Occupy Wall Street

its been going on for awhile now and most people have formed an opinion about the protests, protesters, and issues involved.
What are your thoughts about them?
Is it a movement, is it s protest, is it a bunch of lazy people sitting in the street taking dumps on police cars? Are they achieving any things? And if so what?

I'm actually on their side. I was out of a job for almost 2 years because of my motorcycle wreck. I was denied financial aid to go back to school as well as medicaid and unemployment because I'm young and thus, according to the government, my parents could take care of me.
I'm glad that most of the protesters are making sure that the message is clear: This is a peaceful protest. What I don't agree on is the fact that they don't seem to have a cohesive message as to what they want. My old roommate posted something on facebook that sums it up:

"They must find a singular voice and mission. If they are not unified toward positive change, they will quickly become mobs of hate. One must focus on positive change and not focus on destroying the old. This is a very important difference!!"

I have no love for them because they're foolish. They're protesting on Wall Street and other areas of commerce, obstructing businesses and day to day life for no reason. The corporations aren't going to change and they haven't done any thing wrong. They have achieved their goals legally because of a government the people elected. You want to change this, you change government. They need to go sit in front of the White House or Congress and be active in elections.
Though I don't really want them to achieve any thing, yes I think there is too much corporate investment in our government but you can't change that. Even if you could we live in a capitalist system and your lack of a job has more to do with the market that any thing and I'm far from willing to have to pay any amount of taxes to take care of anyone other than myself. Your parents should take care of you and if they can't, or better yet you should take care of yourself(personal responsibility, novel concept) and if you can't then tough. Its not like there isn't a welfare system in place already. Your job or lack there of is not anyone's problem but your own.Ultimately you have the same opportunities as any one else to get as far as any one else, yeah you might have trk fifty times harder than someone else to get as far but that's life.

While I can agree that everyone has a personal level of responsibility when it comes to job security, they are not 100% in control of it either. Like you said, the fluctuations in the market can dictate who's hired and who's fired just as much as a person's willingness trk.
I, for example, looked for a job for nine months after my year of forced unemployment. I put out upwards of 50+ applications in the surrounding area, from gas stations to department stores to fast food and restaurants. It took nine months to get a job, not because I wasn't trying, but because the market dictated that I couldn't be hired due to a down-turn. That down-turn was caused by a corrupt system that the Occupy Wallstreet movement is trying to change.

The problem that Occupy Wallstreet is trying to fix, I believe, is the fact that we no longer live in a democratic society, but instead, a society where no matter the option when it comes to candidates, corporations will have a much larger influence on policy making than that of the everyday man. There are very few ways to change a system that benefits two parties: government gets personal funds from the corporations and in return, they give the corporations what they want with little to no regard for the "99%".

How would you go about changing the corporate control of the government?

Eebit wrote:

While I can agree that everyone has a personal level of responsibility when it comes to job security, they are not 100% in control of it either. Like you said, the fluctuations in the market can dictate who's hired and who's fired just as much as a person's willingness trk.
I, for example, looked for a job for nine months after my year of forced unemployment. I put out upwards of 50+ applications in the surrounding area, from gas stations to department stores to fast food and restaurants. It took nine months to get a job, not because I wasn't trying, but because the market dictated that I couldn't be hired due to a down-turn. That down-turn was caused by a corrupt system that the Occupy Wallstreet movement is trying to change.

The problem that Occupy Wallstreet is trying to fix, I believe, is the fact that we no longer live in a democratic society, but instead, a society where no matter the option when it comes to candidates, corporations will have a much larger influence on policy making than that of the everyday man. There are very few ways to change a system that benefits two parties: government gets personal funds from the corporations and in return, they give the corporations what they want with little to no regard for the "99%".

How would you go about changing the corporate control of the government?

I'm willing to let the market make you poor an jobless if it give someone else the chance to make money. You're not guaranteed a job in a capitalist system, down turn or not. I'm pro-wealth gap because it allows for the opportunity to achieve a life style I desire to achieve. Its hard to get there and its not realistic for a majority and demands a worse situation for the "99%" but I'm more than ok with that because the roles in the "1%" and "99%" are not set.
Good for you putting out 50+ applications, next time try 1000+ in the same time frame and it might work better.You point out the time and number of applications you put out like there is something wrong with it. I see no issue.
The Occupy Wall Street movement is an undefined anger that s misguidedly protesting at the door of corporations. They're as close to a communist revolution as you can get in a America(which is pretty far from actual communism). They don't know what they want, some of them want more than regulation, they want retribution and redistribution. Even the regulation makes me take pause, because I don't believe any one can pull a number out of their ass and say any one above it is too wealthy.



We never lived in a democratic society. Liberal democracy is just a term we use to feel better about our system of government. We live in a republic, the people have a very detached say a far as the federal system. They have a higher say on the local level and are able to lobby as much as any corporation. An if I could have my way the people wouldn't even have a say in the election of senators or the president. You can't trust the people, they're to impassioned and uneducated. They don't turn out to vote now and those that do are so wrapped up in the political machinery of party politics that they effectively may as well not vote.
Corporatism isn't the root of corruption, but the current political machines are.
Still if I were to draft legislation to reform the American legal system in regards to corporate influence it would focus on two reforms.
I would overturn the supreme court Dartmouth College v. Woodward so that corporations were no longer people, enact campaign finance and size limits similar to those in Britain to dismantle and reduce the absurdity of political campaigns, establish term limits for all political offices, and restrict the formation and workings of political parties.
I would still allow money to count as speech and I would allow lobbying and I would still allow corporation to exist in there former size and scopes and practice business near unregulated within the market.
The best government is the one that governs least.

This is probably irrelevant and inconsequential to everyone here being all serious. But I tried to look for the protest on Friday night, and we couldn't find it. We were like: "Where's the occupying?!" Anyone wanna tell me exactly where it's at?! I thought it would be like, Wall Street...

It's fucking idiotic. "Yeah, I did shitty in life. I dropped out of high school, and have been living off of my parent's achievements and income. People who finished school and got a degree are getting the jobs I apply for. Hurr fucking durr I am the 99%."