Occupy Wall Street

I almost stayed away from the cottage this weekend in order to attend the "Occupy Victoria" event due to happen today in Centennial Square right next to City Hall. I wish them a huge, peaceful, coherent and articulate turn-out for that rally. But, as my husband pointed out, we have only a few more weekends at the cottage this year, and he gets a bit weary from all the stuff there is to be angry about in the world.

I am excited and worried about the "Occupy" movement - it is in such danger of faltering, and is at such high risk of being successfully portrayed (by the "1%" and defenders of the "1%") as something it is not.

The "Occupy" protestors are getting accused of trying to generate "class warfare" but, as Bill Maher said on his October 14th "Real Time" show - the 1% is not a class, it's a club!

It is sublimely ridiculous that 1% of the US population - "The Club" receives most of the annual income generated in the US, controls the majority of the wealth (and political system), and pays little to no taxes (between 1998 and 2005 the Government Accounting Office of the US government determined that 2/3's of corporations actually paid NO taxes).

When the topic is raised of the obscenely rich perhaps paying a fairer share - the 99% get accused of trying to "steal from the rich" - which is what Stephen Moore of the Wall Street Journal said on CNN this morning; and he went further to say that what is needed is "a rising (economic) tide that will float all boats" and to not bother with looking at "dividing up the pie differently." I completely disagree. That pie totally needs to be divided differently! The 1% are not going to give up their stranglehold unless they are forced to (hopefully through appropriate legislative/regulatory and tax changes).

The problem is that since about 1980 (Reagan) the 1% have gone about systematically unravelling all the middle class gains and protections achieved since the stock market crash of 1929. Through cronyism, lobbying and political contributions, they have been busily influencing/dictating the dismantling the very legislative mechanisms and structures that enabled the rise of the middle class post-WWII, while also introducing measures, earmarks and loopholes etc. that favoured the lining of the 1%'s pockets. The 1% have been busy "stealing" from the 99% for decades.

The "financial services" industry has grown from about 8% of the US economy to 40% and many of the 1%'ers who work in it make BILLIONS when the stock market goes up OR down. The 2009 bonuses of the top 25 hedge fund managers would have paid the salaries of 458,000 teachers for a year! These players can and do manipulate the market to make sure they make oodles no matter whether stocks rise or fall - they are gaming the system they perverted. It is not a "free market" - it is a manipulated market controlled by 1% insiders who created the evils knows as Collateralized Debt Obligations (CDOs) and Credit Default Swaps (CDSs) - all of which is still going on!

I wouldn't care except their unbridled power and extensive financial tentacles now mean they are capable of bringing about total global economic financial collapse. And the greed they have demonstrated to date proves they will preside over such a collapse. I believe it is coming and the people in a position to stop it (President, Congress, Senate etc.) are ineffective and doing nothing. Hence, Occupy Wall Street springs up.

Those who dismiss and poo-poo the Occupy Wall Street movement do so at their own peril. They are hoping and wishing it will go away, but how can the 99% who are suffering be made to shut up and go away? They can't and they won't. Just sayin'.

Todo bien. (It's all good).

The Great Pushback is Coming Part 2

I wrote the following blog post on an American website called "Vibrant Nation" (vibrantnation.com) back on February 20, 2011. And I caught a ton of vitriolic flak from the neo-conservatives, libertarians and Tea Party Republicans on that site. I've barely posted anything on that site since, due to the ignorant, neo-con bullies whose voices dominate the place.

Seeing what is happening this fall with "Occupy Wall Street" and other "Occupy" movements going on in other major American cities, I have to allow myself an "I told you so." And I hope this current democratic upswelling fares much better than the "Arab Spring" has.

First posted on Vibrant Nation on February 20, 2011:

"I haven’t been following the American news that closely this winter; it’s always the same and depressing how the middle and lower classes are just getting stomped. Why do they take it? Are they just so scared, and kept so busy trying to keep a roof over their heads and food in their kids’ mouths, that they roll over and take it?

This latest nonsense going on about breaking government unions and not paying pensions is beyond the pale. You cannot do this to YOUR people; at least you can’t do it and not expect some revolutionary reactions!

Don’t those rich 400 Americans, whose annual income equals the combined annual income of 100 million of their fellow Americans, realize that this income inequality won’t be tolerated forever? If they don’t start sharing the wealth and paying a truly fair share of taxes, the masses will push back? In the famous call-to-action phrase from movie “Network”, people are “mad as hell and not going to take it any more!”

Investment banks, insurance companies and all their fraudulent ilk, who played fast and loose on Wall Street get bailed out and saved harmless (and are still collecting massive bonuses). Compare this to the plight of 35 and 40 year public sector employees who all paid into their pension plans as required, only to be now told their plans are broke (the employer never paid its share) and they will get zilch. Who is standing up for them?

How horrific to be in your 70′s or older and not get the pension you worked for for decades. There are no words to describe my distress and sympathy for them, and my rage-filled disgust for the people in power (over many years, not just those currently in power) who created this mess, and are allowing it to continue/worsen.

The little guy will soon be pushing back in ways the American governments (municipal, state and federal) simply cannot imagine. What other choice will the people have? When there is no longer any honour (i.e., social “contracts” are being broken or tossed aside) how should the populace behave?

Tahrir Square will be replicated all over America, is my prediction.

No todo bien. (It’s not all good.)"