Occupy Wall Street: To join or not to join, that is the question.

The Occupy Wall Street movement is now two months old and main stream media is still largely ignoring the protests except to diminish, demean, and say, “I told you so,” every time the police intervene and there is some outbreak of violence, regardless of the video evidence that the protesters are not the aggressors in these confrontations:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=meT8CJgEBQw

http://thinkprogress.org/special/2011/11/17/371349/reporters-for-right-wing-publication-daily-caller-beaten-by-nypd-helped-by-protesters/ 

Now that the movement has spread across the US and to most of the rest of the world, it seems to be a good time to discuss the OWS “agenda.” There are still many out there who will say the occupiers have none, but nothing could be further from the truth. The occupiers have an agenda, both individually and collectively. Theirs might not be a written manifesto... but they know why they are out there in force every day...and why more people are joining them day after day.

http://video.nytimes.com/video/2011/11/16/nyregion/100000001175738/a-career-occupation.html?smid=fb-nytimes&WT.mc_id=VI-E-FB-SM-LIN-ACP-111711-NYT-NA&WT.mc_ev=click

If written out,  the average person at an OWS site would have something like this to say: “I am here to have a chance at my life’s dreams, to revel in a life’s calling, to have a family in a world I believe has hope for more, and to feel that I had as good a chance at those things as the next guy.” These things are universal to all humankind, hardwired, so to speak, into the DNA of our collective souls. The people who have gathered at the OWS sites across the land are there every day because they believe that these things have been stolen from them by a system that was once good but is now corrupted by a very specific set of people and corporations. They believe that not only have their individual dreams and aspirations been stolen, but so have the dreams of 300 million other Americans, and our shared vision has been stolen as well.

They also believe that those people and corporations responsible for this grand thievery should be held accountable. It has been 3 years since this country sunk into the worst economic disaster in over 80 years, and not one of the people or business entities responsible for this grand thievery has been held accountable.  Not one person or corporation has been charged. Not one person or corporation has been arrested (and if “corporations are people too,” as Mitt Romney said, they can be arrested) Not one person or corporation has been fined or been sent to jail. Not one person or corporation has been made to pay back the 30 TRILLION dollars they stole. In fact these companies have been bailed out because they were deemed “too big to fail,” and apparently the officers of these companies have been deemed “too big to jail.”

It’s one thing to sink your money into a scam artist’s junk bonds and lose your money because you didn’t do your homework. It’s quite another for 2 generations to have their pension and retirement funds raided because the people doing the homework were lied to on all sides. When these people asked for the information necessary to make the informed decisions, they were provided with false information, cooked books, and recommendations from the representatives of the brokerages to buy things that they knew to be worthless. Their own internal memos and other correspondence show they deliberately provided false information! We all know there is risk involved in the investment world, but in order to truly evaluate risk, one has to be able to trust that the information they receive from the stockbroker regarding a particular investment is truthful and correct. When that information is not, especially when it can be shown that the broker involved or the firm he was employed by,deliberately provided false information; that’s not risk; that’s fraud and should be prosecuted as such!

(excuse the language, but this Irish guy has got the right of it) http://front.moveon.org/what-did-this-irishman-have-to-say-about-wall-street/?rc=fb.pm

We have many in government who have said that it isn’t in the country’s best interest to try to prosecute these people, saying that it won’t help get the money back, or get us back on the road to recovery, or whatever other nonsensical thing they might want to say.  The truth is, any government official who is not actively seeking to have those responsible for this sent to jail for a long time, does not represent the best interests of the constituents he was elected to serve. The information is available for all to see just what NON-HUMAN interests these government officials really do serve. At least it used to be. In the world before Citizens United. It used to be easy to “follow the money,” well, maybe not easy; but certainly not impossible, like it is now. The best we can do now is look back on the records for the 10 year period just prior to Citizens United and see which individuals, business groups, and corporations, reported contributions to political parties, candidates, or issues.

http://www.getmoneyout.com/

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N2qqRFYv3ao&feature=share

This guy is right about one thing: we should be BOYCOTTING: 1) the goods and services of any company or corporation that moved jobs overseas to take advantage of the slave labor market available to them in countries like China, Malaysia, the Philippines, or other countries where working conditions make the Shirtwaist Factory ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Triangle_Shirtwaist_Factory_fire ) look like a child’s playground; 2) any corporation that paid ZERO taxes over the last several years; 3) any corporation that has ties to ALEC, The Heritage Foundation, Americans For Prosperity, C Street, The Chamber of Commerce (the national one that represents the large corporations, not your local one that has mostly small businesses/sole proprietors as members) or Citizens Untied; 4) the corporations that have paid the most in campaign contributions to either individual candidates or the major parties in the last 10 years they had to report those contributions,1999-2010, before the Supreme Court ruled in the Citizens United case and said corporations were people and money was free speech.

If you have been wondering if the folks at OWS represent you, whether they are looking out for your interests. If you need a reason to join a site near you or at least be supportive of those folks who are at a local site. If you need a reason to call upon your lawmakers to support OWS; here is a list of things that might help you make your decision.


1) The charts you will find at this website may help:

http://www.businessinsider.com/what-wall-street-protesters-are-so-angry-about-2011-10#so-now-you-know-41  


2) The U.S. Census says the number of children living in poverty in the U.S. rose by 1 million last year. Nearly 1 in 3 children, 33% now live in households considered poor. At the same time the 400 richest people in America – our nation’s oligarchs – have never had it so good, they control more wealth than 150 million Americans. 400 people with more wealth than 150 million.


3) There are corporations who have a vested interest in making sure a greater percentage of our population is permanently taken out of  mainstream society and placed in a pool for slave labor.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/david-donnelly/private-prisons_b_1097667.html?ref=fb&src=sp&comm_ref=false

4) They are very worried about the long term effect that OWS will have. They will do everything they can to make OWS look bad. They will use every means possible, both fair and unfair to trip OWS up. The corporate aristocracy is fighting for its very life, and they will defend it to the death...

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/11/18/lobbying-firm-occupy-wall-street_n_1102310.html?ref=occupy-wall-street

http://presstv.com/detail/210572.html

http://houstonfreethinkers.com/news-stories/national-news/1957-oakland-mayor-jean-quan-admits-cities-coordinated-crackdown-on-occupy-movement.html

http://wonkette.com/456282/surprise-homeland-security-coordinates-ows-crackdowns-nationwide


5) They even have influence over what our children eat. The more garbage they can get our children accustomed to, addicted to, the more profits they make when these children will only eat at their establishments.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/11/16/pizza-vegetable-school-lunches-lobbyists_n_1098029.html?ncid=edlinkusaolp00000009

6) Our middle class is suffering beyond belief. The internal security of this country rests on its strong middle class. Without it, we’re sunk.

http://economyincrisis.org/content/rich-get-richer-while-middle-class-gets-poorer

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/16/us/middle-class-areas-shrink-as-income-gap-grows-report-finds.html?_r=1&smid=fb-nytimes&WT.mc_id=US-E-FB-SM-LIN-MCA-111611-NYT-NA&WT.mc_ev=click

7) They can’t even be honest with us about everyone they have bailed out. These private citizens can get bailed out, but our homeowners are told to “let the foreclosure process proceed.”

http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2011/04/13/wall-st-wives-got-a-secret-220-million-bailout-from-the-fed-report/#.TsM_Vas_fUM.facebook

8) We have 9 families, a total of 400 people who want to be the aristocracy in this country... and long for a return to "the good old days," of serfdom and slavery.... The attack on the middle class, and the unions that made a middle class possible, makes perfect sense... OWS is just what the doctor ordered... It won't be easy, and it will take a while, but they will be successful. They are on the right side of history, and we know the road to justice is long. The 400 have been planning for a very long time, and have got some very effective systems in place....the Patriot Act and the  Citizens United decisions were a real coup for them... but, then again, they knew the make up of the Supreme Court was ripe for that decision... After all, they had bought those people a long time ago...