lawrocket 3 #26 September 10, 2012 The OWS movement shot its wad last fall. They did themselves in by being wholly unable to behave. Even Bill Clinton was disappointed in them because, as he said, eventually you have to be FOR something instead of just against something. You can only camp out in the streets for so long. Playing “homeless” is only fun for so long. It turned out they needed and liked such things as heat, food and power supplied by those corporations they verbally hate as much as the privately adore. Additionally, the OWS messed up because they smoked the grass rather than spread the roots. The OWS is like crab grass – it shows up where you don’t want it, tries to choke out what you do want, but turns brown and dies out when the weather isn’t great – hanging out under the surface to wait for the right opportunity to suck out nutrients from the weak who are just getting started. But also unable to compete with healthy Bermuda. Grass roots are just that – rhizomes that spread out for the sole purpose of keeping itself alive. Grass roots know of no higher purpose other than themselves. The OWS is a symbol for the self-entitled. Whether it be the rampant sexual assaults, pervasive theft, sickening anti-environmentalism or just the sheer complete nuisance that they perpetrated at the expense of the public, they became objects of scorn and ridicule. They made it known that homeless weren’t welcome (those suburban white kids can’t handle the sight of others being worse off). We also known that they can’t handle sacrifice. Once the carnival ended, they lacked the gumption and fortitude to stick through. There may be a couple of people out there from time to time in certain places who have nothing better to do. Or here in Fresno, it’s people who don’t want to take the sign down. Arbitrary showings of anger may help people feel better. But without a proposed solution they are viewed as nothing more than whiners by a significant portion of the population – myself included. OWS is the Queens Park Rangers of movements, only it was reasonable to have some good expectations of QPR. And QPR at least had a few goals. My wife is hotter than your wife. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
SkydiveJonathan 0 #27 September 10, 2012 You've obviously put a lot of thought into the OWS. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
kelpdiver 2 #28 September 10, 2012 QuoteYou've obviously put a lot of thought into the OWS. more than the vast majority of its participants. Despite having a job. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
SkydiveJonathan 0 #29 September 10, 2012 QuoteQuoteYou've obviously put a lot of thought into the OWS. more than the vast majority of its participants. Despite having a job. They're smelly - but they also have jobs. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
kelpdiver 2 #30 September 10, 2012 Quote They're smelly - but they also have jobs. a goal - maybe, but no one knows what it is a mission - yeah, stick it to the man and smoke a bowl a job - no - sleeping on the sidewalk until 10 and waiting for people with jobs to drop off some "free" food and painting slogans on cardboard isn't a job. People with jobs get paid and they produce actual output. These people do neither, and drain city resources in the process. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
lawrocket 3 #31 September 10, 2012 Quotemore than the vast majority of its participants. Despite having a job. They're smelly - but they also have jobs. So, tell me about wage growth in the OWS profession? Seems to be as stagnant as the air around them My wife is hotter than your wife. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
billvon 2,991 #32 September 10, 2012 >a job - no - sleeping on the sidewalk until 10 and waiting for people with jobs to >drop off some "free" food and painting slogans on cardboard isn't a job. From the CSM: ================== The average age of the demonstrators, meanwhile, was higher than expected, notes Panagopoulos. “We thought it would be mostly people in their 20s,” he says, but the average age is 33. “That means for every college student you have a mid-career professional in their 40s,” he adds. Another somewhat surprising aspect of the movement regards its financing. According to the online pay site wepay.com, its donation numbers show that the overwhelming online support comes from “average, middle-class donors,” says wepay.com chief executive officer Bill Clerico. “The vast majority of those giving have incomes in the $50,000 to $100,000 range,” he says. The median donation amount is $22, while the average rises to $60, which shows that there are a few “very large donations sending the average amount higher,” adds Mr. Clerico. To date, his company has processed more than $325,000 in donations to Occupy Wall Street. Wepay is releasing its latest data on Occupy Wall Street on Tuesday. ===================== Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
kelpdiver 2 #33 September 11, 2012 Quote From the CSM: From the what? I work 50 yards from Occupy SF. It's a homeless camp (30-40% are long term homeless who take advantage of the lower hassle factor) with a bit more politicizing behavior. Still no actual goal or vision, just a lot of people pissing and crapping in the BART stairwell. Lot of pot smoking. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
billvon 2,991 #34 September 11, 2012 >From the what? Sorry, Christian Science Monitor. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
kelpdiver 2 #35 September 11, 2012 Quote>From the what? Sorry, Christian Science Monitor. was there a date on that survey? Is that now, or in the heyday last Fall? when it was happening, the scene here had a number of grey haired types, including my aunts. These were the people who protested as 20some year olds in the 60s/70s and they were doing it again. Many of them presented real points of view. And raised the average age nicely. Most of them now are back to lobbying by other methods (direct contact with representatives, community outreach, etc), having lost patience with the punk side of the Occupy whiners. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
SkydiveJonathan 0 #36 September 11, 2012 The first year of a new grassroots movement is always the toughest. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
kelpdiver 2 #37 September 11, 2012 QuoteThe first year of a new grassroots movement is always the toughest. 10X harder when the movement has no fucking clue what it's trying to do. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
SkydiveJonathan 0 #38 September 11, 2012 QuoteQuoteThe first year of a new grassroots movement is always the toughest. 10X harder when the movement has no fucking clue what it's trying to do. Staying alive and growing is a pretty good first move. Still a while before the movement flowers. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
kelpdiver 2 #39 September 11, 2012 QuoteQuoteQuoteThe first year of a new grassroots movement is always the toughest. 10X harder when the movement has no fucking clue what it's trying to do. Staying alive and growing is a pretty good first move. Still a while before the movement flowers. so 2016, maybe? Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
SkydiveJonathan 0 #40 September 11, 2012 QuoteQuoteQuoteQuoteThe first year of a new grassroots movement is always the toughest. 10X harder when the movement has no fucking clue what it's trying to do. Staying alive and growing is a pretty good first move. Still a while before the movement flowers. so 2016, maybe? Depends - the International roots will be more important than the US electoral cycle. At the moment it looks like Europe, the US and China are going to have a 3 way 'hard landing'. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
kelpdiver 2 #41 September 11, 2012 QuoteQuote so 2016, maybe? Depends - the International roots will be more important than the US electoral cycle. At the moment it looks like Europe, the US and China are going to have a 3 way 'hard landing'. Horray!!! ? Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
SkydiveJonathan 0 #42 September 13, 2012 QuoteQuoteQuote so 2016, maybe? Depends - the International roots will be more important than the US electoral cycle. At the moment it looks like Europe, the US and China are going to have a 3 way 'hard landing'. Horray!!! ? A hard landing is a hard landing. Lots of unemployment and tough times looking likely for many years to come. It would be hard for a global grassroots counter movement not to thrive in such times. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
kelpdiver 2 #43 September 13, 2012 QuoteQuoteQuoteQuote so 2016, maybe? Depends - the International roots will be more important than the US electoral cycle. At the moment it looks like Europe, the US and China are going to have a 3 way 'hard landing'. Horray!!! ? A hard landing is a hard landing. Lots of unemployment and tough times looking likely for many years to come. It would be hard for a global grassroots counter movement not to thrive in such times. I have every confidence that this group of potheads will prove you wrong. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
SkydiveJonathan 0 #44 September 13, 2012 QuoteQuoteQuoteQuoteQuote so 2016, maybe? Depends - the International roots will be more important than the US electoral cycle. At the moment it looks like Europe, the US and China are going to have a 3 way 'hard landing'. Horray!!! ? A hard landing is a hard landing. Lots of unemployment and tough times looking likely for many years to come. It would be hard for a global grassroots counter movement not to thrive in such times. I have every confidence that this group of potheads will prove you wrong. It's about 50/50. Place your bet. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
SkydiveJonathan 0 #45 September 15, 2012 Strike Debt is among the strongest campaigns poised to take advantage of the S17, treating the anniversary not as an end, or an end in itself, but as a beginning. Strike Debt organizers have strategized all summer about launching a multi-pronged offensive against the predatory debt system, with the eventual goal of sparking a nationwide debt-resisters’ movement that would strike at the foundations of capitalism as a whole. Strike Debt has created a sophisticated press and propaganda unit, with articles and interviews seeded throughout the progressive media landscape, along with dynamic visual materials and performative actions. A key node in these interlocked efforts is issue 3 of Tidal: Occupy Theory, Occupy Strategy, in which the theme of debt resistance is woven throughout. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
SkydiveJonathan 0 #46 September 19, 2012 H.R. 6411, formally known as the Inclusive Prosperity Act, would require the unaccountable Wall Street financiers and gamblers to begin to pay some restitution for all the damage they’ve caused to Main Street communities across the U.S. Not coincidentally, the bill was introduced on the eve of the one year anniversary of the Occupy Wall Street movement, that historic convergence that provided a critical reminder of the pervasive disparity in incomes and wealth in the U.S., and the salient point that the bankers got bailouts and bonuses while so many others were left behind. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
kelpdiver 2 #47 September 19, 2012 QuoteH.R. 6411, formally known as the Inclusive Prosperity Act, would require the unaccountable Wall Street financiers and gamblers to begin to pay some restitution for all the damage they’ve caused to Main Street communities across the U.S. The Inclusive Prosperity Act (H.R. 6411) would tax the sale of stocks, bonds and derivatives sold by Wall Street firms. The tax imposed will be 0.5 percent on stocks, 0.1 percent on bonds, and 0.005 percent on derivatives or other investments. So actually, it would tax investors with a hit of 50 basis points on both the purchase and sale of stocks. Yet derivatives, which are where most of the wall street instability came from, would get a rate 1/100th as much. A 1% subtraction from a 10% gain is a pretty significant hit, equal to half the long term capital gains bill. So really it punishes me, and ignores Wall Street. This is the sort of "genius" we can expect from OccupyMorons and their allies. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
SkydiveJonathan 0 #48 September 19, 2012 Introduction of H.R. 6411 does not mark an end to the great grassroots campaign for a Robin Hood tax that continues to grow, but an additional focus. In the coming days, weeks, and months, activists are planning more actions to build the campaign, and also asking supporters to urge other members of Congress to sign on to the bill. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
kelpdiver 2 #49 September 19, 2012 QuoteIntroduction of H.R. 6411 does not mark an end to the great grassroots campaign for a Robin Hood tax that continues to grow, but an additional focus. In the coming days, weeks, and months, activists are planning more actions to build the campaign, and also asking supporters to urge other members of Congress to sign on to the bill. ok, so by calling it a Robin Hood tax you've already conceded that this has nothing to do with punishing risky Wall Street behavior, but instead is a tax the rich (and hurt the middle class) scheme. Fortunately, your activists couldn't even follow through with their efforts to move accounts from big banks to small ones and credit unions. What will happen in the coming days and weeks - Jack Shit. In the 2013, income tax debate. 6411 will have no traction. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
lawrocket 3 #50 September 19, 2012 Quotethe great grassroots campaign for a Robin Hood Well put. Recall that Robin Hood stole from the rich and gave to the poor. The rich were rich because they taxed the people into poverty. The poor were poor because they were taxed. Robin Hood stole from the government, who had stolen from the people. My wife is hotter than your wife. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites