The "Occupy" movement is just the beginning, these folks are expressing their dissatisfaction with things but from dissatisfaction eventually comes the seeds of revolution, this country like most was founded on the blood of patriots, it is naive to think bloodshed is a thing of the past. As Grace Slick once famously sang on TV (getting by the network censors)..."up against the wall mother f-ers"

So far the violence has mainly been perpetrated by plutocrats via the police, against the protesters, trying to stop the movement.

“I have my own army in the NYPD, which is the seventh biggest army in the world" - Michael Bloomberg, speaking of the NYC police department, at an MIT speech, November 29, 2011.

Who do the police serve and protect, Mr. Billionaire? You? Or the citizens of New York?

The court cases are starting to be heard, regarding the infringement on free speech rights, and violence on the part of the police, and Occupy is doing very well so far.

I wonder what the public would say, if, back when protesters were wearing guns in public and calling for the tree of liberty to be watered with the blood of patriots in health care town halls, they were pepper sprayed and prevented from demonstrating.

FYI Occupy Chicago is dead. Less than 50 people there last Saturday afternoon. More people were watching the Michael Jackson street performer dancing on a box.

Occupy, Tea Party...they will all disappear soon. Fringe acts..mostly narcissists looking for attention who bring their points to the public, engage a few politicians and disappear. Everyone wants to feel important and they just take their act a bit further...because they either can financially or they are unemployed. Come on..what regular working Joe with a family is just going to sit in a park for 3 months?

the top 1 percent of earners account for 20.3 percent of total personal income in the United States and pay 21.5 percent of all federal and state taxes.

http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/2011/04...o-they-pay-now

There are only daytime occupiers and they are near Michigan and Congress, between the Indians on horseback statues on weekends. They actually looked like a bunch of lost students and a couple social science professors, on a field trip, from an all white college. A bit surreal among the huge crowds (tens of thousands) out shopping.

This has always been. There is no newly developed rich America. There has always been and as long as money is used as currency always will be. The Continential Congress wasnt made up of common folk.

There is no bigger propaganda than the idea that wealthy people are oppressing the masses.

LOL - FYI Occupy Chicago is huge and spreading, and very active. No, they do not physically occupy the parks any more. The attention of the world has been garnered - not necessary at this point. I'm sorry you mistakenly think that's all Occupy is.

Here's Occupy Chicago's page, so you can attend the General Assemblies and other actions, Dell Looks like they have plenty scheduled over the next few months http://occupychi.org/

No. But there is a newly missing former middle class, isn't there?

That's right. Just move along. Congress and your government is a wholly owned plutocracy of the wealthy, don't you little people worry about it :D

If there is no middle class than why all the hand wringing about them?

Yeah a bunch of people holed up in parks across the country are going to root out corruption and greed. Sure they are...

Money talks and bullshit walks...not sure why anyone thinks this will ever change in, well just about everything?

That's right, nothing at all to worry about here.

Oh - and those people are no longer in the parks, they are in places like ... the halls of Congress today. Getting 400,000 people to withdraw money from big banks with bad practices in favor of credit unions last month. Getting the conversation changed from the false Republican "fix the deficit" nonsense, to the reality of income inequality and the nasty influence, over the past 70 years, of money in our politics.

So what did you think of the President's speech today?

For Federal Income taxes using Adjusted Gross Income, it's just under 17% of total income and just under 37% of taxes paid. (2009 numbers.) Just sayin.

Table 1
Summary of Federal Income Tax Data, 2009


Number of Returns with Positive AGI
AGI ($ millions)
Income Taxes Paid ($ millions)
Group's Share of Total AGI
Group's Share of Income Taxes
Income Split Point
Average Tax Rate

Top 1%
1,379,822
$1,324,572
$318,043
16.9%
36.7%
$343,927.00
24.01%

Source: Internal Revenue Service

http://www.taxfoundation.org/news/show/250.html

I'm amazed to see people discover that we have a progressive income tax system in this country.

Funny how you claim that the movement is non partisan yet you keep bring up Republican "nonsense" that it is supposedly addressing.

So you think money in politics started 70 years ago? lol

when i asked google, this was the top article in the results:

http://www.mybudget360.com/top-1-per...f-mega-wealth/

'42 percent of financial wealth is controlled by the top 1 percent.'

Here, this is from ME
 

(gotta remember to sign in under my own name)

The Republicans are pretty much wholly-owned corporate whores. There are plenty of Dems there, too.

The last 30 years has seen a huge increase in the dissembling of regulations and laws keeping money out of politics. Citizens United was the final straw.

And no, I didn't say I think money in politics started 70 years ago. Re-read it. You do like to bring up silly straw men, misstate what people have said, and change the conversation, don't you?

Cannon left this part of his article out of his quote:

You specifically used 70 years. So are you implying that the money in politics 71+ years ago wasnt influential?

I didnt change anything, just asked a completely valid question. When someone uses a starting point for "nasty influence"(like 70 years) are we to assume that this was the starting point? Was money in politics not as influential beyond 70 years ago?

Actually cannon used a quote that showed the numbers showing that high income earners paid a proportional amount of taxes versus income.

Financial wealth can mean a lot of things. If you have 10 million dollars of gold sitting in a safe deposit box it isnt taxable until you sell it for a profit. There is a difference between assets and taxable income obviously but often this gets lost in the translation.