Probably to show that if you are protesting "Wall Street" to protest the rich then you are protesting in the wrong place.
This has not much to do with OWS I tell my brother - a college sophmore - that unless he is serious about law school or grad school, his college education won't be worth much without sometype of work experience or refined skill. My brother is of the type that thinks that working 20-25 hours a week with 4 classes entitles you to play video games and watch tv 5-6 hours a day. He studies maybe an hour a day and is befuddled at why he does so poorly in math, science and history. I tell him what he needs to do is cut the distractions and study and work harder. Most importantly, I keep telling him that this is the time to take advantage of the young women he goes to school with. College is when these women have it all: looks and loose morals (i.e. sex, sex and more sex). He seems to have this crazed belief in something called a "bro code". Told me that he can't date one of his friend's sister because of the code. He has talked to this guy like twice in the last year, and knew him well for 1 year in high school. WTF? I tell him that his viewpoint is corrupted. In fact, while we were at the movies, a young girl stopped him and said hello. They knew each other from high school, and she was with her boyfriend. I told him to get her number but he insisted it was "against conduct" because they are friends. Really? They act like they hadn't seen each other in years and she struggled to get him into the conversation. Time to get what's good when it's good, brother! Point is, even if your college education is a sham or a complete joke, and only qualifies you to work at the mall: have sex, lots of it and as much as you want while you are in college. There may never be a better more care-free time. Because even if you don't get that awesome $40k/year job, your ass will be working and miserable regardless. Have fun in college. Because after that people tend to forget about how beautiful their bodies are and begin neglecting appearances, get married, have serious relationships or worse yet, have children. Perhaps the OWS did not have enough sex during college.
I guess so, but I have a lot of friends who are literally killing themselves for I-banking job prospects---"honours investment management", math to the hilt etc...that you should never tell this to. I think that's the exception rather than the rule (or at least I hope so for their sake), but congrats to your girl for making it.
I disagree - building a rich backstory like the time you beat up a gang of thugs while ducking and sliding - LIKE A GOD -and various p*rn-star & model encounters goes further than any silly "concentration"
I don't think it's the wrong place, only one of the right ones as opposed to the only right one. They spend their money to influence the laws more so it's the right place to protest but the protest should be focused more on the money influence angle as a concentrated effort.
I think the only things I've revealed on here are that I go to McGill, and that I party occasionally, and also that I don't get beat up in Toronto over a Walkman (???) but er, if that's a rich life for you, sure.
From that link posted it stated in 2005 financial professionals made up 14% of the 1%. That number has surely declined significantly since then. Protesting on Pennsylvania Ave would make a lot more sense to me. Failed govt policies that excessively pushed home ownership at any price seem to be the root of a lot of the problems this nation is facing. edit...but I guess it can become a chicken v egg argument depending on how you view things. Also, just because a company is publicly traded that doesn't mean they are "Wall Street".
The financial professionals of Wall Street (and London, Zurich, The Cayman's, The Bahama's, Delaware, Liberia etc.) handle the money for all of the 1%. The nefarious schemes come from there, funneling money to K Street and Madison Avenue to sculpt the loopholes promote the policy. It's the right place, it's the right time. It's a war of public sentiment and staying power; big money versus the masses. It will wear both sides down. The end will be some sort of compromise, a whimper, not a bang.
Actually I gave the cost for 16 units (rounded to the nearest 100 dollars). Each unit costs $36 for in state tuition/enrollment fee. Linkage to the school fees page.
He he he!!! via ThinkProgress -- Appearing on Fox Business this evening, GOP presidential candidate Rick Perry went silent when host Neil Cavuto noted that some ideas Perry espouses sound like those of the Occupy Wall Street protesters. After Perry stated his opposition to Wall Street bailouts, Cavuto replied, “You sound like one of those Occupy Wall Streeters.” This was followed by a long silence before Cavuto finally said, “OK” and moved on to another subject. <iframe width="420" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/Q4v2ygDCRLM" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
We've had charts out the a*s. You either get it or you are willfully delusional. (not an uncommon condition)
Surprise! Banks really do control wealth, researchers find Those 99 per centers who are occupying Wall St. may be right after all. The banks really do own the world — or at least much of it. Researchers at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zurich, also known as ETH, set out to figure out who controls the world’s wealth, and whether the belief that it’s in the hands of a few powerful corporations is true. Their study says it’s been hard to prove because many companies “exert control over other firms via a web of direct and indirect ownership relations which extends over many countries.” They began with a list of 43,060 transnational corporations identified, according to the OECD definition, using a sample of about 30 million individuals and companies. And using complicated mathematical models, they developed a network of ownership pathways originating from and pointing to the companies. The result is a list of the 50 top global firms, and not surprisingly financial institutions make up almost the entire list though no exact figures are included. “Many of the names are well-known global players,” says the report. “The interest of this ranking is not that it exposes unsuspected powerful players. Instead, it shows that many of the top actors belong to the core. “This means that they do not carry out their business in isolation but, on the contrary, they are tied together in an extremely entangled web of control.” Barclays tops the list and financial institutions in the top 10 include Capital Group Companies Inc., State Street Corp., JP Morgan Chase & Co., UBS AG and Merrill Lynch & Co. Inc. The list is dominated by U.S. and European companies including British, German, French and Swiss firms. http://www.thestar.com/business/art...nks-really-do-control-wealth-researchers-find
And unsurprising. The real income of the middle class has declined over the last generation after inflation. Declined! Yet, again and again, we hear the Republican mantra decrying "Class Warfare." YES. There is class warfare. The wealthiest Americans have been at war with the middle class since 1980. At first, it was guerilla warfare. Since the election of George W. Bush, it has been a full fledged war and the middle class is losing. Anyone who can't see this is either willfully blind, stupid, out of touch with the world, deluded, or wealthy.
I'd really like to see more specifics on this. This does not really jive with the way the financial markets view the banks, especially since the crash.
Glenn Greenwald is interviewed for his new book "With Liberty and Justice for Some: How the Law Is Used to Destroy Equality and Protect the Powerful" On OWS: "Actually, what is happening with the Occupy Wall Street protests is as perfect an illustration of the book's argument as anything I could have imagined. The book's central theme is that law is no longer what it was intended to be - a set of rules equally binding everyone to ensure that outcome inequalities are at least legitimate - and instead has become the opposite: a tool used by the politically and financially powerful to entrench their own power and control the society. That's how and why the law now destroys equality and protects the powerful." What we see with the protests demonstrates exactly how that works. The police force - the instrument of law enforcement - is being used to protect powerful criminals who have suffered no consequences for their crimes (read bankers and wall street). It is simultaneously used to coerce and punish the powerless: those who are protesting and who have done nothing wrong, yet are subjected to an array of punishment ranging from arrest to pepper spray and other forms of abuse. That's what the two-tiered justice system is: elites are immunized for egregious crimes while ordinary Americans are subjected to merciless punishment for trivial transgressions. the full interview
