Occupy Wallstreet... and Bs As?

[Crema Americana]

It's not much different than the 15-M protests in Spain. They will get attention - they ask for change - but nothing is going to really come of it. I have a hard time taking them seriously as well... and seeing how things work here, more socialism is not what I'd like.

Now Argentines, they know how to protest... no hippie kids sitting around in a plaza or bleeding heart college kids looking to skip class. They actually made a former President have to flee la Casa Rosada in a helicopter! I wouldn't worry about them. When they get angry the Argentinazo will come out. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RV0Uf86AXkA

 

[gsi16386]

They need to do their complaining at the voting booth, not out on the streets. Funny thing is, these are probably the same people that voted the current administration in office.

The Tea Partyers did it right. Organizing a grass roots effort and moving forward with their support. These guys seem to want anarchy and although I may agree with a lot of their arguments, I will not even come close to supporting such a movement.

 

[kre8ivelyXposed]

Well, the protests are all fine and dandy as a precursor (barring out and out "off with their heads" revolution) to the only real change that will matter.....a new political "spoiler" party possibly in the US that could make the Democrats and Republicans sit up and take notice. The Green Party in Germany has taken almost 30 years to make its mark but now it is finally taken seriously although within a different parliamentary system. I think the Powers That Be in the USA are just letting them (the protesters) blow off steam. It will take a while for any change to happen, but eventually it has to really get off the ground in the ballot box one way or the other.

 

[ghost]

The time has come when all of the old systems no longer reflect the society they were developed to represent. Almost all of the governmental infrastructure currently in place has been manipulated, corrupted and abused to the point of being dysfunctional. Our [so called] leadership has lost touch with the constituent and fears change. So we have ended up with a 2 party system that struggles to serve only itself. Massive change comes slowly. But it does come.
The "Hope and Change" slogan was right on the mark but the delivery and execution has been non existent, ineffective and comical. The natives are restless.

 

[dr__dawggy]

Well, the protests are all fine and dandy as a precursor (barring out and out "off with their heads" revolution) to the only real change that will matter.....a new political "spoiler" party possibly in the US that could make the Democrats and Republicans sit up and take notice. The Green Party in Germany has taken almost 30 years to make its mark but now it is finally taken seriously although within a different parliamentary system. I think the Powers That Be in the USA are just letting them (the protesters) blow off steam. It will take a while for any change to happen, but eventually it has to really get off the ground in the ballot box one way or the other.

The Occupy Wall Street movement appears to be a Left Wing version of the Right Wing Tea Party movement. Both movements were launched by those who believe the traditional Republican and Democratic parties no longer represent their views. As it has matured, the Tea Party crowd has essentially become a faction of the Republican party. It will be interesting to watch the evolution of the Occupy Wall Street group to see if they form a new Workers Party or if they go the route of their right wing counterparts and form a coalition within the Democratic party.

 

[French jurist]

History can be so unpredictable (who could have imagined an Arab Spring, the Berlin wall crumbling down, the Communist world desintegrating, the Roman Empire disappearing, etc.).

Occidental middle classes are fed up for good this time, in -most?- of the countries, what makes the current protests so interesting.

Revolutions usually are fuelled by the middle classes also, not the poor ones.

True changes might start to occur once the second wave of the economic crisis will have done its work (meaning : people still having something to lose, losing it for good this time & noticing that the guys in charge -politics/finance- are strictly the same ones as in 2007/2008).

Are the people (people = mainly you & I, middle class, the majority) ready to live on a lower standard than our parents? I don't think so.

How smart that was to relocate industries in Asia back in the 1980s (also, oddly enough, those were the most anti-Communist occidental governments who decided of such relocations....)!

What a fertile ground for populisms & such, another scary thing.

Will the Republicans prevail (Republicans to be understood as the ones attached to the Republican form of governing)?

Also, wait until the Chinese working class starts to protest. I'm talking about the 20/50 years old generations who suffer from the "one child only" policy (paying for their kids, parents, grandparents --> alone). If the machine starts to grip, be ready for action.
In fact be ready for action a bit everywhere! In the US, this could turn out bloody with all the weapons around.
Again about China : they likely haven't forgotten the Treaty of Nankin...


A few ideas to fix things up (nice dream) :
- Revigorate democracies, reinforce the Justice systems (haven't you noticed that in most of our so-called first world, some people tend to be priviledged facing Justice?).
- Reform the journalism/media sector : no more ties, ever, with the financial world, please.
- Put in place tariffs/duties when importing goods/services from countries who don't have the same social policies as we do (in order to give a boost to Unions in China & such).
- Regulate the financial sector (ultra-liberalism + financial capitalism in its worst aspects has to disappear).
- Limit the incomes in the financial sector (Henry Ford wasn't wrong : there shouldn't be abysimal income differences between a basic employee & a manager). It's totally unsane to notice that traders can still get bonuses nowadays reaching dozens of millions while many will basically play with people's jobs/lives, those guys are of little use to humanity.
- Put in place the Tobin tax on financial transactions, everywhere where possible.
- Responsabilize the big corporations (how many in Europe & the US avoid paying taxes by using offshore tricks : in France, quite a few moved their HQ to the Netherlands).
- Eventually, nationalize all the banks.
-etc..


Last, if the occidental middle classes really are heading downward, maybe will it be time to realize that for some part, we lived quite well until now living on the back of other countries (in Africa, Asia, LatAm, wherever) -> Times have changed, the former victims of our way of lives want their piece of the cake now, which is quite normal.

At least, we can say we live historical times!

 

[dennisr]

Did you see what those schmucks looked like? With their piercings, mohawks, dreadlocks, and hippy gear? It looked like a punk rock show let out and they had nowhere to go.

No one will take them seriously, nor will I.

Do those words sound familiar. Surely you jest?
Being a product of the sixties and seventies, all I can say, " it is about time."

 

[sesamosinsal]

You've been watching the mainstream media if you think this protest is about any one thing in particular. Some protests have a list of "demands," which I think are pretty reasonable: healthcare, education, jobs, etc. But if you've followed these protests on YouTube or even via their live stream, you would know that MSNBC is incorrect in suggesting that everyone out there hates capitalism, and that FOX News is incorrect in suggesting that everyone out there is a socialist at best, a communist at worst.

The fact is that you have all sorts of groups out there. There are labor unions, people who support free market capitalism, people who think we need more "social justice", and then you have people like myself who think we need a new system all together. The mainstream media is going to twist this to fit their agenda, as they always manage to do.

We're the only species on this planet that has to pay (monetarily) to live on this planet. Think about that. This is just the beginning.

 

[Joe]

The Occupy Wall St. group is NOT just the traditional left-wing protest looking for more government handouts.

Many there believe that the old left/right conflict is being used as a tool to keep the masses diverted with fighting over the scraps while the top one percent continue their looting. The name: "The Other 99 Percent" obviously includes the left and the right populace.

I wish them well - the protesters that is...

 

[Johnny]

I fully support that movement and it's about time. Funny the strange difference between Argentina and the US when it comes to social protests. Here in Argentina they protest in the streets over any and everything imaginable (often ludicrous reasons), whereas in the states the sheep-like populace gets their butts handed to them on a daily basis by both the government and mega corporations, with barely a hint of social protest to be noted.

In Argentina protesting is considered an honorable and necessary form of protecting your rights. In the USA of today social protests come with a huge stigma attached. This is why so many of the USA protesters look the scruffy way they look-they don't give a shit about the stigma ! Good on 'em !