Wall Street Protests

[TheMercenary]

Originally Posted by glatt

You're making stuff up. You have no idea what they studied. You invent a scenario in your head to fit your prejudices.

Ummm, no. Actually it was from the NPR report I heard.

http://www.npr.org/2011/10/14/141343...demonstrations

How many jobs you have is relevant to your credibility.

Really? How does that work?

You have multiple jobs and live a comfortable life...

Because I made some good choices, worked my ass, made some huge sacrifices, and was lucky. Oh, and I did not want to live in a mobile home ever again, as a kid. Again, really irrelevant.

....and are laughing at the have-nots who only want a chance at the american dream. But the jobs aren't there.

Again, no. I was laughing at people who think they should be relieved of their college debt because they can't find a job. So if I go out and buy a Bentley and now I can't afford it should I be relieved of that debt because now I make less money than I did before when I entered into a contract to buy it?

Why the hate and venom?

[glatt]

Originally Posted by TheMercenary

Ummm, no. Actually it was from the NPR report I heard.

http://www.npr.org/2011/10/14/141343...demonstrations

OK, I'm not going to bother listening to that, I trust you that it's in there somewhere. I read your quote and followed you original link to the article where there was no mention of what was studied.

I know you work hard for what you have, and I don't begrudge you that. What bugs me about your attitude is that these people only want the same chances that you (and I) got. You routinely refer to all of them as fools, but they have legitimate gripes.

I have more to say, but can't really devote time to it right now.

[Aliantha]

I don't know for certain what the ratio of legitimate gripes is to supposed gripes in this whole protest thing, but it's probably fair to say there's a reasonable number of both.

People who don't want to pay their debts annoy all of us, but there are some pretty serious social issues going on in the US atm, and I think a lot of people have a pretty good reason for protesting about where money is spent etc.

Surely no one can disagree with that?

[Undertoad]

Originally Posted by BigV

Time.

The years from 1979 to 2007.

What is the Y axis?

[TheMercenary]

Originally Posted by glatt

OK, I'm not going to bother listening to that, I trust you that it's in there somewhere. I read your quote and followed you original link to the article where there was no mention of what was studied.

I think NPR posts the morning edition links later in the day or the next day.

What bugs me about your attitude is that these people only want the same chances that you (and I) got.

But not everyone will get to be a lawyer or do what I do... Some people are going to flip burgers and be taxi drivers or whatever. That is life. We are just in hard times right now and lots of hard working people are out of work. Wall St. didn't break it, politicians did. They need to be down in front of the the White House and on the Lawn between the Memorials in Washington, D.C.

You routinely refer to all of them as fools, but they have legitimate gripes.

Well I can't say that we all don't have legitimate gripes. I think they are fools because their actions are counter intuitive to getting the process changed, IMHO. The only way this BS is going to turn around is for the politicians to get off their asses and come together and fix it. But what they are doing is protesting the obvious, costing tax payers MORE money, and when they start to block roads and bridges they are asking for a confrontation, which I believe many of them want to do. I have absolutely nothing against their Right to protest. It is similar to the WTO protests, protest if you want, but go about it the right way. And when you start to tell me that my tax money has to go to paying off your college debt, you are a god damm fool. Does anyone think these protests are going to get any multi-million dollar Corporation anywhere to suddenly change the way they do business?

I have more to say, but can't really devote time to it right now.

Ok, Well I still want to hear it.

[TheMercenary]

Originally Posted by Aliantha

I don't know for certain what the ratio of legitimate gripes is to supposed gripes in this whole protest thing, but it's probably fair to say there's a reasonable number of both.

People who don't want to pay their debts annoy all of us, but there are some pretty serious social issues going on in the US atm, and I think a lot of people have a pretty good reason for protesting about where money is spent etc.

Surely no one can disagree with that?

I don't. But again I harken back to the WTO protests. It is nothing more than an amalgam of unemployed people (completely legitimate), anarchists, socialists, and disaffected youth, with a huge smattering of aging hippies, with the same anti-capatolistic gripes. No central theme other than people and corps with money are bad, and we want it. Or we want to send it to the gobberment so they can waste it.

[Aliantha]

Well, people do have the right to protest any old thing they want, so I guess lots of different people are protesting lots of different things there.

Personally, I think it's like having three 'sell stuff' parties at the same time. People just don't quite know what to spend their money on, so in the end they go home with nothing.

I believe that in order for protests to be effective, they have to be organised and specific. If no one really knows what your protesting about, how can they really fix the problem.

[BigV]

Originally Posted by Undertoad

What is the Y axis?

The y axis is the multiples of after tax income with 1979 set as 1.

[Undertoad]

Yabbut what does the word "cumulative" mean in that context?

[piercehawkeye45]

Originally Posted by TheMercenary

And when you start to tell me that my tax money has to go to paying off your college debt, you are a god damm fool. Does anyone think these protests are going to get any multi-million dollar Corporation anywhere to suddenly change the way they do business?

The protests aren't going to change anything but I'm guessing a lot of the calls for government to pay off student debts has to do with the fact that many large Corporations had their debts paid off by the government for making bad decisions while these students will not. I disagree with the logic, I do believe in personal responsibility, but student debt is going to be a very large problem that has the chance of affecting everyone either directly or indirectly, so it shouldn't just instantly be dismissed. Also, it isn't a 30 year experienced CEO making mistakes, they are kids who can't even legally drink that are being exploited by the Universities to pay for research, which is actually very true. I don't necessarily feel bad for them but I will acknowledge that the entire University system is pretty messed up.

[Lamplighter]

In my previous post, the REUTERS authors wrote:

Lasn [Adbusters co-founder] said
Adbusters is 95 percent funded by subscribers paying for the magazine.

"George Soros's ideas are quite good, many of them.
I wish he would give Adbusters some money, we sorely need it,
she said. "He's never given us a penny."

Apparently, Lasn is a quick sex-change person, or
reporters can't write about someone and keep their gender constant.
Here is the FORBES reporter having a go at it...

FORBES
Investing 10/14/11 @ 3:09 pm

The Brains Behind "Occupy Wall Street"
Meet the second most evilest man in the world (after George Soros).

Kalle Lasn, 69, is their quasi leader. He’s the publisher and editor of Adbusters magazine.
It’s a small, non-influential critical and artsy magazine with a decent following
of around 90,000 who call themselves “culture jammers”.
Occupy Wall Street began in the conference rooms at that Vancouver mag.

I spoke with Lasn in July, right after the new edition of Adbusters hit the news stands
with the now famous image of a ballerina balancing on the Wall Street bull. (below)

Above her head read the Twitter hashtag #OccupyWallStreet.

I'm thinking Kalle Lasn looks pretty masculine.

[DanaC]

Lies and more lies from the Right.

[TheMercenary]

Originally Posted by piercehawkeye45

The protests aren't going to change anything but I'm guessing a lot of the calls for government to pay off student debts has to do with the fact that many large Corporations had their debts paid off by the government for making bad decisions while these students will not. I disagree with the logic, I do believe in personal responsibility, but student debt is going to be a very large problem that has the chance of affecting everyone either directly or indirectly, so it shouldn't just instantly be dismissed.

Does not change the fact that these FOOLS think I, a tax payer should pay off THEIR debt. Screw them. I am paying for my own kids to go to college. Don't think for one minute that I am going to pay off their debt, regardless of the reason or some other esoteric bull shit reason.

Also, it isn't a 30 year experienced CEO making mistakes, they are kids who can't even legally drink that are being exploited by the Universities to pay for research, which is actually very true. I don't necessarily feel bad for them but I will acknowledge that the entire University system is pretty messed up.

I don't know. Don't the universities exploit their athlete's that they make millions of dollars off of and the athlete gets nothing for their service, other than on some occasions, a scholarship?

[TheMercenary]

Originally Posted by DanaC

Lies and more lies from the Right.

Great pic, but they are small examples. Here is one that is more mainstream...

More shit from the left.

[DanaC]

Right. So the disgruntled and betrayed old veteran is an anomaly, but the bloke shitting on a cop car is mainstream?

ffs.


Look at all the other people behind and around the veteran. They look like a fairly wide mix of people.
Now look at the shitting guy. All alone. The rest of the demonstrators appear to be going along peacefully in the top left of the picture.