106 replies to this topic

[duke_Qa]

I liked this article, but specifically a reference to a Frederick Douglass, whom in 1857 apparently had a very fine speech.

“If There Is No Struggle, There Is No Progress”
[...]
The general sentiment of mankind is that a man who will not fight for himself, when he has the means of doing so, is not worth being fought for by others, and this sentiment is just. For a man who does not value freedom for himself will never value it for others, or put himself to any inconvenience to gain it for others. Such a man, the world says, may lie down until he has sense enough to stand up. It is useless and cruel to put a man on his legs, if the next moment his head is to be brought against a curbstone.

A man of that type will never lay the world under any obligation to him, but will be a moral pauper, a drag on the wheels of society, and if he too be identified with a peculiar variety of the race he will entail disgrace upon his race as well as upon himself. The world in which we live is very accommodating to all sorts of people. It will cooperate with them in any measure which they propose; it will help those who earnestly help themselves, and will hinder those who hinder themselves. It is very polite, and never offers its services unasked. Its favors to individuals are measured by an unerring principle in this—viz., respect those who respect themselves, and despise those who despise themselves. It is not within the power of unaided human nature to persevere in pitying a people who are insensible to their own wrongs and indifferent to the attainment of their own rights. The poet was as true to common sense as to poetry when he said,

Who would be free, themselves must strike the blow.
[...]
Let me give you a word of the philosophy of reform. The whole history of the progress of human liberty shows that all concessions yet made to her august claims have been born of earnest struggle. The conflict has been exciting, agitating, all-absorbing, and for the time being, putting all other tumults to silence. It must do this or it does nothing. If there is no struggle there is no progress. Those who profess to favor freedom and yet deprecate agitation are men who want crops without plowing up the ground; they want rain without thunder and lightning. They want the ocean without the awful roar of its many waters.

Also, in more recent news from BBC, it seems the OWS Got big enough to make a scene at Times Square. I like the tenacity of this, and it seems not to be losing steam at all. I read that there will be a student demonstration in London on Nov 9th, I wonder if they even will have time to wait for that date. Might be a completely different sort of demonstration though, since we've seen the that the Italian demonstrations in Rome turned ugly.

[Beowulf]

Normally I wouldn't use a Cracked article, but this one makes a lot of sense, and it's very related. The author is spot on with his conclusions, and it's a good read. Very serious article strangely enough.

[duke_Qa]

Yeah, it brings up the problem with those that try to push their pet peeve specialized ideology onto the train. We come from a generation of apathy, I doubt more than 10% of these kids have much experience with politics.

He mentions that corporations in America have a nature for evil and that it is our government's fault that we've not controlled them well enough...but that does not take to account the #3 point in Robert Reich's Youtube video about the economy: "with money comes political power". This is pretty much why wall street is the target and not the government itself. The movement is about reminding both the rich and the rulers that they have a responsibility to support the citizens if they are interested in keeping their position and power.



Back in the cold war it was very important to keep the people happy as to avoid communist/marxist/generic revolution in most of Europe. Some might think that with the defeat of Soviet this threat died with it. But there is still a social contract between the rulers and the subjects, and breaching that contract will not be done unnoticed.

Edited by duke_Qa, 16 October 2011 - 02:51 PM.

[duke_Qa]

A Guardian article which brings up some moderate options for how to fix things:

[...]
So why won't popular protests go away? Here's why: there has been no public inquiry into the causes of the crash. No calling to account of those who drove the ship on to the rocks. No assertion of the public interest over financial markets. No subordination of banks to the needs of the real economy. No politician who dares face down global finance. No challenging of the defunct dogmas of neoliberal economics. No attempt to reverse the breathtaking wealth grab by the 1% at the expense of the rest.
[...]
The system is broken, here's how we fix it. Don't tinker with ringfencing banks. Break them up as the first step to creating an effective local lending infrastructure. This is not pie in the sky. This is what the German banking system looks like. Its local public savings banks have supported small businesses and ordinary people throughout the recession, where big banks run away at the first sign of trouble. No annual pantomime of Project Merlin is required for our industrial competitors.Don't create new money just to feather-bed bankers and enrich the wealthy. Create new money to create new jobs and new wealth. Use quantitative easing directly to fund the renewal of our infrastructure, to build the new green economy, eradicate fuel poverty, reskill the unemployed and tackle the climate crisis at the same time.

Don't let people become the slaves of distant creditors. It's time to talk of a massive relief of debt. The UK's problem is not really the public deficit that so obsesses the chancellor, but private household debt and the daunting treadmill that awaits a generation of young people burdened by student fees, relentless rents and a housing market that is still in the realms of fantasy.

I think there are tons of good guidelines in that article. Moderate and easy enough to implement without asking for total reform of the entire system.

[Námo]

(memories from my youth)

You don't need a weather man to know which way the wind blows:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PqIPCx1BpMQ

... remember The Weathermen Underground, and the "Days of Rage"?

Edited by Námo, 17 October 2011 - 03:54 PM.

[duke_Qa]

That goes for all sides, we are all human and it would seem humans can "easily" be programmed into fanaticism, no matter what coordinates you start at.

As far as I can see, the main reason this event has had such success is exactly because they are actively non-violent. If they were actively breaking the law they could easily have been cleaned off the streets with no backlash.


A movement to big to fail

There is no danger that the protesters who have occupied squares, parks and plazas across the nation in defiance of the corporate state will be co-opted by the Democratic Party or groups like MoveOn. The faux liberal reformers, whose abject failure to stand up for the rights of the poor and the working class, have signed on to this movement because they fear becoming irrelevant. Union leaders, who pull down salaries five times that of the rank and file as they bargain away rights and benefits, know the foundations are shaking. So do Democratic politicians from Barack Obama to Nancy Pelosi. So do the array of "liberal" groups and institutions, including the press, that have worked to funnel discontented voters back into the swamp of electoral politics and mocked those who called for profound structural reform.

Resistance, real resistance, to the corporate state was displayed when a couple of thousand protesters, clutching mops and brooms, early Friday morning forced the owners of Zuccotti Park and the New York City police to back down from a proposed attempt to expel them in order to "clean" the premises. These protesters in that one glorious moment did what the traditional "liberal" establishment has steadily refused to do—fight back. And it was deeply moving to watch the corporate rats scamper back to their holes on Wall Street. It lent a whole new meaning to the phrase "too big to fail.

I have to say this is pretty close to hitting something. I've found the left of the US to be toothless. Only the republicans have had this sort of assertiveness before, and now it looks like the left are starting to get some claws.

One thing for sure though: This is messing up the republican presidential candidate election and rhetoric

Edited by duke_Qa, 17 October 2011 - 09:39 PM.

[Námo]

I've found the left of the US to be toothless. Only the republicans have had this sort of assertiveness before, and now it looks like the left are starting to get some claws.

So, the OWS is leftist?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uTbz1kQdfzI

One thing for sure though: This is messing up the republican presidential candidate election and rhetoric

An amazing dialog between a capitalist confronting the people at the Occupy LA Rally:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gr6di26NApU

Funny to see that so many of the Occupy LA crowd would support Herman Cain for president. The even chanted “9-9-9!” Looks like Cain has crossover appeal that the GOP establishment has overlooked.

[Námo]

From ZeroHedge: Obama's Attempt To Use #OWS As A Diversionary Smoke Screen Fails: 56% Believe Washington To Blame For Crisis And Recession

Zero Hedge is the last to cut Wall Street, with its rampant criminality, conflicts of interest, and corruption, any slack - in fact we are often the first to expose it. That said, we have long found it surprising that popular anger is focused on this particular group of individuals, instead of targeting the just as, if not far more, culpable for the current economic collapse enabling focal point known as Washington D.C.

As has been discussed previously, it is no surprise that none other than the president has been quick to embrace the Occupy Wall Street movement and its offshoots as his own: after all it cleanly and efficiently deflects attention from his own near-3 year performance as president. Surely Obama is neither the first (nor last) to recognize that the scapegoating of a "minority" group (as the Wall Street "1%" clearly is) and use it as a catalyst for class warfare, is a historically very successful tactic.

Well, while thousands of people may express their displeasure with their plight openly before the traditional symbols of Wall Street, it would appear that Obama is failing in his attempt at global diversion from the place where popular anger should truly lie: Congress, Senate, and of course, the White House, without whose (and by 'whose' here we clearly envision Tim Geithner, Hank Paulson and Ben Bernanke) blessings Wall Street would not exist in its current form. Yet it does, and many have figured that out.

According to a brand new poll by The Hill, "in the minds of likely voters, Washington, not Wall Street, is primarily to blame for the financial crisis and the subsequent recession. The movement appears to have struck a chord with progressive voters, but it does not seem to represent the feelings of the wider public. The Hill poll found that only one in three likely voters blames Wall Street for the country’s financial troubles, whereas more than half — 56 percent — blame Washington. Moreover, when it comes to the political consequences of the protest, voters tend to believe that there are more perils than positives for Obama and the Democrats."

Sorry Obama, your attempt to demonize bankers (who richly deserve the public pariah status they have achieved, not least of due to the in vitro world they occupy, where anything less than $1 million is pocket change) has failed, and the people recognize that real social change, one that must and will impact Wall Street, has to begin with the commodity most often purchased by Wall Street: politicians ... such as yourself.

From The Hill:

A plurality believe that the Occupy Wall Street movement will hurt Democrats and Obama in the 2012 election. Even those whose sympathies lie on the left of center seem unsure about the likely political repercussions. Just half of all liberal likely voters — the group most likely to blame Wall Street for the recession — and fewer than half of all Democrats believe the protests will help their side next year.

The split on the question of apportioning blame for the nation’s economic travails corresponds closely with voters’ political ideologies: More than 7 in 10 conservatives blamed Washington for the recession, while more than 5 in 10 liberals blamed Wall Street.

But self-identified centrists, importantly, appear to be siding with the right on economic issues, with nearly half blaming Washington for the recession.

The difference also reflected voters’ views of Obama: Among those who “strongly” or “somewhat” approve of the president, most blamed Wall Street, while those who “strongly” or “somewhat” disapprove of the president blamed Washington.

[duke_Qa]

leftist != progressive. Though most of the time leftist ideas are a part of progressive ideologies.

I like that rich guy answering questions from the crowd, and I find the crowd asking relatively good questions. Haven't really heard much about the 9-9-9 tax from cain(Also, whats with all these guys with "cain" in their name running for presidency, one thing I've learned from the bible is to be careful about people with Cain/kane in their names ). But they forgot to ask him if he thinks it was easier back in the 70/80/90s to start a firm than it is today.


I don't know if anyone of you ever played Planetarion, but it had a economy based upon asteroids that would increase in cost depending on the number of asteroids you had, so in the end you were forced to raid enemy planets to get asteroids for a good price. After a few months the "round" was restarted because the top players had acquired enough of the universe's asteroids that it became impossible to beat them.
I think the economic situation we are in right now is very close to such a situation, where a lot of power is gathered in the hands of very few. And the longer it stays there the more powerful it becomes, up to the point where it can't be stopped without resetting the entire system. Humanity have reset many systems through the times, but it usually ain't pretty.

[Námo]

Afterburner on the OWS protesters:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OAOrT0OcHh0

I would double that up; a whole week of seven days would be more appropriate for some of those spoiled kids.

[Námo]

#Occupy Chipotle’s Toilets

from OccupyWallStreet Forum: Boycott Chipotle Mexican Grill

-They use illegal aliens paying them below minimum wage and keeping them in poverty.
-They lie and say their food is made ethically. It is not.
-They use Wallt St bankers to steal money to oppress the poor.
-They lie and they serve food under the guise of organic when it is not.
-They use the laws to keep american workers out and put illegal aliens in so they don’t pay a fare wage or offer health insurance.
-They won’t lets use the restrooms.

User Comment: Occupy their toilets!

The Occupy Wall Street forum can be a very entertaining hangout.

Edited by Námo, 18 October 2011 - 07:17 PM.

[duke_Qa]

Would have loved to see this Bill out in the woods working for his keep. He does not seem like the type that would make his own bonfire. He says he could avoid the fall of civilizations, but hubris is the only thing that comes before a fall. To leave a system unattended for decades is to leave the future to other more "progressive" civilizations. These demonstrators are more willing to stand up for something than his flock is.

Technology has given us the blessings of being able to produce much more than we need to acquire food(9% of average wages in the US, bet you could get that down to 4-5% if you were cheap). Is it such a crime to ask for some of that money to come back to the producers so that they can focus less on worrying about their health-insurance and children's education and more about their own economy and development?

I wonder how you, who live in Denmark, can claim the ultra-libertarian way of megacorps is the true path to salvation? You've never lived with that dread over your head, you've been kept safe from any danger and supported by your government.

[Copaman]

http://the53.tumblr.com/

I think that the Occupy crap has gone on long enough. Yeah, they have a point or two (what even are their points?), but now it's just gone on too long. What has killed them is a lack of unification. I couldn't tell you more than probably 2 or 3 discussion points they are pursuing, and that's a function of a lack of leadership. There are a lot of people out there who are starting to get frustrated that the Occupy protests are still going on; nobody likes to see a massive group of people just live in a park for a month on end, while they're out in the real world working hard.

Also, who the hell came up with the name? I think it's pretty dumb, for starters, but they aren't even occupying Wall Street...

[duke_Qa]

Give them one more economic disturbance like the bankruptcy of Greece or some American event that causes the stocks to fall again. They will wax and wane for as long as the economy is in trouble. And if nothing gets changed the economy will be in trouble for a long time.

nobody likes to see a massive group of people just live in a park for a month on end, while they're out in the real world working hard.

Working hard and keeping their mouths shut. These people do it in shifts though, they might even be spending their vacation weeks to do it. Some are probably genuinely jobless and live off food-stamps and donated food. "Involuntarily part-time" is a catchphrase up here these days, that can also be a possibility for many.

[Copaman]

Give them one more economic disturbance like the bankruptcy of Greece or some American event that causes the stocks to fall again. They will wax and wane for as long as the economy is in trouble. And if nothing gets changed the economy will be in trouble for a long time.

That's what they believe? Or what you believe the truth to be?

The economy will recover, one way or another; such is the nature of capitalism. It's just a matter of time.

Working hard and keeping their mouths shut. These people do it in shifts though, they might even be spending their vacation weeks to do it. Some are probably genuinely jobless and live off food-stamps and donated food. "Involuntarily part-time" is a catchphrase up here these days, that can also be a possibility for many.

Keeping our mouths shut?

Not quite. I'm perfectly capable of expressing my own political opinion. I'm not just a "sheep" that has been "brainwashed" into keeping quiet when I don't agree with something. Like I said in my post above, I think the whole Occupy thing is completely ridiculous. Let's all go out, not work, and bitch and moan about the people who are making more money than us. We'll call it a protest or the start of a revolution, and everybody who is a Democrat will love us ... that includes the media.

Alternatively, every one of those people who are protesting could go out and work towards their dream. Yeah, maybe you have to work two jobs to make the kind of money you're comfortable with. That might be a possibility.

In my own personal case, I'm racking up tens of thousands in debt in order to obtain my college degree, on the pretense that my degree will help propel me to a job where I start out making a good sum of money. Do I want to be thousands of dollars in debt? Not at all. Would I rather sit around complaining until someone gave me a handout? Absolutely. If I could live off of other peoples' money and not have to work hard, I definitely would. But I know that that isn't going to be the case. I'm dedicated to becoming successful, and I know that that will involve hardships. Again: do I want to be tens of thousands of dollars in debt, or work 40+ hours a week as a BUTCHER during the summer, or possibly find a second summer job to make even more money, or golf only once the entire summer? No. But in my mind, it is something I have to do in order to eventually live the life I want to live. Once upon a time, that was appreciated in society. Doing what it takes, until you make it; that was the American dream at one point. I'm not terribly bothered by the fact that it seems we've gotten away from that, though. In society, somebody has to be a part of the 99%, or the 53% that supports the people who don't deserve the support, or the 1% being protested. I know that with the work I'm putting in and the work I will put in once I'm out of Uni, I'm going to start my journey in the 53%. Right off the bat, my money will be taken from me and used to support people who don't deserve it. People like the ones protesting right now instead of working jobs. With some hard work, determination, and maybe a small bit of luck, my goal is to end up in that 1%. And that's what drives me. Think of the life that the 1% gets to live. Instead of bitching about not being able to live that life, how about you go out and strive for it?

[Elvenlord]

Ok yeah. I gotta say something. It's not about hand-outs. At all. It's about ending the amount of influence Wall Street has in government. Everything else being protested is generally a symptom of that.

Not quite. I'm perfectly capable of expressing my own political opinion. I'm not just a "sheep" that has been "brainwashed" into keeping quiet when I don't agree with something. Like I said in my post above, I think the whole Occupy thing is completely ridiculous. Let's all go out, not work, and bitch and moan about the people who are making more money than us. We'll call it a protest or the start of a revolution, and everybody who is a Democrat will love us ... that includes the media.

....Really? Where has the media actually been paying attention to OWS? What little is done about it generally about police action rather than the actual movement, though that is starting to change.
Check it

[duke_Qa]

Running off for my first political meeting in two minutes, but Elvenlord points out something important when it comes to why people are demonstrating.
It's not about making life a welfare heaven, its about stopping these disturbances that messes up every average Joe's life. Most people can do a good job in good times.


Also, even if the 1% was 3-5%, they would still have enough money to buy a yacht and whatever else people aim for in success.
Multiplying the amount of super-successful people will increase the amount of talented people doing good work for a nation.
You might claim they won't get there if they can't get there today, but the fact is that its much harder today because of monopolization, aggressive globalization and massive unbalanced competition.

[duke_Qa]

I think I've mentioned this theory before the OWS started getting attention, but here it is written by better wordsmiths with more American political history knowledge than me:

Back in 1976, Republican strategist Jude Wanniski invented the phrase “supply side economics” and then proposed his famous “Two Santa Clauses theory” to sell it. Democrats, he said, had always been the party of Santa – bearing gifts to the American people like unemployment insurance, Social Security, Medicare, the 40-hour workweek, safe workplaces, clean air and water, and the minimum wage. What the American people needed, they got – and they got it from the Democrats playing the role of Santa.

The Republicans, Wanniski pointed out, had always been the anti-Santa party, saying “No” to virtually every single “Santa gift” Democrats wanted to give to the American people, for over a century.

But, Wanniski reasoned, if the Republicans could become Santas themselves – give the American people an annual gift – and at the same time could force the Democrats to stop being Santas (in Wanniski’s words, “force the Democrats to shoot Santa”), then the Democrats would be neutralized and Republicans could win elections.


His strategy was simple, and picked up virtually from Day One by the Reagan administration in 1981: When Republicans are in the White House, cut taxes dramatically (particularly on the rich, but talk about the tax cuts to working people), while also jacking up spending to bubble-stimulate the economy and make it look like the good times are flowing. And when Democrats are in the White House, block all tax increase and spending measures while screaming hysterically about the “debt bomb,” forcing austerity and economic pain for everyday Americans.

I don't really care what comes out of these events, as long as it stops this kind of Russian roulette.

Also, there is an article that points out the absurdity of the Tea Party gang, where they've now called for small firms in the US to stop hiring to protest against Obama.

[...]

Call For A Strike of American Small Businesses Against The Movement for Global Socialism

"I'm on strike!" - Ellis Wyatt, from the end of the movie "Atlas Shrugged, Part 1", based on the novel by Ayn Rand

Resolved that: The Obama administration and the Democrat-controlled Senate, in alliance with a global Progressive socialist movement, have participated in what appears to be a globalist socialist agenda of redistribution of wealth, and the waging of class warfare against our constitutional republic's heritage of individual rights, free market capitalism, and indeed our Constitution itself, with the ultimate goal of collapsing the U.S. economy and globalizing us into socialism.

Resolved that: President Obama has seized what amount to dictatorial powers to bypass our Congress, and that because the Congress is controlled by a Progressive socialist Senate that will not impeach one of their kind, they have allowed this and yielded what are rightfully congressional powers to this new dictator.

Resolved that: By their agenda and actions, those in our government who swore oaths to protect and defend our Constitution have committed treason against the United States.

Resolved that: The current administration and Democrat majority in the Senate, in conjunction with Progressive socialists from all around the country, especially those from Hollywood and the left leaning news media (Indeed, most of the news media.) have worked in unison to advance an anti-business, an anti-free market, and an anti-capitalist (anti-individual rights and property ownership) agenda.

Resolved that: These same factions expect that, by carrying out a radical anti-business agenda, which includes the passage and inflicting of Obama"Care" on our nation, class warfare and redistribution of wealth, and expanding the government, while killing businesses in this country with an environment hostile to business, including excessive regulations (the average business must now spend about $11,700 per year per employee to comply with government regulations!), and by borrowing and wasting more money than has been spent in the entire previous existence of our republic, that they will "create jobs", when in fact all they have "created" have been government jobs that consume wealth, and don't "create" it.

Resolved that: Our President, the Democrats-Socialists, most of the media, and most of those from Hollywood, have now encouraged and supported "Occupy" demonstrations in our streets, which are now being perpetrated across the globe, and which are being populated by various marxists, socialists and even communists, and are protesting against business, private property ownership and capitalism, something I thought I'd never see in my country, in my lifetime.

I, an American small business owner, part of the class that produces the vast majority of real, wealth producing jobs in this country, hereby resolve that I will not hire a single person until this war against business and my country is stopped.

I hereby declare that my job creation potential is now ceased.

"I'm on strike!"

[...]

"Despicable" is not a muscular enough word to describe this sad catastrophe of a document. Leaving aside all the gibberish about global socialist conspiracies and Obama's dictatorial tyranny - truly, all that is simply too stupid to reckon with - what we have here is a far-right activist group demanding that millions of unemployed people be denied gainful employment for no other reason than the Tea Party does not like the president.

No jobs for anyone until Obama is gone. Got it? The suffering being endured by so many Americans in the aftermath of the very economic policies championed in this declaration have no bearing on the present. Screw you, screw me, screw everyone, until these people have their way. If even one person in America heeds this call and refuses to hire anyone in need of a job, that will be a disaster of enormous proportions, for it will stand as the clearest indication yet that we are not our brother's keeper, that we are a cruel and selfish people, that we are hopeless possibly beyond all redemption.

So yeah. Fun ideology. Bit "Over your dead body".

[Pasidon]

A good friend of mine, Jebediah Snider, recently had an intelligent comment to add about the 'occupiers' in his posting section of The Somereset Underground that I found to be a keen opinion on the matter:

~A MESSAGE FOR ALL YE OCCUPIERS~
At first glance one might believe that the occupiers are nothing more than a group of misguided misfits bound together by their ignorance who have chosen to act out the emotion they have come to feel as a direct result of the Marxist propaganda they have willingly ingested throughout their lives. However after studying them in greater depth one can now see that occupiers are truly a group of misguided misfits bound together by their ignorance who have chosen to act out the emotion they have come to feel as a direct result of the Marxist propaganda they have willingly ingested throughout their lives. They represent the epitome of hypocrisy.

The thing that strikes me most about the occupiers is that while they appear to be physically united they do not seem to be able to focus on any single issue. They carry signs bearing many messages. It would seem that each protestor has come forward with their own pet cause or issue. Among other things they favor the end of the free market, saving the environment through increased government regulations, forgiveness of all debt, government funded healthcare, free college education as well as their mutual hatred of the wealthy. In a nonbiased poll 77% of protestors who responded stated that they want to raise taxes on the wealthy, but at the same time opposed any tax increases on those not deemed wealthy. In a similar poll 98% of protestors interviewed supported civil disobedience to achieve their agenda, and 31% of the protestors interviewed were in favor of violence to forward their cause. Yet they liken their protests to that of Martin Luther King’s Civil Rights Movement. The hypocrisy grows. Further evidence of hypocrisy can be found in their outwards hatred of capitalism. While they denounce capitalism and slander its virtues, they simultaneously took full advantage of capitalism in the form of the banking system, and established an account with Visa to collect their donations. In early October the same account froze through the fault of no one and the OWS organizers accused Visa of keeping them from their money. They latter apologized to Visa for the misunderstanding.

Democrats praise the Occupy Wall Street protests and compare OWS to the Tea Party despite the obvious differences. The Tea Party acquires permits before holding events, does not require a police presence at its events and cleans up the garbage produced at its events. The OWS protests do not acquire permits, clash with police as well as defecating on their cruisers, allow open sales of illegal drums and require the city of New York to clean up after them. The OWS protests in New York have thus far cost the city $1.9 million in police security alone. The Tea Party can be characterized as a middle class movement with the common interest in less government power, less government spending and less debt. The OWS protests can be characterized as a diverse group of people of varying beliefs such as anarchism, socialism, anti-Semitism and communism who’s only apparent purpose thus far is to cause chaos.

Anti-Semitic slogans such as “Jews control Wall Street,” “Wall Street Jews,” “Jewish Billionaires,” “Jew need to be run out of the country” and “Israel is a criminal pariah state” can be heard throughout OWS protests nationwide. The OWS protests have even been officially endorsed by the American Nazi Party. The OWS protests have also been given “greetings of solidarity” from the Communist Party. It has been said that one can learn a lot about a person’s character by knowing something about their traveling companions. The same can be said of the OWS protests. The OWS protests have spread worldwide, taking place in 80 some countries including interestingly enough Iran. In Tehran Iranian protestors held signs bearing many messages including “We are the 99%” and “The End of Wall Street,” while chanting “Death to America” and burning American and Israeli flags.
The bottom line is that the protestors are destroying themselves by revealing their true colors. They climb on statues and sculptures demanding the resignation of Major Bloomfield and among other things cigarettes. They reintegrate again and again that they have been dealt a bad hand and so now they are entitled to the same wealth that everyone else earned for themselves through their own hard efforts. Rather than be like their great grandmothers and great grandfathers who worked harder to provide for themselves during the depression they would rather wait for someone to offer them a handout. They come forwards with stories like “I fell behind on the payments of my house that I knew was reckless of me to buy, and now I am homeless and all I want is for the bank to just forget about my loans and hand over the keys,” “I have $25,000 of debt from my college loans, and I don’t want to pay them because I think the government should,” “I can’t find anything other than minimum wage jobs, even though I have a Master’s Degree in 13th century Spanish literature” and the list goes on. I recently came across a picture of a man in New York City’s Times Square holding a sign that read, “MINIMUM WAGE $16,000 per year, CEO of GOLDMAN SACHS $16,000 per HOUR.” How could this be anything other than jealousy? This country was once a place where people did not hate other people because of their success, it used to be that the successfulness of others was a source of inspiration and prompted people to achieve for themselves. Now more and more people are of the mind that those who are successful can only be so through greed, and thus they do not deserve their wealth and so it should be given to me. This sort of believe is very un-American.

The protests themselves may appear to be spontaneous, but they are quite well planned. This is not surprising when one becomes privy to the fact that former members of the corrupt and now disbanded ACORN have formed a group in New York City called the New York Communities for Change (NYCC) which is currently playing an active role in the planning of demonstrations. Unions also play a role in the organization and financing of the protests. Protestors marched to the home of JPMorgan Chase chief Jamie Dimon in Manhattan because he is a ‘greedy banker.’ However they did not march to the home of billionaire George Soros who lives just a couple blocks down the street. The OWS protestors are blind to the hypocrisy of themselves and the millionaire celebrities that support them like Kanye West and Michael Moore. Michael and Kanye are rich, so they must be greedy too.
If these protestors are looking for someone to blame they must look no further than their own democratic party who has openly betrayed them to its own advantage. The Democratic Party’s belief is simple, keep people dependent on the government, thus creating bigger government with a greater control over the people. The democrat’s ability to maintain the nation’s dependence on them lays in their control of a majority of the main stream media outlets as well as the public education system. Children are taught in schools about what their government can do for them and are taught nothing of self reliance. Teach one generation and before you know it they have had children and taught them the same, thus perpetuating ignorance. I have heard of the protesters being referred to as useful idiots, and I cannot honestly say that I see them as being anything other than just that. Not unlike most liberal movements their motives seem to be fraught with emotion and very little logical reasoning behind their actions. Their only common motive can be nothing other than plain and simple envy.

[Beowulf]

I've been saying it for a while. The OWS protesters are nothing but lazy slobs who want more free money and they use incoherent rhetoric to push their agenda. These people take a gigantic shit on those who are genuinely destitute, which, in turn, makes them all look bad so detractors will label anyone on benefits the same as the protesters. If you listen to the people there, many of them made very poor decisions with their finances and now they're suffering from their own bad decisions. Is it really the responsibility of government to handle one's personal affairs? I should hope not and it begins to beg the important question: where does personal responsibility end? No really. At what point do bad decisions become everyone else's fault? The protesters go on and on about the rich not sharing their wealth, but they earned that money and they're damn well entitled to every penny of it. Why, exactly, should those who earned their money by putting forth an earnest effort be forced to hand it over to lazy people unwilling to get a job?

The reason the distribution of wealth is polarized is major corporations. Those who worked their way into top positions at prosperous (and they're usually) Fortune 500 companies come out on top and those unwilling to do anything do not. Then again, it doesn't help that Hollywood has deeply engrained a certain lifestyle into the puerile minds of many dipshits who populate this country. I'd say most of the OWS protesters have this image of their lives that they don't have so they just blame the rich people for their own shortcomings. It's time to wake up and get the fuck back to work. Like Penn Jillette said on the show Bullshit, "There's nothing bullshit about having a job."