Hopefully so. I would think that they would be wise to just focus on Wall Street and a key demand or two. Though I can sort of see their demands in terms of reversing the 30 years of the conservative economics rampage on the middle and lower classes. Afterr watching Keith Obermann on Countdown tonight on Current TV I am more hopeful that this could be the spark that gets the lower 99% to start fighting back against the elite's money grab. Occupy Wall Street Houston edition is going to happen this Thurs. ***************** http://houston.culturemap.com/newsd...ment-builds-in-the-most-low-key-way-possible/ NO "LEADERS", A COLLECTIVE Wall Street protests headed here? An Occupy Houston movement builds — in a most low-key way By Whitney Radley 09.30.11 | 12:17 pm Occupy Houston held a come-as-you-please meet and greets at Market Square Park this week. The purpose of a Thursday meeting was to make a plan for the general assembly for a Friday meeting. This next meeting will set a schedule for general assemblies henceforth, as well as a time, location, and course for the Occupy Houston event on Oct. 6th, part of a nation-wide demonstration and occupation. As CultureMap wrote Wednesday, the #OccupyWallStreet movement in New York and elsewhere is well-meaning but a bit unfocused. CultureMap stopped by Market Square to see how Houston's local liaison was faring. It's still early in the game, but it seems like more of the same. A lot of voices, a lot of ideas, but very little concrete action. The crowd ebbed and flowed all day, with those interested in the movement stopping by to talk about hot button issues — corporate corruption, a lack of true democracy, joblessness and homelessness — and to discuss what Houston's participation should look like in the national dialogue. The organizers are passing out fliers and eight-page guides to people's assemblies. They have a lot to talk about. Luckily, there is plenty of shade on the lawn, a snack bar, and even mist machines if it gets too hot out there. Craig (part of the protestors' thing is that they do not give out their last names) is one of the facilitators of Occupy Houston but, he clarified, he's not the leader. He talks about horizontal democracy and his goal for the upcoming demonstrations. As a facilitator, he aims to keep things peaceful, nonviolent and representative. This movement, he says, is all about "positive collective thinking," but Craig is quick to assert that his personal sentiments do not necessarily reflect those of the others in attendance. Another in the group, Brian, thinks that "collective" has a negative connotation — he prefers to refer to it as "cooperative thinking." Drinking from his Camel Back, he spouts off names of authors and details about current events. He's obviously well-educated in the issues and anxious to make a change. "We're like a congress," said Leif, another facilitator. "We're organizing for accountability." Leif has high hopes for the future of this nation-wide movement, and imagines that the outcome will yield something like a fourth branch of government that is truly a people's branch. For him, providing "input" during elections every two or four years isn't enough. Occupy Houston is organizing forces on Facebook and accepting ideas about the group's every move: Which FAQs to include on the website, where to organize, how to decorate picket signs and when to meet in the future. The organizers are looking for volunteers to fill positions in the general assembly. They're asking for participants, for water and for sunscreen. And they are aiming for consensus in everything. Also ***** Occupy Houston is modeling its protest on what's happening on Wall Street, where people have taken over Liberty Park in New York City and rally day and night. Nick Cooper is a member of the band Free Radicals and is involved in the local effort to protest greed and corruption in the business and political sectors. "This cause is — it's not a single-issue group. This is a disenfranchised populace that is coming together out of their frustration with a system that isn't listening to them. And the demands are kind of wide and they're big things that people are asking for and they're important things as we go into this economic crisis." Cooper says issues of concern include corporate influence on campaign financing, ending the drug war and police accountability among others. The group will march from Market Square to the JP Morgan Chase tower Thursday morning before moving on to City Hall and later assembling in Hermann Park. It's difficult to say how many people will participate, although the Occupy Houston Facebook page has nearly 4,000 fans http://app1.kuhf.org/articles/1317677598-Grassroots-Protesters-Plan-to-Occupy-Houston.html
I did not think it was worthy when I made the thread. I found it was something profund and worthy after following it a little bit more.
Well, it seems like you have forgotten the role of the government in all of this. ITs r****ded to blame it on the people, they should follow the rules, that is what is expected of them. If the government decides to deregulate and facilitate a bubble then it is their fault not the peoples. That is why you have a friggin government, maybe you need to do some research on Canada's real estate market and the regulations our government has placed on it. It is why our real estate is one of the best in the world.
Wallstreet can affect your life way more than you can affect wall street's life, so obviously we hold them to a higher standard.
I do think that we need a means to level the playing field with a global trade agreement that addresses health care, environment, and worker conditions. It's terrible that jobs are being taken away from the U.S. not because of better workers or higher quality products, but because companies can get away with not paying health care costs / pensions, polluting the environment, and unsafe working conditions. The should be some sort of global export tax that the UN applies on goods and services from extremely dirty industries or ones that do not have a health care system for workers. The money could be used to then pay for clean up and health care in those countries until they start doing so themselves.
My definition of a "pansy" is one who is being had and doesn't fight for their rights. Internalizing the arguments of the oppressor, while perhaps leading to relative contentment is still being a "pansy". Nook, you probably don't know, but tuition at UT Austin was $300 to $400 per semester. Tax breaks primarily for the upper 10% have led to it being in excess of $4,000 while wages have gone up maybe three times during that period. Tax breaks to primarily the upper 1 to 2%, with less trickling down to the rest of the top 10%, are the primmary reason why the state has cut back on tax revenues to reduce tuition as well as why the Feds have cut back on heavily subsidized student loans for the majority. Everyone not in the top couple of percent either having to spend 10 years working their way through junior college and than undergraduate or owing $50 to $100k is not just the way it has to be-- or the way it was until roughly 25 years ago when I finished school.
What happens when wealth and power gets concentrated in the hands of just a few? When people can't find jobs and putting kids through school or living requires going into debt? Revolution. The rich and powerful have circumvented democracy through effectively bribing politicians - making our votes less and less valued. It's our faults too for not seeing how money is used to persuade us...but nevertheless, we are seeing a reaction to the excess. This happens frequently in history. You look at the economy, the dissatisfaction with gov't on both sides of the spectrum, and you start to see people start taking to the streets. There is a need for massive reform. But it won't happen yet. It will get much much worse first, and this movement could get much much larger if the underlying issues are not addressed soon.
And they do this in no small part because there is pressure from all sectors for their stock price to keep rising. It's kind of like we've all invested heavily in our own national destruction project. Even those with pensions are extra-invested in it.
How to help Occupy Wall Street An excellent article on the movement is found at http://www.thenation.com/signup/163719?destination=article/163719/occupy-wall-street-faq It is well worth reading the whole article and the other Nation articles about the movment. Exerpts: What are the demands of the protesters? Ugh—the zillion-dollar question. Again, the original Adbusters call asked, “What is our one demand?” Technically, there isn’t one yet. In the weeks leading up to September 17, the NYC General Assembly seemed to be veering away from the language of “demands” in the first place, largely because government institutions are already so shot through with corporate money that making specific demands would be pointless until the movement grew stronger politically. Instead, to begin with, they opted to make their demand the occupation itself—and the direct democracy taking place there—which in turn may or may not come up with some specific demand. When you think about it, this act is actually a pretty powerful statement against the corruption that Wall Street has come to represent. But since thinking is often too much to ask of the American mass media, the question of demands has turned into a massive PR challenge. The General Assembly is currently in the midst of determining how it will come to consensus about unifying demands. It’s a really messy and interesting discussion. But don’t hold your breath. Everyone in the plaza comes with their own way of thinking about what they’d like to see happen, of course. Along the north end of the plaza, there’s a collage of hundreds of cardboard signs people have made with slogans and demands on them. Bystanders stop and look at them, transfixed, all day long. The messages are all over the place, to be sure, but there’s also a certain coherence to them. That old standby, “People Before Profits,” seems to capture the gist fairly well. But also under discussion are a variety of other issues, ranging from ending the death penalty, to dismantling the military-industrial complex, to affordable healthcare, to more welcoming immigration policies. And more. It can be confusing, but then again these issues are all at some level interconnected. ********** If I can’t come to Wall Street, what else can I do? A lot of people are already taking part in important ways from afar—this is the magic of decentralization. Online, you can watch the livestream, make donations, retweet on Twitter and encourage your friends to get interested. People with relevant skills have been volunteering to help maintain the movement’s websites and edit video—coordinating through IRC chat rooms and other social media. Soon, the formal discussions about demands will be happening online as well as in the plaza. Offline, you can join the numerous similar occupations that are starting up around the country or start your own. http://nycga.cc/donate/ To donate to the movement.
I listened to this song in East Texas in 1969, and consequences were never the same: <iframe width="420" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/6ljxpyH4dnA" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe> http://youtu.be/6ljxpyH4dnA
What was the big tax cut for the rich here in Texas? I was under the impression the primary tax cut was in property taxes, which is a regressive tax.
Really? That seems like one of the silliest arguments out there. There's no requirement that people participate in the bubble. People weren't required to buy overvalued homes any more than they were required to buy overvalued stocks in the internet bubble. But if you want to make your argument, why blame banks? They were just doing what was expected as well by that standard. Of course the government plays a role. But so do banks. And so did the American people that bought into all the hype. Everyone here was greedy. Government wanted to create wealth to generate taxes. Banks wanted to make profits for their shareholders. Individuals wanted to make money for themselves. Lots of different groups contributed to the system that got us here.
Trees for the forest, Major. Aggh contentment. Texas has given great giveaways in normal taxes to businesses to keep them here or attract companies to relocate from states that pay living wages or higher taxes to pay for things like mental health, which Texas is usually in the lower 5 states. Texas keeps raising user fees and of course, the worst of all the recent attorney occupation tax. toll roads, red light cameras, other user fees are all essentially taxes. Taking money that used to reduce state college tuitions and shovelling it to prisons, including private prisons etc. Maybe Deckard can chip in on the many sneaky ways taxes have been reduced or costs have been shifted in Texas from the wealthy or Perry contributors to the average Texan.
You forgot to blame uneducated home buyers who failed to do due diligence to discover the bill of goods being sold them by the mortgage brokers and bankers.
True, whenever too much of the money and power is concentrated in too few, the people that are VOLUNTARILY being governed, revolt. And rightfully so. DD
I prefer to call them facts. Yes, that is true. It's not a tax cut, though, given that the companies weren't here in the first place. And those companies coming in actually provide jobs and thus generate some level of tax revenues. It's debatable whether it's good route to go, but this isn't a tax break for the wealthy in Texas. Agreed, but these are all tax hikes on the middle class, not tax cuts for the wealthy. This is just a shift in spending. Again, nothing here about tax cuts for the wealthy in Texas. Maybe he can. But you're the one that claimed it - surely you can point to some evidence of what you're speaking of, no?
What *actually* happened in Texas is that taxes were cut pretty widely for everyone, and then government services were cut to match it. You can disagree or agree with the policy (I think it's pretty stupid), but Texas isn't an example of a "tax cut on the rich" because the rich aren't taxed all that much in Texas in the first place. Our two tax strategies - property and sales - are regressive taxes. The income tax is where the rich tend to be taxed the most, and we don't have one of those.
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Yeah Hannity and Coulter should cut right through the rhetoric and clear this up. Thanks for coming, Dr. Tallanvor.
