... And What do the Occupiers want?
Wall Street is America. If you have a 401k, a Mutual Fund, an IRA, a Roth, a TSP, or stocks or mutual fund of any kind, YOU are Wall Street. Those shareholdersthat CEO's report to? That's YOU! The Dow Jones Industrial Average is often cited as an economic barometer, as well as the S&P 500, and other "baskets of stock." When your retirement account decreases or increases in value, that is a result of ALL shareholders, i.e. Wall Street, making their micro-predictions on how well the company and its slice of the American economy will perform. When you buy stock, you are buying a part of company. You become a business owner by buying shares in a corporation. Chances are you are Wall Street.
The people occupying a park in New York City, and marching in various cities around the Nation and World, claim to be "the 99%." With the ultra-rich like Nancy Pelosi & George Soros backing them, they're not the 99% who aren't rich. And with a great portion of Americans owning stock in some manner, there aren't 99% who don't own stocks. With nearly half of America paying taxes, they're not the 99% who pay or who don't pay taxes. With the majority of Americans having health insurance, they're not the 99% who do or don't have that. So, evidently they are the 99% who fictionalize statistics.
The Occupiers claim to be leaderless, but the protests were started by self-described anti-capitalists, a group called AdBusters. Affiliated protest groups have sprung up in dozens of cities across America, as well as countries around the world. The "Occupy" movement was started June 9th, 2011 by a man in Vancouver, Kalle Lasn, and advertised in his own anti-capitalist website/magazine "Adbusters." It receives leadership and support from Van Jones, George Soros, and Nancy Pelosi, as well as others in the super rich category. Therein lies the hypocrisy, because the claim to being the "99%" is that they are the 99% with less than $593,000/year in income, while Soros, Russ Feingold, Bernie Sanders, Pelosi, Keith Ellison, Obama, et.al. are Millionaires or Billionaires.
They have the support of rich Hollywood types such as Michael Moore, Roseanne Barr, Susan Sarandon, and Tom Morello. Other celebrities lending their support include Keith Olbermann, Anti-Flag, Margaret
Foreign Nations such as Iran, North Korea, China, and Venezuela support the protesters, with statements by the Ayatollah Khamenini, Ahdiminijihadist, and Hugo Chavez.
They have been joined by unions and Islamists, including CAIR, AMA, and others, as well as Anti-War protestors such as the IVAW and VFP, both of whom have demonstrated Socialist ties, including the official dispatch of the IVAW of an official ambassador to the Marxism International conferencce in Sydney Austalia in 2008.
Unions and the Democratic Party are throwing their weight behind it. Various unions, including the Transport Workers Union of America Local 100, the NY State United Teachers, the National Nurses United Union, American Federation for State, County, and Municipal Workers, Communications Workers of America, The Greater Boston Labor Council (90 Unions), Amalgamated Transit Union International, and the New York Metro 32BJ Service Employees International Unionhave pledged their support for demonstrators. AFL-CIO president Richard Trumka, who personally endorsedthe protests. NYSUT's Korn says two buses will carry a few hundred union members and other activists from Albany. Mother Jones.com
SEIU president Mary Kay Henry, another of the 1%: "We would be happy to [issue a statement] if it helped," she says. "Mostly what we think is necessary is logistical support—sometimes technology, sometimes money, sometimes people."
On October 3, Transport Workers Union bus drivers sued the New York Police Department for ordering their buses to drive to the Brooklyn Bridge to pick up detained protesters. Union President John Samuelsen said, "We're down with these protesters. We support the notion that rich folk are not paying their fair share. Our bus operators are not going to be pressed into service to arrest protesters anywhere."
And the Occupiers have already cost millions in taxes. As of 12 October 2011, $3.2 Million in costs for Police overtime in New York alone, while providing decreased Police patrols to the residents of New York. Which is to say nothing for how much they've cost the city in other costs, including the city's failed attempt to clean up after the protesters who have created a health hazard while occupying a private park to the point that neighbors can't even allow their kids to play in it.
So how many people make up the "99%" who are living in filth, refusing to allow the city to clean up their waste? About 200 in the park, and somewhere between 500 and 10,000 on days of a "surge." They made the news because they broke the law. They decided that breaking the law was the answer and then acted outraged that they got arrested for walking out into lanes of motorists on the Brooklyn Bridge on October 3, 2011.
But what about the park's owners? Don't they have a problem with it? Mayor Bloomberg's girlfriend is on the board of directors of Brookfield Properties, a Canadian Firm. It's contract with the city is that it is to be open to the public 24 hours a day, which it no longer is. It appears that it is one corporation that the protesters like, and that likes them. Zuccotti Park is overrun, and Zuccotti and the Mayor do not even have the spine to clean it up.
It comes as little surprise, to me, that the Occupy protests are also taking to Troop Bashing with the Boston crowd spitting on a Coast Guardman in uniform and another protest carrying Anti-Troop signs.
Meanwhile, the "Occupiers" became suddenly "Pro-Troop" when anti-war Veterans from VFP and the IVAW were noted in their midst. One commenter noted there were "hundreds" of such "Veterans" amongst the Millions of Veterans in the Nation. A minuscule minority of Veterans, some of which have violated the Honor of the Military, by protesting in uniform.
The vague complaints of these violent protestors imply a political goal of nationalizing private property in the hands of the government, previously known as communism, or its greater twin, socialism. They complain that "some" great number of executives in business make large sums of money, while enjoying the endorsement of millionaires and billionaires in Hollywood and the puppetmasters (George Soros) of a political party.
So, what is socialism or communism? They are economic and governmental models that remove property from individuals, particularly the few who have succeeded in earning a great deal of money, and putting it in the hands of the elite few who hold the reigns of government. Successful socialists include Stalin, Chavez, Lenin, Mao, & Hitler. Stalin being of the "international socialist" vein and killing 10's of Millions of his own subjects and Hitler being of the "national socialist" vein who murdered 6 Million Jewish Minorities in Europe. Both are anti-Semitic, as it appears the "Occupiers" are.
The beauty of American Freedom and capitalism is however that one is free to decide between Chase Bank and the local County bank or Credit Union, rather than a Government owned monopoly bank. The beauty of capitalism is that Companies compete for your business, and attempt to persuade you to buy their products, rather being forced to buy from a government monopoly. The beauty of capitalism is that more millionaires were created last year, in an economic recession, than would control the money of the Nation under a socialist system in a boom year.
The beauty of Freedom is that I can choose the small financial institution and you can choose the big international financial institution. The beauty of Freedom is that you aren't forced to agree with my choice, or me to buy into yours, that we are both Free to make our arguments, though neither of us are allowed to outlaw the other's words. The beauty of Freedom is a right to PEACEABLY assemble, under the full protection of the law, but do not have a right to commit violence or crimes in those assemblies.
The duty of the Free Citizen however comes with the Responsibility for Our Own Actions, to educate Ourselves on the world's events, as well as the events of our city government, to choose Representatives to act on Our Behalf, and not just to limit the Freedoms of others to act in manners we don't like.
So, don't come whining to others when your violence and crimes lands you in jail, even if I believe in your right to whine and complain, peaceably, that you don't like the Constitution I have defended with my life, that you use to argue against it. Americans are guaranteed the Right to Free Speech, and to Peaceably Assemble, but not to commit crimes in protest.
Stumble It!
