
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