Originally Posted By vbdad55 ^^^ I'd be doing the same thing in DC not Wall Street. Our government ( this is not a ny one party statement) - puts out unemployment numbers that we all know are complete bullshit. The 'real' unemployment is easily 5-10% higher than that claimed because of their accounting methods. Our politicians have passed laws not only enabling off shoring of jobs but in some cases encouraging it financially. Both parties have looked the other way as over 12M ( and counting) white collar jobs marched out of the US in the last 10 years-- following the manufacturing which they legislated out of the country in some cases. Why ? Because the lobbyists own all of them- that's why. Yes the Wall Street morons have those who prey financially on others- and that is really evil-- but who bailed all of them out last year ? Our elected officials that's who. Instead of going downtown Chicago- go to Springfield - where your governor raised your income tax by 66 2/3% in the middle of a recession and yet the state is further in debt today than when the year started- because he covers for his voting block. Same governor that raised the corporate taxes on small businesses here 100% this year- causing over 5000 jobs ( and counting) to fleee to Wisconsin and Indiana. I understand the frustration that has caused people to do what they're doing on Wall Street and other locations - but they're protesting those taking advantage of the system I offer that they should be protesting those ENABLING the Wall Street jokers to do what they do... go after the head of the snake, not the body. just my two cents
Originally Posted By Dabob2 One could just as easily argue that the puppetmasters pulling the politicians' strings ARE the head, rather than the body. Bottom line is that both "head" and "body," whichever you consider which, are responsible, and there's nothing wrong with protesting both - in fact, I'd say it's preferable, as it points out the insidious relationship.
Originally Posted By DVC dad123 Actually post 22 has it nailed. We need a lot more than canned rhetoric "change" and blaming previous admins. The while kit and caboodle are off, seriously off.
Originally Posted By SingleParkPassholder "My thoughts are that the losers who don't want to work for a living and don't want to better themselves, and want their living handed to them without toil or effort, should go home and rethink things, then get a job and make something of themselves. Revolution. Oh brother." -Says the guy whose wife works and he stays home and takes care of the kids. Are you really this disconnected? Today the Los Angeles Superior Court announced they are offering Commissoners a buy-out package to leave in order to pare back the court budget. Yep, in effect L.A. County is going to have to lay off Judges. Yessirrree, these "losers" will soon be out of work. <a href="http://www.metnews.com/articles/2011/comm100711.htm" target="_blank">http://www.metnews.com/article...0711.htm</a>
Originally Posted By DyGDisney I saw the Sacramento version on the news. No one there seemed to have a clear idea of why they were there, at least not that they could put into any coherant words. They asked the person who organized the event what they were protesting, and he couldn't even say. He said they had a team working on their statement and agenda and he would know the next day what that agenda was....huh!?
Originally Posted By fkurucz ^^The Corporate owned Mainstram Media is making extensive efforts to discredit the movement. One of their strategies is to find confused protestors, showcase them on the news to make the case that the OWS crowd doesn't know what they're protesting. And it appears to be working.
Originally Posted By vbdad55 do you really think the local news teams are that intelligent ? I saw a 'spokesperson' for the Chicago groups today on WGN.. he said they had just narrowed their items down to 12 but that there was not agreement on all of them When asked what they would want to call off the protests- what would be steps in the right direction.. no answer. But he said Wall Street was the issue- not DC-- to which I totally disagree. Those in DC are just as complicit. Where's Abbie Hoffman when you need him-- or Bill Ayres lots of people there protesting ' the man' - and I understand why..
Originally Posted By Dabob2 The local news here has been a little more evenhanded. I've seen them interview people who have only the vaguest of ideas what they're protesting or what they'd like to see instead, and others who are extremely articulate and concrete.
Originally Posted By fkurucz <i>do you really think the local news teams are that intelligent ?</i> No, they just do as told by their Corporate Masters. And for all we know the clueless boobs they interview are plants. Did you see teh USNews article that proclaimed that one can "live well" on $25K nnual salary? Might they be starting to condition us to our imminent future?
Originally Posted By fkurucz >>I saw a 'spokesperson' for the Chicago groups today on WGN.. he said they had just narrowed their items down to 12 but that there was not agreement on all of them<< That I could believe, as they are a non homogenous, ad hoc group.
Originally Posted By fkurucz >>lots of people there protesting ' the man' - and I understand why..<< And the 1%'ers are getting nervous and will do whatever they can to discredit the growing movement. First they will portray them as clueless potheads. When that doesn't work they will escalate. They want to nip this movement in the bud, and since its anarchical by nature it will be much harder to coopt than the Tea Party.
Originally Posted By hopemax On one of the blogs I read, comments get a bit fringy, but the owner puts together a good bunch of financial articles from around the world. Anyway, earlier this summer people were speculating that if the NFL season were to be canceled protesting would come to America. The theory, if people didn't have their circus of choice as distraction, they would want their blood. I didn't think much of it at the time, but now I wonder what would have happened.
Originally Posted By TP2000 These protests are really very disjointed and random. They seem to have a very, very broad range of topics and not all of the people there are able to communicate them. It's been interesting to see them shun traditional liberal politicians when they show up at their rallies, mostly for being not leftist enough. There was a radio program in San Diego that interviewed a few dozen people protesting, and the question was "Why are you here?". The answers they got back were mostly long pauses followed by "um, well, you see, it's like..." There were a couple guys railing against Jewish bankers, and yeah they kept using the word "Jewish" and "Jew" in their anti-bank and anti-capitalism rants to the reporter which was pretty scary. But mostly this appears to be a bunch of out of work hippies and partiers out for a good time. By the looks of them, they couldn't get a job even with low unemployment, but with a 12% unemployment rate in California now they can blame it on someone else instead of themselves. The Kanye West appearance at the New York protest, wearing gold jewlery and a 350 Dollar shirt by Givenchy, was fascinating. Talk about mixed messages there.
Originally Posted By vbdad55 Kanye has one of his homes about 2 miles from me, in a very upscale area. At I would say $4M-$5M for this property, he better be careful, these people will be in his front yard.
Originally Posted By Dabob2 <But mostly this appears to be a bunch of out of work hippies and partiers out for a good time.> I don't know about CA, but I know that's the view a lot of the media seems to want to portray, as fkurcz says. Here in NY there are some very articulate and focused people.
Originally Posted By mawnck >>do you really think the local news teams are that intelligent ?<< They ABSOLUTELY are not. Never ascribe to malice that which can be explained by lazy, sensationalist reporting.
Originally Posted By SpokkerJones I would not be surprised if half of these people don't even vote. Say what you want about the Tea Party, but they probably vote in huge numbers based on the average age alone.
Originally Posted By Labuda I just think it's a pity they're not more organized. I do know that the Occupy Austin folks marched from City Hall down to the Capitol the other day and back again. I wish I had the time to join them for part of the protesting, but I'm not sure it would make anyone feel better for me to show up for an hour or two on a weekend since that's all I can spare timewise.
Originally Posted By vbdad55 "I just think it's a pity they're not more organized" agreed- like I said I understand the frustration even though I think they need to remove the 'class warfare' part of this and make sure they include our politicians in this effort- as part of the cause. But have a point- or several points when you now garner this attention. Too easy now to be portrayed as a bunch of goofs when they cannot articulate exactly what it is they expect to gain from this. I know there are somewithin the crowd who can probably do this well...but how to organize with all those around you ? For me the disorganization is taking away from the fact that somehow, something has got to change. The path we are on is not working and may get much worse. The opportunity for 'leaders' to stand out is now - let's see if it happens.
Originally Posted By mawnck >>I would not be surprised if half of these people don't even vote.<< More than half of those people haven't been eligible to vote for very long. But I think part of their point is that there's no one to vote for. I feel their pain.
