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i agree with you 100 percent mate these uni kids aint going to get the general publics support.i think its wrong that these company directors get so much money they can never spend it in a life time but little rich dickheads making clown's out of themselves aint the way to prove a pointQuote:
Originally Posted by fred41
If this was taking place in a middle eastern capital against the tyranny of some tinpot dictator we would all be cheering the protestors on. This time it's happening at the very heart of western capitalism and against the tyranny of the banks and their supine cronies in government of either hue, they're all equally culpable.
The students in Cairo got the same shit from their establishment and their lackeys in the media when the protests began in February, and yet they managed within a matter of weeks to overthrow what had become in effect 50 years of stifling and corrupt dictatorship, if you include both the Sadat and Mubarak regimes.
OK, so it would stretch the parallels to breaking point and beyond to take this much further, but the events in New York and elsewhere are in some respects not wildly different - it's a powerless and frustrated populace organising to take on what is to all intents and purposes a series of institutions which have done them and the entire population (of the world, not just the US) great wrong, and over the same period have not only further drained the nation's resources, but have carried on unscathed, with total impunity and the same unbridled arrogance. Believe me, those guys would do the same again tomorrow without turning a hair if they thought they could cut a profit from it. It's capitalism, it's about profit first, second, third and last, and fuck anyone who gets in the way.
These guys have settled on the right target, the people and businesses which created this mess. Yes, government was asleep at the wheel in terms of regulation and helped to facilitate what happened. But it wasn't government that created the whole sub-prime disaster or the financial products that they knew were worthless as they sold them. It was the banks.
What's happening here goes right to the core of America's belief system, that capitalism is ultimately beneficial for all and the only game in town. Well, it isn't, it fucks ordinary people over again and again and will continue to do so until governments worldwide have the courage, acting in concert, to take the bastards in the banks on and call their bluff.
Yep, I'm what you would call another candy-ass liberal wimp from the UK, but I'm calling this as I see it. I don't know if it will succeed, I don't care how many trust-fund kids are involved, but it's new and strange and it's scaring the shit out of the vested interests. It does my radical heart good to see people taking on the biggest and nastiest beasts in the forest. As Wordsworth said in 1802 in the context of the French Revolution, "Bliss was it in that dawn to be alive, but to be young was very heaven."
It's intoxicating to see the establishment on the run. All power to those involved.
Well stated, RobertLouis, but I take exception to the thought of the US gvt. "asleep at the wheel".
My hope is that what we're seeing is an America waking up to the utter complicity of government in creating this mess- actively charting the course through these waters while keelhauling the masses.
:iagree::iagree: Robertlouis, I couldn't have put it any better. Very well said :iagree::iagree:Quote:
Originally Posted by robertlouis
I had posted this in another thread but this video strikes to the core at why banks have no desire to change the status quo:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pzpOg8APiBo
fuck wall street!
I think we're in violent agreement on the point of government's role, Dave. Yes, they were complicit, and the blame lies with both Clinton and Bush, Obama's only fault in this regard has been his failure of courage in not tackling the systemic abuses of the banks and the financial system in general (and a similar failing in too many other things to mention....)Quote:
Originally Posted by MdR Dave
However, my point is that while those in government facilitated the whole scandalous mess by their dismantling of the checks and balances that had governed financial business since the 30s, the banks took the opportunity to leap into the void that action created and to turn the whole environment utterly toxic.
Government was complicit, but the banks were culpable. Whether individuals within governments actively connived at what was going on is another matter, but I don't think that there has ever been a suggestion that it constituted overt government policy.
And a couple of glimpses/pointers from the UK. At the Tory conference yesterday the prime minister finally admitted for the very first time that the current debt crisis may actually have had something to do with worldwide factors and wasn't solely down to the previous Labour administration.
He also through his weight and commitment quite unequivocally behind full legalisation of gay marriage in the UK. He may be truly conservative in many things, but I totally applaud and support his social liberalism, it's a very significant shift within his party (probably hated by the right) but it took personal courage and it's a wonderful development. Now, can you imagine the US parallel of a sitting Republican president making the same open commitment? You guys have a long way to go.
i have always hated smart arse rich that don't have to work and run around looking like shit and whinging [protesting] and sneering at working people. but i do think its so wrong that a man or woman cant spend what they receive in their pay in a life time and that has to stop .maybe if the government placed bans on these obscene salaries it might help
You're just being ridiculous. If not Mickey D, then some other. Bars, restaurants,. Hell, FedEx is hiring seasonal drivers. No one is going to get rich off of these types of jobs, but I was responding to someone complaining of not being able to pay tuition, and that's how I did it. Oh and in response to someone complaining about the high cost of today's tuition. I could have applied to an expensive college but chose instead to apply to an affordable university.Quote:
Originally Posted by maxpower
Do you really think these republicans will allow that to happen?Quote:
Originally Posted by russtafa
Beautifully put. Its a shame how people get so conditioned by the American system of thinking capitalism is the only way. the gentleman complaining about he has to work has no clue how demoralizing wage slavery is I'm guessing, its just a natrual corce of his life. Indeed wether the cause is concise or not, its nothing to sneeze at that these are the largest on going protests in a long time. THey are afraid to call this a class struggle but thats exactly what it is.. 1% of our population controls the majority of the wealth.. No matter how much you try to get around it thats a fact,. that means that small majority holds more power and influence..
Its so sad that a lot of Americans like dakota87 get drawn into the fallacy of poor impoverished people are their from their own lack of willingness to work or sacrafice and thats just utter stupidity. The poverrty gap between rich and poor are at the most polar levels since THE GREAT DEPRESSION.. America needs to add like !00K jobs to the economy every month to keep up with all the unemployed and new workers who are entering the work force. WE NEVER HAVE DONE THIS.. there are like 1 job for every 8 people. Maybe higher.. and Dakota again when did you go to school? You sound out of touch with people honestly.. We are the 99%..
If you don't have a trust fund living off mommy and daddy, you should be in support of those fighting for you to have a better standard of living.