Occupy Wall Street better defend its identity

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Occupy Orange County:

Tears stream as City Council unanimously agrees 'Occupy' tents are a form of Free Speech.

"Late last night after a 5 and-a-half hour marathon city council meeting, in which 72 speakers took the floor to express the need for the Occupy OC Tent Village to be accepted as a form of free speech, the city council passed an emergency motion to add the needs of “The 99%” to their official agenda. This was a feat which, according to one more conservative Councilman, he had never seen in 7 years of service."
 
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Brainster said:
When it comes down to sharing the wealth, the Occupy Wall Street crowd seem every bit as greedy as those they oppose:

Suggested new chant: "Whose food? Our food!"

stokes234 said:
Chicken, vegetables, bolognese, $10 million dollar yachts... whats the difference anyway?
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The greed of wealthy = good.

The greed of the poor = bad and hypocritical. F'em they can get a job. What's that? Oh, unemployment is high. Pay is trending down? Hmmmmm.. oh well, f'em any way, they are dirty hippie scum.
 
Spaghetti and meatballs, chicken and vegetables...what will these greedy protestors eat next?

But seriously, they're eating donated food cooked by volunteer chefs. The food framing is just a ridiculous ploy by the NY Post (seriously, why not just bring in a Breitbart blog entry, it would be about as objective). As for the homeless being barred, it is a regrettable thing that has been going on at some of the protests due to the same reasons the same people are often barred from soup kitchens/shelters. Picking fights, sexual harrassment, etc.
 
timhau said:
So, make demands and threaten to hit those corporations where it hurts. Apple doesn't care if you sit in a park banging a drum as long as you upgrade your iPhone regularly.
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Yeah, that was my argument when this started. After thinking about it though I think that is the wrong approach. We need to get the attention of the legislature and regulate, tax. I think it's doing just that. Whether it works in the end we will have to wait and see, hindsight being 20/20 I'd say they are doing exactly the best thing they could do.
 
RandFan said:
The greed of wealthy = good.

The greed of the poor = bad and hypocritical. F'em they can get a job. What's that? Oh, unemployment is high. Pay is trending down? Hmmmmm.. oh well, f'em any way, they are dirty hippie scum.
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And your simplistic formulation is that the greed of the poor is good, but the greed of the wealthy is bad.

These dirty hippie scum only see that the folks above them on the ladder have more than they do and they want it. Which is exactly what the transients and recently released convicts see at OWS.

Yes, the transients and crooks bring problems with them. But the OWS protestors bring problems with them too; the sanitation and annoying drums have been mentioned in this thread before.
 
A Laughing Baby said:
Spaghetti and meatballs, chicken and vegetables...what will these greedy protestors eat next?

But seriously, they're eating donated food cooked by volunteer chefs.
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What they eat isn't the point of the article. More to the point is that OWS continue with their hypocrisy by way of banning the homeless from their goodies while demanding more goodies from the rest of society. Oh the irony!

RandFan said:
Hmmmmm.. oh well, f'em any way, they are dirty hippie scum.
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Which seem to be attitude of OWS toward the homeless that is trying to get their stuff.
 
Brainster said:
And your simplistic formulation is that the greed of the poor is good, but the greed of the wealthy is bad.
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I was responding to a simplistic post by you.

When it comes down to sharing the wealth, the Occupy Wall Street crowd seem every bit as greedy as those they oppose:
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As if it were that simple. Glad you figured out the point of my post, just sorry you didn't figure why?.

These dirty hippie scum only see...
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And it's been pointed out over and over that broad brush strokes make for bad rhetoric. But you keep doing it don't you?

But the OWS protestors bring problems with them too; the sanitation and annoying drums have been mentioned in this thread before.
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Yes, democracy can be messy at times. Downright inconvenient even. Oh to be an autocracy. Look at how China dealt with their dirty hippies. They killed 'em.

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F'ng protestors. You can't put up with their drums and in a democracy you can't shoot 'em. @#$%.
 
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Government report says richest 1 percent doubled their share of US national income

A study released Tuesday by the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) reports that the richest 1 percent of US households nearly tripled their income between 1979 and 2007 and doubled their share of the national income.

The report also concludes that the top 20 percent of US households increased its share of national income while every other quintile saw its share decline. The top 20 percent received 53 percent of income in 2007—that is, its income surpassed the income of the other 80 percent of Americans.
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Brainster said:
And your simplistic formulation is that the greed of the poor is good, but the greed of the wealthy is bad.

These dirty hippie scum only see that the folks above them on the ladder have more than they do and they want it. Which is exactly what the transients and recently released convicts see at OWS.

Yes, the transients and crooks bring problems with them. But the OWS protestors bring problems with them too; the sanitation and annoying drums have been mentioned in this thread before.
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Has anyone been able to figure out yet what the OWS is for? Or against for that matter? I told Fiona at her forum that their slogan is a good start. It's catchy. It's marketable.

But now they need product.

They have to start by getting rid of the dopers and the clowns on stilts. Why? Because most people in the lowest two quintiles aren't clowns on stilts and they're alienating their customer base.

The real problem facing them is that everyone in each quintile hopes and expects to get into the next quintile up from them--somehow and some way. Once you're in that next quintile, there's not a hope in hell that you're going to accept any resolution that puts you back in the stew with the quintile you just left.

Frankly, anyone supporting these weekend homeless slummers should be asking their representatives for clarity and accepting nothing less. "How do I benefit?" should be the first question asked. If the answer is murky then skip them and find a group that knows how to frame an unambiguous programme.
 
Neally said:
What they eat isn't the point of the article. More to the point is that OWS continue with their hypocrisy by way of banning the homeless from their goodies while demanding more goodies from the rest of society. Oh the irony!
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Did you deliberately ignore the rest of my post that you had to delete for your quote?

A Laughing Baby said:
As for the homeless being barred, it is a regrettable thing that has been going on at some of the protests due to the same reasons the same people are often barred from soup kitchens/shelters. Picking fights, sexual harrassment, etc.
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It's a problem a lot of systems have to face if they deal with the homeless. Within the homeless population, there are a lot of mentally damaged people (either genetically or due to drugs), and to maintain a safe space for everyone involved, that sort of thing needs to be confronted.

On top of that, I don't think you quite understand the point of the movement. No one is demanding goodies. The movement stands against a broken system. That concepts tied to economic injustice are viewed as "demanding goodies" is simply disgusting to me.

That said, there are almost certainly people that one can find in the movement which are going to be demanding the utter downfall of capitalism, violent revolution, complete welfare states, etc. That's part of an inclusive movement. What cannot be allowed is allowing the discussion to center around the fringe in an attempt to discredit the movement at large. It happened to the Tea Party, and it's happening now.
 
stilicho said:
Frankly, anyone supporting these weekend homeless slummers should be asking their representatives for clarity and accepting nothing less. "How do I benefit?" should be the first question asked. If the answer is murky then skip them and find a group that knows how to frame an unambiguous programme.
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This is what I hear from protestors regularly now in the news.

  • End the corrupt entanglement of business and govt.
  • Investigate the activities that led to the housing and market collapse.
  • Pass the jobs bill.
  • Increase the tax rates.
Some want to end capitalism and start socialism. It's not a monolithic movement.
 
stilicho said:
That's what I'd expect. How would you redraw the chart to make it better?
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Oh, I don't know, perhaps a proportionally equivalent increase in income relative to inflation. Similar to how it was for decades previous to the past 20-30 years.

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RandFan said:
This is what I hear from protestors regularly now in the news.

  • End the corrupt entanglement of business and govt.
  • Investigate the activities that led to the housing and market collapse.
  • Pass the jobs bill.
  • Increase the tax rates.
Some want to end capitalism and start socialism. It's not a monolithic movement.
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I've solved the second one on my own. Greed caused the collapse of various markets just as greed fuels their expansion. That was simple.

Who needs a jobs bill? I just read that Alabama farmers can't get ordinary American citizens to pick their tomatoes. The US is the engine room of the global economy and there are hundreds of thousands of unfilled jobs just waiting for hard-working applicants.

Those two solutions probably repair the other two on their own. No street demonstrations required.
 
stilicho said:
I've solved the second one on my own. Greed caused the collapse of various markets just as greed fuels their expansion.
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Sorry no. As we speak there are civil lawsuits for fraud and some have already been settled. Greed alone can't explain it. Lack of regulation and fraud. And sadly, crime on the part of the SEC has been alleged and there is good reason to believe that.
 
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