Occupy Wall Street – Are you with it?

[Heather Smith]

Also wanted to add…that the fact that individuals think capitalism is a total failure is a symptom of how far our country has fallen. We should be able to have open discussions about what works and what doesn’t. The fact that there are people openly arguing against capitalism (of which I would argue does not actually exist in our current system) really highlights the need for a BIG change. For those of us that think capitalism is the best we can do…we need to make sure it is working as it was intended…or else we are going to see increasing instability. Everyone should be listening to these individuals because their viewpoint is going to become more and more popular unless we do something.

[Trace One]

It does seem like we  need a more subtle definition than just ‘capitalism’ to convey a more accurate agenda for social change.. Our society is not solely capitalistic, nor is it the concept of buying and selling that we (liberals) object to…completely…

And I think what we all like is ‘representative democracy’ but insofar as that system has become a plutocracy, we want to get back to the original intent..

word spaghetti. .

 

[Joshua Elam]

This is what the OWS is about, see something wrong? 

 

http://www.economist.com/blogs/dailychart/2011/10/income-inequality-america

[Jon Quackenbush]

[Heather Smith]

Again reminded of how depressing this economy is…my husband didn’t get the one job he actually landed an interview for. Workin’ on four years since graduation and still can’t find a professional job…and people wonder why there are protesters?  :*(

[Jordan Lockman]

How does protesting create jobs? Demand for goods and services create jobs? Just a thought…

[Anonymous]

We have a demand for maintaining and building new infrastructure, keeping cops, teachers, firemen, sanitation workers, coaches, dance instructors, social workers, and snowplow operators… on the job. These are the folks that keep us safe, educate and keep our kids busy and keep our neighborhoods clean. These are services that I appreciate, but am getting less of in my neck of the woods.

 

It won’t be long before the protesters get a little older and more conservative looking. They’ll look more like what some people call “regular” Americans. I wouldn’t be surprised if a decent number of the OWSers are from the occupations above.

 

We have tons of demand. It’s just that the demands are being met less and less right before our eyes.

 

Besides it’s about more than just jobs. It’s about the things a good parent teaches a child about being fair and honest. And things I learned as a little cub scout about being square and obeying the law of the pack. What has happened to us? It’s all about taking and “holding on to mine” now.

[Jon Quackenbush]

Exactly.

These inequities are what drive the OWS protests. People don’t want handouts. It’s not a class uprising and we don’t want civil war — we want just the opposite. We want everyone to live in the same country, and live by the same rules. It’s amazing that some people think that that’s asking a lot.

[Anonymous]

“It’s amazing that some people think that that’s asking a lot.”

 

It’s not about free ganja, internet access and Starbucks for all. It’s not about hippies, communist and anarchist. It’s about men and women being able to save a little money towards the future, our kids getting an education so that they are able to compete intellectually with Chinese and Indian kids and little old ladies with worn hands being able to retire. How long do people have to get the shaft from insurance, oil and pharmaceutical companies along with the majority of the politicians before they wake up and see what’s going on?

[Anonymous]

Those idiots talking about destroying capitalism have no idea what they are asking for.

[Heather Smith]

Demand for goods and services create jobs?

And who will demand these goods and services if there is no middle class? Are we going to stand by and continue to watch regulations written for the benefit of politicians and corporations? When will we see the conversation come back to the cause of the recession? What does that take? It looks like it takes people standing in the street protesting. If we can’t even have a conversation about the causes…if we can’t even hold those that broke laws accountable…Americans will be afraid to invest in anything, including homes. My mom is on the verge of retiring and has no idea what to do with her money. We have looked into buying a home but I am afraid the prices will continue to drop. There is no stability for the middle class and until average Americans feel like those in power represent them we are going to see the economy stalled. Why should we feel confident when we see crooks (Enron, Bernie Madoff…and all of those dudes still chillin’ on their yachts) stealing people’s retirements? I have to laugh at those surprised that there would be some anger in a country where we see the massive redistribution of wealth…and are somehow supposed to celebrate this triumph of capitalism. (Hint: This isn’t capitalism)

BTW, We would appear to be those “pull yourself up by your bootstraps” individuals that started their own business in the middle of the worst recession since the Great Depression. For those individuals that feel smug in their ability to find employment just recognize that there is nothing extra righteous about you. We have been lucky. I can recognize this and still feel frustrated that we had no choice, that there are no other opportunities.

[Jordan Lockman]

[Heather Smith]

Jordan,

You do know that corporations give money to politicians to write laws in their favor? You do realize that there are individuals that broke the law…and have not been tried? Do you recognize the effect that Citizens United has on your own political voice? Do you believe that it matters who you vote for? Do you really think your politicians are lobbying for you? Does it make sense that individuals still have banks coming after them for the inflated value of foreclosed homes? The value they inflated? Does it make sense that banks would rather kick families out of their homes and bulldoze them then to work with them and allow them to stay? Are you okay with the way the Federal Reserve works? Do you know what the Federal Reserve is? If you have looked into all of these issues and still don’t know what OWS is about…then you never will. I am totally baffled by people that seem content to continue as always despite the fact that our country is going down the drain, and each of us with it. People are okay with illegal activity…because we should expect it? We should ignore the corruption of our politicians and corporate leaders?

What do we want to accomplish? The problems we have facing our country are completely overwhelming…unfortunately the problem doesn’t fit on one sign. What do we need to do? We are taking suggestions.

[Anonymous]

I believe the demands of the Occupy folks are have been clearly spelled out for you more than once on this thread. What are you looking for a simple yet glitzy PAC commercial?

 

I don’t give a rats a** about how well a company compensates its people provided it’s done fairly. I have a problem with CEOs driving a company into the ground and being rewarded millions for it. And no I don’t want the wealthy taxed so much that they have no incentive to generate more wealth, but how about them paying taxes – period.

 

I’ll tell you what I would like to accomplish. I’d like my child as well as yours to have an equal shot of living the American dream, the same as the children of gangster fat cats. Right now Jordan the criminals in the blue suits are running things and you’re just too blind to see it.

[Jon Quackenbush]

He isn’t too blind to see it, he either disagrees or isn’t looking.  He is one of the 99% even if he doesn’t know it or believe it.  I am fighting for him too.

There are within the movement, many camps and not all of them are centered around jobs, though they all are focused on some inequality and/or injustice.  Want to really get a grip on it?  Revisit what MLK had said:

“For years, I labored with the idea of reforming the existing institutions in the South, a little change here, a little change there,” King said shortly before he was assassinated. “Now I feel quite differently. I think you’ve got to have a reconstruction of the entire system, a revolution of values.”

King was killed in 1968 when he was in Memphis to support a strike by sanitation workers. By then he had begun to say that his dream, the one that the corporate state has frozen into a few safe clichés from his 1963 speech in Washington, had turned into a nightmare. King called at the end of his life for massive federal funds to rebuild inner cities, what he called “a radical redistribution of economic and political power,” a complete restructuring of “the architecture of American society.” He grasped that the inequities of capitalism had become the instrument by which the poor would always remain poor.

“Call it democracy, or call it democratic socialism,” King said, “but there must be a better distribution of wealth within this country for all of God’s children.”

Want to really know?  I would focus on the struggles of people of color whom had to deal with what middle class whites are now beginning to understand for generations.

[Author]

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