Occupy Wall Street

[FreakyLocz14]

I'm surprised that noone has made a thread about this yet.

Occupy Wall Street is a group of protesters occuying what they feel is corruption and Wall Street control of our political system.

I agree with that premise, but many of them lost crediblity when they called for the re-election of Obama, who is a shill and a lap dog for Wall Street. Most of the politicians in Washington on both sides of the aisle are, though.

Your thoughts? Discuss.

 

[Ivysaur]

Here is the movement's main page, as well as BBC's coverage in case someone wants to look at some other source than Freaky's right-winged site: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-15160953

But again, I'm happy these movements happen through the world. We had this same thing here in Spain last Spring (and, surprisingly, right-wing people said their only goal was to support our Social-democrat Government, even though they also were criticizing it). This shows that progressive citizenship can also start a movement to protest against the unfair system that favours the rich and makes it harder for the poorer people- I'm also positively surprised by the group of marines that joined the protesters to "shield" them from the police that had been arresting some for exercising their freedom of speech.

I personally hope this sprouts a similar bur mirror-opposite Tea Party- a progressive movement to get the politicians to control the casino Wall Street has become. And if it helps Obama and other politicians to realize that it is these people who vote them, well, the better for all.

 

[FreakyLocz14]

Here is the movement's main page, as well as BBC's coverage in case someone wants to look at some other source than Freaky's right-winged site: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-15160953

But again, I'm happy these movements happen through the world. We had this same thing here in Spain last Spring (and, surprisingly, right-wing people said their only goal was to support our Social-democrat Government, even though they also were criticizing it). This shows that progressive citizenship can also start a movement to protest against the unfair system that favours the rich and makes it harder for the poorer people- I'm also positively surprised by the group of marines that joined the protesters to "shield" them from the police that had been arresting some for exercising their freedom of speech.

I personally hope this sprouts a similar bur mirror-opposite Tea Party- a progressive movement to get the politicians to control the casino Wall Street has become. And if it helps Obama and other politicians to realize that it is these people who vote them, well, the better for all.

Wall Street is an equal opportunity controller of politicians. Republicans and Democrats, liberals and conservatives; Wall Streets owns most of them.

It would be dangerous for us to further polarize our political system. We need to be moving towards the middle and looking for compromise, not encouraging the propping up of extremist groups be them on the left or the right.

And Alex Jones is hardly a right-winger. He's even wrote for progressive publications. He's more known as a conspiracy theorist.

 

[Eliminator Jr.]

I really hope this develops into something more. Unfortunately, I think Occupy Wall Street will be mostly ignored by the government, and as time goes on the media will stop covering their story, meaning they will mostly be ignored by the common people as well. That, (and my American politics isn't that up to scratch coming from Australia) and the media is controlled by corporate fat cats, right? They're more likely to not give OWS attention if it conflicts with their own money-making interests.

But yeah, I really hope this gets off the ground.

 

[Lalapizzame]

They will broadcast it if they see no real harm from these protestors.

Having a group mirror the Tea Party only polarizes an already divided government, as Freaky has said. They couldn't even agree on a debt ceiling deal until the last moment, what makes it so likely a left-wing Tea Party will make them work any faster?

 

[Guest123_x1]

I see, now we have yet another movement with good intentions has been hijacked-just like the Tea Party was hijacked by neocons like Sarah Palin.

Do these people not realize that they are now calling for the re-election of the very people put in office by the criminal banksters and elitists that put them in office in the first place?

How can a self-proclaimed Occupy Wall Street protester simultaneously support the man whose 2008 campaign was bankrolled by Wall Street, whose 2012 campaign is reliant on Wall Street to an even greater extent, and whose cabinet was filled with Wall Street operatives?

I'm sure there are many well-meaning Democratic voters who are disgusted by Wall Street's excesses, and IMO, they have been done a grave disservice by President Obama and his policies.
Obama said during his campaign that he would not appoint or hire Wall Street insiders to his administration, and then appointed such people as Tim Geithner (then-head of the New York Federal Reserve, the main driver of Wall Street's greed and excesses) to his administration anyway.
Obama and his ilk plan on taxing the life out of us through schemes such as Cap-and-Trade, which benefit Wall Street to great extent (since they will be the ones controlling and issuing the "permits", and getting the bulk of the income from the "permits").
People like Bernanke (who legendary commodities investment guru Jim Rogers has called "an idiot"), Paulson, Geithner, and George Soros (who was a former partner of Rogers who co-founded the Quantum Investment Fund with him, but that was long ago) need to be exposed, not rewarded.

Here's a newly-launched movement targeting the very culprit of financial greed, inflation, debauchery, and erosion of the middle class, and making the poor poorer and rich richer:
https://www.infowars.com/occupy-the-federal-reserve-movement-launched/

That, (and my American politics isn't that up to scratch coming from Australia) and the media is controlled by corporate fat cats, right? They're more likely to not give OWS attention if it conflicts with their own money-making interests.

Exactly. The American mainstream media is bought and paid for by Wall Street and their buddy big-government politicians. They have proudly and loudly claimed that the Fed's interest rate cuts were "necessary" to "reduce foreclosures and unemployment", but have instead put us well on the path to hyperinflation.

 

[FreakyLocz14]

I see, now we have yet another movement with good intentions has been hijacked-just like the Tea Party was hijacked by neocons like Sarah Palin.

Do these people not realize that they are now calling for the re-election of the very people put in office by the criminal banksters and elitists that put them in office in the first place?

I'm sure there are many well-meaning Democratic voters who are disgusted by Wall Street's excesses, and IMO, they have been done a grave disservice by President Obama and his policies.
Obama said during his campaign that he would not appoint or hire Wall Street insiders to his administration, and then appointed such people as Tim Geithner (then-head of the New York Federal Reserve, the main driver of Wall Street's greed and excesses) to his administration anyway.
Obama and his ilk plan on taxing the life out of us through schemes such as Cap-and-Trade, which benefit Wall Street to great extent (since they will be the ones controlling and issuing the "permits", and getting the bulk of the income from the "permits").
People like Bernanke (who legendary commodities investment guru Jim Rogers has called "an idiot"), Paulson, Geithner, and George Soros (who was a former partner of Rogers who co-founded the Quantum Investment Fund with him, but that was long ago) need to be exposed, not rewarded.

Here's a newly-launched movement targeting the very culprit of financial greed, inflation, debauchery, and erosion of the middle class, and making the poor poorer and rich richer:
https://www.infowars.com/occupy-the-federal-reserve-movement-launched/

Exactly. The American mainstream media is bought and paid for by Wall Street and their buddy big-government politicians. They have proudly and loudly claimed that the Fed's interest rate cuts were "necessary" to "reduce foreclosures and unemployment", but have instead put us well on the path to hyperinflation.

:P EPIC POST!!!

The media is owned by Wall Street, and 99.9% of Congress is, as well as President Obama. I don't care if your Congressperson is a Democrat or a Republican... they're probably owned by Wall Street.

I'm pretty sure Ron Paul and Dennis Kucinich are the only ones who are not owned by Wall Street.

 

[Jarred0809]

They called for a re-election? I've been following the protest, but I didn't hear that.

 

[Lalapizzame]

It would be interesting.

Speaking of re-election, I believe there should be term limits for Representatives and Senators. Maybe 2 terms for a Senator (12 years) and 3-4 terms for a member of the House (6-8 years). I think imposing a one term limit is a bit too strict for senators compared to other politicians, but 30-year terms are generally ridiculous and bordering on hugging a seat and denying it to younger, more energetic politicians. Allowing representatives to sit in power too long will corrupt them. No matter how great a few exceptions are, the majority are relatively lackluster, so we might as well prevent them from hogging seats out of legality, not good-will.

 

[Livewire]

Ron Paul and Dennis Kucinich

So everybody is in Wall streets' pocket except the politician you worship. I see.

I'm also going to leave this here.

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[Zet]

I'm pretty sure Ron Paul and Dennis Kucinich are the only ones who are not owned by Wall Street.

Someone is helping pay for their propaganda ads.

 

[TRIFORCE89]

I agree with their premise and I like that the movement is growing.

But they've got to get their act together.

The Tea Party, whether you agreed with it or not, had a point, for about a week before it got hijacked and all loopy. The same could happen here. The Tea Party has people dressed up like Benjamin Franklin for some reason and the #OccupyWallStreet folks have topless ladies.

I don't see what either really has to do supporting with their root cause. Speaking of which, they got to make sure they don't deviate from that cause. Protest Wall St., the stock market, broken form of capitalism, economic policy, that companies exist that are too big to fail, bailouts that don't need to be paid back, stupid math mortgages that you can never pay off, private sector wages that haven't increased since the '70s, that 1% of the population takes 99% of the pie. Where re-electing Obama comes into this I don't understand. I like Obama and I want to see him re-elected, but he hasn't really done anything addresses any of that.

Keep it up with a focus on economics, not party-based or acting as an re-election committee. They'd do best to avoid the "we're angry about everything and... we don't know what we want to do about it" attitude of the Tea Party. Stick to your talking points.

 

[FreakyLocz14]

They're doing an Occupy Chico here. I was invited to it. I invited them to speak to the campus GOP. Let's see how it goes.

 

[Netto Azure]

Yeah, the closest one here in the UCLA Campus is the Occupy Los Angeles one in City Hall. Still it's nice to see the City Council President coming out to support the movement. TBH, a lot of movements start out demanding "random things" to broaden appeal. Plus it would be nice if this wasn't simply a Left vs. Right movement, but since we already have the Tea party well...they have their choice of movements.

Freaky: Sadly I agree with you, but such is the way of the 2 party system and electoral politics. Even if we do get a strong third party the voting would be thrown into the Supreme Court ALA 2000 if there are disputed states or the House of Representatives if it goes down into a plurality ALA 1824 or 1876 where backroom deals were done to finish the vote counting as per Congressional Committee.

 

[Ivysaur]

I was in the 15-M Madrid meeting, and I'm glad it's catched on in the US and several other European countries. I do hope this will become a somewhat stable movement. After all, we are "the 99%".

I didn't like the Rome fights though (and I loved how all the conservative Spanish newspapers put images of the Rome vandals in their front pages instead of the million of pacific people in the centre of our capital... heh).

 

[Netto Azure]

I like how some critics are just waiting for the "Socialistic, and Communistic" movement to get violent because the demands are "impossible to achieve" and that they'll be "evicted soon" >_>

 

[FreakyLocz14]

Some of the people seem to not bathe. Or are they trying to look dirty on purpose to emphasize they are poor or something?

 

[Netto Azure]

Some of the people seem to not bathe. Or are they trying to look dirty on purpose to emphasize they are poor or something?

I don't know why people seem to focus on that a lot. But you do have to realize if they are "occupying" a space, there are no bathing facilities to take a bath on. :/

You really expect them to go back home and take a bath after dedicating to "stay here no matter what?"

Then what will happen when they do go home to take baths, they'll be branded as hypocrites. >_>

 

[FreakyLocz14]

I don't know why people seem to focus on that a lot. But you do have to realize if they are "occupying" a space, there are no bathing facilities to take a bath on. :/

You really expect them to go back home and take a bath after dedicating to "stay here no matter what?"

Then what will happen when they do go home to take baths, they'll be branded as hypocrites. >_>

What about employment, or at least seeking employment?

Anyway, I agree with the group's main premise that there is too much special interest involvement with our government (to an extent), but their communistic/socialistic demands are what throw me off.

 

[Netto Azure]

What about employment, or at least seeking employment?

Anyway, I agree with the group's main premise that there is too much special interest involvement with our government (to an extent), but their communistic/socialistic demands are what throw me off.

I'm not really sure, since for every available job out there 5 applicants are applying. Plus the whole geographical displacement thing comes into play.