Am I the only one who doesn't get the "Occupy Wallstreet" movements

[Acklander]

Bottom line, if I'm a politician, why would I care about a group who has historically shown they are unwilling to vote me out of office? No I'm pandering to the elderly vote, raise SS premium, raise medicare premium, give them all the drugs they want on the taxpayers dime.. let the 18-44 year olds pay for it.

The politicians should care. The ones out protesting are probably the ones who are voting. if they're pissed enough to sleep in a park for a couple of months there's a good chance they also took the time out to vote.
They have opened up a lot of conversations that are making many politicians a bit nervous. Polls show that a super majority of Americans (more than 70%) agree with a few of their issues. The main 2 being to get corporate $$$ out of politics, and raising the taxes on those who make a million dollars or more a year.

 

[Swan4Me]

she has been there since the last week of Aug.. this is Nov..
I do agree with you on the high cost of living there, I warned her about going. She graduated in May. She went out to California for the summer and her serving job transferred her to their place there. She looked for work there from May to then end of Aug, she went onto Hawaii.. She is giving it till Jan/Feb she said.. it ran her $2000 to ship her car over there and she doesn't want to "run" home yet. It will cost her $4000 to ship it home :

Wouldnt it have been smarter to leave the car in the states and spend the $6k to buy a clunker? I can not imagine spending that kind of $$ shipping a car when you have no job

 

[Princesca]

I worked my butt off, lived frugally, to pay off my last student loan just a couple of weeks ago. I'm just waiting for the POTUS/Congress to decide that student loans are an unfair burden, and forgive them in part or whole. That would just be the icing on the cake for me.

So much about the way our society operates nowadays sends you the message that yes, you should live beyond your means, because there are really zero consequences.

Some days I feel like a fool for being responsible when no one else seems to be, but it's the way I was raised and I wouldn't want to be any other way.

 

[maddhatir]

I haven't read through this entire thread. No need to get chest pains.
People ask what their msg is- can you pick out just ONE thing wrong with this country? It all has to do with abuse of our country and what that abuse has done. And it is not just "one clear msg"- it is SO many things! But- they are getting people to open their eyes.

I did see on page one- someone mentioned MSNBC- yes. Watch it. Especially after 5pm. Skip Dancing with the Stars and tune it.

and watch the OWS livestream- that could help too
http://www.livestream.com/occupywallstnyc

OWS and their supporters are not against people making money- it is HOW they use that money.

 

[leahjade]

My favorite is when the celebrities show up - a recent magazine article said Jay Z showed up with a $300 designer plaid shirt and dripping in thousands of dollars of gold chains! Yet they are against capitalism - what a joke!

 

[58cognac]

I worked my butt off, lived frugally, to pay off my last student loan just a couple of weeks ago. I'm just waiting for the POTUS/Congress to decide that student loans are an unfair burden, and forgive them in part or whole. That would just be the icing on the cake for me.

So much about the way our society operates nowadays sends you the message that yes, you should live beyond your means, because there are really zero consequences.

Some days I feel like a fool for being responsible when no one else seems to be, but it's the way I was raised and I wouldn't want to be any other way.

couldn't agree more.

 

[maddhatir]

My favorite is when the celebrities show up - a recent magazine article said Jay Z showed up with a $300 designer plaid shirt and dripping in thousands of dollars of gold chains! Yet they are against capitalism - what a joke!

That disgusted me long before OWS.

 

[leahjade]

Funny how no one ever complains about having to pay back a car loan or mortgage yet so many people think they should be able to renig on their college debt. You reap the rewards of a higher income over your lifetime with a degree yet some people think it's some kind of entitlement and shouldn't come with any hard work or sacrifice.

 

[maddhatir]

I always tell myself. "You do not know everyone's situation. So, do not judge people as a whole, as an everyone." It has helped me become a more tolerant person.

 

[Marionnette]

I haven't read through this entire thread. No need to get chest pains.
People ask what their msg is- can you pick out just ONE thing wrong with this country? It all has to do with abuse of our country and what that abuse has done. And it is not just "one clear msg"- it is SO many things! But- they are getting people to open their eyes.

I did see on page one- someone mentioned MSNBC- yes. Watch it. Especially after 5pm. Skip Dancing with the Stars and tune it.

and watch the OWS livestream- that could help too
http://www.livestream.com/occupywallstnyc

OWS and their supporters are not against people making money- it is HOW they use that money.

No thank you.

That poor excuse for a news channel makes my head want to explode. Both of those sources are slanted.

But I agree that just tuning into any cable news channel of your choice would be a better alternative to Dancing with the Stars.

 

[Judyat]

If you don't get OWS than you are loved by big corporations. Big corporations also love you if you are apathetic. Change has to start somewhere and until the American people get big money out of politics America will be ruled by a few. And those few want it all. America needs to wake up and OWS is helping.

 

[katie26]

My favorite is when the celebrities show up - a recent magazine article said Jay Z showed up with a $300 designer plaid shirt and dripping in thousands of dollars of gold chains! Yet they are against capitalism - what a joke!

They are not against capitalism.

They are against our government allowing financial corporations to become "too big to fail" and then bailing them out instead of allowing them to suffer the consequences of their bad decisions.

When I make a bet that fails, I suffer the consequences. When the banks make a bet that fails, they get a bailout. We've essentially made our financial institutions into a bunch of trust fund kids, who don't care about crashing their brand new luxury car because they know Mommy and Daddy will just buy them another one. That's not fair, and that's certainly not free market capitalism either.

 

[Acklander]

My favorite is when the celebrities show up - a recent magazine article said Jay Z showed up with a $300 designer plaid shirt and dripping in thousands of dollars of gold chains! Yet they are against capitalism - what a joke!

They aren't against captalism. They have no problem with people making money. The problem is corporate greed. You do see the difference, don't you?

 

[Swan4Me]

Yes some people who are protesting are wanting their student loans forgiven. I wish there could be some cut and dry reforms or help for student loans, but I don't think there ever will be. It understand how hard it is to lose a job and still have thousands of student loans to pay back. If and that is a big IF there is ever any "reform" or "help" it will benifit the banks instad of the consumer. That is just a fact of life. For me that is more than enough reason to have as little debt as possible.

What irks me about college debt is that Universities offer, and kids take, 4 years in some silly major. At our small Uni here the most enrollment in the Arts is Interior Design. 200+ in each class-Fresh, Soph, Jun, Senior-do these kids really think there will be 200 jobs waiting for them after graduation?

I personally know 2 established Interior designers here-one is an expert on antiques and has given seminars (the twin guys on Antique Road Show took her seminar)-she now has a sign in front of her shop offering Painting Classes! the other closed shop this summer and is working looking up records in the court house for a land man company.
My cousin's DD has that degree-newly graduated-she teaches swimming at the Health club

 

[LuvsDragonflies]

If the internet was around back in the 1700's...I wonder what the posts would have been like?

"Tea Party? Oh pleez, look who's drinking the Earl Grey over there. What's a little tax on tea? GO BACK TO WORK!"

I'm curious as to what clothes people think the Occupiers should be wearing? They haven't stated that they have never used things supplied by corporations, they are stating that they believe that things need to change.

Isn't this how we started out? A group standing up to and against another group of people that we felt were taking advantage of us? Speaking out for ourselves?

Are so many of us really that willing to keep toeing the line even as it drags us across the road?

I say God Bless them, I appreciate what they are doing and, even if what they are doing isn't being done perfectly, it's still something. I'm proud of every single person out there and have sent articles to them, to me it's the least I can do for people who are taking a stand. Maybe not a perfect stand, but at least it's not a crawl.

 

[momto2girls]

Funny how no one ever complains about having to pay back a car loan or mortgage yet so many people think they should be able to renig on their college debt. You reap the rewards of a higher income over your lifetime with a degree yet some people think it's some kind of entitlement and shouldn't come with any hard work or sacrifice.

So true! So many entitled people. I just can't wrap my mind around it.

 

[maddhatir]

The only reason people cannot "get" OWS is b/c they didn't know what was really going on beforehand. I mean really going on.

You cannot get your information from a 2 second story on the nightly news. You need to dig deep for the corruption that ruined this country. You need the internet to get that kind of news. I think MSNBC does a good job- I don't watch MSNBC news- I watch shows like Ed Schultz and Rachel Maddow. I like Keith Olbermann. I also love to hear Van Jones speak. A LOT of OWS think all of those people are bs. They think both sides are corrupt. I lean more to the left- I am comfortable there.

You have to start somewhere- get your info and then research it for yourself. But, as I said- if you just watch the news. You won't "get" anything.

 

[Acklander]

So true! So many entitled people. I just can't wrap my mind around it.

Yeah, wall street caused the financial system to crash and they felt entitled to a trillion dollar government bailout. And instead of wanting to make changes that would prevent the exact same problem again they gave millions to politicians who felt entitled to squash banking regulations. To congratulate themselves for purchasing the politicians they gave themselves million dollar bonuses - after all they felt entitled. GE paid politicians and then worked with those same politicians to revamp the tax code. Because of all their donations they felt entitled to changes that left them with a zero tax liability.

I guess that's one thing we can agree on - having a tough time wrapping our heads around all the entitlement out there.

 

[maddhatir]

Yeah, wall street caused the financial system to crash and they felt entitled to a trillion dollar government bailout. And instead of wanting to make changes that would prevent the exact same problem again they gave millions to politicians who felt entitled to squash banking regulations. To congratulate themselves for purchasing the politicians they gave themselves million dollar bonuses - after all they felt entitled. GE paid politicians and then worked with those same politicians to revamp the tax code. Because of all their donations they felt entitled to changes that left them with a zero tax liability.

I guess that's one thing we can agree on - having a tough time wrapping our heads around all the entitlement out there.

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAA- MEN! Say it.
I cannot wrap my head around the fact that people will turn on each other but they probably do not have the facts about the people who caused it.

Like I said before- no one knows what people are going through that cannot pay their debts or why they lost their homes. So just remember- it could be you some day.

So- do you all know what BoA just did? Is this fair?
http://problembanklist.com/fdic-to-cover-losses-on-trillion-bank-of-america-derivative-bets-0419/

 

[Acklander]

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAA- MEN! Say it.
I cannot wrap my head around the fact that people will turn on each other but they probably do not have the facts about the people who caused it.

Like I said before- no one knows what people are going through that cannot pay their debts or why they lost their homes. So just remember- it could be you some day.

So- do you all know what BoA just did? Is this fair?
http://problembanklist.com/fdic-to-cover-losses-on-trillion-bank-of-america-derivative-bets-0419/

And they're painting OWS As the bad guys for wanting change and accountability. How can ANYONE justify these practices???