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Occupy Wallstreet?

Opinions anyone? The more I hear about it the more I appreciate it. Yeah, sure it's like the tea partiers, except these people seem to be more invested and willing to stay to make a point. It's all Rush and Beck can whine about lately, and despite the few advocating anarchy and communism, the main message seems to be about releasing this country from the strangle hold that business and corporations have on government. It's been a long time coming...

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Permalink Reply by TK on October 14, 2011 at 8:40pm

Agreed. If you are working, you probably aren't protesting. I will sympathize with their frustration with government bailing out failing businesses, while screwing over all the people the same businesses screwed over. I don't think government should be helping anyone, and needs to get the hell out of the economy. If they don't, then we have just straight up chrony capitalism.

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Permalink Reply by Park Bierbower on October 17, 2011 at 12:49pm

I've heard the term 'chrony capitalism' so many times in the last week that I'd love for someone to explain to me it is any different than typical capitalism in and of itself. What I mean is, capitalism is merely private ownership of industry. If people don't like corporations working with other 'chrony' corporations or interests, then how does one suppose they can fix that? Make it illegal? because that would be regulation. 'chrony capitalism' is just another way of trying to distinguish the bad parts of the system from the good, but there isn't a way to remove it without changing the system itself. it would be like free marketers whining about mega-conglomerations and monopolies because they "hurt the competitive nature of the market"~ its an inherent part of the function of unregulated capitalism. it is the result because of, not in spite of.

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Permalink Reply by Park Bierbower on October 17, 2011 at 12:52pm

allow me to add that corporate influence on policy is also a symptom of not controlling the avenues and abilities of business. Travis Kelley, I presume, I think we've had discussions about free markets before. Its interesting that where you see gov't helping failing business I see a gov't propping up the pillars of its financial system because they operated unchecked for so long, and grew so large that their collapse would ruin millions of lives~ and where you see the gov't intervening too much, I see it not intervening enough, ie regulating the gluttonous profiteers on wall st.

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Permalink Reply by TK on October 24, 2011 at 9:55pm

That would be me, without the e. Government sure is propping up a failing industry, that wouldn't have gotten so large except for government. If the issue is "too big to fail" tell me why we didn't enforce monopoly legislation against the banks? Oh that's right, the banks own our government. All wall street did was buy up and create a demand for the clearly fraudulent financial products the banks and mortgage industry were selling. Did they not do their due diligence, absolutely, and any investor who bought that shit should be suing the shit out of whoever sold them a mortgage backed security. Absolutely no one went to jail in this whole fiasco, even though there was clear fraud. Once again, this is because corporate influence has bought out the government.

And we should have let those businesses fail. It's the only real way for everything to have corrected itself. Instead the tax payer got to pay for the risk the banks and wall street took on, while still allowing them to keep their profits. I don't think we should take their profits either, just that if they fuck up, we let them fail. The government could give a fuck about the average American.

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Permalink Reply by Jedi Wanderer on October 13, 2011 at 5:18pm

It sure has. I am completely behind it as it stands, I have also signed Dylan Ratigan's petition for a Constitutional amendment removing money from politics. You can find the petition, as well as a rough draft of the proposed amendment, at www.getmoneyout.com. Get your voices heard!

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Permalink Reply by Park Bierbower on October 13, 2011 at 5:34pm

@nerd

Yeah that sort of seems to make their point lol

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Permalink Reply by SecularCortex13.x on October 15, 2011 at 3:42pm

dunno if exact but noticed this on fbook
http://twitter.com/#!/marikatogo/status/124818494989668352

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Permalink Reply by Jedi Wanderer on October 15, 2011 at 5:21pm

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/10/15/occupy-wall-street-protest...

This is now a global movement which, to my mind, is a rebellion against the unholy alliance of governments and corporations.

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Permalink Reply by Sassan K. on October 17, 2011 at 1:36pm

The question is how these people have time to protest but not look for work? I consider most of these protesters (especially the hardcore) as anti-American socialist/communists and conspiracy theory loons. During the weekends the labor unions organize and bring their people - but on the weekdays they truly seem to consist of loons.

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Permalink Reply by Park Bierbower on October 17, 2011 at 1:41pm

I appreciate the implication in your statement that these people should instead be working for a pittance instead of trying to change the problems that they see in the world. It strikes me as though it would be like saying, during the bus boycott during the civil rights movement, that those protesters should have instead been trying to claim all those empty seats on the back of the now mostly vacant busses.