The "occupy" protests

[SFG75]

I'm quite surprised to see this whole thing take such an international flavor. Anyone seen the protests/been a part of it? What do our fine forum members here think of everything that has been going on?

Some criticism:

The Atlantic wraps OWS.

Washington Times decries marxist mobocracy.

As for me, I'm going to occupy my chair and finish some good books.

 

[Peder]

It may show just how universal instant communication has become these days. A sign of the future.
I stay away from mobs -- left, right, up, down -- whatever sort.

 

[sparkchaser]

Without Twitter and Facebook, I doubt it would have happened.

Just from looking at my Facebook feeds, it seems that as soon as any talking head pundit opens their mouth in opposition of the "occupies", their quotes and broad generalizations are instantly called out. I for one approve. And I am starting to notice that people that normally would not have cared, are starting to take notice and say hey wait a minute, I am the 99%, and I am as mad as hell and not going to take it anymore.

May we live in interesting times.

 

[canuck]

I'm in favour of peaceful protests - I just wonder how much weight they carry with the powers that be. I don't imagine the Wall Street types are going to become philanthropists any time soon. However, we'll have to wait and see what the fallout is, if any, from these protests. In the Toronto Sun there was a picture of young man holding up a sign which read "I thought we were going to have cake" - obviously hearkening back to the French Revolution. I believe we do "live in interesting times".

 

[Occlith]

I think these "protests" are a positive. Anything that wakes up the sleeping, apathetic masses is a good thing.
I'm not sure is any change will actually occur but maybe something good will come from it.

 

[sparkchaser]

I think these "protests" are a positive. Anything that wakes up the sleeping, apathetic masses is a good thing.
I'm not sure is any change will actually occur but maybe something good will come from it.

But what about Keeping up with the Cardassians? Or whatever that idiotic show is called.

 

[SFG75]

But what about Keeping up with the Cardassians? Or whatever that idiotic show is called.

Just goes to show how bad things have to be before people wake up. Yes, people will watch the Kardashians if their wages are falling, but when they are making up for it with their credit cards, life goes on. Now that you can't do that and there may be a $5.00 charge for you to use your own money(stupid concept, I know) some people are actually waking up. The American people will tolerate and go through a lot, they just don't want to see their life savings depleted or go on unemployment for more than 99 months, only to find out that certain employers won't even consider you if you have "gaps" in your employment history. I don't know if these folks have the rights answers, let alone if they know what it is exactly that they want, but they are tapping into something that is definitely real.

 

[kowalskil]

Occupy Wall Street?

Occupy Wall Street?

The last issue of Montclarion, a student newspaper at Montclair State University,*published an article of Grover Furr, about the Occupy Wall Street movement:

The Montclarion » Blog Archive » Letter to the Editor

Yes, rich people always want to be richer and richer. This is unfortunate; no one knows how to stop this, without taking away constructive motivation. What fraction of Bill Gates' fortune is consumed and what fraction is productively invested? My guess is that the first fraction is much less than 10%, and that he is not a rare exception.

What does Professor Furr have to offer us? Consider a complex machine which works but not perfectly. Anyone can destroy it; no advanced knowledge is usually needed to accomplish this. But one has to be highly knowledgeable in order to repair it, or to design a better replacement. I am thinking about sophisticated engines, airplanes, TV sets, X ray scanners, computers, airconditioners, oil refineries, etc.

The same is true for an economic system. No system is perfect; but some are more efficient than others. Trying to destroy US capitalism *without offering something better is likely to create a lot of misery. I am thinking about what Lenin and Stalin did, as decribed in my two short books. These books are now freely available online; the links are at:

Diary of a former Polish communist; two free books on-line

Note that even now, one hundred years after the Soviet revolution, standards of living in Russia are much lower than in the US, and in other western countries.

Ludwik Kowalski*(see Wikipedia)
.