a lot. And spreading to other cities.
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a lot. And spreading to other cities.
I slept over in Zuccotti Park two nights ago, and marched Washington Square park on Saturday. Seriously one of the most motivating and uplifting days of my life. A lot of motivated, intelligent people are down there, and it is not disorganized at all, like some news stations are portraying it. It's very organized, and very interesting. I encourage everyone to check it out.
what's it all about?
Essentially it boils down to dissatisfaction with the way this country is running, taking the economy in particular into account. The majority of the people are for higher taxes for the rich/superrich. And also for taking corporations out of politics. The entire movement in Zuccotti Park makes all decisions as a direct democracy of the people living there.
The best part is the they want to take corporations out of politics and want wall street to end, but half want Obama elected who is supported by Goldman and Sacs who received a major bailout from the government, much like the green company solyndria, who the 3 owners are reported to be very rich now after receiving the the bailout from Obama, the company also gave him a 2 or 3 hundred thousand dollar donation to his campaign before filing for bankruptcy. Some of the groups also want every one to receive equal pay if the work or do not work, which is the start of communism. They hate corporations yet the receive great help from unions, and they just hired a major PR firm to tell their story. In my opinion they just have no sense of what they are doing, from what I have seen all they can talk about on a consistent level is what they see on the liberal media. It's good that our generation is finally taking a stand on something, but this "We Are the 99%" isn't the best idea they could stand for, its a muck for sure.
yea, honestly I've seen most of these groups and they seem to lack a lot of direction....
making the rich pay for more taxes will not fix jack shit.... it's the average Americans tolerance for bullshit has risen so high that this is the only response we have come up with.
don't think I'm against it, but most of the people out there are 15-30 year olds bitching about 'the corporation and political lobbying'
True that, I wish people would get off this taxing the rich stuff, the 10% wealthy that do have the highest tax rate also pay i think like 90% of the taxes. People want the rich to pay their "fair" share of taxes, and I'd say that's more than fair. That's why I like Herman Cain, he wants to adopt a flat tax rate, every one pays 9%, it's honestly the best way to help the tax debate. You shouldn't punish some one because of hard work. I feel I shouldn't have to pay more money in taxes because some one is to lazy to find a job. America was built on hard work and succeeding because of that, hard work pays off, we all know this. What doesn't pay off is be busting my hump barley having money to afford my bills, why some one on welfare is perfectly able to work, chooses not too because they get more free money then they would if they worked. The system is flawed, that's why I'm glad what the governor of MI did, if you have been on welfare for more than four years, your cut off. Welfare was built as a helper if you are in hard times, not a way to live your life.Quote:
making the rich pay for more taxes will not fix jack shit
What's rich?Quote:
Originally Posted by Billy Paternoster
If you think the 99% thing is bullshit or a higher tax rate on the wealthy wont help, you need to check out history.
Oligarchy is not what the founders had in mind.
Blaming the poor and or lazy is what they want you to do. They did not deregulate so corporations can have you compete for jobs with workers in 3rd world nations. The poor and or lazy did not lie us into war and put it on the credit card for the rest of us and our grand kids to pay for while no bid contracts for billions were handed out like candy on Halloween. The poor did not deregulate the Banks so they could get too big to fail.
The 99% movement is about getting the power back in the peoples hands.
It will take time, it will be messy.
But just like anything worth doing its worth doing badly until your good at it.
+1Quote:
Originally Posted by Buffington
Theocracy isn't what the founders had in mind either, but that's where we have been heading at an alarming rate.
It amazes me the number of people who don't understand what Occupy Wall Street is all about. We can thank the media for that one.
A flat tax won't mathematically work.
A big reason we are in this crisis is because we have been taught through societal standards that getting into debt and using credit is acceptable. Allowing people who can't afford a house and who don't understand financial planning to qualify for loans with adjustable rates was the final straw.
Any time I hear of people making major purchases on their credit cards, I think of the old South Park episode where the Japanese people are making fun to the round eye Americans, "OH, I'll just put that on my credit card."
People need to cut back, learn the difference between needs and wants and what they are capable of purchasing without putting strain on their budgets. Sure, it might slow down the economy even more. Just like a runaway train it takes a lot of use of the brakes, shit gets shifted around during the stoppage. But once we slow down to a manageable pace in our economy, we can finally regroup, learn from our mistakes and move forward... a stronger country.
http://www.southparkstudios.com/clip...my-credit-card
So you're saying we should be accountable for our actions? No way, I prefer to blame the little man behind the curtain playing the Wizard of Oz for all my economic problems.Quote:
Originally Posted by derekWwyatt
No really though, your points are valid and I agree. I'm not saying I'm satisfied with the current state of our economy. We have one of the highest rates of unemployment and home foreclosure in a decades. I understand and feel the damage and understand why people are angry and want to rally. I just hope they do it intelligently and with unity vs what they're doing now. I think I heard quite a few "get rid of Wall Street" and "get rid of capitalism and install a communist state" type sentiments in there. I'm not saying it's not possible, but how about we focus on something tangible that we can fix immediately vs saying something obtuse like "fix the government."
Examples;
1. Stronger funding and support for the educational system. There is a direct correlation with poorly funded and/or complete lack of education and crime rates.
2. Researching and implementing social programs that create MUCH NEEDED jobs
3. Legalizing certain controversial psychedelic drugs which are known for their many health benefits. Just the taxation and jobs created for regulating this new market would be a step in the right direction to revitalize our economy. Not to mention the decrease violent crime rates in the US and Mexico by eliminating the demand for specific "currently illegal" drugs which would directly impact drug cartels negatively or destroy some of them altogether.
These are just my two centavos. I'm not trying to anger anyone or spark a debate lol. If you like communism, feel free to try it out and tell me how awesome living in a communist state is and how happy you are after leaving the USA. Maybe Cuba might treat you well? Or China perhaps? =D Yeah, they're living pretty good in China and Cuba.
I think the first, and best thing to do would make lobbyist and special interest groups completely illegal. This would make a huge difference in the state of the country. Mostly because these are the people that control the decisions politicians make.
Goldman Sachs contributed 1 million dollars to obama's campaign, and 240,000 to mccain's. you can find several banks at the top of the list of contributors to each candidate's campaigns. This alone, says something about why banks are given so much money, and the government refuses to do anything about their shitty behavior. In fact the government reinforces their behavior with bailouts and money gifts so they can give themselves bonuses.
Obama was also the biggest recipient of cash from BP. That explains why the corporation was basically given an "oh well" pass from the government.
Yes, our credit minded society had a hand in this but we're not all a bunch of Alan Greenspans when it comes to money management. Though the bad loans wouldn't exist without people to take them, that had nothing to do with how the banks bundled and resold them. The system created this course of action as an optimum money making strategy. It's not surprising that normal people on both sides of the fence would immediately jump at it.
The underlying problem is that our government and economic system is under the control of the very same people who exploit it. We need to get money out of government and increase the penalty for politicians who take part in this activity. At this point in time, I don't think that it would be insane to consider such an act as treason, and politicians should be regarded with that level of disdain.
exactly. Lobbying is like legal bribery. I'm surprised this hasn't been discussed. I feel like this is the biggest problem.Quote:
Originally Posted by AJ Camacho