Thread: Thousands to occupy Wall Street in protest

From an article by Joseph Stiglitz

The protesters, perhaps more than most politicians, grasped what was going on.

At one level, they are asking for so little: for a chance to use their skills, for the right to decent work at decent pay, for a fairer economy and society, one that treats them with dignity. In Europe and the United States, their requests are not revolutionary, but evolutionary.

At another level, though, they are asking for a great deal: for a democracy where people, not dollars, matter; and for a market economy that delivers on what it is supposed to do.

The two demands are related: unfettered markets do not work well, as we have seen. For markets to work the way markets are supposed to, there has to be appropriate government regulation. But for that to occur, we have to have a democracy that reflects the general interests—not the special interests or just those at the top.

The protesters have been criticized for not having an agenda, but such criticism misses the point of protest movements. They are an expression of frustration with the political system and even, in those countries where there are elections, with the electoral process. They sound an alarm.

In some ways the protesters have already accomplished a great deal: think tanks, government agencies, and the media have confirmed their allegations, the failures not just of the market system but of the high and unjustifiable level of inequality.

The expression “we are the 99 percent” has entered into popular consciousness.

No one can be sure where the movements will lead. But of this we can be sure: these young protesters have already altered public discourse and the consciousness of ordinary citizens and politicians alike.

Joseph Stiglitz: The Price of Inequality | Books | AlterNet

Heh...thought they were all back in Mom's Basement with high levels of PTSD?

With that kinda logic you gotta ask... who the fuk is Joseph Stiglitz anyway..?

I've missed out most of this thread , but fair play to the protesters.

why should these scumbag banker thieves be able to get away with stealing the working mans' money?

shoot the rich, lying CEO parasites!

Are they still around - those occupiers? If they are, more bad news for them and their argument(s) re the wealthy and taxes. It seems "since the start of the recession, the wealthy have seen their incomes fall 18 times more than the incomes of the middle class."



Source

And you still hear the hue & cry of those who castigate the Koch Bros. & the Walton Family...'robber barons I tell you'!!!

^
I read it (surprise!) and have no points to argue. Income inequality is a serious matter but if the US Government can get its act together and avoid a Chilean Scenario where the country goes from nanny-state entitlements to military dictatorship to the stability Chile society enjoys today it'll be a miracle.

A few Generals in power for the short-term might not be a bad idea tho...

This was just released, it is a sober Ebook of comparitive Tables, not a diatribe or even a social commentary. It is pretty sobering, frankly.

decline of the USA:
relative to Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Japan, South Korea, Luxembourg, Mexico, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Slovak Republic, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey, and United Kingdom

Of the thirty OECD nations above, the US now ranks 29th- it is beaten into last place by Mexico.

The book looks at eight indicators each in seven categories, ranking counties in order along with precise figures for how they score. It also divides them into first, second and third divisions (in sets of 10), which comes in handy for gauging overall performance. The seven categories are: health, family, education, income and leisure, freedom and democracy, public order and safety, and generosity. Indicators include things like life expectancy at birth, infant mortality rate, share of income received by richest 10 per cent, years of life lost in injury, etc. Those with some awareness of these sorts of measures will probably not be surprised to learn that the United States ranks next to last overall (go Mexico!), while those who get their information from FOX or other corporate media may be stunned to the point of disbelief.
America in denial: We're number 29 (of 30) - Opinion - Al Jazeera English

The author/ compiler, Edward Fullbrook, is the founder and editor of the Real World Economics Review. Here is what he had to say in his Preface-

when in late 2007 Barack Obama’s campaign for President of the USA began to look like a possible winner. Like millions of others, I was soon intoxicated with the optimism of the hour, optimism that here at last was a leader committed to reversing America’s decades of decline. Suddenly my USA book project seemed contrary to the spirit of the time, and I abandoned it.
Now, four years on, Obama has done nothing much to slow the decline of the USA, much less reverse it, nor does he any longer show any inclination to do so. Thus I have decided to make my findings public.
There is no prose in this book, just 65 pages of tables showing the rankings and scores for the 30 nations. With 25 exceptions, I have used the tables compiled four years or more ago. I don’t think the rankings will have changed much in that time. But if there is sufficient interest, I can bring out a further updated edition later in the year,
Of course this book is not just about the USA. In fact it is about each of the 30 OECD countries just as much as it is about the USA. Spin and military might aside, what are the world’s top countries? What is your country’s position in the hierarchy of “developed” nations? This book will tell you.

Whatever the pro's and con's of this ragtag OWS movement, they certainly have a point. At a time when the 1% and (more markedly) the 0.1% control an unprecedented amount of US national wealth in the modern era- an unprecedented amongst all of the OECD nations (except perhaps Mexico), the USA, by this quite comprehensive list of comparative social indicators, is barely hanging on to it's 'first world' or OECD status.

The response of the mainstream press has mainly been to denigrate OWS, in particular some individuals within it. Drum circles, petty crimes etc. I believe their actual grievances deserve considerably more attention than that- these trends are certainly alarming, and 'Hope and Change' Obama has yet to preside over anything but declining social trends, although one should not ignore the incremental improvements that will (hopefully) proceed from health care reform. As things stand, in more ways than one the USA is right next to Mexico- and that is surely not where it wants to be.

Originally Posted by sabang

Originally Posted by Boon Mee

the wealthy have seen their incomes fall 18 times more than the incomes of the middle class

And yet their share of the national wealth has gone up enormously- 1% of Americans now own as much wealth as the bottom 50% of all Americans. Understatement of the century- this is not a first world figure.

Well, this just in. According to the CBO: Income Inequality Not Getting Worse.

There has been a lot of class-warfare talk from Barack Obama and his cohorts in the media (and Bane, in The Dark Knight Rises) that either intimates or baldly states that the rich are getting richer, the poor poorer, and the gap between them is ever-widening in America. In addition, talk has been bandied about that the rich pay less taxes than the rest of Americans. But according to a new report from the Congressional Budget Office (CBO), neither of these leftist canards is true.

Between 2007 and 2009, (once the Democrats took over Congress and the recession started) the earnings accrued after taxes by the top 1% of wage earners fell 37%. And even before taxes their earnings fell 36%. Meanwhile, the lowest 20% of earners saw their income grow by 3%, while the middle class dropped a modest 2%. This means that the incomes of the top 1% fell 18 times more than middle class incomes. In 2007, the top 1% earned 16.7 percent of all after-tax income, but by 2009, it had shrunk to 11.5%.

So while the rich saw their fortunes plummet, the poor gained, and the middle class treaded water. So much for an ever-widening gap. And as far as the amount paid in taxes, the top 1% paid an average of 28.9%, while the middle class paid 11%.

But the New York Times had the gall to say in March, “New statistics show an ever-more-startling divergence between the fortunes of the wealthy and everybody else — and the desperate need to address this wrenching problem.” One problem; the Times didn’t get their statistics from the CBO.

As for Our Socialist Leader, he said in December 2011:

Now, this kind of inequality -- a level that we haven’t seen since the Great Depression -- hurts us all. Inequality also distorts our democracy … And yet, over the last few decades, the rungs on the ladder of opportunity have grown farther and farther apart, and the middle class has shrunk … This isn’t about class warfare … And we still believe, in the words of the man who called for a New Nationalism all those years ago, “The fundamental rule of our national life,” he said, “the rule which underlies all others -- is that, on the whole, and in the long run, we shall go up or down together.”

One problem; under Obama and the Democrats, the rich are already losing money by the bushel, so he is, as usual, making a specious argument. And for him to claim that he isn’t fomenting class warfare, a la Bane, is a bald-faced lie."

Material ripped from here

Who you gonna believe? The CBO or Obama's lying eyes, eh?

^ Better to read the CBO report than trust a Brietbart version!

CBO | The Distribution of Household Income and Federal Taxes, 2008 and 2009

"Average Before-Tax Income for All Households Fell 12 Percent from 2007 to 2009 in Real (Inflation-Adjusted) Terms"

Originally Posted by misskit

^ Better to read the CBO report than trust a Brietbart version!

CBO | The Distribution of Household Income and Federal Taxes, 2008 and 2009

"Average Before-Tax Income for All Households Fell 12 Percent from 2007 to 2009 in Real (Inflation-Adjusted) Terms"

OK, but the inequality (supposed) isn't getting worse according the the CBO.

Dedicated to Misskit who is in denial of incidents such as this are taking place within the #occupy movement:

Democrat Endorsed #Occupy Thug Rapes Woman – Tosses Her Off Two Story Bridge



The NYPD released this photograph of Jackie Barcliff, 44. He is an Occupy Wall Street participant wanted for raping a fellow demonstrator earlier this week in lower Manhattan. (The New York Daily News)

Police Thursday identified an Occupy Wall Street participant who is wanted for raping a fellow demonstrator and then throwing her over a second-story park railing earlier this week.
The NYPD released a photo of suspect Jackie Barcliff, 44. Detectives believe met his 56-year-old victim during previous Occupy activities, police said.
After the sex attack, the victim was tossed from the elevated park space, falling about 20 feet, breaking her pelvis and right arm, police sources said. She was found about 2 a.m. Monday morning. Her pants and underwear had been removed, the sources said, before she was thrown from the elevated park, which is at Pier 15 near South Street Seaport in Manhattan.


NYPD identifies Jackie Barcliff, 44, as the Occupy Wall Street demonstrator who[at]raped a fellow protestor in lower Manhattan earlier this week[at] - NY Daily News


Remind us again how many rapes take place at Tea Party events?

Just another day and another #occupy rape.

Don't hear much about the OWS these days. I guess the revolution is on hold for a while huh? I seem to remember being assured, way back in this thread, how the OWS were going to really take hold once the winter weather subsided into spring etc etc.....

now here we are heading back into winter pretty soon and it all looks pretty much the same out there.....bankers are banking.....politicians are politicking..... Israel is fixin to bomb Iran...... Obama continues to talk bollocks about his next four years......FOX's Hannity wants to send stealth bombers into every Muslim country today....nobody is gettin richer, not even the rich anymore.

Poor OWS.....all that camping, raping, gettin high...head smacked by cops....pepper sprayed....all for nothing..... I'm feeling a bit guilty for poking fun at them last year....

Originally Posted by koman

Don't hear much about the OWS these days. I guess the revolution is on hold for a while huh? I seem to remember being assured, way back in this thread, how the OWS were going to really take hold once the winter weather subsided into spring etc etc.....

now here we are heading back into winter pretty soon and it all looks pretty much the same out there.....bankers are banking.....politicians are politicking..... Israel is fixin to bomb Iran...... Obama continues to talk bollocks about his next four years......FOX's Hannity wants to send stealth bombers into every Muslim country today....nobody is gettin richer, not even the rich anymore.

Poor OWS.....all that camping, raping, gettin high...head smacked by cops....pepper sprayed....all for nothing..... I'm feeling a bit guilty for poking fun at them last year....

It's back in the news again:

OWS Protester: 'I Give Respect' To Terrorists Who Killed US Ambassador

"I give respect to those people in Libya who shot that diplomat because at least somebody -- there's somebody not -- murder, it isn't the way to go. But Libya has just stood up and said that, 'We're not gonna these drones in our country anymore attacking our kids.'

Source

Man, that's telling them! Don't feel too guilty about poking fun at them, koman!

U of Calif to pay pepper-sprayed Occupy protesters - Yahoo! News

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — The University of California is set to pay about $1 million to settle a lawsuit filed by demonstrators who were pepper-sprayed during an Occupy protest at UC Davis last fall.
UC and plaintiffs represented by the American Civil Liberties Union filed the preliminary settlement in federal court in Sacramento on Wednesday. The agreement is subject to the approval of a federal judge.
Under the proposal, UC will pay out $30,000 to each of 21 plaintiffs named in the complaint and an additional $250,000 for their attorneys to split.
The settlement also calls for the UC to set aside $100,000 to pay other individuals who can prove they were arrested or pepper-sprayed during the Nov. 18, 2011, incident.
The chemical crackdown prompted campus protests and calls for the resignation of Chancellor Linda Katehi after online videos shot by witnesses went viral.
Images of an officer casually spraying orange pepper-spray in the faces of nonviolent protesters became a rallying point for the Occupy Wall Street movement.
A task force report released in April blamed the incident on poor communication and planning throughout the campus chain of command, from the chancellor to the pepper-spraying officers.







This protest might have gone on longer had the Nazis not been policemen. It's the way of the facists to break laws ask any right wing TD member.

Heh...poetic justice or what?



The 22-year-old college student who personified the Occupy Portland movement when she was photographed receiving a blast of pepper spray in the face last year was found guilty Thursday on two counts of failing to obey police.


Multnomah County Circuit Judge Cheryl Albrecht fined Elizabeth Evon Nichols $260

Any thoughts, Misskit?

Some from Elizabeth Warren going after the big banks...







Some might find this Keiser Report interesting.




Related story mentioned in Keiser clip.

Robert Mawhinney Charged: Lights Over Paris Frontman, Known As 'Robb University,' Accused Of $6 Million Loan Fraud

Originally Posted by Boon Mee

Heh...poetic justice or what?



The 22-year-old college student who personified the Occupy Portland movement when she was photographed receiving a blast of pepper spray in the face last year was found guilty Thursday on two counts of failing to obey police.


Multnomah County Circuit Judge Cheryl Albrecht fined Elizabeth Evon Nichols $260

Any thoughts, Misskit?

YOU MUST OBEY.
Fucking gestapo tactics.

^
Hell of a mouthwash, eh?

A new movie coming out this week about Wall Street. Anger goes to the movies. Movies are a form of protest. Depending on how much media coverage it gets, it should get some people chatting. With markets higher now some people have already forgotten what happened in 2009.


Assault on Wall Street (listed to be released May 10, 2013)

Jim is an average New Yorker living a peaceful life with a well paying job and a loving family. Suddenly, everything changes when the economy crashes causing Jim to lose everything. Filled with anger and rage, Jim snaps and goes to extreme lengths to seek revenge for the life taken from him.

Originally Posted by Goodwill

Assault on Wall Street

Not the first time- what is believed to be the worlds first car bomb was set off in Wall St, killing 38 people but not it's intended target JP Morgan- who was out of town. So I reckon moaning about the 'Occupy' protesters and their drum circles is a bit rich.

Originally Posted by sabang

I reckon moaning about the 'Occupy' protesters and their drum circles is a bit rich.

Indeed.

Heh...did you read about the unrepentant Bomber Bill Ayers (Obama's good friend from the neighborhood who wrote that "Dreams of my Father book") interviewed the other day regarding the Boston Bombers. Said it was apples/oranges!

Only because he couldn't kill anyone with his bombs but other members of that wonderful little group - Weather Underground.

Good example of "social terrorism".

Santi,

RickThai