hi all. Im a little shocked at the wall st protests. Ive seen a lot of protests over the last few years, but they always seemed to be aimed at something useless. yet the wall st protesters seem to me to be a real grassroots, spontaneous, meaningful phenomenon. moreover, the public is starting to realize that the MSM is not covering it for a reason.
and, full-self-indulgent disclosure [what would a blog be without it?] my shock is also related to the topic of the protests. Ive written a lot of essays over the last 2.5yr here on open salon but you can see a striking, near-incredible alignment between this movement and ideas Ive been advocating vehemently ever since the 2008 crash & esp more recently. [a little hidden history-- Ive been advocating in cyberspace on economic issues publicly since shortly after 9/11, and openly on political issues since OKC95...]
in the not-so-distant past we had becks rally tea party in washington and then also jon stewarts "reasonableness" rally. it seems to me these two rallies were fundamentally misdirected. because
- big government is not the problem or issue. we have a complex nation of 300M people with many "moving parts", and how the heck do you think its going to run itself? *smart* government is the issue.
- the issue is not shrillness or rancor in the political debate. its true that its there, maybe more than usual, but I would argue that this is a symptom not a cause. its a symptom of an increasingly broken system and a public that cant agree on solutions.
protestors on wallst are talking about, among various things,
- wealth inequality,
- the massive amts of govt wealth-- the public commons-- squandered on foreign military quagmires
- the banking system as being at best an "enabler" an at worst, corrupt
the tea party seems to me to be funded by corporations behind the scenes. the public has a right to be angry, but if that anger can be misdirected into the *size* of government rather than the *efficacy* of government, the corporations can continue their hidden, gradual, insidious creeping stranglehold on the countries of the world and freedoms/rights of the citizens.
I think bill moyers had this correctly. we have to focus on that word-- CITIZEN. a citizen is different than a VOTER and a CONSUMER. the political world only sees the public in terms of VOTERS but it must be forced to respect all CITIZENS. and we have to resist the incessant drive of corporations to reduce us to CONSUMERS whose only choice is to buy product A or B, instead of CITIZENS with RIGHTS. increasingly we have been pushed away from our rights as CITIZENS and pushed into mere VOTERS and CONSUMERS.
Ive written a lot of essays over the last year on economics, and economics is a critical part of the problem.
economics is not a simple subject, and we have to get the public to grasp the deeper implications of economics. we have to elect leaders who are conversant in the basics of economics. in many ways this feels like pushing the river. the public seems increasingly uneducated and almost by preference.
another disheartening attribute is that economics itself seems to be long-infected with false and faux- philosophies that have been implanted by the elite class. the elite can basically afford to hire elite economists as stealth enablers. it seems that increasingly, money can corrupt not only politics but science itself. we are verging into uncharted territory.
to paraphrase einstein, "a problem cannot be solved on the same level of consciousness that created it".
economics is actually a reference in a way to the national "organism" and the way that all its vital organs interconnect and interoperate. economics is about an economic ecosystem. the public fails to understand real natural ecosystems, generally only managing to blindly destroy them. we are right now looking at possibly in-the-top-10 largest species extinction event in the entire history of life on the planet, the so-called Anthropocene period.
an example of an organ that is not functioning properly is the SEC. its been infected by economic corruption. as a recent whistleblower charged, it doesnt have the ability to hunt down and prosecute economic crimes any more. that dog wont hunt!
another failing organ is the US Treasury and its stewardship by Geithner. Obama is too supine and incurious to fire Geithner, who served as the chief coddler of the corrupt banking system, and install any other credible candidate.
Im cautious but heartened because the issues Ive been writing about for many months have finally started to boil and reach critical mass. but, its strange that it took almost 3 yrs after the banking crash for the public to recognize some of these very fundamental issues that have been written in segments of the media for a long time.
the movement is in its fragile early stages and will either continue to grow or conceivably die out. its not clear at this moment. but its an international movement that has many components.
and the media-blindness is a very real phenomenon. unfortunately it suggests we have to create alternative media systems that are more in tune with the reality of the situation. what a mountain of a challenge! the media system in this country is massive, monolithic, and its inconceivable how we can create a new one. yet, the decentralized internet is a natural niche for them. they are out there, and they are growing.
we have to flex our atrophied muscles. in an ADD culture, we have to stay focused and disciplined. in an intellectual wasteland, we have to keep our wits about us and become sharp, shrewd, and able to discriminate the "BS" lies from the truth. we have to take the bull by the horns and get the "cojones" to clearly perceive the dark, shadowy, ulterior reality behind the glittering facade.
we have to figure out a way to stop getting crapped on.
we have to create a phoenix out of the ashes.
we have to create a new vocabulary, raise awareness. we are like fish in the water and the entire public vernacular is built around not even recognizing or comprehending the concepts we're attempting to articulate, emphasize, understand, conquer, transcend.
will we succeed? I say, we really have no other choice. the stakes are beyond high, they are pivotal. as the famous expression goes, failure is not an option. we will either triumph or slowly become extinct.
here's a lot of links Ive collected over a short time & hope you find them useful, informative, and engaging, along with links to my own economic essays.
--upton sinclair
One withstands the invasion of armies; one does not withstand the invasion of ideas.
--victor hugo
occupy wall st coverage
Occupy Wall Street: Michael Moore joins protesters in New York | Mail Online
Occupy Wall Street: 'Pepper-spray' officer named in Bush protest claim | World news | guardian.co.uk
The Revolution Begins at Home: A Clarion Call to Join the Wall Street Protests | Activism & Vision | AlterNet
'Occupy Wall Street' Fighting Bankster Greed and the Surveillance State | | AlterNet
Wall Street Demonstrations Test Police Trained for Bigger Threats - NYTimes.com
Michael Moore: Arrest Wall St. Bankers, Not Wall St. Protestors | | AlterNet
Peter S. Goodman: Wall Street Protesters: Middle Class Issues
vzn essays on economics
wealth disparity, main causes of-- the battle for USA's soul
Corporatocracy, our New Reality.. whats the answer?
CLASS WARFARE-- is it really such a bad thing?
Globalization.. the Big Scam/Sham/Farce/Lie
ayn rand, hickman, and a new, nuanced theory of regulation
fed audit tipping point close? or too good to be true?
save the economy!! audit the fed!! slice the parasite(s)!!
ideas on fixing capitalism-- "rising tide" taxes, simplify!
class warfare, wealth disparity
Are We In the Process of Creating a New and Enduring American Underclass? | Economy | AlterNet
Study: Most Americans Want Wealth Distribution Similar to Sweden | AlterNet
Income Inequality In U.S. Worse Than Ivory Coast, Pakistan, Ethiopia | AlterNet
The American Dream As We Know It Is Obsolete | Economy | AlterNet
Robert Reich: The Truth About the American Economy
It's the Inequality, Stupid | Mother Jones
15 Facts About U.S. Income Inequality That Everyone Should Know (CHARTS)
Robert Creamer: Growing Economic Inequality the Root Cause of Economic Stagnation
Should Wealth Be Held by the Few or Everyone? -- That's the Central Focus of Protests from Spain to Greece | World | AlterNet
All Work and No Pay: The Great Speedup | Mother Jones
» Analysis of Financial Terrorism in America Alex Jones' Infowars: There's a war on for your mind!
Too Much June 20, 2011 issue: A locality takes on inequality
The Islington Fairness Commission
Too Much | Inequality and Excess, A Commentary on Economic Inequality.
Newsletter Archive
The dead end of globalisation looms before our youth | Pankaj Mishra | Comment is free | The Guardian
The U.K. Riots And The Coming Global Class War - Forbes
Percentage of Americans Living in Poverty Rises to Highest Level Since 1993 - NYTimes.com
Real Class War Is Working to Keep Those Below You Down | News & Politics | AlterNet
banksters
Nothing less than the total separation of retail and investment banks will do - Telegraph
Moyers: Six Banks Control 60% of Gross National Product -- Is the U.S. at the Mercy of an Unstoppable Oligarchy? | | AlterNet
Why 2,000 People Needed to Occupy Wall Street: Banks Are Raking in Profits While Taxpayers Are Getting Screwed | Activism & Vision | AlterNet
How a big US bank laundered billions from Mexico's murderous drug gangs | World news | The Observer
Ray Dalio’s Richest and Strangest Hedge Fund : The New Yorker
Study shows powerful corporations really do control the world's finances
[1107.5728] The network of global corporate control
Don't Trust the Corporate Media | | AlterNet
Our Public Schools Are Churning Out Drones for the Corporate State | News & Politics | AlterNet
5 WikiLeaks Revelations Exposing the Rapidly Growing Corporatism Dominating American Diplomacy Abroad | | AlterNet
Plutocracy: If Corporations and the Rich Paid 1960s-Level Taxes, the Debt Would Vanish | Economy | AlterNet
3 Ways To Have Economic Success Without Greedy Corporations and Huge Wealth Disparities | Economy | AlterNet
3 Things That Must Happen for Us To Rise Up and Defeat the Corporatocracy | | AlterNet
Barbara Ehrenreich: America's Tragic Decline -- Resistance Bursts Out All Over the World, While We Do Nothing to Fight Corporate Takeover | Economy | AlterNet
How Corporate and Political Forces Have Almost Neutralized All Avenues of Resistance in US Culture | News & Politics | AlterNet
Woman Gang-Raped by 7 Halliburton Employees "Signed Away" Her Right to Sue? How Justice Has Become the Privilege of Corporations | Gender | AlterNet
CRAPitalism
Is capitalism doomed? - By Nouriel Roubini - Slate Magazine
5 Reasons Capitalism Has Failed | Economy | AlterNet
Bob Burnett: Why Did Capitalism Fail?
What Republicans get wrong about capitalism - U.S. Economy - Salon.com
Is Democracy as We Know It on Its Way Out? | News & Politics | AlterNet
Can democracy solve the West’s economic problems? - The Curious Capitalist - TIME.com
How America Could Collapse | | AlterNet
Bad Samaritans The Myth of Free Trade and the Secret History of Capitalism by Ha-Joon Chang
Massive Unemployment: Proof That Global Capitalism Doesn't Work | Economy | AlterNet
US extreme capitalism a problem for the world - Ahmadinejad — RT
koch brothers
You Thought the Koch Brothers Were Bad? Turns Out They're Even Worse Than You Thought | Tea Party and the Right | AlterNet
Hedges: Power Concedes Nothing Without Demand -- We Must Say, "NO!" to Wall St., the Kochs, and Our Cowardly Political Class | Tea Party and the Right | AlterNet
Koch Brothers and US Chamber: Polluting Our Earth and Our Democracies | Tea Party and the Right | AlterNet
The Kochs Vs. Mainstreet: the Right-Wing Billionaires' Open War on Everyday Americans | Tea Party and the Right | AlterNet
$1 Million Donation to the Kochs? Meet the Wealthy Right-Wingers Helping Fund the Brothers' Agenda | Tea Party and the Right | AlterNet
The Billionaires Bankrolling the Tea Party - NYTimes.com
progressive taxation
The Public Overwhelmingly Wants It: Why Is Taxing the Rich So Hard? | Economy | AlterNet
The Great Switch by the Super Rich: How Wealthy Americans Started Paying So Little in Taxes | Economy | AlterNet
Billionaires/Millionaires Willing to Pay More Taxes - Galleries - The Daily Beast
The Founding Fathers Believed in Redistributing Wealth -- Why Do Tea Party Heroes Like Perry and Bachmann Vilify It? | Tea Party and the Right | AlterNet
Revealed: The 25 firms who pay their CEOs more than they pay in taxes each year | Mail Online
Make the Rich Pay More Taxes! How Obama's Pledge to Fight for a Fairer Tax Policy Sets Off the Real Battle of 2012 | Economy | AlterNet
Jonathan Richards: Class Warfare
By Cutting Taxes on the Rich, We've Incentivized Greed--How Do We Return to Fairness? | | AlterNet
ceo pay
CEO of Walmart Makes in One Hour What the Average Employee Makes In a Year: How Skyrocketing Inequality Is Hurting America | | AlterNet
The Reason CEOs Make 350 Times More Money Than Their Workers -- And Why That's Terrible for the Economy | Economy | AlterNet
Super Wealthy CEOs Help Crush the American Worker, Then Cry About Class Warfare | Economy | AlterNet
disconnected elite
We Have to Fight the Plutocrats to Build an Economy that Works | Economy | AlterNet
Chomsky: Wealthiest 1% Rule Our Politics -- But There's Hope in the Fight Against Global Capital | Economy | AlterNet
Siding With the Billionaires: How the Right Is Waging a Class War Against All But the Wealthiest Americans | Economy | AlterNet
Of the 1%, by the 1%, for the 1% | Society | Vanity Fair
$230,000 For a Guard Dog: Why the Wealthy Are Afraid Of Violence From Below | | AlterNet
Meet the Global Financial Elites Controlling $46 Trillion In Wealth | | AlterNet
Debt, Debt, Debt: 90% of Americans Experience Income Decline As Wealth Gets Sucked Back Into Top .1% -- Debt Explodes As We Try to Make Ends Meet | Economy | AlterNet
Shock Doctrine in Practice: The Connection Between Nighttime Robbery In the Streets and Daytime Robbery By Elites | | AlterNet
Americans Don't Realize Just How Badly We're Getting Screwed by the Top 0.1 Percent Hoarding the Country's Wealth | Economy | AlterNet
How the Surveillance State Protects the Interests Of the Ultra-Rich | | AlterNet
David DeGraw -- Independent Investigative Journalism - Reporting from the Frontlines of World War III: The Economic Elite Vs. The People
disappearing middle class
The Real Story of Our Economy: Why Our Standard of Living Has Stalled Out | Economy | AlterNet
Why the Democratic Party Has Abandoned the Middle Class in Favor of the Rich | Civil Liberties | AlterNet
The Decline of the "Two Breadwinner" Family: How Long-Term Unemployment Threatens to Demolish the Middle Class | Economy | AlterNet
22 Statistics That Prove The Middle Class Is Being Systematically Wiped Out Of Existence In America
Middle Class Death Watch -- 33 Frightening Economic Developments | Economy | AlterNet
6 Ways the Rich Are Waging a Class War Against the American People | Economy | AlterNet
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Juliet Waters
the traveler
Nocheapshots
Darla Carmichael
Jeanine T. Abraham
Zaki Hasan
Salon.com
Comments
The mainstream media is now entirely owned by monster corporations so it's no surprise certain things get zero coverage. It's also no surprise that nearly every news station covers the exact same stories, practically in the exact same way, as well. A friend of mine often says, "Remember when CNN used to be a 'real' news entity?" Apparently after Turner sold it off, it swiftly drifted to dung. I actually missed the CNN transformation but was unlucky enough to witness the descent of news casters and political pundits. Rarely does anyone speak the truth anymore, as honesty has become a surefire way to get fired.
I doubt any president will be so bold as to break up the monopolies and therefore we'll never go back to real information being covered by real people instead of the cardboard cutouts we have now. Sure there are publications and people of merit but it's extremely difficult to find them due to their lack of press. And sadly, they haven't a clue about SEO so their websites are residing on page 100 of Google search. Ooops, I'm veering.
The Tea Party babbling by rote about smaller government? Yeah that's not the biggest issue for all 300 million of us. In my humble opinion I feel a good starting point for rebuilding the foundation of our American humanity would be the following three things:
1. Death to Monopolies
2. Universal Healthcare
3. End Nafta
#1 Would give us real news again. More choices in numerous capacities for citizens, consumers, creators of coverage and etc... The FULL reach of this action is incalculable for me at this moment.
#2 Would help small and large business. Would stop the death of people afflicted by Curable Diseases, prevent the crumbling of families strapped by hospital bills, and so much more. It's amazing that even people who have their livelihood destroyed by a criminal can wind up homeless after the bills stack up for their recovery. *I could go on... start foaming at the mouth over our inhumane healthcare system.* And if we want family values restored, this would be... Oh wait, were there ever any 'family values' in the first place? Or was that forever just a soundbite? Hmmm...
#2&3 will open the door for Mom&Pop owned businesses to rise again. Jobs! We can gradually move away from the Starbuckian descent into hell.
I'm just grazing the surface on the benefits of 1-3. But again I think that would be a great start. It may sound naive. Not to my ears though.
You say, "the movement is in its fragile early stages and will either continue to grow or conceivably die out. its not clear at this moment. but its an international movement that has many components."
Ah yes. Indeed.
"If voting changed anything they'd make it illegal"
E. G.
R
This isn't like the protests back in the 70's when there was opposition to a war somewhere else. This is Americans fighting for their own survival right here at home.
This won't stop, it's just begun. If those young people are seriously injured or killed it will fuel more rage at Wall Street. Times have changed, they have become every age group's enemy.
http://tarpley.net/2011/09/29/emergency-program-for-anti-wall-street-protestors/
"...they closed down the Wall Street subway stop when I went down early evening in the rain. I had no idea what had been going on.
"I jumped out at City Hall at the announcement that Wall Street would be closed on the 5 train and after walking in circles in the drizzle, routed this way then that by random police blocking off sidewalks, I first heard then found a sizeable contingent of protesters under some of the enormous arched ceilinged open areas at City Hall. Great acoustics for chanting, by the way!
"One fellow who had been at the bridge, who proudly told me his Mom had come close to being arrested as she stood tall beside him, also told me the police had successfully divided up the protesters after the action on the bridge.
"Again, a lot of sidewalks were closed. Near City Hall, that group of several hundred I found upon exiting the subway by following the chants were trying to decide whether to go to where the arrestees were being held or to go back to Liberty Plaza.
"Some may have gone to the police station, but the rest and what seemed another contingent of lively marchers showed up and then vigorously marched back to Liberty Plaza as it continued to drizzle. I joined in, finding out slowly from people only SOME of what had happened. As we walked to Liberty Plaza I was stunned by several hundred police officers on the south side sidewalk as we marched west on the northside one. It looked like a one-on-one ratio in numbers, cops to protesters. I gulped. It felt like the possibility of further police arresting.
"One female cop escorted us almost the whole way to Liberty Plaza being very VERY insistent that no one strayed onto the street and the crowd seemed pretty willing to slow down and funnel onto the narrow sidewalks though there were so many and the crowd was chanting lustily. I appreciated the horns honking approval and thumbs up people in cars were giving us and naive me did not realize that straying onto the street was a sure way to invite arrest with the cops and marched on the edges of the march sometimes on the street engaging with the cars.
"I used my umbrella to emphasize the chanting. When I got near Liberty Plaza the marchers merged with the people at the Plaza chanting and bouncing up and down to musical accompaniment. I was impressed and it made me think of my anti-Vietnam days and also about those celebrated Woodstock rain-soaked conditions (I did not attend) as I walked about a little around the Plaza and saw all the soggy campout paraphernalia of the seriously committed!
"Police on the northside of the street at the Plaza seemed to become more aggressive once most of us marchers had merged in the Plaza and thereupon had bullhorns insisting that we clear the surrounding sidewalks for the sake of pedestrians. One young guy yelled, "We ARE the pedestrians!" That was worth a ponder for sure.
"I stayed at Liberty Plaza for a while and chanted. I was glad despite the rain there were so many. I was also glad the rain was not as heavy as it could have been.
"I have been distracted by some serious things IRL, including a threat to my job, and am sorry not to have been more engaged with the Wall Street occupation up until now. I want to read as much as I can and catch up."
If you're in NYC right now, or the NYC metro area, do your civic duty and help these kids any way you can. Also, work to forge links between your profession, your Labor Union, whatever, and the students. Links between STUDENTS and WORKERS are KEY.
Once Students can link up with workers, protests reach a critical mass. I'm waiting to join anything that happens in my area. I am very excited. And Hopeful.
Watch out though. I understand the NYPD entrapped kids on the Brooklyn Bridge and used the entrapment to arrest 700 kids. Horrible.
Baby Boomer Liberals never figured out how to overcome the racial division hurdle. My generation is able to overcome it and we shall. Then we will go for the touchdown on the economic justice issue, just like MLK wanted.
I have to chauffeur a crowd over to an indoor swimming pool shortly but just wanted to acknowledge everyone so far & thx so much for the lengthy replies & encourage all to feel free to debate this further in this area to whatever you like. & Ill have some more specific comments after mulling over your own comments. ps rw005g I just saw your latest post.. pretty devastating! which reminds me I wanted to put in a wall st bull picture into this post & I have two candidates that I may add in a bit. [more wrestling with the editor, ouch!] see ya later
when smoke and mirrors fail to protect and project the lies as designed, the machine has a shit load of tools and tactics to protect itself from the rage.
the machine is no more american than it was german, english, spanish, french or roman. it will rest where ever it wants, and feed endlessly on its own reserves of fat until it is time to clean up on the spoils.
we can weaken it - but then we become it, and it us, and those who defy the new forms will, are devoured.
i believe that the best way to deal with this thing that seems to reside not in DC or Wall Street, but in the souls of an aging Dallas cabal, is to call it by its name -
CK-- healthcare reminds me of an economic concept called "[the tragedy of] the commons" which dates back decades in economics literature. and a concept arguably at the core of the debate.
yes I agree that free trade agreements have been a big part of the problem, they are basically giveaways to transnational corporations. "do whatever you want with me!" says the government to the transnational corporation.
toritto-- you have a big audience & thx for stopping by.
LHB-- yes I dont know how to structure the govt so that money is less of a factor but its in an astounding, astonishing state now. obama raised 100s of millions to get elected and that didnt all come from Joe Sixpack. I saw someone carrying a sign that said that in 94% of the cases, the candidate with the most money spent on the election [or was it their net worth] won the election. a staggering statistic, I dont know where he got it. Id like to see more research on that.
JH-- thx for dropping by & I think you should write a blog once in awhile =)
LLNYC-- thx much for dropping by and what a privilege to read your 1sthand act here, thx much for sharing it.
rw005g-- a populist, progressive lawyer, almost an oxymoron or at least an endangered species .. thx man. yes its very interesting to compare the 99% vs the tea party, its youth versus age fairly clearly.
snowden-- yes, it does feel like a trap, and yes, it is an ancient trap that other civilizations have fallen into, Rome is an excellent example [rw005g has a brilliant blog post on that subj, the fall of rome...]
MG-- yes voting and consumerism are increasingly becoming interchangeable. the candidates are increasingly just corporate pitchmen with all the endorsements erased. someone called it "auction democracy" where the laws are up for sale for the highest bidder.
thx all for dropping by... cant find anything to disagree with!
Im thinking of embedding youtube speeches by luminaries that were at the rally if I can find them [that might be tricky]. fyi key luminaries so far
- michael moore filmmaker "capitalism, a love story" etc
- joseph stiglitz economist. antiwar, estimates war costs in the trillions. once worked for work bank.
- naomi klein writer author "shock doctrine"
- sen bernie sanders [tv interviews etc]
- noam chomsky [blogged]
- van jones [blogged]
- susan sarandon [in person]
- roseanne barr [in person]
No Excuses -- Join the Occupy Wall St. Movement or Stand on the Wrong Side of History
Either you obstruct the plundering by the criminal class on Wall Street or become the passive enabler.
by the way as I recall hedges is interviewed on the dvd extras of Moores "capitalism, a love story"
Why do you write without punctuation?
Obama’s Good Cop/ Bad Cop deal with the Republicans
Don’t Let Him Get Away With It: Occupy Wall St
hudson is another brilliant economist like stiglitz. years before it happened, hudson identified the excesses and dangers of the FIRE industry [finance, insurance, real estate] that blew up our entire economy. another economist that deserves much wider fame than he has but is successfully drowned out by the Corporatocracy and its corrupt economic ideologies.
I like Bill Moyers' use of the word "citizen" instead of "voter" or "consumer". It's all-encompassing and so much more meaningful.
---
Cain says people who are not rich have only themselves to blame. "Don't blame Wall Street," he told protesters, in an interview with the Wall St. Journal. "Don't blame the big banks. If you don't have a job and you're not rich, blame yourself. It's not a person's fault because they succeeded. It is a person's fault if they failed. And so this is why I don't understand these demonstrations and what is it that they're looking for."
Socialize the Losses and Privatize the Gains
which does closely capture the [anti-]zeitgeist....
as I remarked on another blog, it seems to me Cains quote is almost a paraphrase of this exactly.
"Our Mr. Wren, Lewis Sinclair wrote about Main Street & people like Ann Vickers. Some say ,"It can't happen here.."
Yes, it can, as we are "The Innocents."
I love the photos of the "BULL" perfectly punctuating your thoughts.
rated with love
I have an 18 year old stepdaughter who has never had a job. Tomorrow she interviews with Macy's for a possible three month job for Christmas. This is the best job opportunity she has had, after applying for jobs all year. First, they told her to wait until she was 18 to apply, then she couldn't get a job because no experience, etc. We can help her out a little, but she has ben surrounded by her cohort of classmates who all have little if anything to look forward to. I don't think we have any organized occupation in Arizona. Yesterday, she came to visit us so she could do some housework for my aunt to earn a few dollars to help pay gas money to her friend to give her a ride to her interview. We don't have a comprehensive public transportation system here, and thankfully these major metro locations have that. I know we can change the future, but I am pretty sure we can't go back to how it has been.
Agree with most of "my speech to the masses", those protestors support reform generally, concerning a broad range of issues from failed home loans to "tarp" bailouts, selective support of "too big to fail" institutions, etc.
But I think that the public gets it, understands that the "Wall Street VS. Main Street" aspect of the 99% movement carries the most apparent weight, appeals to the largest public segment.
"Get the money out of Politics" seems to be another large influence, an "underlying theme" that calls for attention, tho perhaps less obvious relative to Wall Street.
The perception that "buying" a political office today is completely acceptable, that poorly regulated campaign money has no corruptive influence once a candidate takes office is an absurd but broadly implied concept, sold to the public with a conspiratorial wink and a nod across the political spectrum by those who benefit.
"Citizens United" amplifies that corruptive, toxic monetary influence to an extent most of us are only beginning to appreciate.
But this particular topic of necessary "Reform", Campaign Finance, is of course only one aspect, one "Voice" in the 99% movement. Potentially lost in the collective outrage if not called attention to, if not intentionally brought to "center stage".
With near complete cooperation of "MSM", of course, since they're directly involved, complicit. Purchase of campaign media "airtime" prevails across these campaigns, and the media won't be "biting the hand that feeds them", won't cooperatively expose that corruption unless forced to in the context of "damage control".
Our current Wall Street and Investment Banking state of corruption absolutely needs reform, Public outrage in the form of the 99% protests COULD provide needed (if perhaps unplanned) media exposure of benefit to everyone BUT the 1%, the "Economic Elite".
AND help to expose the dysfunctional nature of money applied to politics thru sheer weight of enlightened public opinion in the form of coordinated effort, protest and "Occupation".
The 99% protests have the potential of becoming the "Catalyst" for CHANGE, could sew the seeds of needed reform on several fronts.
One can only hope ;-)
As I also suggested, today's protests may be the long-delayed continuation of the Sixties' movement that sought to make America the equitable society it has long promised -- but failed -- to be. We shall see.
In any event, I suspect you and I will continue our Jeremiads, even tho you are surely as aware as I am that prophets are least honored and least welcome in a fascist state -- ask John the Baptist and Jesus of Nazareth.
NL-- Im a big ron paul fan & I dont like the rejection of him at the OWS mtgs. in fact Im gonna post a link in my new post that talked about how his libertarianism was "refreshing" in a recent debate because he said that Cain was taking a "blame the victim" mentality ie basically a social darwinist POV against the public over the last crash. an interesting divergence between libertarianism and so-called conservativism.
OB-- yeah I remember graduating college in 93 in the middle of a recession, I know the feeling. nobody had jobs at graduation and we all felt demoralized to say the least. its like that 10x right now apparently.
CC-- become the MSM! wink
EK-- yes the ecosystem analogy is extremely important right now and Im going to talk about it some more. I just realized after writing it that "ecosystem" and "economics" come from the same root word, so quite the contrary situation to what I wrote about in my post. but indeed in our culture, that connection has been lost, huh! even though its right there in the DNA of the words themselves.
MK-- yes get the money out of politics. I found the reference for the fact that in 93% of the cases the candidate who spent the most on the campaign won! will post in my new post shortly. as for citizens united, its an outrage, but Im not sure what effect it will have on already mostly-money-corrupted politics.... "dysfunctional" is right, I think its a key word for the whole thing.
PID-- multiple names huh, I always find that confusing and a bit subversive, thx for dropping by.
CK-- I guess we're two freaks in a pod, wink :p ... a bullhorn is not good enough for you, wink
TC-- very nicely written post of yours, you have an amazing memory of history & the span of it. I liked the part about a conservative GW Bush referring to Voodoo economics, one of the great twists of history.... yeah lets pull out the BULLWHIP and throw the #$^& moneylenders out of our TEMPLE... yes I agree that we are witnessing the 60s part II hopefully!! and hopefully the sequel will be better and tie up the story better than the 1st one that left us all hanging! =)
or don't you know about it?
Islington glazier