Wall Street Protests

[DanaC]

So, if I'm hearing you right, Henry, they should just pack up and go home yes?

Maybe when they get home they can bend over the kitchen table and just take the almighty buttfucking their country is delivering to them, without complaint.

Or just stock up on tinned food and opt out of the race entirely.

What they are doing is expressing the anger and dismay currently felt by millions of ordinary Americans who've seen their economy and natinal happiness broken, and left shattered on the roadside by a class who claim not to exist as such, and who see themselves as citizens of corporate entities not nation states.

They haven't an agreed message? Well, hell, stick 10 Republicans, or 10 Democrats in a room together and you'll get 15 political messages from each group. They haven't changed anything? Nothing moves fast in the basic structures of society, even with the combined weight of the political and finacnial classes, it takes years and even decades to effect real change, why would you expect a citizen protest to have provoked concrete change in the short term?

OWS is a grassroots movement borne of anger and riding a wave of events. It doesn't need a unified message. It just needs to sustain its energy and anger and draw more people into the conversation. It is serving its purpose.

[SamIam]

At least one politician is responding to OWS and the continued erosion of the middle class. She is Elizabeth Warren (D) running for senator for the state of Massachusetts. Her speech concerning "class warfare" and tax breaks for the rich has gone viral on YouTube. In just 6 weeks her campaign has raised over 3.15 million dollars, and just 1 in 20 contributions were for more than 100 dollars. If the OWS movement is looking for a leader, they have found one in Ms. Warren. Elizabeth Warren's appeal:

Ms. Warren talks about the nation’s growing income inequality in a way that channels the force of the Occupy Wall Street movement but makes it palatable and understandable to a far wider swath of voters. She is provocative and assertive in her critique of corporate power and the well-paid lobbyists who protect it in Washington, and eloquent in her defense of an eroding middle class.

Her larger appeal, though, comes from her ability to shred Republican arguments that rebalancing the tax burden constitutes class warfare. In a living-room speech that went viral on YouTube last month, she pointed out that people in this country don’t get rich entirely by themselves — everyone benefits from roads, public safety agencies and an education system paid for by taxes. And those who have benefited the most, she says, need to give back more.

“You built a factory and it turned into something terrific or a great idea — God bless!” she said. “Keep a big hunk of it. But part of the underlying social contract is you take a hunk of that and pay forward for the next kid who comes along.”

What a concept - the social contract which is the glue that binds together the members of all civilized societies. The Republicans want a repeal of the social contract so that the big corporations and the wealthy can grow ever richer at the expense of the middle and working class. If the conservatives had their way, the US would become little better than a third world country with the rich in their gated communities and the poor literally dying on the streets.

Warren is also correct in stating that business owners could not have made it without help from the rest of society. The Republicans would have us think that the working class are little better than scum - especially compared to the millionaire "producers." So, tell me. Who built the Hoover Dam? Who is rebuilding the WTC? Who works on what few assembly lines and production lines that the "Job Creators" haven't got around to out-sourcing yet?

American workers, that's who. Without their strong work ethic and dedication no business would ever get off the ground. A nation's, a corporation's, a community's most valuable resource is their people. WE are the 99%!

[tw]

Originally Posted by DanaC

Well, hell, stick 10 Republicans, or 10 Democrats in a room together and you'll get 15 political messages from each group.

And the noise is so loud as to be heard even in Yorkshire, UK.

We have the Congress that gerrymandering wanted (don't blame the Germans). And a teaparty that loves what bean counters have done to our economies.

[henry quirk]

"I see you also ignoring the real problem. When the rich get richer, then jobs are destroyed. How to destroy jobs? Enrich the rich. Reality is that simple."

I ignore nothing...again: I don't care.

I self-employ, so, let the 'rich destroy'.

If a body puts his or future in the hands of another, then he or she gets exactly what he or she deserves.

*shrug*

#

"So, if I'm hearing you right, Henry, they should just pack up and go home yes?"

Nope.

As I've said multiple times: each will (attempt to) do exactly as he or she likes (as each should).

If the 'occupants' want to set up shanty towns and live out the rest of their lives on street corners: fine by me.

And still: they've failed.


"What they are doing is expressing...anger and dismay..."

Yeah, my nephew (five years old) does the same (tantrums).

Tantrums, rarely get him (as 'occupancy' will them) what he 'wants' (though, often it gets him -- as it will them -- what he 'needs', which is usually 'time-out').


"It is serving its purpose"

Feel-good antics by and for neo-hippies (utopians and communitarians): again, fine by me.

[piercehawkeye45]

Originally Posted by henry quirk

I self-employ, so, let the 'rich destroy'.

If a body puts his or future in the hands of another, then he or she gets exactly what he or she deserves.

You do realize that *everyone* is dependent of the hands of others, correct? Being self-employed does not rid of this.