I know that I haven't been keeping up with this blog at all. I have so many half written entries that I never finished. I am going to try to be better about that, even though the only ones who will read it are a few friends and my parents.
My brother is currently studying abroad in Italy. After almost 2 months away, he finally sent an email to the family. His last paragraph was a question to me: "I was curious about the hole (sic) "Occupying Wall Street" thing. There was a protest like it in Rome, that turned rather riot-ish, but nothing to be worrying about. I'm just curious like what the deal is. They're claiming to be the other 99% that isn't politically recognized (which is absolute bologna because if you're an American citizen you're recognized politically, just next time don't elect the selfish asshole) and then they're yelling at the banks to stop being greedy and telling the government to give money to the students, not the banks (also dumb because if the bank fails everyone fails). That is just what I got out of it from one article, my interenet is too shitty to try to read up on this, so Courtney I'm counting on you to fill me in here. But for now it just seems like a bunch of neo-hippies that are looking for something to protest and chose the lamest topic of all hippy protests so far. (Forget we're in a war much?)" Here is my expanded upon response to him:
As for the 99% movement, I'm still withholding judgment on the movement itself (although I love the irony of my tea party friends calling them crazy and complaining about their protests). But I would like to say that you pretty much sounded like a conservative ex who shall remain nameless in your sum up. You should never, ever base your opinions on just one article. The media in the US has no journalistic integrity any more, which is a real shame. And you should be aware, as a politics student, that just because you can vote doesn't mean your interests are being heard. They can make valid arguments that democracy is no longer working for the people in this country, by pointing at the repeal of the Glass-Steagall Act and the Supreme Court decision on Citizens United (just two examples). How can someone who is working two jobs just to pay rent and put food on the table compete with the financial sector, which has donated over $96 million to federal candidates already this year? FDR said "The first truth is that the liberty of a democracy is not safe if the people tolerate the growth of private power to a point where it becomes stronger than their democratic state itself. That, in its essence, is fascism -- ownership of government by an individual, by a group, or by any other controlling private power." This was said in response to an IRS (though it wasn't called that then) report that said "of all corporations reporting from every part of the Nation, one-tenth of 1 percent of them owned 52 percent of the assets of all of them." The wealth inequality and income disparity in this country is the highest it has been since the Great Depression, if not higher. We have the fourth highest income gap, according to the OECD.
The movement may have started out with a more hippy-ish element (though, not having followed it, can't confirm that it unequivocally did), but it's actually been gaining strength and has grown into a genuine movement that encompasses a variety of sectors in society. Many people aren't permanent fixtures at the protest but go to show support after school or after work. There are college students, business men, moms with their babies, blacks, Latinos, old people, young people, etc. Unions have even gotten involved in the actual protests. There are a variety of opinions and agendas as this certainly is not a uniform group of people. Some of the demands of some people are frankly absurd (and unrealistic). But the sentiment behind it - the anger at politicians protecting not just the banks (as regulation and reform has been weak at best to prevent such behavior in the future) but corporate interests and wealthy CEOs over the very real problems the average Americans are facing - has been gaining attention and, thus far, is proving popular with the American public. US taxpayers bailed out Wall Street when they played too fast and loose with the American economy...and what has Wall Street done? Record CEO bonuses with wage stagnation, layoffs, etc. for the lower down employees. They aren't creating jobs, they're paying as few taxes as possible, and they're buying off our politicians to prevent any meaningful change to get out of doing their part to help the economy they helped destroy.
What I find fascinating (and what was lacking from the tea party movement) is that there seems to be genuine conversations happening, instead of just slogans and screaming. Students and teachers were hosting "teach-ins" to discuss how the economy works in the US, about the disconnection of investment banking from the economy of goods and services, the history of centralized interest-bearing currency, the creation and growth of the derivatives industry, and about the Obama administration deciding to settle with, rather than investigate and prosecute the investment banking industry for housing fraud. In the UK, the movement has invited politicians, bankers, etc to come speak at their protest for the purpose of creating a dialogue and have even been joined by bankers who are concerned. At the end of the day, it's less about political goals (considering they don't really have any at the moment) and more about starting a movement to counteract the corporate influence on American politics. What's interesting is they have managed to change the conversation going on this country - shifting the conversation away from the deficit and onto jobs and inequality.
This is certainly not a lame issue (and no, people have certainly not forgotten we're in a war) and I think it shows your age and lack of life experience that you think it is. The middle class is suffering, people are losing their jobs and homes, students pay an all-time high for education and still can't find jobs, and you somehow find that a lame issue to protest? We've been extremely lucky to come out of college with no student loans or debt. Most people don't have that luxury. Maybe you'll understand when you have to face the massive unemployment facing college graduates.
Postscript: I started out writing this piece with ambivalence towards the OWS movement. However, I think that they have the potential to push America back on track. It is extremely bad for America to have such large inequalities. I won't agree with everything that comes out of the movement and I know these things bring out the crazies. But there is something infinitely appealing about a leaderless movement (both its biggest strength and greatest weakness) that brings together Americans from all walks of life, including the 1%. We shall see where this movement ends up.
My brother is currently studying abroad in Italy. After almost 2 months away, he finally sent an email to the family. His last paragraph was a question to me: "I was curious about the hole (sic) "Occupying Wall Street" thing. There was a protest like it in Rome, that turned rather riot-ish, but nothing to be worrying about. I'm just curious like what the deal is. They're claiming to be the other 99% that isn't politically recognized (which is absolute bologna because if you're an American citizen you're recognized politically, just next time don't elect the selfish asshole) and then they're yelling at the banks to stop being greedy and telling the government to give money to the students, not the banks (also dumb because if the bank fails everyone fails). That is just what I got out of it from one article, my interenet is too shitty to try to read up on this, so Courtney I'm counting on you to fill me in here. But for now it just seems like a bunch of neo-hippies that are looking for something to protest and chose the lamest topic of all hippy protests so far. (Forget we're in a war much?)" Here is my expanded upon response to him:
As for the 99% movement, I'm still withholding judgment on the movement itself (although I love the irony of my tea party friends calling them crazy and complaining about their protests). But I would like to say that you pretty much sounded like a conservative ex who shall remain nameless in your sum up. You should never, ever base your opinions on just one article. The media in the US has no journalistic integrity any more, which is a real shame. And you should be aware, as a politics student, that just because you can vote doesn't mean your interests are being heard. They can make valid arguments that democracy is no longer working for the people in this country, by pointing at the repeal of the Glass-Steagall Act and the Supreme Court decision on Citizens United (just two examples). How can someone who is working two jobs just to pay rent and put food on the table compete with the financial sector, which has donated over $96 million to federal candidates already this year? FDR said "The first truth is that the liberty of a democracy is not safe if the people tolerate the growth of private power to a point where it becomes stronger than their democratic state itself. That, in its essence, is fascism -- ownership of government by an individual, by a group, or by any other controlling private power." This was said in response to an IRS (though it wasn't called that then) report that said "of all corporations reporting from every part of the Nation, one-tenth of 1 percent of them owned 52 percent of the assets of all of them." The wealth inequality and income disparity in this country is the highest it has been since the Great Depression, if not higher. We have the fourth highest income gap, according to the OECD.
The movement may have started out with a more hippy-ish element (though, not having followed it, can't confirm that it unequivocally did), but it's actually been gaining strength and has grown into a genuine movement that encompasses a variety of sectors in society. Many people aren't permanent fixtures at the protest but go to show support after school or after work. There are college students, business men, moms with their babies, blacks, Latinos, old people, young people, etc. Unions have even gotten involved in the actual protests. There are a variety of opinions and agendas as this certainly is not a uniform group of people. Some of the demands of some people are frankly absurd (and unrealistic). But the sentiment behind it - the anger at politicians protecting not just the banks (as regulation and reform has been weak at best to prevent such behavior in the future) but corporate interests and wealthy CEOs over the very real problems the average Americans are facing - has been gaining attention and, thus far, is proving popular with the American public. US taxpayers bailed out Wall Street when they played too fast and loose with the American economy...and what has Wall Street done? Record CEO bonuses with wage stagnation, layoffs, etc. for the lower down employees. They aren't creating jobs, they're paying as few taxes as possible, and they're buying off our politicians to prevent any meaningful change to get out of doing their part to help the economy they helped destroy.
What I find fascinating (and what was lacking from the tea party movement) is that there seems to be genuine conversations happening, instead of just slogans and screaming. Students and teachers were hosting "teach-ins" to discuss how the economy works in the US, about the disconnection of investment banking from the economy of goods and services, the history of centralized interest-bearing currency, the creation and growth of the derivatives industry, and about the Obama administration deciding to settle with, rather than investigate and prosecute the investment banking industry for housing fraud. In the UK, the movement has invited politicians, bankers, etc to come speak at their protest for the purpose of creating a dialogue and have even been joined by bankers who are concerned. At the end of the day, it's less about political goals (considering they don't really have any at the moment) and more about starting a movement to counteract the corporate influence on American politics. What's interesting is they have managed to change the conversation going on this country - shifting the conversation away from the deficit and onto jobs and inequality.
This is certainly not a lame issue (and no, people have certainly not forgotten we're in a war) and I think it shows your age and lack of life experience that you think it is. The middle class is suffering, people are losing their jobs and homes, students pay an all-time high for education and still can't find jobs, and you somehow find that a lame issue to protest? We've been extremely lucky to come out of college with no student loans or debt. Most people don't have that luxury. Maybe you'll understand when you have to face the massive unemployment facing college graduates.
Postscript: I started out writing this piece with ambivalence towards the OWS movement. However, I think that they have the potential to push America back on track. It is extremely bad for America to have such large inequalities. I won't agree with everything that comes out of the movement and I know these things bring out the crazies. But there is something infinitely appealing about a leaderless movement (both its biggest strength and greatest weakness) that brings together Americans from all walks of life, including the 1%. We shall see where this movement ends up.
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