‘Occupy’ movement giving voice to legitimate fears
Instead of using police officers to oust protesters from Woodruff Park, Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed has wisely decided to wait and see, hoping that the passage of time and the threat of sub-freezing temperatures will clear the park for him.
Maybe it will, but I’m doubtful. Critics of the Occupy movement claim that those involved are not representative of the American mainstream, and they’re right. People who camp for weeks on end as a form of political protest, and who risk or even force their own arrest by acts of civil disobedience, are by definition not mainstream. They are more extreme than the rest of us.
However, that doesn’t mean that they are divorced from mainstream thoughts or concerns. To the contrary, they’re a lot closer to tapping into what’s really happening in America than are the targets of their protests on Wall Street.
On a visit to the scene Tuesday afternoon, I saw a lot of signs quoting well-known outrageous radicals such as Sam Adams, Abraham Lincoln and Franklin Roosevelt. One woman with an audience of one was reading aloud from a piece of subversive literature, something about it being easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God.
Near the center of the encampment of some 70 tents, somebody had erected a section of unpainted wooden fence, with a sign asking “What’s your story?” The fence is full of authentic American stories scrawled on the wood with Magic Markers and Sharpies.
“I am 24 years old,” one person wrote. “I go to school and work full-time and get an average of four hours of sleep a night. I am hoping the degree I earn will help me pay off my $80,000 student loan. The outlook of this is dim. With every day that goes by more and more jobs in this country are lost. It seems most are going to other countries so corporations can make more money …. My mother’s house in Michigan was foreclosed on and she now lives with her mother in Tennessee. A 46-year old woman who has to live with her mom and has done nothing but work hard all her life.”
“All my life I’ve seen ‘immigrants’ being denied the right to receive scholarships to go to school and I’ve seen citizens being drowned in debt due to going to school,” another writes. “And once they finish, NO JOBS. So what’s the point anymore?”
“My son and granddaughter are unemployed,” someone else wrote, explaining that the bank stock that the family had owned was now worthless. “I am 70 and have no job or money. The banks *&#$ed everyone.”
As in other Occupy sites around the country, the vast majority of the participants are young people, and a recurring theme is anguish at the prospect of graduating from college with a heavy debt load and no jobs. The American Dream no longer seems realistic to many of them. In the Vietnam era, protests were dominated by young people who felt the threat of the draft most directly, and if that pattern is repeating itself, it’s for similar reasons. Among men ages 20-25, for example, the September unemployment rate was 15.8 percent, a number that badly underestimates the true scale of the problem, since many in that age group never had a chance to officially join the full-time workforce in the first place.
So yes, we can run off those protesters and take down that fence. But the problem is, it won’t make those stories go away. The people who are living those stories aren’t going away either. The sense of inequity in an economy in which millions are jobless and have lost their homes to foreclosure, while corporate profits are at record high, is not going to change unless the situation changes. Because for every story written on a wooden fence, there are several hundred thousand others in which the principal characters have so far suffered in silence.
The protesters are not the people we should turn to for answers or solutions, but that’s not their role. Their role is to give voice to a problem, and you have to believe that voice will get louder and louder.
– Jay Bookman
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607 comments Add your comment
Joe Mama
October 19th, 2011
11:08 am
Liberallefty — “CAINS just a typical STEPPIN FETCHIT that racists whites use for entertainment. he wont be nominated”
I don’t care what you think to yourself, but you need to take comments of this sort elsewhere.
Ricky B / jm
October 19th, 2011
11:11 am
Usinuk 11:03 no. Go to roll call archives, search for “ofheo”
Title: Fannie, Bond Lobbied on Investigation
liberalefty
October 19th, 2011
11:11 am
@joe mama
sorry if u hate the truth
getalife
October 19th, 2011
11:11 am
Do the Step Brothers characters next Ricky Bobby.
Shake and Bake.
Ricky B / jm
October 19th, 2011
11:12 am
Getalife
I will never say “crepes”!
liberalefty
October 19th, 2011
11:12 am
@joe mama
next SAMBO CAIN will say he will try to repeal the CIVIL RIGHTS ACT to please his racist followers
NAGA
October 19th, 2011
11:13 am
Trotsky – as easy to play as a kitten & a laser light on the wall.
Clueless one, military retirement pay was originated by Caesar Augustus not as you so pompously believe.
AmVet - Neo-cons, they're just bad people who enjoy the suffering of others.
October 19th, 2011
11:14 am
Coulter is an anti-Semitic bigot and hatemonger of the worst kind.
She makes money by getting willing and naive stooges to buy into and purchase her claptrap.
And it works.
getalife
October 19th, 2011
11:14 am
I love “thin pancakes ” Ricky Bobby.
Your kids are hilarious
Yep
October 19th, 2011
11:14 am
LL — Imagine what your comments and substitute Obama for Cain? It does not sound too good does it? Dems do not have the sole right to denigrate someone based on their racial background. When can a man/woman stand for what they believe in without being forced to meet a racial profile?
DBCOOPER
October 19th, 2011
11:14 am
FOR THE RECORD!
I’m also part of the 99%. However, NONE of these so-called “Occupy Movement” speak for me and NEVER will.
Start with our corrupt Government who played a hand in this crap. Barney Frank is a good place to start. Or the SEC. The U.S. government enabled the “fat cat” crooks to exist. Because it’s payola baby.
Obama has taken more money from big business than any president in history. And he’s “poseing”. Give me a break!
Ricky B
October 19th, 2011
11:15 am
Look frenchie……
Obozonomics
October 19th, 2011
11:15 am
Leberallefty;
“when rightwingers protest, its ok, but when lefties protest, theyre criminals? typical rightwing bs”
Yes from the left, did the tea party break the laws by staying in a public park over night? Do these “occupiers” even have an idea what they want, other than a hand out? Did you see their list of demands? Cheaper MARTA, and cheaper HOV lanes??? Free education???? I guess you are right this is the future of the democratic socialist party in America… So tell me again what the tea party did wrong, could it be the peaceful protest that has a cause and a meaning, or could it be the crapping on a cop car, opps wrong group, or the stealing from each other, opps again…could it be the uncontrolled invasion of government offices and banks, ooppss again….
kayaker 71
October 19th, 2011
11:15 am
Aquagirl,
Your compassion overwhelms me. Used to take prospective ladies on snipe hunts. If that didn’t work, then submarine races were the next choice. I really appreciate all the help I can get….. even from people like you. This “lily white” conservative, as you put it last night, must bother you a bit. Along with all of the other “lily white” posters on this liberal love fest. Lets see…. “lily white”, what could that mean? Must be that you are not, n’ces ce pas?
Obozonomics
October 19th, 2011
11:15 am
Mickey Mouse could beat Obozo in the next election, and the country would be better off…
Generation$crewed
October 19th, 2011
11:17 am
Adam
October 19th, 2011
9:45 am
If the person you speak of is as poor as you make them out to be I will assure you they will qualify for Pell Grants…..but they would only be able to tke a part time load most likely, not a full 12 hours.
liberalefty
October 19th, 2011
11:17 am
It seems that all the candidates except PAUL thinks ISRAEL should be able to do anything in the middle east and americans should pay for it!
SaveOurRepublic
October 19th, 2011
11:18 am
The “beef” should be with the military-industrial complex, the Central Banking Cartel & their pawns on “Cr@pitol sHill” & White House. They are correct to call out these fallacious “wars” in the middle east, which do NOT defend any (Constitutional) freedoms for Americans, but serve the Globalist Elite & their z10n1st allies. These protestors should be marching on D.C., the (private) “Federal” Reserve, CFR & (Globalist) U.N.
liberalefty
October 19th, 2011
11:18 am
@obozo
the PEA PARTY is just a bunch of racists
Ricky B
October 19th, 2011
11:18 am
Getalife don’t talk about my kids
They’ll whip you like a spider monkey. My kids are off limits.
Claire
October 19th, 2011
11:19 am
I was shocked to learn in the debate last nite that Cain and Perry are “brothers”.
Ricky B
October 19th, 2011
11:20 am
Getalife
Now if you want to talk about how I beat frenchie, we can do that all day long. Cause I’m an American. And we drive fast.
liberalefty
October 19th, 2011
11:20 am
@yep
sorry if u hate the truth. CAIN is just a minstrel show performing for racists who will never nominate him
Ricky B
October 19th, 2011
11:21 am
America. Fast food, fast cars, fast women. Love this country.
AmVet - Neo-cons, they're just bad people who enjoy the suffering of others.
October 19th, 2011
11:23 am
The U.S. government enabled the “fat cat” crooks to exist. Because it’s payola baby.
EXACTLY.
Because YOU Republicans (primarily) willingly and knowingly elected and enabled the very men who took the fat cat money and sold us down the river.
Because, as Ronnie commanded, those men that YOU elected were obligated to do everything in their power – for thirty straight years now – to simple give away the American henhouse – our sacred sovereignty – to the untouchable foxes.
And now the Cainiacs blame the hens and hold completely faultless those foxes. The very ones who “disappeared” three trillion dollars of other people’s money, almost overnight.
USMC
October 19th, 2011
11:23 am
“after looking at the debate last night, OBAMA has nothing to worry about!”
It looks like someone got a head start after Jay’s “Legalizing Drugs” topic yesterday…
liberalefty
October 19th, 2011
11:23 am
the candidates proved to be outta touch with mainstream america. the hispanic,black,gay voters will not vote for them. they have to appeal to the racist homophobic whites who make up the majority of the party
too little time
October 19th, 2011
11:23 am
I am going to comment on just one of the Occupiers demands/concerns: student loans.
First, this is not a “bank” or “corporate america” problem. This is a problem that lies with the ivory towers around our country.
It costs no more to teach English today than it did 40 years ago.
It costs no more to teach Math/Calculus than it did 40 years ago.
I costs no more to teach MOST courses than it did 40 years ago. The basics haven’t changed. Some technology/science -related majors have changed, and are more costly. Even in these fields, though, the cost-per-student has DECLINED compared to 25 years ago. The notebook computer that the student carries today is more powerful than the computer that ran an entire University like Georgia Tech 30 years ago… and cost about $5 million dollars LESS
What changed? Colleges decided that they were entitled to everything that they could get. They decided that they were entitled to all the parent’s money, student’s money, and everything that they could borrow. The cost of college has doubled in the last 10 years! If the Occupiers would accept a less “rich” or “diverse” college experience at 1/4 of the cost, they should take their occupation to the dean of their college.
Finally, what was the major of that student who owes $80k on the sign that Jay posted? Women’s studies? History? You spend $80k on a major with no job prospects in your field…. don’t blame the banks, the government, or wall street. Blame yourself and pay back your loan.
Joe Mama
October 19th, 2011
11:24 am
liberallefty — “sorry if u hate the truth”
It doesn’t matter if it’s the truth or not. Ugly, racist comments like yours don’t do *our* side any good.
liberalefty
October 19th, 2011
11:24 am
@usmc
nope just seen the debate and they all seem weak
getalife
October 19th, 2011
11:24 am
Ricky Bobby: I came here to tell you one thing. Come race time tomorrow I’m coming for you.
Jean Girard: Do you know why I came to America Monsieur Bobby?
Ricky Bobby: Health care systems, giant water parks. The same reason anyone comes to America.
Yep
October 19th, 2011
11:25 am
LL that is exactly what they said about Obama, before he was elected. Just because he is such a galactic failure as POTUS does not mean that Herman Cain will follow in a similar fashion. At a minimum, his CONSIDERATION as a candidate should take race off the table. I cannot wait until he debates our current president. The comparison will blow Obama off the stage. H. Cain in a landslide if it happens.
Stevie Ray
October 19th, 2011
11:25 am
Trotsky,
I would like to enjoy future debates with you so do please let me know your vision for our country that is more suitable to the alledged 99%….more realistically not more than 50% at best..
Let’s stop beating around the bush shall we?
Doggone/GA
October 19th, 2011
11:26 am
“It doesn’t matter if it’s the truth or not. Ugly, racist comments like yours don’t do *our* side any good.”
Don’t take that screen name as proof postive of which “side” that poster is on
Normal
October 19th, 2011
11:27 am
Ricky B
October 19th, 2011
11:21 am
America. Constitution, Bill of Rights, ACLU, Unions, and people in non-violent protests. Love this country.
USMC
October 19th, 2011
11:28 am
“nope just seen the debate and they all seem weak”
Glad you have a sense of humor, Lefty. How’s the weather treating you guys down at Woodruff Park today??
Aquagirl
October 19th, 2011
11:28 am
This “lily white” conservative, as you put it last night, must bother you a bit.
A male version of Emily Litella meandering to the polls? Yes, that’s downright scary.
Joe Mama
October 19th, 2011
11:29 am
liberallefty — “next SAMBO CAIN will say he will try to repeal the CIVIL RIGHTS ACT to please his racist followers”
I don’t care that you and I are ostensibly on the same political side. You need to stop with the ugly racist comments.
liberalefty
October 19th, 2011
11:29 am
@yep
OBAMA is the best president ever. he took on healthcare, got rid of DADT, we havent been attacked like we were on DUBYAS watch. hes doing ok, if u dont have a job its your fault[just ask CAIN] !
Ricky B
October 19th, 2011
11:30 am
Getalife. You left off Chinese food, pizza, and the chimichanga.
And racetracks man. The race tracks….
Welcome to the occupation (Trotsky)
October 19th, 2011
11:30 am
NAGA:
“Clueless one, military retirement pay was originated by Caesar Augustus not as you so pompously believe.”
Yes, Caesar Augustus, of the grain dole, the first socialist!
liberalefty
October 19th, 2011
11:30 am
@usmc
why would i be at the park you’re losing me.
Joe Mama
October 19th, 2011
11:31 am
liberallefty — “CAIN is just a minstrel show performing for racists”
Jay, is a warning in order for this individual?
liberalefty
October 19th, 2011
11:32 am
@joe mama
ok ok ok. CAIN just makes conservatives feel good about the “good ole days” of JIM CROW and segregation! is that better JOE?
getalife
October 19th, 2011
11:32 am
“I will stick you in the microwave you little pot licker”
Ricky B
October 19th, 2011
11:32 am
Normal
“I really regret opening my mouth and talking to you”
Bring on the Storm Troopers
October 19th, 2011
11:34 am
Bring on the Storm Troopers with the Police Dogs….lob in some strong military grade tear gas and watch these whiners and sissys run and crawl to get out of the parks….they deserve no better, they need to get their butts kicked and arrested and put in a cell with Bubba. No respect for them or what they are trying to do….they have absolutely no message or solution – they just want to bitch. Tough!
Normal
October 19th, 2011
11:35 am
I said it before and I’ll repeat it now. Herman Cain will N-O-T win the GOP primary. White conservatives, especially in the South, will not let it happen. They may be unhappy about Mitt’s religion, but at least he IS white.
Ricky B
October 19th, 2011
11:35 am
Getalife
“why the he’ll am I even talking to you anyway?”
If you ain’t first you’re last. You know what I’m talkin bout?
Probably not
USMC
October 19th, 2011
11:35 am
“ok ok ok. CAIN just makes conservatives feel good about the “good ole days” of JIM CROW and segregation! is that better JOE?”
You certainly have all of the makings of a LIBERAL: No logic or common sense for starters…
Normal
October 19th, 2011
11:37 am
Ricky B
October 19th, 2011
11:32 am
Why? Because I see America as it really is and you see it as you want it to be?
Pb
October 19th, 2011
11:37 am
Yes – a lot of people took on too much in student loan debt, BUT – give me a break! To say people worked HARD on Wall Street to get where they are is RIDICULOUS! They determined how much to take from the rest of us. Many who have worked there say that those in charge are out of touch with reality. Have you ever read “Liars Poker?”
Yep
October 19th, 2011
11:37 am
LL You definitely are drinking the Kool-Aide. Since I actually have a job and work for a privately held company (not the owner), I see the money being held back as our owners wait for a more friendly environment before growing or hiring new employees. This is real! God help us if Obama is elected to another term. He and his anti-business policies are to blame for the current business environment that keeps the “Occupy” Lefties out of work in the first place.
DADT, it was time for this change, I will give you that. ObamaCare? It is a true abortion of American rights and the most direct channeling of socialism ever presented to the citizens of this country. Even the current administration is re-thinking their plan since it looks like the program will fail before it starts.
zeke
October 19th, 2011
11:37 am
At least those in the tea party have the good of the country at the center of their protests! These morons are no more than a reincarnation of the left wing nuts of the 60’s, the hippies, the flower children, the Woodstock deviates, the commies who disrupted our great nations, spit on our valiant military for serving the country, and, lauded draft dodging treason morons who left the country! All they want is to be given the money and, or, assets that were earned by someone else! NEVER!
USMC
October 19th, 2011
11:37 am
“I said it before and I’ll repeat it now. Herman Cain will N-O-T win the GOP primary. White conservatives, especially in the South, will not let it happen. They may be unhappy about Mitt’s religion, but at least he IS white.”
Normal. Wake up! It’s 2011. Let go of the racial hatred in your heart.
You will live a more comfortable life.
Robert
October 19th, 2011
11:38 am
Differences between Occupiers and T-Baggers:
Baggers were NEVER attacked by police – Occupiers are being beaten, pepper sprayed and thrown in jail for nothing!
Baggers were heavily armed with assault rifles and side arms at their rallies – Occupiers are NOT armed!
Baggers want to OVERTHROW the legally elected government and replace it with T-Party Rule – Occupiers only want the Corrupt Corporations and Idle Rich to pay their fair share!
Baggers have the corrupt corporate media and FOX World News to lie for them and cheer them on – Occupiers are vilified and mocked by the corporate media!
Baggers are sponsored by mega corporations – Koch brothers, FOX, Wall Street, Oil Companies – Occupiers are sponsored by individual contributions from The People!
Baggers are controlled by and work for The GOP – Occupiers are NOT controlled by Democrats (and never will be) and only want sensible reform.
PS -
Quarterly Profits – NOT ANNUAL – QUARTERLY!!!
Bank of America – 6.2 billion profit
JPMorgan Chase – $4.3 billion
Wells Fargo – $4.1 billion
Both Citigroup – $3.8 billion
Joe Mama
October 19th, 2011
11:38 am
doggone — “Don’t take that screen name as proof postive of which “side” that poster is on”
I’m quite aware that conservative bombthrowers like to do that.
liberalefty
October 19th, 2011
11:39 am
@normal
thanks for telling the truth. Cain wont be nominated because the repub party’s base is racist to the core. but hes good for entertainment aint he
liberalefty
October 19th, 2011
11:41 am
@USMC
yes its 2011 so what. the repub party is like KKK lite.
Joe Mama
October 19th, 2011
11:43 am
liberallefty — “ok ok ok. CAIN just makes conservatives feel good about the “good ole days” of JIM CROW and segregation! is that better JOE?”
Maybe you could just leave and work on your low maturity level, your low linguistic ability and the intemperate aggression you seem to have brought here.
liberalefty
October 19th, 2011
11:43 am
why would gays vote for a party that sees them as less than human?
Joe Mama
October 19th, 2011
11:44 am
USMC — “You certainly have all of the makings of a LIBERAL: No logic or common sense for starters”
Well, I’m glad to have *you* on board then, USMC.
liberalefty
October 19th, 2011
11:45 am
@joe
jeez who made u the police in here?
Don't Forget
October 19th, 2011
11:45 am
llefty, you’re too much of a caricature to be taken seriously. I’m not buying.
liberalefty
October 19th, 2011
11:48 am
@dontfergit
just like i’m not buying CAIN’S 9-9-9 plan
Joe Mama
October 19th, 2011
11:50 am
liberallefty — “jeez who made u the police in here?”
If you’re going to come in here spouting racist crap like that, I don’t care who you are or whose side you’re on — I’m going to say something about it.
Now, are you going to straighten up and fly right, or do you want to talk to our host about it?
liberalefty
October 19th, 2011
11:52 am
@joe
relax and go smoke one!
AmVet - Neo-cons, they're just bad people who enjoy the suffering of others.
October 19th, 2011
11:53 am
Th far right wing’s fawning over this flavor of the month and cowardly fraud is hardly new, but still hysterical.
Becky Stan is an unashamed liar and is morally bankrupt and he has never, ever won an election in his entire life.
Nothing. Nowhere. Nada. Zilch.
And it is obvious as to why.
The man is intellectually lacking (anyone here for the $9.99 plan?!) and a consummate coward (He was too young to participate in the civil rights protests?!)
He will go down to the trash heap of failed Republican history just like Alan Keyes before him.
And you fake conservatives will have to find another flavor before too long.
Which mans even more laughter…
Get Real
October 19th, 2011
11:54 am
Jay I think one of their biggest fears is having to be personally accountable…..OMG
Joe Mama
October 19th, 2011
11:55 am
Liberallefty — “relax and go smoke one!”
I’m not going to relax when someone comes in here spouting racist garbage like you did.
Now are you going to play nice with the other posters and stop posting that crap?
ash
October 19th, 2011
11:57 am
Corporations are moving overseas because of government regulations. Cheap labor is not the main reason. I’m retired and still work 2 jobs which were not hard to find.
md
October 19th, 2011
11:58 am
I can sympathize with a lot of what is coming out of the OWS movement…..but if they want to be taken seriously, they may want to distance themselves from the ones actively pursuing socialism or anti-capitalism……signs like “socialism is not a bad word” can very well create the wrong perception……….and we all know perception is reality.
Mark T
October 19th, 2011
11:59 am
Normal
October 19th, 2011
6:56 am
GOP: Hear no evil, see no evil, but say everybody but them is evil.
A heartfelt cheer to all of the “Occupiers”.
“all of the Occupiers”?…even the anti semitic?
liberalefty
October 19th, 2011
12:00 pm
yeah CAIN can’t even explain his 9-9-9 plan that will raise taxes on most aMERICANS. AINT IT FUNNY THAT THESE FOLKS WHO LIE AND SAY THEY WILL VOTE FOR HIM think its ok to raise taxes because they dont want to crtiticize the “messiah” CAIN,lol!
Pb
October 19th, 2011
12:02 pm
THANK YOU ROBERT for the FACT LIST!
Obama Logic
October 19th, 2011
12:04 pm
My question
joe suggs
October 19th, 2011
12:04 pm
How are these people getting off from work to protest ? I work all the time and pay taxes.Must be nice to not have to !!!!!
Obama Logic
October 19th, 2011
12:04 pm
is why didn’t the person have insurance? Please Bookman delve into that a little deeper please.
Occupy This
October 19th, 2011
12:06 pm
Hmm. I came out of college debt free. No one gave me any money to go to school. It was my choice so I got a job and worked through college to pay for my education while living on my own. These demonstrations are absolutely ridiculous.
Cain the Messiah
October 19th, 2011
12:08 pm
stop questioning my plan! i’m a real BLACK MAN not like the imitation in the whitehouse!
Cain the Messiah
October 19th, 2011
12:09 pm
@occupy
yeah yeah yeah u made it on your own with no help from anybody!
Mark
October 19th, 2011
12:10 pm
“while corporate profits are at record high” I believe you should have sited some source for this comment, but of course you can’t because it’s simply not true. It just makes me sick that any news source would print this garbage. How can you have a complete disregard for facts, or even try to broad statments like this without even attempting to back it up with sources.
Occupy This
October 19th, 2011
12:10 pm
@Robert
You apparently do not know how to read quarterly profits. I work for one of those banks and youre information is false.
md
October 19th, 2011
12:12 pm
“It was my choice so I got a job and worked through college to pay for my education while living on my own.”
As did I…….I was on the forever plan…..go to night school forever while paying for whatever classes I could dig money up for at the time………..
Taking on the debt is a gamble, one that folks seem not to like now that the gamble didn’t pan as as planned.
Guess what, buying a house is and always has also been a gamble…………quit whining about it and do what is necessary to move on…………
Cain the Messiah
October 19th, 2011
12:15 pm
vote for me i’ll set you free! even if i have to raise taxes to do it
Joe Mama
October 19th, 2011
12:16 pm
Welcome to the occupation (Trotsky)
October 19th, 2011
12:17 pm
md: “Taking on the debt is a gamble, one that folks seem not to like now that the gamble didn’t pan as as planned.”
I want to dismantle a system that shifts risk to the INDIVIDUAL level while exempting the well-connected at the top of the system.
“Guess what, buying a house is and always has also been a gamble…………quit whining about it and do what is necessary to move on……”
No, it’s not a “gamble”.
The only “whining” being done is that of the stuck pigs of the beltway media establishment, the Dick Morrises and Doug Schoens, who are in a frenzy right now to stamp out what they know is a spreading movement to put an end to the injustices of the system.
Joe Mama
October 19th, 2011
12:17 pm
(sigh)
Deweese
October 19th, 2011
12:19 pm
Love your neighbors, bless the poor and down trodden. The love of money is the root of all evil. Sound familiar. If Uncle Sam or the banks isn’t supposed to give help to those in need maybe we should. I think jesus would be right down there hanging out with these occupiers and loving them.
Cain the Messiah
October 19th, 2011
12:19 pm
Po NEWT, he looked lost last night.
Cain the Messiah
October 19th, 2011
12:20 pm
@deweese
yes HE would be with the occupiers
md
October 19th, 2011
12:24 pm
“No, it’s not a “gamble”. ”
Just because you say that, does not make it so. A house is no different than any other good or service……worth only as much a buyer is willing to pay for it…………
Welcome to the occupation (Trotsky)
October 19th, 2011
12:24 pm
Republicans think they can pander to voters with nothing really but promises of tax cuts. As if my every move in life were about cost marginalization booooooooo.
What a pathetic, base, and piss-ant way to build a political consensus on.
Wilkeisha
October 19th, 2011
12:25 pm
“Critics of the Occupy movement claim that those involved are not representative of the American mainstream,…”
Sure they are. They’re just giving voice to the fact that we all have problems and wish things were better. They’re lashing out against what they perceive as unfair things in life. Unfortunately their protest is so unfocused and lacking in solutions (abolish Wall Street is not a solution) that they’re unlikely to change anything.
md
October 19th, 2011
12:26 pm
“I want to dismantle a system that shifts risk to the INDIVIDUAL level while exempting the well-connected at the top of the system. ”
The individual already has that option………don’t make the choice in the first place…….otherwise, all choices have consequences………is usually best to understand what they are prior to making said choice………….
liberalefty
October 19th, 2011
12:30 pm
ROMNEY will win the nomination hands down.
Shawny
October 19th, 2011
12:34 pm
Listen to any of those kids that are interviewed on the news and it is very apparent that they do not know what makes the engine of the economy run. Greedy corporations = bad. All of them = held back by the MAN.
It is not the responsibility of corporations to provide jobs. Do not demonize them. Jobs are a result of the need of labor at a competitive rate and nothing else. NOTHING else. If a company does not hire, then they do not need to hire and should not be incented to hire. Either they need another employee or they don’t.
Why are these students running up so much college debt, particularly on majors that aren’t in demand in the business world? If you majored in literature, Latin, or social media and have $80k in debt, then you should have not gone to college in the first place. You should have began a job at the ground floor and worked up to a career.
I support their right to be heard even if they don’t know what they are talking about and even if their plight is solely their own fault (and it often is).
Welcome to the occupation (Trotsky)
October 19th, 2011
12:38 pm
md: “Just because you say that, does not make it so. A house is no different than any other good or service……worth only as much a buyer is willing to pay for it…………”
Don’t conflate the fact that risk cannot be entirely removed from human life with the ideologically loaded claim that therefore all human goods have to be opened up to a process where risk itself becomes just another commodity.
A house, like an education, is a human need and on some level, a fundamental right. A just system will provide some protection from risk, or at least equitable risk management, for those goods.
md
October 19th, 2011
12:40 pm
I’d say we have a bunch of ignorant college kids if they run up 80K in debt on the “chance” of getting a good job.
That’s kin to running up 80k on the chance of winning the lottery. They evidently weren’t taught the basics about reality………….the biggest lesson being there are no guarantees.
Deweese
October 19th, 2011
12:40 pm
Ron Paul!