Denver, early morning, October 14, 2011
I see where Denver police tore down the Occupation camp there and arrested a number of people. San Diego also taken down? Atlanta? It appears that last night was a big one for police departments, and it’s amazing that Bloomberg backed down in NYC.
Of course all this just add fuels to the already raging fire. Apparently, what the 1% doesn’t yet grok is that the 99% is rapidly running out of options in the rigged game we’ve been conditioned to accept since birth.
Occupy Indianapolis, October 8, 2011
I’ve seen the following article so many times elsewhere and it’s so precisely descriptive of current economic and social conditions, that I’ve got to post it. Thanks to businessinsider.com, plus John, Mary, Andrew, SueM, and several facebook friends.
(Sorry, can’t reformat because wanted to include the charts.)
CHARTS: Here’s What The Wall Street Protesters Are So Angry About…
The “Occupy Wall Street” protests are gaining momentum, having spread from a small park in New York to marches to other cities across the country.
So far, the protests seem fueled by a collective sense that things in our economy are not fair or right. But the protesters have not done a good job of focusing their complaints—and thus have been skewered as malcontents who don’t know what they stand for or want.
(An early list of “grievances” included some legitimate beefs, but was otherwise just a vague attack on “corporations.” Given that these are the same corporations that employ more than 100 million Americans and make the products we all use every day, this broadside did not resonate with most Americans).
So, what are the protesters so upset about, really?
Do they have legitimate gripes?
To answer the latter question first, yes, they have very legitimate gripes.
And if America cannot figure out a way to address these gripes, the country will likely become increasingly “de-stabilized,” as sociologists might say. And in that scenario, the current protests will likely be only the beginning.
The problem in a nutshell is this: Inequality in this country has hit a level that has been seen only once in the nation’s history, and unemployment has reached a level that has been seen only once since the Great Depression. And, at the same time, corporate profits are at a record high.
In other words, in the never-ending tug-of-war between “labor” and “capital,” there has rarely—if ever—been a time when “capital” was so clearly winning.
