Wall Street Protests

[SamIam]

I came across the following when I was surfing the net, trying to find concrete solutions from the Right that would solve our economic malaise and unemployment problems. here's what Steve Forbes, CEO of Forbes Inc. and two-time Republican presidential contender had to say:

But "it's not enough to say you're against deficits, bloated government and Obamacare. You've got to have something people see as positive."

True to form, Forbes says the GOP's path to the White House is paved with a "Reagan-esque pro-growth message," featuring a simplified tax code and less regulation, as well as a (true) strong dollar policy.

"Those are the kind of themes that will resonate," he says, citing former Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty's tax reform plan as a good example.

Last month, Pawlenty proposed cutting the corporate tax rate to 15% from 35% and the top individual income tax rate to 25% from 35% while eliminating taxes on capital gains, interest and dividends and repealing the estate tax.

Well, that would certainly perk up the bank accounts of a few people. Meanwhile, the rest of us are being called upon to sacrifice - foregoing or post poning a college education, accepting that more people will be living on the streets, and more children will be raised by parents at or below the poverty line. And that's just for starters.

Plus, the fairy tale is that the wealthy "producer" class will create more jobs if we just lower their taxes. Now, correct me if I'm wrong, but when the W. administration lowered taxes for the wealthy in the previous decade, we saw very little - if any job creation. Oh, the financial and banking people had a blast, largely because the watchdogs were not on the job. But the rest of us have not been so lucky.

So, someone please explain to me how the 'pubs are going to get things running again for anyone besides themselves and their cronies in the legislature.

[Undertoad]

Originally Posted by BigV

Time.

The years from 1979 to 2007.

What is the Y axis?

[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.

[TheMercenary]

Today's NPR report had a bit on college debt. Basically there are protesters who think that their college debt is to much and they can't pay it back so they want some solution for that. Do they think they should be relieved of that debit because they can't find a job with their history degree that will pay back all their debit? Do they think the gobberment should pay it off for them? These people are getting wackier by the day....

It may be hard to pin down exactly what the Occupy Wall Street protesters want, [noshit] but one of the sources of their frustration seems clear. Many of the demonstrators are drowning in student debt.
Rose Swidden came to Zuccotti Park in Lower Manhattan from upstate New York, where she is studying agriculture at SUNY Cobleskill. She expects to graduate in May with USD 35,000 in debt, and doesn`t know how she will pay it back.
"We did what we were told to do: go to college, get an education, you`ll get a job, you`ll get a house, you`ll be cool," she said. "And that`s what we did. And now here we are done with it-and now what?" [idiot]
One proposed list of demands for the Occupy Wall Street movement includes "free college tuition" and "immediate across the board forgiveness" of student debt. While neither demand may be very realistic, the student debt problem is very real.

http://www.moneycontrol.com/news/wor...ef_598557.html

These quotes alone show the complete and utter stupidity of these fools. Winter can't come soon enough.

[glatt]

So you have more than one job, and you are criticizing people who are complaining that they can even get one job.

[TheMercenary]

Originally Posted by glatt

So you have more than one job, and you are criticizing people who are complaining that they can even get one job.

I am not criticizing people for complaining about not getting a job here, or anywhere, as much as I am laughing at fools who think they should be relieved of college debt because they chose to study and get a degree in History and now think they shouldn't pay back their debt.

How many jobs I have is irrelevant.

[Lamplighter]

Originally Posted by TheMercenary

I am not criticizing people for complaining about not getting a job here, or anywhere, as much as I am laughing at fools who think they should be relieved of college debt because they chose to study and get a degree in History and now think they shouldn't pay back their debt.

How many jobs I have is irrelevant.

Jeff Immelt and the other CEO's may be lurking in the group.
They want to have tax holiday so the corps can bring their profit $ back into the US without paying the income taxes they would owe.

Fools - their cash flows are pointing the wrong way.

[TheMercenary]

Originally Posted by Lamplighter

Jeff Immelt and the other CEO's may be lurking in the group.
They want to have tax holiday so the corps can bring their profit $ back into the US without paying the income taxes they would owe.

Fools - their cash flows are pointing the wrong way.

Eh, I don't consider business owners and investors as fools. Their cash flows are theirs to do with as they like, no matter how many people want to take it from them and give to others.

[glatt]

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

How many jobs you have is relevant to your credibility. You have multiple jobs and live a comfortable life and are laughing at the have-nots who only want a chance at the american dream. But the jobs aren't there.

[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?

[TheMercenary]

Sounds just like the WTO protesters....

http://biggovernment.com/abreitbart/...s-governments/

[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?

[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.

[Undertoad]

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