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I go to Zuccotti Park
Sunday was beautiful in NYC. Indian summer. I went to the OWS protest. Some observations and some pictures.
Zuccotti park is where the action is contained. This is a miserable excuse for a park. It’s about the size of a football field. Not a blade of grass to be found. As you will see from the pics, this place is already jammed. The limited space may prove to be an issue for this demonstration. You can’t get more than a few thousand in this cramped area.
The park is sandwiched between Broadway and Church. It’s bounded by Liberty St (and some other street I forgot the name of). On one side is the Brown Brothers Harriman Building (talk about white spats).
On the other is the rapidly rising world trade building.
The cops have the place surrounded. But it was very clear that these policemen were not looking for trouble. Two blocks away, I found where the police had set up a command post. I suspect the guys with the helmets were resting over there.
Congressman Eric Cantor made a foolish remark over the weekend. He referred to the happenings in lower Manhattan as a “Mob Scene”. Cantor’s an ass. He has no clue what is going on. This was just a dumb sound bite. He will regret it.
There was no mob. There were no professional provocateurs. There was festive attitude. There was no anarchy.
The following pictures are the scenes that I saw. Look at the people in the background; you will not see anything threatening at all.
There was some attempt to bring order. A library, medical area, kitchen, a media center, legal aid and even a store for “essentials”:
Some people were painting signs:
Others were just painting people:
Wherever you looked there were signs. Just a few of the many:
There was one sign that caught my eye. I’m willing to bet it has also caught the eye of the FBI.
I left the area thinking that this very small group of people couldn’t possibly make much of a difference. It’s a rag tag demonstration. More a party than a serious effort to change the financial system. But as I walked north I thought of a different time in history. One that I participated in. To me, there was a very similar feeling in Zuccotti Park in 2011 to what existed in San Francisco in 1967.
The 1967 Summer of Love was a period where social/political changes began. The allure of sex, drugs, and rock and roll were very powerful magnets for this 17 year old.
I crossed the country and spent a few memorable months in San Francisco’s Haight Ashbury District.
I slept in a crash pad. I went to the Fillmore West and watched Jim Morrison of the Doors sing “Light My Fire” till sun came up. And yes, there were drugs. And yes there was “Free Love” in the park. And yes, it was a hell of a party. And yes, there was not much relevance to the whole thing.
But three years later a million people marched on D.C. and it altered the outcome of a war. It also tore the country inside out. It would be a big mistake to dismiss what is going on in Zuccotti Park. Whatever is happening there, it's not going to go away. It’s going to get bigger.
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Fake, real, or something in the middle (my best call right now) I wonder how these Wall Street turds expalin OWS to themselves?
Hi Bruce,
Another great blog post. Really gave me a better (i.e. not black/white) insight into this movement/story. Bottom line, everyone loves a good party and if the possibility of sex and drugs is large, so much the better. Times change but humans don't.
Bruce, I saw the thoroughly disillusioned sex, drugs, and rock and rollers when I entered high school.
They had called everyone liars, including all politicians, generals, scientists. While they might have been right on a lot of those, it was a massive oversimplification, and it later lead to themselves lying without remorse because hey, everybody else is doing it already! As they say: love your enemy, for you will become like him.
As so often I'm sure they had good intentions. But the end result was less taking of responsibility -as everyone was verbally attacked for the slightest miscue-, and instead the biggest liars who claimed themselves morally perfect became the (remaining) leaders. Which is the best joke at all, as a morally perfect person doesn't exist.
And which leads in direct line to today's situation.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SXcGF2qv2CY
life of brian...............
monty python...
John Hussman's weekly commentary provides OWS clear issues to protest: http://www.hussmanfunds.com/wmc/wmc111010.htm
Well worth the read (every Sunday)
Here's an interesting largely first-person narrative from one of the original OWS protestors, fwiw:
http://www.truth-out.org/why-elites-are-trouble/1318252392
She says, btw, that the original group was more widely and strongly united by a belief in Eliminating Corporate Personhood than any other single issue. Not bad. Plenty of time and people to fully define and refine a formal platform from that point of understanding, imo. Such people would obviously not object to eliminating the Federal Reserve, once they fully understand the issue.
Thanks for the honest info. People are mad as hell and, at some point, aren't going to take it anymore. But with most of the population receiving Govt benefits from food stamps, financial student aid, social security, medical care, etc. all change will make people even more upset.
"Those who own the country ought to govern it." - Founding father, John Jay.
So should we relax, and say its just grand that the 1% runs the US Govt? Is that the Republican justification?
Revolution, for real:
We’re hearing that the “Tompkins Square Park regulars” are all down at Liberty Square — not because they’re outraged at Wall St. and corporate greed, but because there’s tons of free food and police are letting people sleep there in the park overnight without hassling them.
http://thevillager.com/villager_441/scoopysnotebook.html
Gods of Money: Wall Street and the Death of the American Century
http://www.amazon.com/Gods-Money-Street-American-Century/dp/3981326318
Seems our stinky friends forgot what the heck they were aiming to accomplish in the fist place. If this isn't a complete disaster for the cause, I'm not sure what is.
They get an "A" for effort I suppose, too bad it was drug induced.
http://www.theblaze.com/stories/increasingly-debauched-are-sex-drugs-poor-sanitation-eclipsing-occupy-wall-street/
Fucking hilarious! It's an offshoot of the Onion, right?
Devilishly funny!
Some pics from our trip to Seattle, Washington last week. They have a the protest downtown near the Wall Street satellite offices. It was peaceful. Signs, signs, everywhere there were signs.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/68439481@N03/
If this is to be a 'Right vs Left' thing then it is already over, the country is pretty evenly split and nothing will happen. I believe that the fundemental issue is the utter loss of trust that we have lost in our institutions. Our stock brokers 'rip faces' and 'skullfuck' us...we trusted them to make us money, we relied upon their professionalism and were betrayed. This trust will not return for generations. Trust as also been lost in many other areas. When we as ordinary peole cannot trust those who know more than us in any given area, then we suffer having to rely upon out own devises. All benefit of specialization is lost. We were betrayed not only by those who promised to serve us but also by the government which promised to protect us. We'll get over it eventually but there has been immense damage done to a system that had much promise. Maybe we'll do better as a world of 'do it youself' ers. I doubt it. As a physician I don't see much good coming from home remedies in the truly ill. Medicine has helped many people...a lot. If we loose the trust that must be present to deliver those advances though, then the services won't get delivered. Until trust is restored...earned and restored...then we will see further rejection of services provided by professionals who depend on trust. Shame on all who have been given trust then betrayed it. Those who betray such trust live wasted lives of deceit. May they enjoy their falsely obtained gains until they see they have ruined the world.
No taxation without representation
One decent thing came out of these protests. I realized that I needed to start understanding how finance, business, and economics work in the world. It wasn't something I was interested in, until now. I do believe that things are getting a bit out of hand, and I hope a change comes out of this. I've been watching since Sept. 17th, and I've seen it progress, both in the protests and the fact that I am now reading up to get informed on the basics of the way "money" works.
Oh wow. Well better late then never.I'm guessing that until today you worked hard at a job all your life because they gave you some paper or digits on a bank statement that you could use at Walmart. It just amazes me how many people are content with that.
US dollars are not money. Gold and silver is money. You only want the other kind when you have access to the press that prints it. Based on your comments I am assuming you are not a banker. Me either. Gold and silver will never lose value and it is extremely hard to confiscate. Fiat paper always loses value. 100% of the time. That's why there is plenty of 200 year old gold and silver but no valuable paper fiat of that age.
Invest in new ideas but save with ideas that have always worked in the past.
At 30, I have worked hard all my life and found things that I love to do for work. I'm fortunate to be a somewhat intelligent person, and have always had a decent work ethic. My problem is that I was raised to always work for someone else. I never really thought to take it upon myself and invest. This site has been a great way to learn the basics, with a little studying of my own on the side. As for the Wal-Mart dig, I will pass on Wal-Mart as I tend to root for the little guy. Personally, I've found myself anything but content with the way people choose to spend money. For some sad reason, the simplicity of that trip to Wal-Mart has been instituted as the 'American' way of life. I can make another choice, and proudly do so. I'm glad I stumbled upon this site, directly from a couple people that are supporting the OWS protests online. There is a wealth of knowledge out there, unfortunately (and I say this because I love the country I live in), as Americans, most aren't intelligent to realize it is out there. I believe the term coined in an earlier article was 'useful idiot'?
I'm working on the gold and silver investment front next....should be interesting to say the least. Thanks for the input.
Once people get to a tipping point of pissedness...they can get smart real fast, in spite of all past ignorance or complacent ignoring...we will see how far down we have to go for how long for this to happen...our biggest obstacle is about 20 percent on the right, engaged and political ones think all will be fixed if we have all Repub congress and Repub president like we did from 2000 and 2006..(like they were so hard on Wall Street, so good about keeping budgets and deficit under control) and a lot of lefties think only the Dems will keep Repubs from giving banks and big corps everything they want and further gutting middle class but at least lefties are more cynical and disillusioned with Dems and Obama catering to banks, while average Fox watcher thinks Cantor, "wall street likes repubs better and have buyer's remorse for the money they gave to Dems" they think this WS errand boy is for the little guy...when in fact both parties are totally sold out to Wall Street, and the focus is kept off WS as long as country waffles back and forth between party control based on non economic issues like abortion,war, gay marriage, foreign policies, environment, guns...meanwhile lobbyists walk away with our govt
We desperately need a populist movement that unites left, right, libertarian against political corruption, against bailouts and taxpayer subsidies of crony big businesses.
"I believe the term coined in an earlier article was 'useful idiot'?"
The phrase is usually attributed to Lenin to describe Westerners who idealistically supported the Soviet Union and ignored it's harder edges, if you will. The phrase has been used to describe people who naïvely thought themselves allies of the Soviets while they were actually held in contempt by the Soviets and being cynically used.
The attribution to Lenin is not clear cut. But the phrase has been in use and attributed to Lenin for well over fifty years.
Austrian economics is waiting for you:
http://www.lewrockwell.com/
http://mises.org/
Thanks for the sites...looks like I'm learning even more. I appreciate it.
Thanks for the sites...looks like I'm learning even more. I appreciate it.
Why all the violent imagry and words on those signs? Do you waer your Free Gaza t shirt to the festivities? Do you also have a sign with a molitov cocktail on it, threatening to throw it at business people? Asshole.
I wear my Free Gaza t-shirt when I work and when I make voluntary trades in the marketplace.
I can't decide, cowed by convention, out of touch, or a coward. At minimum this one is a real tight ass. At worst, a traitor.
Some folks don't get out much (that may be me these days). Others never get out. I pity all prisoners.
.
Hey Bruce,
I like your posts and insights and read all or most of them here on ZH.
I was born in San Francisco in 1957 and living in So. Calif. in 1967. Too young to perceive the sea-change around me at the time. Still, I have found that I tend to be a sort-of hippie at heart and have had most of those experiences attributed to the hippies. Now I am fortunately ready to begin the post career part of my life experience and am interested in contributing energy towards a new paradigm of respect and care for the living web on Earth in whatever way I can.
Dylan Ratigan has begun a petition to get money out of politics and whether it is a flawed idea needing revision or not, it IS a beginning.
Please sign the petition and share the link.
http://www.getmoneyout.com/
No, no, no. Good intentions are not enough at this moment in history.
There are no "solutions" that do not involve radical decentralization & the US Federal Government ceasing to exist in its current form. Any dramatic change that comes about in the absence both of the aforementioned will be counter productive and likely VERY destructive.
Taking away the politician's money is not enough, their guns must be taken from them.
You want to protest? I say go for it. However, asking the government to right this wrong is like going to the mafia to end organized crime. We all should educate ourselves......If we find we don't want to do business with a bailed out bank then people should move their business away from the dirty banks.......If you want to avoid, GE, AIG, Merril Lynch, Schwab, Morgan, Goldman, etc., by all means avoid these corrupt bastards.
The core issue starts with the system.....the system starts with our government.....what kind of government do you want? What should the role of the government be? You don't want government in bed with corporations? You don't want lobbyists pulling the strings? Then the size and scope of government / the state needed to be reduced in size and scope........If they don't have unlimited power then lobbyists will cease to exist if those they try to bribe don't have the power to corrupt the system......If the government isn't in the banking business then corruption will dissipate........Vote out TARP/bailout supporters so this won't happen next time.
Are you tired of the status quo? Go protest, call your representatives, educate yourself, don't do business with companies you don't like.
We have an election next year.....Who will you vote for who doesn't represent the establishment and status quo? Think about it.
"However, asking the government to right this wrong is like going to the mafia to end organized crime. "
+10
Yeah better for us let big crony businesses control stat power while people are disunited each forming their own survivalist basement
If your local police force is corrupt, is it better to ignore it, not demand any changes of it, but keep paying your taxes to them and have everyone buy their own guns and bullet proof glass....or is it better to unite, fire the corrupt cops, clean the force up and have a strong competent police force to defend, protect and serve common good, law abiding citizens.
We can let wall street run amok, let the thieves and criminals go unchecked, or we can take bak our union, our state
There will be huge international demonstrations on Saturday 10-15. Please come and see for yourself if this is a "rag tag demonstration."
To those who say this is a waste of time, please think about the fact that the whole country is now discussing OWS. I think this is just the start, but if OWS only accomplishment is getting issues like poverty and democracy back into our national dialog, I think it is worthwhile.
Letter to the Ruling Class
You control our world. You’ve poisoned the air we breathe, contaminated the water we drink, and copyrighted the food we eat. We fight in your wars, die for your causes, and sacrifice our freedoms to protect you. You’ve liquidated our savings, destroyed our middle class, and used our tax dollars to bailout your unending greed. We are slaves to your corporations, zombies to your airwaves, servants to your decadence. You’ve stolen our elections, assassinated our leaders, and abolished our basic rights as human beings. You own our property, shipped away our jobs, and shredded our unions. You’ve profited off of disaster, destabilized our currencies, and raised our cost of living. You’ve monopolized our freedom, stripped away our education, and have almost extinguished our flame. We are hit… we are bleeding… but we ain’t got time to bleed. We will bring the giants to their knees and you will witness our revolution!
Sincerely,
The Serfs.
video+more here: http://www.degaray.com/misc/144-Jesse-Ventura-07Oct2011.html
Here's a list of demands and complaints even the rightwingers here might understand:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iKEZoY-TMG4&feature=youtube_gdata_player
So is America waking up? Have the sheeple had enough? It seems that so many people online were pissed off with the gov, wall street, etc. So now people are protesting, against a lot of things. Yet on the blogs I visit, the same people who were pissed off are still sitting behind their computer and now generalizing, making assumptions, calling the protestors names, saying oh the protests don't fit my particular agenda so it's not worth my time. How about you shut the fuck up and go down to an occupy near you. Take your ideas to the streets, go socialize with other Americans, listen to what others say, hell, get arrested if you need to. Stop the negativity, grow a set, and live it.
I agree 100%. Those that disagree with the ideologies that have become mainstream "wisdom" need to be brave and stand up both online and in public spaces and no longer allow the forces of repression to dominate the discussion.
Everyone who agrees or is curious what this is about, should go down and talk to their neighbors who are Occupying. In fact, those that disagree should go and check it out too. You will see that this is your children, your neighbors, and maybe your barista or lawn service guy too. This is not an angry mob. This is democracy in action. Join the discussion.
You make it sound like the tea party protests of two years ago. Tea party and Occupy are opposite sides of the same coin, except the Occupiers were a little slow on the uptake. People are waking up to the fact that regardless of which party holds power, nothing changes. Blaming the other side (left/right) won't move you forward. Class warfare in protest of "greed" is disingenious when the argument is based on the premise of taking what somebody else has that you ain't got.
First of all, I'm not after "what somebody else has that you ain't got". I got plenty. Thanks.
Secondly, if you went and talked to the demonstrators, you would learn that they are angry at the democrats also.
To talk 'civilly" and demonstrate without resort to violence about what the likes of Lord Blankfiend, Ken Lewis, Joe Cassano, Dick Fuld, Chris Cox, BArney Frank, Chris Dodd, Phil GrammLeach and Bliley, Franklin Raines, Stan O'Neal, Bill Clinton (signing the repeal of Glass-Steagal instead of veto) george bush, Hank Paulson, benBernanke, larry Summers, Bob Rubin, and a dozen others have done, proves that they know nothing of the horrific consequences brought about and by these despicable people.
Until several of them die violently, and protesters along with them, look forward only to more decline, ever more rapidly, while they get away scot free.
What a ridiculous waste of time without a Mighty Vengeance of some kind.
Great pics Bruce. Better by far than anything on the MSM.
A few unemployed actors in the park is a nice diversion from how depressing the City is on an otherwise wonderful fall day, but it changes nothing.
I like to read the opinions here, but I pay special attention to what folks are DOING. The last few working stiffs in the private sector are making other arrangements. We are close to a tipping point. There will be a massive meltdown soon, and then heads will roll.
LOL! Looks like the "protestors" aka Soros astroturfers are eating better than most Wall Streeters. Craiglist also has jobs paying $350 to 650 a week to "protest." The person paying for it is Soros.
The free chow offered to protesters was boosting the crowd.
“People say they are here for the cause, but the real reason is the free food,” quipped Cameron, 26, of Jersey City.
“On my third day, they had smoked salmon with cream cheese. You know how much smoked salmon is a pound? Sixteen dollars. I eat better here than I do with my parents!”
Read more: http://www.nypost.com/p/news/local/manhattan/it_nyc_lam_sterdam_bmE4vlV5aDUWhBRv9IbaiK#ixzz1aOlV7Q2C
The government wasn't given the right to use force to steal from one group to give to another. That works both ways. Taxing the "rich" or bailout the banks and corporations with public debt. The system is broken (has been since the beginning). Here's some TJ for you, since you asked:
"I hope we shall crush in its birth the aristocracy of our monied corporations which dare already to challenge our government to a trial by strength, and bid defiance to the laws of our country."
"I predict future happiness for Americans if they can prevent the government from wasting the labors of the people under the pretense of taking care of them."
Most of us know how he felt about Central Banks.
"When a government is dependent upon bankers for money, they and not the leaders of the government control the situation, since the hand that gives is above the hand that takes... Money has no motherland; financiers are without patriotism and without decency; their sole object is gain."
- Napoleon Bonaparte, 1815
Now let's talk common sense solutions, since we identified the problem:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qoVlcWvxffc
Nancy Pelosi - bailout queen who raked in $20 million from same - has endorsed OWS. Sez all. There'll be change, alright. But it's not going to come from these campus reds and urban oinks. Bullets, not ballots. Not peace, but a sword.
The Buffet Tax aka the Millionaire Tax would raise only 500 billion over ten years. The government is adding another 500 billion to the national debt every four months.
They'll tax the rich and then when that's not enough they'll tell you and your grandma to step up and pay more as well.
CONGRESS PASS THE BUFFETT RULE ON FAIR TAXATION SO THE RICH AND CORPORATIONS PAY THEIR FAIR SHARE & CLOSE CORPORATE TAX LOOP HOLES AND ENACT A PROHIBITION ON HIDING FUNDS OFF SHORE. No more GE paying zero or negative taxes. Pass the Buffet Rule on fair taxation so the rich pay their fair share. (If we have a really had a good negotiating position and have the place surrounded, we could actually dial up taxes on millionaires, billionaires and corporations even higher...back to what they once were in the 50's and 60's.
http://occupywallst.org/forum/proposed-list-of-demands-please-help-edita...
Anyone who talks about the Buffett tax or raising any tax and does not talk about cutting the budget at least 10 to 20% across the board with 100% for foreign aid is not serious.