The "Occupy" Movement

[ModlrMike]

From the Calgary Herald:

Link

Little learning or knowledge at Occupy Calgary camp


By Licia Corbella, Calgary Herald October 22, 2011 5:05 AM

"Education forms the common mind. Just as the twig is bent, the tree's inclined." - Alexander Pope.

That famous quote by the great Augustan-era English poet and satirist popped to mind on Tuesday when I spent about four hours at Occupy Calgary's camp at Olympic Plaza.

So, too, did another line from Pope: "A little learning is a dangerous thing."

Read more: http://www.calgaryherald.com/business/Little+learning+knowledge+Occupy+Calgary+camp/5591967/story.html#ixzz1bVbhTP94

 

[a_majoor]

Explaing OWS:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HYcdOpa5geo&feature=player_embedded

 

[a_majoor]

From Instapundit 23 Oct 2011. This guy is a TEA Party movement member at heart:

Plus, how to really occupy Wall Street — with, you know, actual skills and value added and stuff:
I must have rolled my eyes because Aaron introduced me to the guy. He had long hair, a scruffy beard and was holding an iPhone in one hand and a 5-hour ENERGY drink in the other. All entrepreneurs are trained for the elevator pitch, the 30-second description of what they do in case they are ever on a short elevator ride with a venture capitalist.

“I’ve taken the best of social networking and high-frequency trading and built a system that beats those Wall Street thieves at their own game. Users input their portfolio, it could be stocks or bonds or even derivatives and then we log each trade and anonymously share the spreads so everyone is on an even keel. First it’s just about information, but then we can start matching trades away from Wall Street. Its over for those guys, the status quo is toast.”

Apparently there’s more than one way to Occupy Wall Street.

This sure beats the "Lord of the Flies" environment currently going in the OWS camps. Looking at the various reports coming from the Blogosphere, I feel mostly pity; women being molested or sexually assaulted but being discouraged by the OWS "organizers" from reporting to the Police, people discovering property rights all over again as their possessions get expropriated (stolen) by other OWS members or just plain theives who prey on the encampments, and of course the total lack of "exit strategy", i.e what is their "victory condition" and when do they say mission accomplished and go home?

Smart people like the one highighted above will discover they do have value in the marletplace, and can emgage and make changes to the world. In that respect, he is like the TEA Partiers who no longer demonstrate but work hard to make changes to the political landscape. The rest will simer in frustration until some critical point is reached, then explode into violence (Chicago 1968; Greece 2011), which may be the entire point of this OWS exercise.

 

[mariomike]

This sure beats the "Lord of the Flies" environment currently going in the OWS camps. Looking at the various reports coming from the Blogosphere, I feel mostly pity; women being molested or sexually assaulted but being discouraged by the OWS "organizers" from reporting to the Police, people discovering property rights all over again as their possessions get expropriated (stolen) by other OWS members or just plain theives who prey on the encampments, and of course the total lack of "exit strategy", i.e what is their "victory condition" and when do they say mission accomplished and go home?

Sounds like another Rochdale.

 

[Old Sweat]

Sounds like another Rochdale.

This wiki article is pretty close to the mark.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rochdale_College

 

[kstart]

G20 Meeting, Oct. 15th
http://www.g20.utoronto.ca/2011/2011-finance-111015-en.html

  We have progressed in delivering the commitments we made three weeks ago in Washington DC. In particular, we welcome the adoption of the ambitious reform of the European economic governance. We also welcome the completion by Euro area countries of the actions necessary to implement the decisions taken by Euro area Leaders on 21 July 2011 to increase the capacity and the flexibility of the EFSF. We look forward to further work to maximize the impact of the EFSF in order to avoid contagion, and to the outcome of the European Council on October 23 to decisively address the current challenges through a comprehensive plan. We made progress on our action plan of coordinated policies for consideration by our Leaders at the Cannes Summit. This action plan will encompass a set of measures to address immediate vulnerabilities and strengthen the foundations for a strong, sustainable and balanced growth whereby:

Advanced economies, taking into account different national circumstances, will adopt policies to build confidence and support growth, and implement clear, credible and specific measures to achieve fiscal consolidation. Those with large current account surpluses will also implement policies to shift to growth based more on domestic demand. Those with large current account deficits will implement policies to increase national savings;

Emerging market economies will adjust macroeconomic policies, where needed, to maintain growth momentum in the face of downside risks, contain inflationary pressures and endeavor to enhance resilience in the face of volatile capital flows; Surplus emerging market economies will accelerate the implementation of structural reforms to rebalance demand toward more domestic consumption, supported by continued efforts to move toward more marketdetermined exchange rate systems and achieve greater exchange rate flexibility to reflect economic fundamentals;
All countries will undertake further structural reforms to raise potential growth;
In all of our actions we will strive to foster growth, job creation and promote social inclusion.

 

Anyone notice in the headlines where the Ferrari dealerships have moved to?  Or GAP stores pulling out of NA (their market base being 'middle class'), or Walmart adjusting their wares to match demand to target upper-class?  They're moving to and adjusting to where the buying power is; jumping ship or re-structuring themselves accordingly.

There's the 'what is' of the middle class, and also 'what is to become' of the middle class.  Canada and particularly the US are not the "emerging economies".  In other G20 memos can hear mention of how to sell this to relative countries.  "Unions are baa-aa-aad" (Raitt announces plans to change the laws to the striking powers of workers, to include 'endangering the economy', re-conceptualizing the 'economy as an essential service').  Wage devaluation.  This is good for us?  To be 'globally competitive"?  Or really, about paying down the debts as a result of the criminal practices of the bankers (and disloyal corporations before them and the policies which allowed them to take bailouts and relocate elsewhere) which brought on this mess.


How is this adjustment going to be for consumerist USA, cultural shift.  The "American Dream" of work hard and you'll get there? Never mind this massive restructuring of economies to compensate for the damage the banksters did to us, which will affect the level of choices of employment opportunties, the wages.

  We debated options for innovative financing, as well as a range of different financial taxes, and look forward to Bill Gates’ report on financing for development. We discussed the World Bank IMFOECDRDBs report on mobilizing climate finance and the recommendations of Trevor Manuel based on this report, taking into account the principles of UNFCCC. We call for further work by MDBs and UN organizations. We look forward to an effective design for the Green Climate Fund, based on the work of the Transitional Committee as an element of a balanced outcome of Durban. 

(Ibid)

Yes, because it may be difficult to draw in foreign investment?

Do we really know how bad it is, what the actual cost-figures are as a result of the bankster fiasco-- their greed.

In addition to housing bubble ripples, student debt is estimated to be at above 1 Trillion:

OWS-Related Issue: Student Loan Debt and Economy:
http://www.salon.com/2011/10/20/student_loan_debts_crush_an_entire_generation/singleton/

  USA Today says that at some point this year, student loan debt will exceed $1 trillion, surpassing even credit card debt. Felix Salmon says the number is closer to $550 billion. Either way total student loan debt is rising as other debts have tailed off. Delinquency has increased, too, since the height of the financial crisis.
It’s a huge mess.
Some people have noticed that “student loan debt” comes up a lot among the Wall Street Occupiers and the members of the 99 percent movement. Often, older people, who either attended school when tuition was reasonable, or who didn’t attend college at all in an era when a high school diploma was enough of a qualification for a stable, middle-class career, tend to think this is all the entitled whining of spoiled kids. They don’t understand that these kids accepted a home mortgage worth of debt before they ever even had a regular income, based on phony promises, and that the debt is inescapable, regardless of life circumstances or ability to pay.
Thanks to the horrific 2005 bankruptcy bill, one of the most nakedly venal modern examples of Congress serving the interests of the rentiers and creditors over the vast majority a number of congressional actions, debtors cannot discharge student loans through bankruptcy. The government is shielded from the risk, and creditors are licensed to collect by almost any means they deem necessary, giving no one in charge any real incentive (beyond basic human decency) to fix the situation.
In other words, this is unprecedentedly awful for an entire generation of young people just entering adulthood.
“It’s going to create a generation of wage slavery,” says Nick Pardini, a Villanova University graduate student in finance who has warned on a blog for investors that student loans are the next credit bubble — with borrowers, rather than lenders, as the losers.
Even if by some miracle our unemployed and underemployed debt-laden graduates all win decent jobs tomorrow, the money they make will go into paying off these now-delinquent loans instead of anything productive for the economy as a whole. Banks will continue to see massive profits, in other words.

Where's the incentive to take personal risk in investment on education, when the ROE is not looking good, and it's beyond personal merit, hard-work issues, when it's clearly becoming a structural issue, due to this restructuring of economy.  Anyone who thinks they are just 'whiners', I don't think are awake to the situation looming.


Indicators of decline over the past 30 years:

Here Are Four Charts That Explain What The Protesters Are Angry About...

Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/here-are-the-four-charts-that-explain-what-the-protesters-are-angry-about-2011-10#ixzz1bdPjZVcE

1. Unemployment is at the highest level since the Great Depression (with the exception of a brief blip in the early 1980s).

 

2. At the same time, corporate profits are at an all-time high, both in absolute dollars and as a share of the economy.

3. Wages as a percent of the economy are at an all-time low. In other words, corporate profits are at an all-time high, in part, because corporations are paying less of their revenue to employees than they ever have. There are lots of reasons for this, many of which are not the fault of the corporations. (It's a global economy now, and 2-3 billion new low-cost employees in China, India, et al, have recently entered the global workforce. This is putting pressure on wages the world over.)

4. Income and wealth inequality in the US economy is near an all-time high: The owners of the country's assets (capital) are winning, everyone else (labor) is losing.
Three charts illustrate this:
The top earners are capturing a higher share of the national income than they have anytime since the 1920s: . . . 

That's generally, add on this the additional crises created by the fallout of the criminal banksters. . .  I think the students have connected the dots.  It's noticeable when trying to plan a career trajectory, comparing personal investment costs in education to wage outcomes (wanted ads), the difficulty of planning ahead given unstable Labour Market (economic re-structuring affects everything, all job sectors, private and public, and public converted to private enterprises, ROE potential per education investment, where's the incentive?  The hope?  They're suppose to accept wage-slavery quietly, without protest?  Or protest all you want, the American Dream is dead.  Accept it, have no illusions about it. 

Jimmy Carter's Farewell Speech: http://www.youtube.com/watch?NR=1&v=7sjtM9T-ZWY  It feels mocking to listen to now.  They found a way to extend things, but it's stretched to it's very limits, and went way beyond them (banksters) time pay the piper.  Unfortunate stwartship of the country, this has been building for years. 

Bill Black (financial regulator, Regan Administration) gives some history to the deregulation to present, the conditions which brought on current crisis:
http://www.democracynow.org/2011/10/19/former_financial_regulator_william_black_occupy. 

In an earlier interview, Mr. Black mentions a tool the Obama administration did have to reign in the banks, to bring them into receivership, Bill Moyers Interview: http://www.pbs.org/moyers/journal/04032009/transcript1.html

Black asserted that the banking crisis in the United States that started in late 2008 is essentially a big Ponzi scheme; that the "liar loans" and other financial tricks were essentially illegal frauds; and that the triple-A ratings given to these loans was part of a criminal cover-up. He said that the "Prompt Corrective Action Law" passed after the Savings and loan crisis mandated that ailing banks should be put into receivership. Black also stated that trying to hide how bad the situation is will simply prolong the problem, as happened in Japan's lost decade. Black stated that Timothy Geithner is engaged in a cover-up, and that the administration does not want people to understand what went wrong or how bad the banking situation is today.

  (Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_K._Black)

 

[Brad Sallows]

>fallout of the criminal banksters

At any point do you plan to assign a proportionate share of criminal blame to the politicians who have been spending tomorrow's taxes today for over 40 years?  And, I am curious to know what parts were "criminal" - assuming, of course, you are not referring to any legislation pending which would criminalize selected types of transactions.

 

[a_majoor]

:rofl: :rofl: :rofl:

http://www.daybydaycartoon.com/2011/10/23/

 

[Delaney1986]

About the student loan situation:

Why did they run up the debt in the first place? Why didn't they put it towards a degree that would be useful instead of something where the best shot would be a job? I have friends breaking their backs on jobs to pay for their tuition- A friend of mine always ends up sleeping on my shoulder during breaks because she's been either studying, commuting, or at work. But what happens to all of these guys is they then understand the goddamn value of their degree. As much as I think philosophy is a key part of humanity, a philosophy degree won't get you very far when trying to support yourself.

Sometimes one comes from a situation where they need to take out that debt. That's fine. But they need to learn that nobody is going to give them a free ride and sacrifices need to be made. Perhaps they should save up more before going to school, or perhaps they should choose a degree that will provide the best returns on that initial investment they made.

People chanting for free university need to realize that university is not a right, it's a privilege. Accepting responsibility for one's debts is part of being an adult, and maybe then one will take their studies a bit more seriously.

I know there are other people who have posted similar attitutudes but I have just quoted what you said as it is the most recent.

  I think it's really easy to blame those who choose to go to University and get a "useless" degree as some of you have stated. Easy, and really ignorant. Different degrees come with different skill sets, but very few organizations want to train anyone anymore. They are looking for practical skills and undervalue skills like critical-thinking. I learned so much about how our Country works, how the World works from my "useless" Military History Degree, and although it hasn't directly contributed to me getting a job I am not sorry I did it.

And yeah it would have been great to have been able to save up money for school and not have to take out a student loan, like some of you have made sound very easy. Not all of us have the luxury of living at home, not paying expenses, coming from a middle-class or higher family situation, etc. Some of us come from lower-class families with one or more parents on disability, working for $5.90/hr when I started working, paying for gas, insurance, my own graduation fees, etc, etc, etc. I'm not saying that I think University should be free but if the Government and employers are stressing the importance of a Degree than they should make it more accessible and less burdensome in the long run. ALSO - there are people who don't know where to look for incentives to make paying back their student loans easier because no one tells you about them. NB has several programs, such as the Timely Completion Benefit and the Tuition Tax Rebate.

I would start earlier than University age though in wishing things would change. When I was in High School I was never challenged to think about what I wanted to be when I "grew up". All I ever heard about was how important University was and how I should get a degree and all my friends were going to University, etc. Everyone still thought College was for trades and I am FAR from having the Math capabilities to pursue a Trade or Sciences program. Things should change in the High Schools - we should be getting students to think about their futures. Not everyone decides what they want to be when they are in High School. The realities of University don't really come to light until you are already in your 2nd, or 3rd year. No one ever explained to me I would be $40000+ in debt and I never thought about it, I just knew I should get a degree to get a good job because that is what employers want (nor did I really realize how much money $40000 was before I had to start paying it back!  :-\). And to those of you who are ready to type something like "well that is your own stupid fault for not getting the facts", I agree. But not many 18 year olds I know would really stop to look at the facts, that, I learned in University. 

Essentially what I am trying to say - probably inarticulately - is that it's very easy to judge. I could never have done a business degree, or an Engineering degree because that isn't where my interests or skills are (for those of you saying people should choose a degree that brings more profit later on). I barely passed Math in school so I chose a degree with NO math, I just don't get it. There are a lot of things no one tells you about when you go to University. When I started school no one talked about the debt, no one talked about the lack of jobs, etc. So it was a bit of a shock when I graduated and not even the Military could take me, lol. And now I am back in school, in a program that is costing me another $22000 and going for round two! I know it is annoying to listen to people complain about something you may see clearly, but they are well intentioned.

Sorry for the rant!

 

[Delaney1986]

I know you're posting in response to the general trend, but from me, thank you- I might have one view point but I respect a well reasoned counterpoint.

Who doesn't love a good clean debate?  ;D

 

[Bass ackwards]

No one ever explained to me I would be $40000+ in debt and I never thought about it

Delaney, please understand that I'm not trying to be mean or sarcastic here, but what, precisely, were you thinking ?
I gather from your post that you had to take out a student loan: did the guy (or gal) at the bank not explain what you would be paying ?
Or the simple fact that you would be paying ?
You're obviously smart enough and ambitious enough to want to better yourself, so, bluntly...WTF ?

Couple of questions -again, I'd like to hear your viewpoint. I'm not trying to cut you down and believe me, I've got no business calling anyone else stupid (high school dropout here) so here goes:

1) Is there (in your opinion) a villain here ? Bankers, high school teachers, parents, society at large, George W Bush...?
Who would you be protesting ?

2) I note that after digging yourself a deep hole and not achieving what you wanted, you seem to be digging yourself an even deeper hole ("another $22,000 and going for round two"...)

Why ?
I read your profile, I understand what you're aiming for, but why not find some full-time employment somewhere, bank some money and hang in there until there is a call for the career you want.
It involves waiting. It involves doing some drudge work in the interim. Yes, it sucks.
It's also called "paying your dues".
Wouldn't that make more sense ?     

 

[a_majoor]

The Croney Capitalists who went all in for the Democrat Party in 2006 and 2008 must be either very scared or totally p****d off right about now; but that is the problem with unleashing the mob; it is totally unpredictable and uncontrollable:

http://marathonpundit.blogspot.com/2011/10/video-obama-crony-penny-pritzker-called.html

Video: Obama crony Penny Pritzker called out at OccupyChicago by union speaker

Obviously I need to work on my video skills. But videotaping at night--with an oblivious person holding a sign near me, presents challenges.

Chicago billionaire Penny Pritzker was the national co-chair of Barack Obama's first presidential campaign committee, she was the co-chair for his inaugural committee, and was briefly considered to be his Commerce secretary. The latter fell through after her role in the 2001 collapse of a subprime lender, Superior Bank of Chicago, became widely known. Lynn Sweet of the Chicago Sun-Times wrote three years ago that 1,400 customers lost money after Superior went belly-up.

Penny the dollar-loser is known to OccupyChicago now.

"That's why we're out here together with everyone here in Chicago demanding that billionaires like Penny Pritzker pay their taxes," a UNITE HERE union member told a crowd of about 1,000 two nights ago in Grant Park.

Members of UNITE HERE held a one day strike at various Pritzker family run-Hyatt hotels in July. On a hot day, the heat lamps were turned on while the picketers marched in front of a Chicago property. Hyatt workers have been working without a union contract since 2009, which the spokesman mentioned before I could get my camcorder turned on--let alone properly focused.

OccupyChi protester
The tax issue mentioned by the union speaker most likely is in regards to Vi, which was formerly known as Classic Residence by Hyatt. Last year the IRS sided with Vi in a complicated backtaxes case. Pritzker is the chairwoman of Vi and serves on the board of the Hyatt Hotels Corporation.

UNITE HERE filed a complaint with the Obama-friendly National Labor Relations Board about the heat lamp assault.

From the viewpoint of both the right and the left, Penny Pritzker is a snake in the grass.

But she's Obama's snake.

 

[a_majoor]

And in case anyone still thinks the OWS movement is "leaderless" and "spontanious", the people who planed it provide an introduction to themselves and in their own words:

http://teresainfortworth.wordpress.com/2011/10/12/the-brains-behind-airhead-autumn/

The Brains behind “Airhead Autumn”
Posted on October 12, 2011 by Teresa in Fort Worth, TX

The Cover of Adbusters' Nov/Dec 2011 Issue - Umm, guys....doesn't a black crow symbolize "Death"?

I got lambasted in comments on a post that I did a couple of weeks ago for daring to suggest that “Occupy Wall Street” was anything other than a spontaneous grass-roots gathering (OWS wasn’t even the subject of the post).  But everything that I had read about OWS said that a group called Adbusters first put out the word way back in July of this year, telling folks all about this little shindig.

I understood where the commenters were coming from – after all, the OWS website insisted that they were a “ leaderless resistance movement”, and all of the major media outlets and progressive blogs were parroting this claim. 

When people kept harassing me about what I said in my posts and my comments, I started doing some more digging, and found out some very interesting things about the people behind this “innocent” movement.

Adbusters was founded by a European-born gentleman by the name of Kalle Lasn, who currently lives in Canada.  Mr. Lasn has never lived in the United States.  He HATES capitalism in all of its forms, and he especially hates American consumerism.  In his book, “Culture Jam“, he audaciously claims that he wants to “wreck the world”.

Smug-looking little bastard, ain't he?

I guess Mr. Lasn – despite his stated contempt for consumerism, capitalism, and filthy dirty profit – realized that the kids on Wall Street are getting all of the glory (not to mention all of the donations), so he decided to set the record straight.  I mean, there IS money to be made from all of this, after all….

So on October 7th, Mr. Lasn sat down with a reporter at The Tyee - an “independent daily online magazine reaching every corner of British Columbia and beyond” - and gave them a self-serving interview wherein he disclosed just how grass-roots this whole campout in the park – or as I like to call it, ”Airhead Autumn”- really is.


I guess every "spontaneous" movement needs a theme (and a staged photo).....

It turns out that this really DID start long before September 17th:

…it all falls under a hashtag that began far from the pepper spray and mass arrests, in the offices of Vancouver’s own Adbusters magazine, as #OccupyWallStreet…..

Mr. Lasn and his cohorts have been attempting to stir the pot for over 20 years as it turns out, so he is positively GIDDY with the success of his latest campaign:

…..as the movement overspills Wall Street, he describes it as the most successful in the 22 years he and his magazine have been advocating “culture jamming,” which originally sought to subvert consumerism.

Adbusters came up with a poster design, which was designed to divert peoples’ attention away from the true meaning behind the protest:

….to me it was almost like an invitation, like if we get our act together then we can launch a revolution. It had this magical revolutionary feel to it, which you couldn’t have with the usual lefty poster which is nasty and visceral and in your face.

In this day and age, all revolutions must be tweeted, so a Twitter hashtag was developed (and really, guys – thanks for that; it gave conservatives some much-needed laughs….):

….the biggest brainstorms happened between myself and Adbusters senior editor Micah White, who lives in Berkeley. We were the two key people who got excited, and more and more excited, morning after morning, and eventually decided on that hashtag, #OccupyWallStreet…..

And no revolution would be complete without an official YouTube video - Mr. Lasn was delighted by the overtones of anarchy in the one that was released:

….Anonymous gave us that — I don’t know what you call it, that sort of anarchy cred. All of a sudden this organization that has this strange mystique to it, they’re saying, ‘Yeah, occupy Wall Street!’ That first video of theirs was quite a delightful little piece of videomaking.

And like all good Politburos, the elite planned on sitting up in their safe little offices, letting all of the work (and any eventual blame) be carried out by the gullible, the naive, and the expendable:

….we always thought of ourselves as the catalyzers, the people who set that meme, as we like to call it, in motion. And right from the start we decided that we’re not going to play a part on the street, that if our meme flies, if people love it, then we’re happy to come up with posters, and we did send them all kinds of handbills…..

It was rather nice of them to provide the kids with supplies, don’t you think?

These people have always been behind the scenes, directing the show, and those kids need to understand that this protest isn’t about THEIR demands; it’s about fulfilling Mr. Lasn’s desire to be relevant:

….I feel like this is the first time in the 20-plus year history of Adbusters that we really have a chance to pull something off….

It doesn’t sound like he is going to give up on this particular protest, because this time he and his friends are convinced that they are >>this close<< to finally seeing their dreams of revolution come to fruition.

Who, you might ask, are “they”?  Oh, just your usual rogue’s gallery of folks who are always hanging around on the fringes of society or in the faculty lounges of elite college campuses everywhere, constantly jonesing for anarchy:

….it takes old people like me and theoreticians like Michael Hardt and Antonio Negri, who are writing for our next issue, and people like David Graeber, the anarchist, and Saul Newman, the guy who recently wrote a book about anarchism.

It takes all kinds of people to launch a revolution, but the cutting edge is young people who put their asses on the line….

Again with the peasants taking all the risks – nice, huh?  Somebody might want to remind these kids that in most revolutions, “cutting edge” is an all too LITERAL thing…..

Goodness gracious, this has all succeeded beyond their wildest dreams, so now they are eager to take the Fleabag Circus of Anarchy on the road:

…we know there’s going to be another big moment Oct. 15 when the people in Europe start getting their act together. And then now we are sort of strategically trying to up the level and see if we can’t pull off something even crazier than Occupy Wall Street, whether we can pull off a sort of global Tahrir moment.

I know it sounds kind of grandiose, but it seems like on Nov. 3 and 4, when the G20 meet, it is possible to have millions of people marching around the world, all demanding one thing….

And what is that one thing that everybody wants?  Why a tax, of course!  (Newsflash, kiddies – it’s always about money.  ALWAYS.)

…we believe that one thing could be the Robin Hood tax. The Tobin Tax, what we’re calling a one per cent tax on all financial transactions….Let’s slow down fast money with a Tobin Tax, and we feel that over the next one month we may be able to instigate a global movement where the young people of the world stand up and say, ‘We want to have a Robin Hood tax.’

Got that, kids?  That 1% that you’ve been chanting about all this time?

It’s a tax.

You have spent the past few weeks sleeping out in the elements, living in filth and squalor, fighting for your right…..to turn the United States monetary system into the equivalent of the European Union.  Viva la Revolucion!

…. for the last 20 years we’ve been talking about cultural revolution and we’ve launched various campaigns….

And you lucky kids are the ones who are finally going to make these idiots’ dreams come true!  (Wise up, guys, you’re being played.)

It is kind of funny how Mr. Lasn never gets around to telling anyone who is going to collect this tax, what it’s going to be used for, and who is going to be in charge of deciding what it will be spent on.  Ah, well – as they always say, the devil is in the details…..


Yay!!! We get to follow Europe down the crapper!!!!! (Oh, and Wall Street is evil....)

And once the American economy is completely ruined, Mr. Lasn envisions….well, he’s not really sure about that, either; all he knows is that something has to change:

…we decided in our brainstorming sessions that regime change in America wouldn’t be like regime change in Egypt, obviously, because it’s a totally different kind of a situation….

….some kind of a soft regime change was necessary there. So we felt, to put it succinctly, that a Tahrir moment for America was in the cards, was definitely possible….

Theoreticians and pundits say now, people I talk to, that ultimately this Tahrir moment that happened in Egypt, that it ultimately will apply more to first world countries and to young people all around the world, that soft regime change may actually be the great achievement of what Tahrir taught us.

I don’t know about you guys, but I don’t think we need any more ”theoreticians and pundits” brainstorming, trying to bring about regime change in America; the clowns of academia who have been trying to “fundamentally transform” this country for the last 3 years have already screwed things up enough, thank you very much.

I guess since he didn’t grow up in this country, Mr. Lasn doesn’t realize that “regime change” in America happens peacefully every 2 years….

….at the ballot box.

[Cross-posted at RedState]

[Update 10/13/11]:  Thanks to NiceDeb for linking this article (and there are more links at her site about this same subject)!  Check out her site – she does a GREAT job of turning over all of the rocks (and she really IS nice; we got to meet a couple of months ago!).

[Update 10/16/11]: Thanks to RStacy McCain for linking me over at his site; be sure and check out his hilarious post about a Craigslist ad, and please drop some dough in his tip jar to send him to Las Vegas to do what he does so well – on-site political reporting! (or to Auckland to be the future US Ambasaddor to Vanatau for his man, Herman Cain….)

http://thetyee.ca/News/2011/10/07/Kalle-Lasn-Occupy-Wall-Street/

 

[ballz]

Holy crap, sorry to bring this back to the education discussion we were having, but I'm here reviewing the slides for my Introduction to Political Science course (hey, 4th years need easy electives too ;D) and I must have been passed out cold in class when this slide came up or I assure you I would have been the prof's most-hated student ever.

5) Why study politics?

Its good for us . . . 

Collectivist perspective – for civic reasons!
We can make our communities better by understanding politics

Individualist perspective – for self interest!
Knowing how the world works can help you get ahead . . .
Only 4% of Memorial students are PS majors
Almost 20% of employment is in PS related fields:
Government, law, communications . . .

Found on slide 22 in the "Introduction.ppt" file http://www.ucs.mun.ca/~russellw/Teaching.html

Talk about a university selling people BULL$#!+

*I realize that it may be statistically correct, but implying that you need a POSC degree, or that a POSC degree applies to / will help you get a job in that 20% of jobs, is completely dishonest.

 

[mariomike]

This wiki article is pretty close to the mark.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rochdale_College

That Wiki write-up is pretty tame from what I recall. Some of it first-hand, but mostly from what co-workers and supervisors told me.
For example, on February 23, 1972, Inspector John Wilson, Chief of the Metro Police Morality Squad reported to the Star that there were already 10 suicides at Rochdale. More than three years later, the place was still occupied, and people were still jumping. Who knows how many of them were thrown out the windows?

 

[cupper]

*I realize that it may be statistically correct, but implying that you need a POSC degree, or that a POSC degree applies to / will help you get a job in that 20% of jobs, is completely dishonest.

Hey. I know lots of people with Poli Sci degrees that have jobs. ;D

And burger flipping is considered a job. :rofl:

 

[Brad Sallows]

>Almost 20% of employment is in PS related fields: Government, law, communications . . .

They may be "related", but most lawyers think of the law as lawyer's work; ditto communications/journalism majors and communications, etc, etc.

 

[Delaney1986]

Delaney, please understand that I'm not trying to be mean or sarcastic here, but what, precisely, were you thinking ?
I gather from your post that you had to take out a student loan: did the guy (or gal) at the bank not explain what you would be paying ?
Or the simple fact that you would be paying ?
You're obviously smart enough and ambitious enough to want to better yourself, so, bluntly...WTF ?

Couple of questions -again, I'd like to hear your viewpoint. I'm not trying to cut you down and believe me, I've got no business calling anyone else stupid (high school dropout here) so here goes:

1) Is there (in your opinion) a villain here ? Bankers, high school teachers, parents, society at large, George W Bush...?
Who would you be protesting ?

2) I note that after digging yourself a deep hole and not achieving what you wanted, you seem to be digging yourself an even deeper hole ("another $22,000 and going for round two"...)

Why ?
I read your profile, I understand what you're aiming for, but why not find some full-time employment somewhere, bank some money and hang in there until there is a call for the career you want.
It involves waiting. It involves doing some drudge work in the interim. Yes, it sucks.
It's also called "paying your dues".
Wouldn't that make more sense ?   

I get it, trust me, if I had of thought more about it I may have done things differently. I mean that it wasn't like someone gives you a cheque for $40 000. I got a student loan so I recieved money in installments throughout my 4 years in University. I guess I didn't really add it up until it was over, I was a bit older and had to start thinking about paying it back. I wasn't worried about it because everyone I knew was going to University, and I knew people who had gone and were doing fine. I just assumed that I would get a good job and not have to worry about it. I always knew I would have to pay it back, but when you go from having no debt ever to having $40000 it is a big adjustment - especially when that shiny high paying job you are told you will get isn't waiting for you after you Graduate. They can't tell you what your monthly payments will end up being because you never know how much you will get every year, you only find that out in the end.

I can really only chalk it up to being young and naive, not being truly informed about what the risks were - no one talked about the risks, it was always just go to school, get a good job, don't worry about it. I understand it was my responsibility to check things out but I just didn't worry about it. Stupid, like I said, lol.

As far as Villains - I think that is a strong word. I'm not saying I would even protest, I certainly haven't before but just because people are looking for change doesn't mean the only degrees people should be pursuing are ones that are more likely to yield a high profit. That isn't entirely the point to "higher education". Like my last post says, I wish there was a more realistic portrayal of University vs. College and the job market. That kids were better prepared and better informed. Schools, parents, etc should all be pitching in to help. Also, that government assistance programs were talked about more and students were better informed about where to look for that information.

As for the second part of digging myself a new hole, lol, I sort of agree. But there are other back issues that I guess I didn't discuss before. After graduating with my $40000 debt I immediately applied to the Timely Completion Benefit and got accepted, which reduced my Student Loan down to $26000. I had applied for scholarships every year but never recieved any... And when I am done school I fully intend to take advantage of the Tuition Tax Rebate, but I cannot claim that while I am still a student.

I decided to go back to school because I cannot become an Intelligence Officer in the Military off the street, other trades I applied for were closed. I had applied for over 200 jobs in a 6 month period and could not find decent work anywhere. I am currently working Full Time night shifts and going to school full time, so I am paying my "dues" so to speak. I will end up right where I was when I first graduated from University. I have always been interested in Police Work and Military so I figured I would shoot for MP, if not, then the Criminology field has many opportunities I can pursue...hopefully! If not, I will be the most educated Dispatcher at my job for sure. 

I was never saying anyone should "take the blame" just that the problems are at multiple levels and it is unfair and ignorant to blame those who choose to get a degree that some don't view as "lucrative" as deserving what they get. Especially when they are getting fed a line of bullshit about how the only way to get a good job is to have a degree, ya know? Not crucifying anyone, just encouraging people to think critically and look at all angles instead of being judgemental and making snap judgements.  ;D

Hope that clarifies a bit more of my decisions and my situation now, let me know if you have any other questions.

 

[ballz]

I'm not saying that I think University should be free but if the Government and employers are stressing the importance of a Degree than they should make it more accessible and less burdensome in the long run.

I don't think the government or employers have ever stressed the importance of a university education, the universities have. Unfortunately, you're right, in high school you are led to believe that university is very important. Unfortunately, those teachers are all university educated as well. And also unfortunately, most parents I've come across (including my own) also stressed the importance of university.

I agree that there should be more in high school to prepare educate young people about what's in store, what the realities are, and to challenge them to start asking themselves what they really want to do. Likely to strongly opposed by teachers though, for various reasons. Unfortunately, a high school education has gone the same way as a university education...

And now I am back in school, in a program that is costing me another $22000 and going for round two!

Which program?

 

[kstart]

>fallout of the criminal banksters

At any point do you plan to assign a proportionate share of criminal blame to the politicians who have been spending tomorrow's taxes today for over 40 years?  And, I am curious to know what parts were "criminal" - assuming, of course, you are not referring to any legislation pending which would criminalize selected types of transactions.

Check out the links I provided to Bill Black for perspective of the criminal actions of the banksters, he gives a couple of interesting interviews, one with PBS, the other with Democracy Now.  He did have experience as a financial regulator through the Reagan years (and through the Savings and Loans crisis, which compared to the 2008 meltdown, the current being "70 times worse"), and he gives some historical account re: deregulation of banking practices (e.g. whittling down of Glass-Steagall Act, which was created post-Great Depression, as prevention from the same thing happening again).  Also, re: regulation, post-9/11, 500 FBI specialists on white-collar crime were re-allocated to roles of anti-terrorism, and despite the FBI warning in 2004 about white-collar crime being an enormous risk, there was never replacement of those 500 FBI white-collar crime investigators.  They mortgage scam, he sees criminal fraud, both with banks, and also re: the rating of those fraudulent financial products, derivatives, giving AAA ratings to bad products, another level of fraud.  Banks have inordinate power over politicians, they pay for their campaigns, their in the Obama administration, there was bipartisan support for deregulation.  He also states that only about 10% were criminal, the rest applied professional ethics.  Bigger impact because these were the most elite banks involved in the fraud.  Also if uncorrected, an dif another bank goes down, that can cause a Great Depression, so situation there is also tenuous (although it seems G20 are also attending to that ?)

Taxes can be part of the problem, re: careless spending, but also on the otherside of that is distribution of taxation (bigger tax breaks for the super-rich, e.g. the Bush tax breaks: in an earlier 'rant' of mine , I provided a youtube link, an interesting presentation evaluating the economics and impact of that on government spending and saving).  Tax cuts for the super rich don't make sense either when the spending has been increased by 2 wars, anti-terrorism costs, etc. and if those savings are not being re-distributed in things like actual job creation.  It's also criminal, the claim there's no money for social security (when Americans have paid into that via payroll taxes).  But I'm sure there's arguments on either side, both for and against this.  It's interesting to explore it anyhow.

I'm not sure on the union issue re: global competitiveness.  I can re-think that.  Obviously with today's inflation, cost of living, it's not realistic to attempt to pay workers here $2/hour-- that's unlivable (unless there would be government subsidy, or a re-setting of inflation-- I don't know what the economic remedies for that would be).  But in time, the wages of the emerging economies perhaps will get higher, and maybe things will equal out again down the road. . . ?  If there were good wages, where people could save for an education, could bring in something like what Germany has-- learning a pratical vocation, university study later in life. . .?  But where-ever the tinkering comes, it has ripple effects, so I can't just buy a 'slogan' "unions are bad" without consideration for the ripple effects of wage devaluation (plus that effect of local economy, businesses, additionally).  I just hope for fariness, and if sacrifices need to be made, it's also a shared burden, as I can't see milking that much more blood from a stone, on the backs of the working poor.  They're bigger problems than my little mind can figure out, still it's interesting to explore, debate, hear other sides. . .
pax