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Protesters Target Federal Reserve
Protesters Target Fed, As Well As Wall Street
The protesters are not just targeting Wall Street and the big banks. They’re also railing against the Federal Reserve:
(See this for the background of this image by WilliamBanzai7.)
Indeed, at the “Occupy Boston” protest outside the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston, protesters yelled their derision for the Fed:
Criticism of Fed One of Protester’s Core Platforms
Indeed, as David DeGraw points out, criticism of the Fed is one of the main motivations driving Anonymous to help organize the protests:
On Mar 12, 2011, Anonymous A99 announced their first
operation by posting a video to the AmpedStatus YouTube page. The
effort was called “Operation Empire State Rebellion” (#OpESR). The
video “OpESR Communication #1” stated the following:
“We are a decentralized non-violent resistance movement, which
seeks to restore the rule of law and fight back against the organized
criminal class.
One-tenth of one percent of the population has consolidated wealth in
unprecedented fashion and launched an all-out economic war against
99.9% of the population.
We are not affiliated with either wing of the two-party oligarchy. We
seek an end to the corrupted two-party system by ending the campaign
finance and lobbying racket.
Above all, we aim to break up the global
banking cartel centered at the Federal Reserve, International Monetary
Fund, Bank of International Settlement and World Bank.
We demand that the primary dealers within
the Federal Reserve banking system be broken up and held accountable
for rigging markets and destroying the global economy, effective
immediately.
As a first sign of good faith, we demand Ben Bernanke step down as Federal Reserve chairman.
Until our demands are met and a rule of
law is restored, we will engage in a relentless campaign of
non-violent, peaceful, civil disobedience.”
Objectively – and without using any hyperbole – it is true that the Federal Reserve is largely responsible for destroying the economy. Indeed, many current and former high-level Fed officials and other top economic officials have slammed the Fed as well.
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shit is getting so bad that it is no longer 99% vs 1% ($350k /year after taxes is only like $180k...you stilll have to work 20 years before you can even retire comfortably)
The class warfare is revealing itself to be between 99.99 vs 0.01% (top 400 American aristocractic families earning $14,000,000 / year from assets VS. everyone else who works for living including even CEOs)
millions a year don't make it elite anymore these days. It is now billions....and that's enough money to write the rules you play by. Now that's elite!
http://acivilamericandebate.files.wordpress.com/2011/04/us-income-inequa...
top 400 families earned $80,000,000+ a year
http://www.mybudget360.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/04/top-1-percent-inco...
of course there are those who worked hard but most of them inherited the wealth and others already started out with millions at birth where back in the days it meant something. These families are using top 10% as proof that capitalism is meritocracy while distancing themselves even farther from anyone who tries achieve wealth via work and not capital assets appreciation.
Aldous you are not handsome like me but I like you , I give u green
Bravo!!!! Perfectly said and thank you for the time you took to write this. To a lesser degree I am probably in the top 2% bracket.
While I did not slave away as hard as you do I have only taken a few lengthy vacations in my 6 decades. I finally paid off all my debts 3 years ago. I have spent 12 years trying to learn as much as I can about the financial markets to protect myself and loved ones from calamity. My business no longer is profitable enough to pay for any one but me and I'm earning half of what I did in the 1990's and I don't mean inflation adjusted dollars. I can't complain too much because I have done ok managing other income.
So I have been frugal, denied myself most of the temptations people more cavalier with increasing debt enjoy and now my real estate taxes, water bill and sewer bill are all climbing. My state has raised the sales tax rate because IT has a reduced revenue stream.I understand completely your comments on Obama Health Care because I read several hundred pages of that absurd scheme. All of us are going to have to be alert and creative to deal with the coming storm that is rapidly approaching.
Lincolnsteffens,
Thank you. Let's try to keep the dream alive. It still exists, but I fear for our future and the future of our children. I sincerely hope that I will be amongst the alert and the creative as things unfold.
Dire Wolf
I don't believe a word of the crap. It's all a bunch of lies. There's only one way to get in the top 0.1% in this country. That is to lie & steal & pay off the stupid politicians. Period.
That's why we're where we are now. Too many gullible assholes.
sasebo you are fucking loser son of a whore parasite, no doubt a government employee or union scum
I know plenty of people who started with nothing and worked 100 hours a week to become millionaires. They are in the top 1% through hard work and don't give a penny to politicians. One guy came over on a boat from Vietnam with his wife and children. They nearly starved to death until they were picked up by and sent to a camp in the Philipines for years and finally got a greencard to come here as refugees. Twenty years later he is making six figures and owns several businesses. Scum like you would throw him in prison for being successful.
Sasebo,
What it is that you do not believe? I have neither about lied nor stolen anything, and I could scarcely afford a politicion. Perhaps you should learn to believe in yourself. That, and hard work, really does work. Trust me, I know.
Peace out, Bro,
Dire Wolf
Thank you for writing up and posting your experience, Dire. It takes a very different mindset to continually bet on oneself but the people who can tolerate that wouldn't have it any other way. Sorry the unintended consequences are stacking up so high right now. Best of luck to you.
Jena
Thank you very much.
Jena,
Thank you. I still consider myself to be quite fortunate person in all ways. I'm just not a member of the banking elite. I sincerely hope that you achieve all that you want in life, be it love or riches or both. I have both today, and I'd sooner lose the riches for the love.
Have a nice night,
Dire Wolf
whatever you are smoking i would like some, spare me your suffering bullshit - fuk off
fucking loser liberal scumbag....fuck your whore mother up the ass and die of AIDS
I gave bruin his first red but sun tzu mate, easy tiger ..
I guy with your avatar can't talk about anal action, it's like me talking about marijuana or poontang
I am now goin down the thread and when u bring comment justice to some little lefty rich kid champagne commie i'll b giving u greens
B-4,
Only the best.
Thanks for askin'
D.W.
Damn Dire, you're the poster boy for how screwed the Liberal/Left view is of business today. You work longer and harder so others work less and contribute less. I never made the transition to employer because the tax and paperwork consequences would have sucked the lifeblood out of the business and it's 'chasing the tail' time after that. Even in 1099 payouts, those individuals typically pay more and more in taxes and there's no end to it. The 'slave masters' have won this last century. The only profitable occupation has been trader or banker...even a profitable (small)business is being milked to pay Farmer Fed and banker class ad nauseaum...Kudos to you for trying, in the most retro business atmosphere in 90 years. The fallout will not be pretty, candy-coated, and put up for 'adoption' by the MSM. Reality bites...sometimes with rabies...
Kris,
I have my doubts about how all of this will go down in the end. I doubt it well end well for most, if not all, of us. I have some limited hope me and my family, only because we are well stocked with things like gold, silver, rice, guns, and ammo. God will always be there. Still, I do not see this ending well.
Take care,
Dire Wolf
thank you for sharing this Dire. maybe just maybe the 99/1 is not a division based on the level of income one makes, but how one makes it.
i say, fuck the stores, fuck the mortgages, fuck the taxes, buy a ticket, and come up to Liberty Square. we need you to school some of our less-informed 'Tax the Rich' brothers and sisters. if you don't want to risk everything, take your most trustworthy managers and let them run shit for a couple weeks.
we need to move beyond the same ol' Dialectic and peeps like you are the ones to help us do this.
Tip,
I'm not sure how to answer, or even quite what to think about your comment. I will think about it and get back to you.
Have a nice night,
Dire Wolf
I think he's saying that you have a bigger problem than just running your shops right now; that if you want them to come out the other end of the tunnel OK (coz the way things are going your business is probably not going to be viable after govts add on another gazillion taxes etc), your talents are needed to help educate young protesters who have not really understood the true nature of the threat they are facing and so are aiming in the wrong direction.
yes, this is exactly what i meant. my flippant comment was in no way meant to disrespect the product of your time & energy & hard work. but like sherry says, the sands beneath the foundation of your creations are eroding quickly. and unless you are a part of the chosen group that is going to be able to access the funnel of funny money siphoned out through DC/NYC going forward, you are not part of 1% at all, no matter how much wealth you've accumulated.
you've obviously struck a chord with your comment and have the rare ability to communicate with wisdom and without rancor. this is exactly what's missing and desperately needed at this juncture in order to kick start this thing to a higher level of consciousness. the window of opportunity to do this is not going to be open very long. sharks are circling. and unfortunately this being the internet, this comment will get lost in a sea of words in a couple days, and will not reach those who are risking their time & energy to take a stand.
you are part of the 99 Dire. think about it.
appreciate you telling your story Dire (i love hearing people's nuts and bolts SB origin stories)
Mr. Bana,
Thank you very much.
D.W.
Thanks for taking the time DW.
1% is just a label of convenience. The focus should not be on any wealth cutoff per se, but those who enjoy unjust and unearned control of our institutions, whatever the reason.
You nearly lost me during that line after hello. I fought through that anti-hook and I am glad that i did. Your piece was well written.
Most of the people I know can clearly distinguish the difference between someone like yourself and a bunch of criminal banksters who profit from selling less knowledgeable people- garbage. Ripping people off with complex investments isn't business, it's fraud. We know who the villians are. Right now we have a criminal corporate banking culture and a political class who are just as criminal and divisive as those who stuff their warchests.
The United States has evolved into a kleptocracy. I think you are about my age. I cashed out in 2007. I retired. I hope you will have the wisdom when you need it. I am simply unwilling to turn over 75% of my work product to a mafia government. I await the big Obamacare decision from SCOTUS. That will be the defining moment when we discover whether we are going to have a free republic or whether government will render the constitution useless. My spin. http://thecivillibertarian.blogspot.com/2011/09/we-are-about-to-find-out...
Outstanding post.
My wife is a partner in a business. We know exactly what you go through everyday and have gone through to build up what you have. Your views on unemployment are spot on. She had one quit & walk out saying she was going to go on welfare because the job of answering phones was too hard. True story.
excellent post (should be a featured article)
actually you should be interviewed on the CNBS channel (not that they would have you) or be the subject of an NYT and locally a Naples News feature
Small business is the foundation of freedom and are despised by the socialists.
and this is why small business is under attack by many western govs
The liberals aka socialists aka elitists hate freedom and small business. They are too messy and hard to control. The leftists are in bed with Soros, Buffett, Rothschild, Rockerfellers etc.
"Until our demands are met and a rule of
law is restored, we will engage in a relentless campaign of
non-violent, peaceful, civil disobedience."
Seems to me that buying a competing currency, i.e. PMs, would qualify as non-violent, peaceful, civil disobedience.
Agree totally.
I agree. Buying Gold and Silver is a small but simple way of opting out.
Why do you think it's small? I don't.
In part 2 of GW's posts, I've been getting tattooed red by the liberal "we're fed up" crowd. (BTW, GW - this is great coverage and appreciated despite my many comments that the protest is nothing more than the mobilization of anarchists). So I'll take this cue to state what I think is most important:
The existing system is broken beyond repair. We are in the waning months, perhaps a few years, of an economic and social collapse. I am all for seeing justice brought to the "soldiers of fortune" who are profiting off of this now ridiculous mess. But I'm not interested in putting my energy into hanging those that rammed the Titanic into the iceberg. I'm putting my energy (and resources) into preparations to best position myself, family and community for the emergence of what comes next. And PMs are a central part of that and thus no small thing.
My two cents.
i agree. but the next few months may prove to very trying for the metal heads.............but keep the faith. for this too shall pass........
The following showed up at Anonymous' site yesterday and at couple other sites today, i have no idea if it is real or cointelpro.
Declaration of the Occupation of New York City
As we gather together in solidarity to express a feeling of mass injustice, we must not lose sight of what brought us together. We write so that all people who feel wronged by the corporate forces of the world can know that we are your allies.
As one people, united, we acknowledge the reality: that the future of the human race requires the cooperation of its members; that our system must protect our rights, and upon corruption of that system, it is up to the individuals to protect their own rights, and those of their neighbors; that a democratic government derives its just power from the people, but corporations do not seek consent to extract wealth from the people and the Earth; and that no true democracy is attainable when the process is determined by economic power. We come to you at a time when corporations, which place profit over people, self-interest over justice, and oppression over equality, run our governments. We have peaceably assembled here, as is our right, to let these facts be known.
They have taken our houses through an illegal foreclosure process, despite not having the original mortgage.
They have taken bailouts from taxpayers with impunity, and continue to give Executives exorbitant bonuses.
They have perpetuated inequality and discrimination in the workplace based on age, the color of one’s skin, sex, gender identity and sexual orientation.
They have poisoned the food supply through negligence, and undermined the farming system through monopolization.
They have profited off of the torture, confinement, and cruel treatment of countless nonhuman animals, and actively hide these practices.
They have continuously sought to strip employees of the right to negotiate for better pay and safer working conditions.
They have held students hostage with tens of thousands of dollars of debt on education, which is itself a human right.
They have consistently outsourced labor and used that outsourcing as leverage to cut workers’ healthcare and pay.
They have influenced the courts to achieve the same rights as people, with none of the culpability or responsibility.
They have spent millions of dollars on legal teams that look for ways to get them out of contracts in regards to health insurance.
They have sold our privacy as a commodity.
They have used the military and police force to prevent freedom of the press.
They have deliberately declined to recall faulty products endangering lives in pursuit of profit.
They determine economic policy, despite the catastrophic failures their policies have produced and continue to produce.
They have donated large sums of money to politicians supposed to be regulating them.
They continue to block alternate forms of energy to keep us dependent on oil.
They continue to block generic forms of medicine that could save people’s lives in order to protect investments that have already turned a substantive profit.
They have purposely covered up oil spills, accidents, faulty bookkeeping, and inactive ingredients in pursuit of profit.
They purposefully keep people misinformed and fearful through their control of the media.
They have accepted private contracts to murder prisoners even when presented with serious doubts about their guilt.
They have perpetuated colonialism at home and abroad.
They have participated in the torture and murder of innocent civilians overseas.
They continue to create weapons of mass destruction in order to receive government contracts.*
To the people of the world,
We, the New York City General Assembly occupying Wall Street in Liberty Square, urge you to assert your power.
Exercise your right to peaceably assemble; occupy public space; create a process to address the problems we face, and generate solutions accessible to everyone.
To all communities that take action and form groups in the spirit of direct democracy, we offer support, documentation, and all of the resources at our disposal.
Join us and make your voices heard!
*These grievances are not all-inclusive.
Sadly all these Wall Street and other protestors seem quite content with Obama.
The left is blocking domestic oil and nat gas for Obama's islamo masters.
Not that you (politically contrived sock monkey) will even consider this, but which Jews helped us lobby and campaign for domestic drilling? And would that be before or after they play games for Cyprus's oil?
After we sent $2.5 BILLION dollars to Israel each year... when they're prospering during the subprime collapse, and OUR soldiers are dying as THEIR allies... wait. How many American Jews signed up for the military?
They were actually getting higher degrees and connections for themselves while commie republicans were telling our youth that a college degree is worthless.
So it's OUR generation that's dying for the Halliburton share and oil gains for peaceniks and neocons alike, it's OUR generation that's getting thieved when we didn't take out a subprime mortgage on secondary properties, it's OUR generation that ended up in an economy with NO JOB GROWTH at NO FAULT OF THEIR OWN...OUR generation did not sell uncollateralized "collateralized" debt obligations to investors without proper disclosure-
yet the commie republican "Israel Allies" will tell us-with a straight face, that we're not worthy of a college degree orcredentials and we should go risk our lives on Israel's behalf while Jews don't join our military but get degrees and connections for themselves.
The brilliant Jew loving neocons will say this while highly skilled and highly educated Indians and Chinese will snag these jobs from those who were born here. Here's a hint (coming straight from an Asian-IT COSTS ABSOLUTELY *NOTHING* TO LEARN. If you failed your classes, it's not because you were not rich. Money can't learn for you. And you EARN your grades. Ask anyone that had to pass an intermediate physics/organic chem/molebio course with an "A". The professors don't just hand them out on affirmative action premesis.) Just because politically motivated government workers who thrive on nepotism is scared, no THREATENED by competition doens't mean it's going to stop. If you didn't work on your own credentials, that's your problem. The hypocrisy is unreal.
It's OUR generation that is going to be competing in a world market while the banks and the Boomers get in our way. And exploit us before we have a chance. Sure we can blame the politicians, we can also blame the Federal Reserve. IT's a nice alibi for the lobbyists and the voters who still think that real estate prices should only go up and up and up.
Which brings me to the student loan issue. The boomers had it much easier starting out than this generation did. High school diplomas enabled them enough credentials to earn a living wage. Now, even with a business degree college grads stretch between stagnant to reduced wages and obscenely high cost for shelter. When mortgages go up, so do rents. When foreclosures go up, so do rents. This was not entirely enabled by the private sector parasites. The government enabled them to do so. Not just through deregulation. The subprime derivatives were supposed to be collateralized by bonds. GOVERNMENT BONDS. Not bank bonds, not corporate bonds. The government was helping the banks, speculators and realtors to push the price of shelter way above the price equilibrium relative to the mean/median wages in these areas.
Purchasing power(VALUE) in real, present term values-that determination of the value of the currency is the purest form of democracy that exists. When you rob somebody with the use of force, that's fascism. When the state does it, it's statism. Our country is no longer a democracy, it's a kleptocracy. When lobbyists rule the boat and the government robs us on their behalf, they're taking away OUR power. America is not a democracy and the values in our system are largely misrepresented.
The neocons and libertarians don't acknowledge the obvious into their flawed rhetoric.
New grads (although they may have higher credentials and abilites as a laborer than their supervisors)... do not start out making 6 figures at their first jobs. The Chelsea Clintons are the anomolly, not the norm.
When a fully employed young adult enters the workforce, often enough more than half of their salary goes to shelter. The rest goes to food, insurance (which goes up with the cost of shelter), utilities, transportation (which also goes up with the cost of shelter) ---many have to stretch the budget to make their doctor bills. Unless they're lucky enough to be subsidized by the Bank of Upper Middle Class Mom and Dad; there's not much left at the end of the month to make those student loan payments. The college haters can look at the speculators and realtors for those student loan repayments.
And speaking of education, I know software programming engineers with MBAs, Doctors with MBAs and Business grads who are fluent in at least THREE languages. Oh by the way, MY generation is very assimilated to immigrants and women in the workplace. It was the women who got the software engineering degrees with an MBA. Guys too. But again, not everyone is bright enough to get A's in their programming courses.
When you pay for college, you pay for the teaching. WEll almost. And you pay for the exams. It costs absolutely nothing to learn, throwing money at the system doesn't guarentee that the student will pass these courses. But then again, the party that's supposed to protect citizens from abuse of government did absolutely nothing to fix the bureaucratic issues and inefficiencies in the University system. All they did was whine about the liberalization of the system, again another fallacy. My economic professors were republicans. Not neocons, they were FISCAL republicans. But again, you would never hear a Jewish American citizen listen to that rhetoric..... why should anyone else?
Funny how Israel is also getting R&D funding from OUR government for THEIR VC's while the neocons turn a blind eye to the very sector that could create economic growth and job creations here... funny how OUR generation produced the youngest billionaire who created jobs---would it be possible for him if he were not a Jewish guy?
Upward mobility is only reserved for those who already have the funds. For the rest of us, it's entirely dead. This isn't the America that A.P. Giannini dreampt up for us.
There's a very real reason why people are not in love with Israel. These protesters are not necessarily in love with Obama. Not all of them are in love with Ron Paul, personally I can't stand the guy. You can vote for him, I'm not voting whatsoever.
The antagonizing and thiving of my generation has already backfired on the neocons in a bad BAD way, why do you think Obama was elected in the first place? It wasn't because he was black, but we might as well get our first black president elected within OUR lifetimes. We've got a lot of things left to do to sort out this country.
old man sykes said.............THEY , THEY ...........WHO THE HELL ARE THEY...........
Good call, HPD.
It is a purely anti-capitalist manifesto. "THEY" apparently means any profit-seeking entity, irrespective of the existence of corruption. I wonder if anyone here sees the irony if that bullet list is the core mantra of the protest.
The banks and the capital system are implements - they are not the root cause.
Looks like they half got the point and are half socialist. Let's all have our cake and eat it too.
Do you have reading comprehension problem. Where is socialism? Seems pretty perfect to me.
Instead of critique, why don't you get off pastey ass and do something? Or you one who likes status quo? Sit back on computer and with little finger point arrow up and down, hard work!
What the fuck are you doing? Your pasty cockgobbler ass is on the computer too
Well, "we have the right to healthcare" and "we have the right to bargain for higher wages" sounds pretty socialist to me.
I'm not particularly for the status quo, however nobody has a "right" to healthcare unless you want to stick a gun to every doctors' head and tell them they have to treat everyone for free and beg on the street when their shift is done.
Furthermore, nobody has a "right" to "bargain" for higher wages. You have the right to peacefully quit, you have the right to personally negotiate with your employers, and you have the freedom to organize and strike at your own peril.
Take away employers' option to say "fuck you" and hire someone else, and then pile on minimum wage laws and you have socialist-induced institutional unemployment.
"Why don't you explative explative do something?"
I did. I quit my shitty union run socialist fuckhole of a job where every new worker is a serf to the old union croneys who have "seniority" and do copious amounts of not shit to contribute to anything that goes on there. Now I'm a self-employed capitalist, and in spite of the risk I would rather die free and poor than to live as a worm passing off as everyone else's scapegoat.
I'll do what I can when I can. Sorry if not single handedly saving the world isn't good enough for you, but I will only call what I see.
I decided to stick this in a reply as I misremembered but the previous stands well enough. They mentioned that "Education" is a "right". Well then let's all go kidnap a teacher at gunpoint and force them to indoctrinate children for free all day.
Thanks for all the sound bytes and vivid descriptions of the evil Red Demon in our midst... However,
You should apply the same scrutiny to the so called "rights" of corporations and your government they control. You may find the fascist boogeyman a bit more scary. And that his "right" to steal from you may have more to do with the Fed's balance sheet than those evil "educationalists"
Or not... Just continue policing those who indulge those underfunded promises (not rights) given to placate the masses as the real transfer of wealth continues upwards.
Corporate and unions scum steal from me and corrupt the government. Why should I support either? If you haven't noticed, there is a transfer of wealth in the amount of $2.3 trillion every year going from the taxpayers to the federal government, including those educationalists. We are now told that isn't enough and we need to give them more blood until we die.
Well then go fucking protest the Teacher's Union then... I'm in search of bigger fish.
And those $trillions to the federal government... Interest payments on those unfunded promises are a bitch. And who gets those payments? Who creates these financial and social products? Who really benefits?
And of course you'll give them more blood until you die. You'll be too busy telling the bus drivers where they can stick it.
Know your fucking enemy. All war is deception.
every dime of spending originates in Congress -- they are the ones who enslave us to debt.
In our inherently inflationary system relying on debt financed consumption and an eternal growth model, debt slavery is a requirement. And it doesn't need a Congress.
Seen the Fed audit #'s? Congress had nothing to do with those $trillions... 'cept reap insider rewards from being a preferred client.
Now pls, no more mainstream sound bytes. Congress is just a Fed customer. As are you.
And yet, 99% of the population has no clue of what's going on.
Then again, it's always the 1% of the population who carry out "revolutions".
It's always 1% of the population who decide and control the other 99%.
there is a old saying. it takes money to make money. on another note, it takes organization to pull off a revolution. the first one was run by the goy masonic networks. the second one, called the civil war, was controlled on both sides, etc..... the third one, who knows. but someone will step up and the foolish amerikans will be fooled again. i am sorry to say it, but it is the nature of sheep, always has been, always will be........it is said that when ben franklin was leaving the convention someone asked him, what did you give us ben? he said, a republic if you can keep it franklin was a high placed mason and worshiped his father , the devil.......and he was close friends, i am sure to many jewish bankers who were also his brothers in the lodges........so when he said, if you can keep it, he wasn't kidding. he knew the forces at work in this world. the same ones more or less that Jesus Christ chased out of the gentile area of the temple in Jerusalem where they were ripping ignorant people off of their hard earned money...........same old, same old..........here we have been more free than any people in the history of this world and so now this freedom is being removed, yet so many do not see it or care............