Occupy Wall Street...

[bucketokarma]

I can go to college without taking out a single loan, and I never even finished high school. I'm not a minority and am not living in "low-income" housing.

So.... the moral of this is that, if you want something bad enough, you will find/make a way to achieve it. If you only sort-of-want something, you'll sit around complaining about how you'll never be able to get it because it wasn't handed to you....

[Hydra]

The use of "I" should how something.

This isn't about you or me, you can go to college for free, I can't. Armed Services may have perhaps provided that ability I don't know.

But the crux of the issue is that people who want, and have the drive to go to college to better themselves educationally and financially don't have the ability to always.

Truth be told I really have no connection to the movement or belief in its ideas, just creating an alternate viewpoint for discussions sake.

[USAFSgt]

question

How are these protestor's in anyway qualified to say anything about what our country needs to do...especially for them? We were founded on the principle of pursuing happiness, not communism. There will always be those who rely on a handout because they lack the drive and determination within. I see this everyday. I think if half of these weenies served in the military they would stick a sock in it because they have all theory and no knowledge of practice in the physical world. Yes I have a couple degrees now, but I must say that I have learned far more through experiences in my many travels. Maybe if all of these protestors became business owners they would realize how much impact they could really achieve. Oh, living wage is garbage...you are not entitled to payment for breathing and taking up space(This makes you a tax on society). I pay taxes to lay a framework for this country, not to support free loaders

[Nick]

Admin note: This is not an official list of demands. This is a forum post submitted by a single user and hyped by irresponsible news/commentary agencies like Fox News and Mises.org. This content was not published by the OccupyWallSt.org collective, nor was it ever proposed or agreed to on a consensus basis with the NYC General Assembly. There is NO official list of demands.

There are a lot of intense opinions in this thread, but the main point isn't to get handouts, its to protest the fact that some business people, especially the CEOs of the big banks, get paid inordinate sums of money, especially in bonuses, while at the same time, they lay off 30,000 people.

These people are fed up because last year was a record year in terms of corporate profits, yet there are millions of people without jobs. That's the injustice these people are talking about.

As far as the list of demands is concerned, always check the source before you go on an 8 page ragefest

[bucketokarma]

[BOX]

There are a lot of intense opinions in this thread, but the main point isn't to get handouts, its to protest the fact that some business people, especially the CEOs of the big banks, get paid inordinate sums of money, especially in bonuses, while at the same time, they lay off 30,000 people.

These people are fed up because last year was a record year in terms of corporate profits, yet there are millions of people without jobs. That's the injustice these people are talking about.

ding

Not just the CEOs of the big banks, but the top 1% of pretty much every publicly traded company in the United States.

[Nick]

ding

Not just the CEOs of the big banks, but the top 1% of pretty much every publicly traded company in the United States.

Yeah, but the reason they chose wall st is that those are the people that drove the country into economic collapse, yet they're all doing just dandy today

[bucketokarma]

Well, then somebody should tell the larger percent of this "99%" movement, that. Because most of them seem to think this "occupy wall-street" movement is going to help them out on some kind of personal level. You aren't going to be able to stop that kind of corruption completely, no matter what kind of relations you impose or how many protests you start. Just like no matter what the government tries to do, there are going to be more freeloaders taking up more tax dollars than CEOs getting bonuses.... Both ends of the monetary scales have corruption, and the poor are taking more "free money" than the rich and elite. Granted the corrupt wealthy are taking more PER PERSON, but there are significantly fewer of them.
Billions are still going to programs that encourage freeloading and federal spending that goes nowhere.
As for the "bailouts" , I said they should have just let the banks fail, and then see where what "We the People" would have done when we couldn't get our money. It would have been fun Personally, I don't care, most of those bonuses were contractual anyhow. The people were ALL FOR outsourcing when it became the latest and greatest way to reduce costs, and thought it was still great when it meant that items cost less on the shelves. But now that it means that there are no jobs for Americans, and those cheap items on the shelves are falling apart and being recalled for one reason of another due to poor craftsmanship... NOW everyone is in an uproar. On the other hand, the people of this great nation refused to work for the wages put forth by our manufacturing industry, and didn't want to pay the higher prices for higher quality goods provided by those that did still manufacture in the USA . What did we expect?

Either way, the majority of these kids are pissed off at the bailouts and bonuses, yes, and to some extent, I am too, but they only know a very little about it... More than that, the leaders of this group seem to be the only ones that are there for that, for the rest (or 99% of them), the bailouts and bonuses for profitable companies is one of the smaller issues while they try to figure out where they are going to go with their art degrees and debt for choosing the most expensive schools to obtain that degree...

Oh, and by the way, most of the companies and banks have paid the bailout money with interest, one of the first companies to do so was GM. Others are still paying, and cutting costs where they can.
Why not protest congress? They serve one term and get 80% of their wages for life, they serve two terms or more and get 100% of their wages for life.... no matter how good or bad they are.

[BOX]

I'm pissed off at my CEO/company.

http://people.forbes.com/profile/victoria-m-holt/64988
In 2010 made $2.327 million. For only 4 months of work! Started September 1.

http://finance.yahoo.com/q/is?s=SEH+...atement&annual
In 2010 we lost over $50 million with barely over $1 billion in revenue.

For 4 months of work a $92,500 base salary. How in the fucking hell did she get over $2.2 million in bonuses when we lost over $50 million? Should be illegal.

Can't wait to leave...

[Nick]

I think there is an incredible over-estimation of how much money the federal government actually spends on a "welfare" basis. Are there people that beat the system and end up living quite well on gov't assistance? Of course, you'll find that anywhere. But a majority of people depend on these programs for survival, especially children.

Also, the entire economic system of the US is based on people buying shit. 70% of GDP comes from consumption. Those people that receive gov't aid spend every last dollar that they get. If they aren't spending anymore, the country as a whole gets hurt. People can get all pissed off at those that enjoy collecting money from the gov't yadda yadda, but what about the people that really need it just to get by? You're going to screw those people over?

As far as letting banks fail, it would've ended the American economy, so it was essential that they were bailed out. The banks are still abusing their privileges and that's what people are pissed off about. The reason they are protesting at Wall St is that the financial institutions of this country actively engaged in creating the biggest bubble in history that led to millions losing their homes and jobs, the government racking up huge debt, and the overall stagnation of the economy.

The big banks of the US robbed the country and its people blind, and the leaders of the companies are making outrageous sums of money, and the rest of the nation has nothing. That's why people are pissed off.

[Nick]

Occupy Bridgeport. Looks like a rousing protest.

[Hydra]

What a fail

[bucketokarma]

The movement is bring out some real radicals, especially in LA. Plus, since it wasn't organized right from the get out, it's becoming less of what it might have been intended for, and becoming more of a "pure socialism" movement, and gaining steam in that regard. Also, starting to call for violence....

Not that I put much faith in their drive, but if they do insist on violence, could we be seeing the very early beginnings of America's second civil war? If so it would be a three way deathmatch between "Tea Party", "Occupy Wall-Street", and "The Fed".

This is getting so ridiculous. It's just like the tea party, not enough people are informed about the issues and what the group is trying to stand for, joining up or going against because they heard something that caught their ear and they either loved it and are going to follow it even though they don't know what the group as a whole believes, or hate that one thing they heard and throw themselves against the whole group on a similar premiss...

If it gets interesting or has some impact on the way I'm forced to live, then I guess I'll start caring, but until then, I have just been keeping my ear open but have stopped caring about what's going on with these fools.

Kinda want to stock up on ammo though.... Just in case...

[HeavyMetal]

could we be seeing the very early beginnings of America's second civil war?

no

[Nick]

You really think these art-school beatniks can militarize?

Also, every movement needs a mass of thoughtless pawns just to add some gravity to the issue at hand.