Occupy Wall Street PROTESTERS Not Letting Up - Nationwide

[mtnlaurel]

Protesting against “greed” seems almost comically futile. You might as well demand an end to sloth or envy. Human nature being what it is, the likeliest alternative to crony capitalism is crony socialism; and we already have an established political party that has enjoyed some measure of success working toward that end.

I know I'm sure very futile - but it doesn't make that statement any less true.
The question remains what is to be DONE to right the ship?

I'm not anti-Capitalist - but what's required for it to succeed is that everyone is getting a little 'something, something' from it.
At least if everyone believes that they have a shot at making it, whatever that is, it can, sort of, work.

It's very dangerous for such a large # of people in a society to feel so angry and disenfranchised (far right included).

When the enfranchised are starting to feel disenfranchised...... "Houston we have a problem"

[jp1]

Interesting piece this morning on CNN regarding the "Perfect Storm" conditions for mass disapproval of Wall Street.......which means that this COULD catch on with a much larger percentage of folks than you think. There is really a LOT of common cause in the grievances expressed by everyone from the Tea Party to unions to the unemployed, and youth, and Wall Street fat cats are certainly a place to look for some of the excesses, greed and powermongering that has been happening to depress the opportunities and lives of the 99% of us in this country, while shoveling hundreds of billions of the wealth created by that 99% into their bottomless pockets.

http://www.cnn.com/2011/10/07/opinio...html?hpt=hp_t2

You're right, and I'm sure both the democratic and republican party leaders see it as well, and will do everything in their power to trot out the same tired divisive issues like abortion and gay marriage to make sure that no cross-party unity happens based on class issues like this. Because if it does all the crony politicians in our crony capitalist society will get tossed out on their asses.

[LDAHL]

I know I'm sure very futile - but it doesn't make that statement any less true.
The question remains what is to be DONE to right the ship?

I'm not anti-Capitalist - but what's required for it to succeed is that everyone is getting a little 'something, something' from it.
At least if everyone believes that they have a shot at making it, whatever that is, it can, sort of, work.

It's very dangerous for such a large # of people in a society to feel so angry and disenfranchised (far right included).

When the enfranchised are starting to feel disenfranchised...... "Houston we have a problem"

If by “right the ship” you mean how can we return, both individually and collectively, to living above our means, I think the answer is “we can’t”. We can try going after “millionaires and billionaires” to pick up a larger share of our collective tab through the tax code or other redistributionist schemes, but we will eventually reach the limit of what can be extracted by capital flight. We can try getting future generations to cover our current expenses by borrowing, or devaluing our currency, but we will ultimately bump up against the limits on that end as well. As the fellow said, “I will gladly pay you Tuesday for a hamburger today” only works if you will be earning something between now and Tuesday.

I don’t think government can solve our problems through some kind of administrative wizardry. We seem to have exhausted the limits of the available monetary and Keynesian tools, punishing savers and rewarding borrowers in the process. We have also hindered the ability of the real economy, where the real jobs are created, to grow. In that way, I think this current crop of anarchists demanding big government have little sense of the reality of the situation.

At base, the problem is more moral than technical or political. We, both as individuals and as a society, have valued current consumption over future investment, placing our own comfort over our children’s security. In that sense, we have been complicit with Wall Street in creating the current situation. I believe seeking scapegoats in “the one percent” rather than recognizing some kind of personal responsibility is a form of moral cowardice that results in us disenfranchising ourselves. The process of coming to that realization is going to be painful indeed.

[freein05]

Redistribution schemes, I love the way right wingers have bought into this idea to say it is class warfare. Who has benefited the most from our form of capitalism? It is sure not the poor or even the lower middle class. It is the wealthy or as they say the top 1%. They have also received the largest tax reductions in the last 10 years. They also seem to be doing OK. I just read the other day where a football team owner in the 1% group just bought a new toy. A yacht that cost over 200 million dollars.

The wealthy benefit the most from capitalism in the US so they should pay their far share.

[Alan]

Redistribution schemes, I love the way right wingers have bought into this idea to say it is class warfare. Who has benefited the most from our form of capitalism? It is sure not the poor or even the lower middle class. It is the wealthy or as they say the top 1%. They have also received the largest tax reductions in the last 10 years. They also seem to be doing OK. I just read the other day where a football team owner in the 1% group just bought a new toy. A yacht that cost over 200 million dollars.

The wealthy benefit the most from capitalism in the US so they should pay their far share.

It is class warfare.

In your example, how many people were employed in the manufacture of that $200M boat? How many suppliers provided product, how much labor, how much design? Do you think a $200M boat requires a crew? How many people will be employed just to maintain it?

Why would you want to keep someone from making a purchase like that? What do you have against those people who would be hurt by your desire to punish a rich person?

Some years ago our government, in it's infinite wisdom, decided to penalize the rich by implementing luxury taxes on items like this. The result was that whole industries were impacted as the rich stopped purchasing those items. Somehow, the government saw the error of it's ways and did away with the luxury tax, allowing those industries to begin to recover.

Why don't we learn from our previous mistakes?

[Rogar]

And those luxury taxes were used to do what? Build roads, fund national defense, develop and protect public lands, supplement education, and pay various government workers and projects. All of which provide employment and many of which allow business to thrive and build wealth.

No doutb there is some frivolous spending in government, but probably no less than building parts for luxury boats.

[Alan]

And those luxury taxes were used to do what? Build roads, fund national defense, develop and protect public lands, and pay various government workers and projects. All of which provide employment. No doutb there is some frivolous spending in government, but probably no less that building parts for luxury boats.

No, actually those luxury taxes brought in next to nothing, or at least no where near the amounts government expected. The net result was negative, which eventually resulted in the tax's repeal.

And who's to say what is frivolous and what is not?

[ApatheticNoMore]

These people aren't going to clean up after themselves.

All evidence is that they are cleaning up after themselves as in keeping the park clean etc..

[Alan]

All evidence is that they are cleaning up after themselves as in keeping the park clean etc..

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/arti...OLICE-CAR.html

[freein05]

Alan it was a used Yacht and it did not provide any US jobs. It was built in Italy!!!! I was wrong on the price it was only 70 million dollars. Class warfare what a bunch of talking head garbage. Remember the French Revolution a few of the upper class got their heads cut off.