Occupy Wall Street

[Calzone Lord]

Originally Posted by Cannon Shell

Think back to when typical middle class families had no credit cards

A good thing.

Originally Posted by Cannon Shell

no home equity loans

A good thing

Originally Posted by Cannon Shell

one car

A good thing.

Originally Posted by Cannon Shell

no formal personal retirement accounts

No debt + saving your income + 21% interest rate on bank CD's equals great retirement account.

Originally Posted by Cannon Shell

very little investment opportunity

A good thing.

Originally Posted by Cannon Shell

during the 70' were paying 18% interest on mortgages, when access to higher education was more limited, when leasing a "luxury" car was impossible.

Bring back Jimmy Carter! Grandpa Sal's all-time favorite president.

Originally Posted by Cannon Shell

Think back to when only rich people could go on a caribbean cruise

I wouldn't go on a caribbean cruise if it cost zero.

Originally Posted by Cannon Shell

before the luxuries of the rich like cell phones were available at a reasonable cost to anyone.

I had no Cell phone for about six months -- best six months of my life.

Originally Posted by Cannon Shell

Before average people could afford personal computers or flat screen tv's.

You have a point here. We are in a golden age of porn and masturbation material.

[Cannon Shell]

Originally Posted by Calzone Lord

A good thing.




A good thing






A good thing.




No debt + saving your income + 21% interest rate on bank CD's equals great retirement account.




A good thing.




Bring back Jimmy Carter! Grandpa Sal's all-time favorite president.





I wouldn't go on a caribbean cruise if it cost zero.




I had no Cell phone for about six months -- best six months of my life.




You have a point here. We are in a golden age of porn and masturbation material.

You are not middle class, you are in a class of your own

[Riot]

Posted by Cannon Shell
Seriously think of middle Amercan 50 years ago and then think of it now? Outside of healthcare being a far greater expense now the midle class lives a far more prosperous life than it did.

[jms62]

Folks are starting to get serious..

http://money.cnn.com/2011/10/10/news...test/index.htm

[slotdirt]

Sorry, but I'm missing the point in all of this. Rich people are rich and therefore are evil? Taxes should be higher because Warren Buffett's secretary pays a higher income tax rate than Buffett himself (because, well, he doesn't take a salary.)?

Seriously, I don't understand the point of these protests. If you want to go to a place where everybody pays taxes out the wazoo, move to Europe. Don't begrudge the wealthy just because they've worked hard to earn their money.

[Clip-Clop]

Stopped by occupy Denver this morning with a stack of job apps. Not a lot of takers. Even the guy whose sign said "We Want Jobs!!!" he must've meant Steve.

[Riot]

Originally Posted by Clip-Clop

Stopped by occupy Denver this morning with a stack of job apps. Not a lot of takers. Even the guy whose sign said "We Want Jobs!!!" he must've meant Steve.

What were you looking to hire for?

[Danzig]

Originally Posted by slotdirt

Sorry, but I'm missing the point in all of this. Rich people are rich and therefore are evil? Taxes should be higher because Warren Buffett's secretary pays a higher income tax rate than Buffett himself (because, well, he doesn't take a salary.)?

Seriously, I don't understand the point of these protests. If you want to go to a place where everybody pays taxes out the wazoo, move to Europe. Don't begrudge the wealthy just because they've worked hard to earn their money.

don't begrudge them? we pay and pay, they can too, can't they? the koch brothers are loaded--i thought if we didn't tax the rich, they'd create jobs??instead, 700 people here just got their walking papers courtesy of the kochs. yeah, because laying off more folks will help turn the economy around!!

[slotdirt]

Originally Posted by Danzig

don't begrudge them? we pay and pay, they can too, can't they? the koch brothers are loaded--i thought if we didn't tax the rich, they'd create jobs??instead, 700 people here just got their walking papers courtesy of the kochs. yeah, because laying off more folks will help turn the economy around!!

Obfuscation. The federal income tax is 35 percent for the top bracket. 35 percent. How is that not a "fair share?" If 35 percent of any human's income isn't their fair share to fund the government, what is? 50 percent? 60 percent?

[Riot]

Originally Posted by slotdirt

Sorry, but I'm missing the point in all of this. Rich people are rich and therefore are evil?

No.

Yes, you are missing the point completely. OWS is not anti-capitalist, not anti-wealth, not-anticorporation. Wealth, success, freedom, happiness, working hard at something you enjoy, building a life, is the American Dream. We are a country of immigrants, this country is based upon that dream of a better, successful life.

It is about the small percentage of wealthy and powerful who have literally purchased our government, and have been running it for their own personal profit for the past 50-70 years. The 1% who have dismantled regulation and controls, so they can personally profit at the expense of everyone else.

The protesters - who are indeed the majority - have every intention of taking their government back from the 1% that think it is their private plutocracy, and get corporate ownership out of government, and citizen ownership of this democracy back in. So the American Dream can be shared again by the 99%.

And that has nothing to do with Democrats or Republicans or Independents. Although the Republican Party is clearly a wholly-owned corporate subsidiary of the 1%, and alot of Democrats are, too.

This 3-minute video by DC Douglas explains "why" OWS exists perfectly:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wK1MOMKZ8BI

This round table discussion from This Week with Christiane Amanpour this past Sunday demonstrates the complete misunderstanding of OWS by Peggy Noonan and George Will, which is succinctly answered by OWS protester Jesse LaGreca

http://abcnews.go.com/ThisWeek/video...tests-14699460

Today the Republicans are so scared of losing their power and ownership, they are starting to give lip service as to the validity of the movement.

Unfortunately, the movement will not be able to be co-opted by a political party, as the Tea Party astroturf was by the Koch Brothers and Karl Rove. And that is precisely what the politicians are scared of.

[Riot]

Originally Posted by jms62

Folks are starting to get serious..

It got pretty serious overnight this morning in Boston, when the Boston Police Department came in, confiscated every protesters private possessions (tents, etc) from the park and threw them away , then went back through the line of Veterans for Peace, throwing their flags on the ground while they hauled them off and arrested them; then arrested an additional 100+ people: including bystanders, media people and medics.

So less than 24 hours ago, this morning in the dead of night, we had the largest mass citizen protester arrest since the Viet Nam war era, and the national evening news covered none of it.