Occupy Wall Street

Hey guys and gals, I just got back from the NYC protests at zucotti park. For those of you who don't know whats going on

I'd encourage anyone and everyone to attend either the NYC protests, or an offshoot protest. This is important, and regardless of ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, political affiliation, you should show up.

 

It's kinda stupid, actually really stupid. You realize right ? You guys are fighting a pointless fight. As much as i agree with you, something needs to be done, but this protest is just stupid. Although i could not tell you a different approach all i can say is this is not a good one to take. You are complaining about not having jobs , well no shit you are sitting in the middle of NYC doing absolutely nothing with your lives. I know people who are out of college and do not have jobs, but they are at least looking for jobs, applying, doing interviews and shit. You guys are just making our generation look bad.

There is my 2 cents, pick it up , leave it, kick down the drain, i do not care.

 

The protests aren't about not having jobs (although some people were protesting teacher layoffs), but rather they are trying to draw attention to the inequity that is so ingrained into economy. Corporate greed goes unchecked, huge companies are barely taxed. All these gigantic banks get bailed out in recessions/depressions, but the other 99% are fucked.


The protests are peaceful, and are indisputably already affecting change. All across the world, offshoot protests are taking place.

 

If that's what you want to see happen I wouldn't protest with Occupy. They have a list of demands and a majority of them are outrageous and not even about this.

 

Trickle down economics. That is how things have been. What would happen if banks failed?! Another depression people would lose life savings..mortgages..car loans.. So you would like the government to allow that to happen? Then i am sure there would be another protest about how the government should have bailed the banks out.

 

Why should someone who worked their ass have an "equal" life with that of a lazy bum. As far as I am concerned there is no fairer system than one that rewards people based on what they contribute and effort.

 

I'm sorry but you guys really aren't helping any one. Your just stirring up emotions and wasting time yelling at the "system." Do you guys really believe that rioting there is going to get you anything besides possibly a night in jail?

 

I wouldn't call it rioting as much as protesting. To me, rioting carries with it a very negative connotation and implies that there is a lot of violence involved.

I do, however, agree with you. For the most part, protesting is useless. It takes a VERY, VERY large collective voice to have any influence over what the government or big corporations do. I applaud your efforts though. People like you are the ones who spark flames in others. Inspire others to make changes in the world.

On a side note, there have been a few nice performances from artists at the protests, so that's been pretty cool.

You are absolutely correct. However, this isn't the way it works. Unfortunately, there are millions of hard-working people who have been making the same low wages for the past 30 years. Of course, jobs requiring education should be prioritized and paid higher than jobs that don't, but that's not to say that the people who choose to do tough, physical work should be shit on just because college wasn't their thing. We need all types of people in this world, but the only ones who seem to receive much benefit are those who have a college education or those who had some kind of hand in a large corporation.

 

i wish all americans were like that

Wrong your american system is fucked up do you know that if you earn 17million dollar or more you pay the same tax
so basically if you have a big ass company like microsoft who earns billions of dollar pays taxes like a company that earns 17million dollar your system is fucked up


ps:i recommend you guys watch the movie capitalism a true love story you will be shocked when you watch it

 

I agree, these protests are a complete and utter waste of time. People just like to think they are making a difference, and they feel fulfilled by protesting. God knows why.. I'm very confident this will accomplish nothing other than pissing off some NY commuters and earning some people a night in jail.

 

How are they a waste of time? They are inspiring other people, and spreading a movement. Instead of sitting at my computer and bitching about about our shortcomings as a country, I prefer to make an actual difference. How can you say they are a waste of time, when the whole country is enthralled with them. Unions are joining the cause, and the democratic party is also backing us up. I, in no way, expect any major changes in economic policy. However, this movement is revitalizing the american left, and raising attention to some very important and time sensitive issues.

 

They are putting pressure on the government and trying to get their voice of change heard. Even if none of their demands are met, but change happens because of the protests, they will have succeeded.

 

What is there for them to succeed in? Most of them can't even think for themselves, as bambino_91 a few posts above showed (try to speak English next time, thanks). Redistribution of wealth seems to be many of these peoples' number one priority. For example, they repeatedly mention that the rich should pay their "fair share" of taxes while neglecting to mention that the top 1% make 11% of wages yearly and pay 21% of total income taxes in the United States. They protest the low capital gains tax even though they don't understand how it is designed to not affect traders who do not invest wealth for the purpose of growth, who are then forced to pay regular income taxes (assuming their investment is for <1 year). 90% of these protestors don't have a law degree, business degree, or a significant IQ. The message that they send to people is not one of change, but of arrogance, stupidity and misguidedness.

 

There was a thread a few days ago about this. I said then that I feel sorry for the protesters, and I hope something will work out for them, but most of their conceptions about the economy are wrong, and their ideas, are Marxist.

 

Do you understands that the wealthy make so much money they have tons of extra money while the majority of people make so little they can barely make ends meet? Of course it makes sense that they contribute more money because they have more money to do so with. What is Bill Gates doing with the 50 billion dollars he has? Well, I'd guess most of it is in Microsoft stock making him more money which he will never use.

You also have no basis for your statistics. The movement is not even organized. How the hell would you know what degrees the people have? People also do not have to have a law degree or business degree to understand issues and be politically active. The protesters also have no all taken an IQ test, meaning you are basing your "facts" on nothing and that just shows who the arrogant, stupid, misguided person is.

 

Fun fact - Most of Bill Gates' and many other rich people's money is made through investments. While Bill Gates made lots of money off Microsoft, much of his current wealth is due to his solid investment skills. Saying he will never use this money is incorrect - most rich people are smart enough to know that doing nothing with your money loses you money (opportunity profit - why not invest?). Bill Gates doesn't simply sit on his money, you're simply using this argument to argue for the re-allocation of resources into sectors such as agriculture through giving this money to the poor who buy food and other commodities. However, this sounds good on paper but actually causes huge liquidity issues for banks/businesses that are not in sectors directly benefited from wealth redistribution as drastic as the measures many of these protestors are encouraging. I definitely wouldn't want to lose the tens of thousands of jobs created in the yacht making industry, for instance.

Also, yes, you don't need a law or business degree to be politically active, however, you need to have spent a certain amount of time studying an issue, something most law/business and other people with useful degrees would, in order to not be a sheep, simply repeating what the leader is saying. Not saying that if you don't have a degree you don't understand the issue, it's just that if you don't have one, you probably don't know enough about macro economics or corporate law to have an educated opinion.

I do agree though, I wasn't very clear in my above argument so it did seem a bit misguided, but hopefully you understand my explanation above.

 

I spent two days at Occupy Chicago this weekend. One of the most rewarding experiences in my life. People are amazing. Give peace a chance.

 

Investing just makes more money that he can use to make more money. I don't call that using it. But anyways, I think the protesters are fairly insane, much like the tea party. Marxism is a stupid idea but since the protests are growing and they are gaining influence, they may help force some sort of change, which is good.

That's also true for the rest of America. The GOP are constantly telling people why their methods will fix the economy and why the Democrats are destroying the world. Does it really matter? Hire top economists and do what they say. The political games are utterly stupid and are what is holding back the country. Protests like this could help change that, even if their demands are never met.

They also run the group in a very cool way. Everyone pitches in to help however they can and they vote on things and shit. Everyone gets a chance to speak, so I think its fairly cool.

 

So you said there wont be any major change in economic policy, BUT you guys have a huge list of demands that would cause major change.. ERGO you guys are wasting your time since you said no changes will happen.

 

Not true. How are we wasting our time? We are marching, protesting, dissenting. It sounds corny, but #thisiswhatdemocracylookslike. I don't expect that all of our demands will be met, but we are reenergizing america. #OWS is getting rid of the apathy that seems to have been plaguing the left for awhile. Feel free to sit on your ass and type cynical responses, I prefer to take my future into my own two damn hands.

#OWS has already made so much progress, within a month we've become an international movement. A fuqn force to be reckoned with