Two weeks into Occupy Wall Street protests, movement is at a crossroads

The cognitive dissonance is amazing sometimes.

The Tea Party won big so therefor it's Obama's fault that nothing was fixed?

Is that the same thing as stupid as a rock?

I'm not sure why you posted this article, since you don't comment on it. But in my experience, cut&paste dumps like this usually imply that posters agree with what they're dumping. And in this case, that would surprise me: The article is thick with innuendo and very thin on argument. That's usually not your style. So what did you find noteworthy about this?

hey now...

rocks are people, too.

Thomas, I wanted to ask wandel that earlier, and refrained.

I'm curious myself...

Occupy The Highway - Occupy Wall Street March to Washington DC

The article is from a town in North Carolina that will now have an Occupy event also. The Occupy movement is not welcome everywhere. The lack of specific goals and the lack of leadership is what bothers me the most about Occupy.

Since towns are spending taxpayer money on crowd control because of Occupy, I wish we could say that the movement is actually accomplishing something. The movement has been causing inconveniences for the 99% without showing any concrete results.

Have you seen an hint of leadership anywhere in America lately??

The 99% Deficit Proposal Published

By David Swanson - Posted on 17 November 2011
Prepared by Occupy Washington DC
Freedom Plaza, November 2011

The disconnect between Congress and the people is vast. For decades, Congress has been passing laws that benefit the 1%, their campaign donors and big business interests, rather than creating a fair economy that serves all U.S. citizens. With this report Occupy Washington, DC shows that Congress is out of touch with evidence-based solutions, supported by the majority of Americans that can revive the economy, reduce the deficit and wealth divide while create millions of jobs.

OccupyWashingtonDC.org seeks a major transformation to a participatory democracy in the economy as well as in government. For forty years, concentrated corporate interests have acted with intent to take over government and other institutions. We seek an end to the rule of concentrated wealth and corporate power by shifting control, wealth and ownership to the people.

This report puts forward evidence-based solutions that will re-start the economy and avoid placing financial burdens on future generations. For the most part these ideas are not new. They are well accepted by economists and are consistent with the views of super majorities of Americans on key issues. Further, more than three-quarters of U.S. citizens say the country’s economic structure is out of balance and “favors a very small proportion of the rich over the rest of the country.” They are right. The solutions to our economic crisis are evident but they are blocked by those who profit from the status quo and control elected officials through the corrupt U.S. political system and its money-based elections.

The elites in Washington, DC seek to erase deficits that were caused by increases in war and military spending, tax breaks for the wealthy and corporations, the increased cost of health care, as well as bank bailouts, and increased costs and lost revenue from the economic collapse. The bi-partisan elites seek to cut $1.2 trillion in deficits even though there is no outcry for such cuts or evidence in the economy that they are urgently needed. They are proposing cuts in services to seniors, students, the poor and middle-working class households who did not cause the crash but already suffer from its consequences. This report shows that we can get the economy moving, reduce the wealth divide and control government spending while helping the 99%.

This report should not be considered the demand of the Occupy Movement. It was prepared[1] by one Occupation, Freedom Plaza in Washington, DC and it does not reflect even that Occupation’s full demands. Most of this report provides solutions to the deficit questions the Congressional Super Committee is attempting to address while also re-starting the economy. The difference between the Occupied Super Committee report and the Congressional Super Committee report will be stark and further demonstrate the corruption and dysfunction of government. While this report’s recommendations would benefit the 99%, the report that will come out of the congressional Super Committee will benefit the 1%.

For the rest of the story http://warisacrime.org/content/99-deficit-proposal-published

That's not the author's point though. His point is that the Tea Party's tactics are working for them and aren't hurting the Republican Party, whereas the Occupy movement's tactics will not work for them and will hurt Obama at a time he can't afford to be hurt. Actually, this is a part of the article I agree with, minus the part about the filth and the wasted tax dollars.


PS: "The filth" he is talking about seems to be mostly hype by TV stations. I have seen the Zuccotti-Park encampment with my own eyes twice, and it didn't appear filthier than your typical boy-scout camp to me.

Very interesting talk, World wide ponzi scheme!

This is the type of behavior the USA will be up against! Looks like we may end up in a revolution to me. I hope that it does not end up being like the french revolution.

An intensely impressive two minutes happened at the UC Davis as chancellor Katehi walked from her office to her car: Hundreds of students protested the earlier pepper-spraying of peaceful demonstrators with---absolute silence.

That really was impressive, Thomas.

They won big Thomas and didn't accomplish any of their goals other than to try to block Obama. Sure they voted in Republicans but they sure weren't capable of doing anything to help this country.

The real power of the OWS movement is the ability to change people's minds. It has nothing to do with people that don't like how dirty they are. It doesn't even have to do with how many of those protestors vote. People didn't like how the n****s marched during the civil rights movement but in the end, the majority began to see things differently.

Whether OWS will do that or not remains to be seen. The use of police to break them up has certainly spawned lots of stories about how that was done before in US history, the Bonus army being one of the comparisons.

The Tea Party won one election and may never win another. I don't think it has staying power. Whether the OWS will result in long term changes remains to be seen. For over the last decade there has been a movement to tax the rich at a higher rate. It has often included the rich. We will see if people come to the conclusion that progressive taxation is good for the country.

Yes, the power of ideas. The fact that those ideas have struck a responsive chord, all over the world.
So much more powerful that becoming part of the established political process which has caused so many to feel disenfranchised & alienated.
I think that is what I was trying to say in my earlier post, but expressed it rather badly.

It is impressive and a rather jarring juxtaposition to the meme of how they are unwashed violent anarchists. It is the videos of responses like this that could make the movement powerful in spite of those trying to spread propaganda against them.

People underestimate the power of non-violent protest, IMO.

Or maybe they don't, which is why there's such an attempt to discredit the protesters as simply "dirty hippies."

But we could be facing change as significant as the Civil Rights movement of the 1960's or the fall of the USSR in the late '80's/early '90's.

The tea party does not look better... They stand for the class whose benefit has led to this demise of America... They do not want to pay taxes... I am with them, because this society is ready to fall, and the more taxes we feed the police and military, and the more taxes go to support the poor, -the longer the misery will last, and the more painful will be its passing...

Wrong... A good society is one that serves all, and where one person's success does not leave many victims... Right up to the end, Rome and Greece had many winners and more losers... People having nothing to fight for cut off their thums so they would not have to fight in Rome's army for the rich... Slaves, as most people are today, have no natural loyalty but to themselves, and such loyalty as demonstrated best by the rich means the destruction of society, because society requires loyalty to the group, patriotism by another name...

Our rich have exploited the world under our flag and with our support, and now that the world objects, they have turned their exploitation onto us, selling our hard won capital out cheap for a share of world capitalism and it is sucking the life out of this people... We could have a good country with every rich person hanging and rotting by their pencil necks... They may have already destroyed our ability to defend ourselves militarily for a percent more of profit... We do not need them... They need us...

Education is a pathetic process as well... The OWS need to suffer and be abused to show all the people what their government will find the money for if pushed... They have all they need for crowd control, and nothing left for bread and rent, all of which lines the pockets of the rich who own both...