Younger People Are Angry

[CowboyGal2011]

[gbpfan1231]

Wow. Not at all what I thought Waterman looked like.

[Ursa Majoris]

When a stiff like Eric Cantor chimes in, you know they're having some effect.

[tosberg34]

Street Baggers - Doh! We didn't mean ALL banks were bad! Edited October 8, 2011 by tosberg34

[CowboyGal2011]

The so-called Occupy Wall Street movement is drawing some support from beyond the standard assemblage of superannuated hippies, dopey college kids and fatuous liberal journalists. Yesterday "several prominent unions, struggling to gain traction on their own, made their first effort to join forces with Occupy Wall Street," the New York Times reports: "Thousands of union members marched with the protesters from Foley Square to their encampment in nearby Zuccotti Park."

 

One common characteristic of the four unions the Times cites is that they all include members who work for the government or, in the case of the UAW, for corporate welfare cases. As Michael Barone noted in a February 2010 column: "One-third of [2009's] $787 billion stimulus package was aid to state and local governments--an obvious attempt to bolster public-sector unions."

 

Stimulus financed protests, hope & change.

[CowboysDiehard]

You have more money than me? Off to the guillotine!

 

Elizabeth Vargas? Now there's a commie I can get behind!

 

Carry on gentlemen, my once a year foray into the tailgate is now complete.

[Savage Beatings]

Yesterday I heard a radio interview with one of the Occupy protesters... the entire time you could hear bongos being played in the background.

[Ditkaless Wonders]

The unearned self esteem generation wants utopia. Why not? They are not the first generation to seek such. It is just that for all their organization and interconnectivity they do no seem to have any idea what they are doing. Their goals are poorly defined and often self contradictory. They seem clear on one thing only, they lack trust in the existing institutions to allow them a prosperous future. In that they are not necessarily wrong.

 

I hope they enjoy their time. Feeling involved and connected to a greater cause is wonderful. I hope it sets them on a lifetime of activism. I just hope that their lifetime activism is more well thought out than is this nascent effort. Still, it is all part of a growth process.

Edited October 8, 2011 by Ditkaless Wonders

[wiegie]

The unearned self esteem generation wants utopia. Why not? They are not the first generation to seek such. It is just that for all their organization and interconnectivity they do no seem to have any idea what they are doing. Their goals are poorly defined and often self contradictory. They seem clear on one thing only, they lack trust in the existing institutions to allow them a properous future. In that they are not necessarily wrong.

 

I hope they enjoy their time. Feeling involved and connected to a greater cause is wonderful. I hope it sets them on a lifetime of activism. I just hope that their lifetime activism is more well thought out than is this nascent effort. Still, it is all part of a growth process.

Not a bad analysis.

 

It will be interesting to see what happens if some people who do have a clue start to get involved. Paul Krugman has basically already called upon himself and Joe Stiglitz (another Nobel prize winning economist) and others to provide a sort of reasonable intellectual framework for the movement to build upon. If they can get the protestors passion directed into more moderate goals, then the movement might have legs. I'm not sure if this can or will happen though.

[Ursa Majoris]

If they can get the protestors passion directed into more moderate goals, then the movement might have legs. I'm not sure if this can or will happen though.

This.

[WaterMan]

i guess the title should be changed to 'close to 1000 arrested. alot of people are angry'

[Azazello1313]

Paul Krugman has basically already called upon himself and Joe Stiglitz (another Nobel prize winning economist) and others to provide a sort of reasonable intellectual framework for the movement to build upon.

 

yeah, the "movement" is totally non-partisan!

[Ursa Majoris]

This is as good an explanation of what the protests are all about as I have read so far.

 

As I sit awake this Thursday night, preparing to protest on the steps of the Hennepin County Government Center, I ponder what this protest truly stands for.

 

Throughout the mainstream media there have been some dubious assertions as to what the message of this protest truly is. This night, before the protest in downtown Minneapolis begins, I wish to shed some light on the subject.

 

In the past several years, it has become painfully clear that the interests of the American people are not held in high esteem in either lower Manhattan or Washington, D.C.

 

We've seen several bank bailouts since the early 1980s, only to find ourselves at the doorstep of financial ruin once again. Those of differing persuasions think we should "get a job" or "stop whining."

 

But jobs are scarce, and a true protest is beyond a simple matter of whining.

 

The politicians have failed us. Wall Street has failed us. Now, only Main Street America can save us. That is our message.

 

Though it seems as though this movement has no singular message, the real truth is about fairness and equality. Our economy is not one of equal opportunity, as protesters will shout about racial inequality or ever-increasing poverty rates.

 

These issues are one and the same, because unemployed college grads and stigmatized blacks and Latinos share this ailment.

 

Those fighting for gay marriage and environmental reform are a part of the same equation; protection of our public places and universal rights fall under the same umbrella that we call equality.

 

All Americans deserve the same opportunity and the same right to enjoy our public spaces.

 

As the working single mother and those protesting war will tell you, ours is a movement of peace and protection. These principles can only exist together. Indeed, we should all be treated fairly and equally under the law, but this principle has been lost.

 

We find it fascinating that some on the ideological right wish to limit our personal freedoms but balk at the idea of regulating business.

 

This protest is not a denial of the merits of capitalism, but a rebuke to those who would use greed and deception to undercut the honest working American. We recognize that our banking and corporate systems do not honor merit, only the bottom line and short-term gains.

 

Their thinking is foolish. Our future and the future of our children is being threatened by those not held accountable. We see bankers and corporate masters walking away from financial disaster with tens and hundreds of millions of dollars while working Americans struggle to keep their homes.

 

The common notion of capitalism is that merit and hard work bring rewards to those with the fortitude and determination to succeed. What we see in America today is quite the opposite.

 

In response to Tea Party activists we ask: "Why don't you join us?" The bankers and corporations that we decry are no friends of yours.

 

These organizations have no patriotism, no loyalty to the United States, and they are no friends of small business.

 

They have no fealty to you or me, for their course is to simply drive up the bottom line no matter the cost and no matter the method.

 

In the end our true goal is to save capitalism through accountability and honesty.

[CowboyGal2011]

In response to Tea Party activists we ask: "Why don't you join us?"

 

 

Day late and $14 Trillion short.

 

We need people in DC to quit spending, not a single one of those unwashed commie jr's would ever support that.

[Ditkaless Wonders]

This.

 

 

Very difficult to co-opt the energy of disencfranchised youth. Perhaps the only thing more difficult is to suppress it, though I guarantee our leaders will have forgotten our history and will make the mistake of trying to do so, giving this disorganized amalgam the unity and direction of a movement. By becoming the opposition those in power will legitimize and empower the movement.

[WaterMan]

 

Day late and $14 Trillion short.

 

We need people in DC to quit spending, not a single one of those unwashed commie jr's would ever support that.

 

They would support cutting spending when it comes to: corporate welfare, welfare for other countries, cuts to the military, cuts to the salaries of Congress.

 

Did you know corporate welfare costs 10 times more annually than social welfare? So which do you support cutting? The one that costs more or less?

[Ditkaless Wonders]

They would support cutting spending when it comes to: corporate welfare, welfare for other countries, cuts to the military, cuts to the salaries of Congress.

 

Did you know corporate welfare costs 10 times more annually than social welfare? So which do you support cutting? The one that costs more or less?

 

 

IMust this be an either/or question? For me it is answered by what I believe the proper role of government to be.

[WaterMan]

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2011/10/09/...n20117793.shtml

 

1000's occupying Seattle yesterday and currently

[WaterMan]

Hey guyz who does this sound like in our modern times?

 

Causes of the French Revolution

 

Economic factors included hunger and malnutrition in the most destitute segments of the population, due to rising bread prices (from a normal 8 sous for a four-pound loaf to 12 sous by the end of 1789),[4] after several years of poor grain harvests. Bad harvests (caused in part by extreme weather from El Niño along with volcanic activity at Laki and Grímsvötn), rising food prices, and an inadequate transportation system that hindered the shipment of bulk foods from rural areas to large population centers contributed greatly to the destabilization of French society in the years leading up to the Revolution.

Another cause was the state's effective bankruptcy due to the enormous cost of previous wars, particularly the financial strain caused by French participation in the American Revolutionary War. The national debt amounted to some 1,000–2,000 million[citation needed] livres. The social burdens caused by war included the huge war debt, made worse by the loss of France's colonial possessions in North America and the growing commercial dominance of Great Britain. France's inefficient and antiquated financial system was unable to manage the national debt, something which was both partially caused and exacerbated by the burden of an inadequate system of taxation. To obtain new money to head off default on the government's loans, the king called an Assembly of Notables in 1787.]

Edited October 9, 2011 by WaterMan

[bpwallace49]

Hey guyz who does this sound like in our modern times?

 

:Let them drink Starbucks!"

[Ursa Majoris]

IMust this be an either/or question? For me it is answered by what I believe the proper role of government to be.

That is something of a weasel answer. Clearly the point being made is that while the right rants about the mythical Latasha and her Cadillac, the massively larger costs to the taxpayer of subsidizing already profitable industry that is sitting on a mountain of cash are ignored by those same people. The same applies to defense - it is grotesquely bloated beyond all possible reason yet the right refuses to even look at cutting it.

 

By the way, here are some of the folks protesting about taxes but don't want to cut defense - you can see their intellectual strength here.

Edited October 9, 2011 by Ursa Majoris

[WaterMan]

By the way, here are some of the folks protesting about taxes but don't want to cut defense - you can see their intellectual strength here.

 

I like that lady's lawn chair. I wonder if she has a rascal scooter also?

[Big John]

By the way, here are some of the folks protesting about taxes but don't want to cut defense - you can see their intellectual strength here.

And the "No turn on Red" sign, with a picture of a car doing that?

[WaterMan]

That is something of a weasel answer. Clearly the point being made is that while the right rants about the mythical Latasha and her Cadillac, the massively larger costs to the taxpayer of subsidizing already profitable industry that is sitting on a mountain of cash are ignored by those same people. The same applies to defense - it is grotesquely bloated beyond all possible reason yet the right refuses to even look at cutting it.

 

It seems like simple math to me. IMO the lobbyists for war and the corporations are too strong for Congress to think about doing simple math.

[Ursa Majoris]

And the "No turn on Red" sign, with a picture of a car doing that?

Probably the driver didn't want to be infected with Idiot Disease from being in close proximity to idiots.