# A let-them-eat-cake moment for the modern day **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [October 8, 2011, 4:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-let-them-eat-cake-moment-for-the-modern-day/598973 "2011-10-08T04:49:47Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![wonky](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wonky/32/393_2.png) [@wonky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wonky)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2011, 4:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-let-them-eat-cake-moment-for-the-modern-day/598973/1 "2011-10-08T04:49:47Z")
The local news (in LA) showed protesters in front of a building that houses banks, accountants, and finance companies. The protest signs said things about jobs, mainly. Some of the employees from the building were commenting on the protestors, and at least two of them said (as close as I can get) “Sheesh. Those people need to get _jobs_.” I didn’t know Marie Antoinette worked in downtown LA. ---
**Author:** ![code\_grey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f4b2a3/32.png) [@code\_grey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/code_grey)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2011, 7:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-let-them-eat-cake-moment-for-the-modern-day/598973/2 "2011-10-08T07:43:48Z")
in California salaries for prison guards or “educational administrators” are higher than for those accountants. So the protesters should have been protesting the highly paid leeches on state government payroll instead. ---
**Author:** ![loshan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/ce73a5/32.png) [@loshan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/loshan)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2011, 8:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-let-them-eat-cake-moment-for-the-modern-day/598973/3 "2011-10-08T08:36:31Z")
Seriously? Leeches? I have no idea how to respond to that other than, WTF??!!??? ---
**Author:** ![wonky](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wonky/32/393_2.png) [@wonky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wonky)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2011, 5:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-let-them-eat-cake-moment-for-the-modern-day/598973/4 "2011-10-08T17:11:59Z")
No matter what you think of the protesters, telling people who are protesting the lack of jobs to just go get some is pretty freaking tone-deaf. ---
**Author:** ![NinetyWt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/cc9497/32.png) [@NinetyWt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NinetyWt)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2011, 5:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-let-them-eat-cake-moment-for-the-modern-day/598973/5 "2011-10-08T17:16:31Z")
> [@jsgoddess](#): > > No matter what you think of the protesters, telling people who are protesting the lack of jobs to just go get some is pretty freaking tone-deaf. Agreed. There is a big disconnect going on. If anyone wants to read some of the stories of the people who are protesting, check out [wearethe99percent.tumblr.com](http://wearethe99percent.tumblr.com) . ---
**Author:** ![thelurkinghorror](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7c8e57/32.png) [@thelurkinghorror](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thelurkinghorror)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2011, 9:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-let-them-eat-cake-moment-for-the-modern-day/598973/6 "2011-10-08T21:39:36Z")
Funny disconnect. They’d get jobs but they took our jerbs! BTW, Marie Antoinette never said that. It first appeared 26 years before she died, when she was 12. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2011, 9:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-let-them-eat-cake-moment-for-the-modern-day/598973/7 "2011-10-08T21:56:24Z")
> [@jsgoddess](#): > > No matter what you think of the protesters, telling people who are protesting the lack of jobs to just go get some is pretty freaking tone-deaf. Hey, those cakes aren’t going to bake themselves. ---
**Author:** ![Jimmy\_Chitwood](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f475e1/32.png) [@Jimmy\_Chitwood](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jimmy_Chitwood)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2011, 11:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-let-them-eat-cake-moment-for-the-modern-day/598973/8 "2011-10-08T23:08:37Z")
Heard exactly the same thing in Philly this week - “Don’t they have jobs?” “Probably living off of parents’ money.” Meanwhile the closest protesters were a 60+ year old couple. It’s interesting that they notice just enough to be bothered by it but not enough to process what they’re looking at. ---
**Author:** ![phouka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/c5a1d2/32.png) [@phouka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/phouka)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2011, 10:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-let-them-eat-cake-moment-for-the-modern-day/598973/9 "2011-10-09T22:55:33Z")
> [@code\_grey](#): > > in California salaries for prison guards or “educational administrators” are higher than for those accountants. So the protesters should have been protesting the highly paid leeches on state government payroll instead. Prison guards put their lives at risk every day of work. I’m okay with them being paid more than accountants. “Educational administrators” . . . depends. If they’re talking about the college presidents and board members who are retiring with pensions that pay them more than they ever earned in a year, uh, yeah. I’m okay with protesting that. ---
**Author:** ![Gleena](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/b3f665/32.png) [@Gleena](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gleena)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2011, 11:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-let-them-eat-cake-moment-for-the-modern-day/598973/10 "2011-10-09T23:19:30Z")
Wait wait wait, my mother was on TV? In LA? Talking about protesters? Unpossible! 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![joebuck20](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/74df32/32.png) [@joebuck20](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/joebuck20)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2011, 12:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-let-them-eat-cake-moment-for-the-modern-day/598973/11 "2011-10-10T00:54:26Z")
I guess this is the signal to start sharpening the guillotine blades. ---
**Author:** ![Lochdale](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/edb3f5/32.png) [@Lochdale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lochdale)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2011, 12:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-let-them-eat-cake-moment-for-the-modern-day/598973/12 "2011-10-10T00:57:43Z")
Does anyone know the socio-economic breakdown of the protectors in New York? ---
**Author:** ![code\_grey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f4b2a3/32.png) [@code\_grey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/code_grey)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2011, 3:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-let-them-eat-cake-moment-for-the-modern-day/598973/13 "2011-10-10T03:10:22Z")
> [@phouka](#): > > Prison guards put their lives at risk every day of work. I’m okay with them being paid more than accountants. taxi drivers continually put their lives at risk too (from car accidents and violent attack). And they don’t have all the cages, the tasers, the guns and other accoutrements of running a modern American zoo for human beings either. But, working for the private sector, taxi drivers don’t get 6-figure salaries and ironclad job security on the public dime from a bankrupt State that is experiencing big out-migration of productive middle class taxpayers that are fed up with the tax-eating SOBs. ---
**Author:** ![Moonlitherial](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/4bbf92/32.png) [@Moonlitherial](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Moonlitherial)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2011, 5:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-let-them-eat-cake-moment-for-the-modern-day/598973/14 "2011-10-10T17:31:56Z")
> [@jsgoddess](#): > > The local news (in LA) showed protesters in front of a building that houses banks, accountants, and finance companies. The protest signs said things about jobs, mainly. > > Some of the employees from the building were commenting on the protestors, and at least two of them said (as close as I can get) “Sheesh. Those people need to get _jobs_.” > > I didn’t know Marie Antoinette worked in downtown LA. Not Marie, Bruce Hornsby. Standing in line marking time- Waiting for the welfare dime ‘Cause they can’t buy a job The man in the silk suit hurries by As he catches the poor ladies’ eyes Just for fun he says “get a job” ---
**Author:** ![Inigo\_Montoya](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/inigo_montoya/32/124_2.png) [@Inigo\_Montoya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inigo_Montoya)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2011, 6:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-let-them-eat-cake-moment-for-the-modern-day/598973/15 "2011-10-10T18:03:45Z")
> [@code\_grey](#): > > taxi drivers continually put their lives at risk too (from car accidents and violent attack). And they don’t have all the cages, the tasers, the guns and other accoutrements of running a modern American zoo for human beings either. But, working for the private sector, taxi drivers don’t get 6-figure salaries and ironclad job security on the public dime from a bankrupt State that is experiencing big out-migration of productive middle class taxpayers that are fed up with the tax-eating SOBs. Having a tough time with the difference between taxi driving and keeping violent offenders locked up against their will? ---
**Author:** ![Rachellelogram](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rachellelogram/32/8689_2.png) [@Rachellelogram](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rachellelogram)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2011, 8:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-let-them-eat-cake-moment-for-the-modern-day/598973/16 "2011-10-10T20:46:47Z")
This is going to get worse before it gets better. The ignorant onlookers in the OP don’t realize there are simply fewer jobs available. There are fewer every year, due to outsourcing and mechanization and obsolescence, even of **skilled** jobs! We don’t need as many librarians or newspaper editors as we used to have, that’s for damn sure. And the more money companies make, the harder and longer they want to work their employees. Until a breaking point is reached, companies will just keep eliminating raises, lowering wages for new hires in spite of rising costs of living, and demanding mandatory overtime to minimize the outlay for benefits that hiring additional employees would entail. It’d be nice if the ignorant onlookers would take time to research exactly who is out of work. It ain’t just broke unemployable losers who can’t find jobs today. I know that I was really freaking lucky to land my current job. I could easily be one of the legions of unemployed, if my timing had been off by just a couple of days or if I had talked to a different HR rep (my rep was in the same service fraternity as me). Luckily, I’m in a largely recession-proof industry (insurance), so my department hasn’t needed to do any layoffs. /crosses fingers it stays that way forever I really hope this is the start of the class revolution that America \*so desperately \*needs. We’re approaching a point where two higher-than-minimum-wage incomes is no longer sufficient to raise a family. Contrast that to the 1950s, where nearly every family was single-income and not suffering for it. Blue collar, white collar, you could raise a wife and two kids on that income, and still put $$ by for retirement. Those days are long gone. > [@Inigo\_Montoya](#): > > Having a tough time with the difference between taxi driving and keeping violent offenders locked up against their will? Hey, those taxis aren’t going to drive themselves 🆒 ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2011, 8:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-let-them-eat-cake-moment-for-the-modern-day/598973/17 "2011-10-10T20:51:53Z")
To the barricades, mes enfants! ---
**Author:** ![Anne\_Neville](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Anne\_Neville](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anne_Neville)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2011, 9:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-let-them-eat-cake-moment-for-the-modern-day/598973/18 "2011-10-10T21:24:51Z")
> [@Gleena](#): > > Wait wait wait, my mother was on TV? In LA? Talking about protesters? Unpossible! > > 🙂 Your mother is Marie Antoinette? I take it you’re the dauphin. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Inigo\_Montoya](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/inigo_montoya/32/124_2.png) [@Inigo\_Montoya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inigo_Montoya)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2011, 10:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-let-them-eat-cake-moment-for-the-modern-day/598973/19 "2011-10-10T22:03:46Z")
Is LA dauphin-safe? ---
**Author:** ![Gleena](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/b3f665/32.png) [@Gleena](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gleena)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2011, 10:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-let-them-eat-cake-moment-for-the-modern-day/598973/20 "2011-10-10T22:13:10Z")
> [@Anne\_Neville](#): > > Your mother is Marie Antoinette? I take it you’re the dauphin. 😉 _snerk_ [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-let-them-eat-cake-moment-for-the-modern-day/598973.md?page=2)