Open thread October 5, 2011 (OccupyWallSt./Boston/DC)
What do people think so far of the OccupyWallSt./Boston/DC/Chicago etc. movement as it has developed?
Relevant and even prescient commentary on news, politics and the economy.
“We don’t tell them what we want because they already know what we want: We want their system to die. Why make demands of the thing you want to destroy? Negotiating only grants legitimacy and continuity.” — Kalle Lasn
So far its seems incoherent, has a lot of backing form the Socialists/Communists (you can see there professionally made posters everywhere), and has yet to figure out a goal as they talk on their IPhones and send emails and posts from their laptops and IPads…..And they obviously have plenty of free time to just sit around and do nothing. (But it feels good!)
Anarchy will get you nowhere.
Here is a post from there websiite that was posted at the Atlantic:
At 21 years old, I am…
-One semester from graduating college with a degree no one seems to hire
-In massive debt because of that once “dream degree”
-About to become a mother to a baby whose illness has gotten us booted off government health insurance…at 9 months pregnant…
-Scared for our future
-I am the 99%-
Lets see, where to begin on the list of self-admitted stupidities in this post. Voluntarily got into “massive debt’ getting a worthless degree. Any bet its not a STEM degree but ends with ‘studies.’? Does she have any awareness at all? The job market has been bad for at least 3 years now. More than enough time to get a degree in something hireable. Or does she really believe (does anyone with above body temp IQ) that majoring in XXX studies actually makes you more qualified than a HS grad with 4 years of work experience?
Now it gets deep. 9 months pregnant, no father mentioned (or marraige) and hasn’t even finished her worthless degree. Yep there’s someone ready to join the middle class. My sympathey meter just maxed out as I point her to the homeless shelter or her parents basement.
And Medicaid won’t bump a sick kid (well for the lefties – unborn fetus since she can still has a ‘choice’ about delivery at 9 months). That part is pure BS. Unless she’s sitting on a trust fund. Again social services will be more than helpful as will places at her colledge, to help her with the paperwork.
If this is what the OWS is about, they are going to be laughed at.
As is the manefesto about eliminating ALL debt. Everything. Of course that would eliminate all pensions, all bank accounts, SS, etc etc.
And don’t forget the OWC in Chicago is down to under 4 people. No one want to protest with Rahm in charge? Remember ’68?
Basically a movement with no focus, no plan, and surely doesn’t speak for me (and I’m part of that 99%), looks like its starting to get cooped by MoveOn and the SocialistofAmerica party – fringe looney lefty groups. My bet they will disappear once the cold comes in.
May be wrong, but once you get the fringe looney’s involved, your not going anywhere. On the other hand it could be a front group to make Obama look more ‘centrist’ for his re-election campaign. A little Soro’s money goes along way with this crowd (BTW someone is feeding them…)
Basically, right now, there something to be made fun of.
Islam will change
There are probably a few people with a cohesive goal in mind but the majority of them seem to be idealogue drones looking like less stylish Brando’s from “Easy Rider”… “What are you rebelling against?”… “Whadda ya got?”
They march against “Wall Street” when they should be focusing their frustration on the spineless “leaders” to whom *we the people* give consent.
Ironic that so many of them are carrying on the “V” moniker.
“If you’re looking for the guilty ones, you need only look in a mirror”
Buff and Matthew–You might want to find out what the OWS people want before you dismiss them. Your situation is probably a lot better than that formerly middle-class woman who has the misfortune to be unable to make a good case for her position. It goes without saying that Wall Street is unaffected by this protest. Could it lead to something more significant politically? Maybe. It’s not over till it’s over. NancyO
One more thing about Social Security and the young. This is a pretty sophisticated audience so you know that about 25% of SS beneficiaries are kids, their moms, and other widowed wo/men (men are entitled to spouse and surviving spouse benefits). These families receive benefits to replace the lost earnings of their deceased husbands and wives or their living parents/spouses who are retired or disabled. Many who argue that SS is an undue burden on young workers clearly overlook this aspect of the benefit structure.
Otherwise, there is a general benefit to the children of retired people that also seems to have escaped mention. The general expectation these days is that upon graduation from HS or college, kids will get a job, become self-supporting and leave home. The other side of this expectation is that parents will be able to support themselves until they retire and after through savings, investments, pensions and SS benefits. This idea of a small “nuclear family” the members of which become largely autonomous at some point is a new thing in human culture. The more multigenerational family protrayed in The Waltons TV series was once the norm in the US as well as elsewhere in the world.
The independence of older family members is something we take for granted now. But, the money to make this possible doesn’t come from thin air. In many families, SS benefits are the main source of parents’ retirement income. Without SS, it would be impossible for parents to live independently from their children. So, as a matter of practical economic fact, the SS benefits paid to parents and other family members are a subsidy to younger workers and their young families. Without it, the children of retired people would be required either to contribute directly to their parents or take them into their own homes. SS relieves them of a significant burden which would otherwise fall on them in caring for their parents in their old age. FYI. NancyO
i dont have to know what they’re for…i know what they’re against, & thats good enough for me to support them…
occupy wall street / occupy together – livestream video & info
Wow Buff… That woman clearly did not see what the future had in store for her and deserves all the irrational slander you can heap on her, just as I’m sure you would on the Wall Street miscreants who put the economy into this deep deep hole.
Steve,
To quote the Duke,”Life is tough, its tougher if your stupid.”
Basically from what I’ve seen its all ‘gimme someone elses money’ and ‘don’t hold me responsible for my own stipidity’. Plus a huge helping of economic illiteracy that’s almost startling to behold.
Then top it off with the anarchists and the looney left and you have real, well, useless bunch.
BUt I agree with NancyO, they may get there act together and become a force to be reckoned with like the Tea Party. BUt most of their demands will go in the hopper long before that.
And guys like Sandwhichman above don’t help the cuase one bit…
Islam will change
NanctO,
Your right it may morph into something coherent. Right now its just laughable.
And why should anyone working in NYC care? Other than the amusement value they don’t mean anything. Like living wallpaper decorations as you walk to and from work.
Like I said – I’ll beleive they actually mean something when they are out in front of the White House and teh Treasury…
Islam will change
rjs,
This is the problem…….You can’t expect the Capitalists to support your cause and make change when your goal is to kill Capitalism.
This is why the Leftist/Statist/Marxist/Progressive movement is dieing everyday. And the OWS protest really displays a desperation. When you don’t know what your trying to do then it is almost impossible to accomplish anything.
Just like solving a Physics problem:
Step #1: Identify what you know
Step #2: Idetify what you don’t know
Step #3: Identify what you want to know
It looks to me that none of these people with the exception of the paid Union Marxists and Anarchists have done any of this….
Call me when you guys figure it out!
Sandwichman,
“Negotiating only grants legitimacy and continuity”
Do you really beleive that the system will just be handed over or changed to the liking because it is demanded? That’s straight up UniCorn’s and Pixie Dust!
Look………if the intention of the movement was in the best interest of all American’s it would have already taken place. This movement represents a radical minority of people, and to be quite frank, they have not made a reasonable case.
Therefore let me be the first to tell them they are Number #1 with a hand gester.
buff,
Wishful thinking.
This is more than kids out of work.
No need for coherence when the other side is blither and obfuscation.
buff………………………….
See above, founders warned of the 1% thing.
These kids know more than you think and are supported by many more..
i dont recall saying i wanted capitalists to support the cause…
i dont recall saying i wanted to accomplish anything…
i dont recall saying i’d have any reason to call you…
Darren,
Thomas Jefferson and James Madison were paid Union Marxists and Anarchists.
There are no capitalists.
Free markets make no billionaires, and there are no excess profits.
And there are no mass under utilization of resources.
And there is no destruction of resources ignoring externalities in a capitalist economy.
There is cronyism and monetary mercantilism.
No such thing as capitalism, more like Honduras in 2000 than Lowland Scotland in 1760.
Love the capitalization was that in your troll kit for this evening from the Koch boys?
Matthew,
You go to the root cause………………………..
The spinless government is owned by wall st.
Leave the spineless alone and go for the root cause.
Well said from a guy who still makes his money on warfare welfare.
rjs,
“i dont recall saying i wanted capitalists to support the cause.”
Hello? The people who support this movement a small minority to the rest of the country. How would expect anything to be accomplished without the consent and compromise of the actual producers in this country?
Leftists, Socialists do have a very proud history in Europe. They were the forces creating more just and modern societies in Europe, the best ones in history. “Socialist” is an invective in the Frank Luntz vocabulary, and in the USA only. The SPD is the oldest party in Germany, never had to change the name.
Time will tell, sometimes it takes longer for a snowball to turn into an avalanche. During the Vietnam war it took a while , it did not happen over night either.
Darren:
Yes I do believe it will be given to the people. As a particpant of Showdown in Chicago who represented Angry Bear at it in Chicago in 2009, I can safely say the claims by the people were legitimate. Yes, I believe the system will hand it over as Congress has feet made of sand and they will respond to the people frst before special interests.
Buff,
Professional looking posters equal marxist backing??? My middle school kids can make professional looking posters…bad posters only come from non-techies like old people.
Political stance has little to do with these posters unless you can document otherwise.
On the other hand I know you can google pictures from Boston and such that are non-marxist? And certainly not kids (What…twenty somethings/??)
and then I know you could google economic info on cohorts, say wage levels, unemployment etc to play the game with some sense.
I do agree we have to see what and who follows. The enthusiasm of youth and those who have time! I bet you had better things to do when this age…well, so did I but still showed up sometimes, and certainly not like Cheney whose better things trurned out to be neo-con things and political power….
so far no buses for old people from well financed interest groups who happened to harness that energy/
if you think socialists are finacing this thing better have some data available shortly
Oh good grief Mattthew…you sound like an old fart Idealogue drones?? The general assemblies sound like a lot of younger (what…under 50?) enthusiastic people and unskilled in organizing and message development so far as an aggregate, but certainly have issues to evolve.
Easy rider??? from the pictures I have seen there appears a lot of diversity, but do not know from personal observaion.
Not really a strictly partisan issue I have heard :), but a DC rally is something I have seen news about as being planned.
Like many, I have been underestimating the OWS movement since day one. Then my own college kid (at a very conservative school, majoring in business) started to tell me all about it, quite approvingly, and he apparently understood it better and more deeply than I can. Since then, I have watched as it grew, and grew in attention. There’s something genuine about this and it might be coalescing. Today, it was the lead story on NBC and CBS network news–this would have been laughable a week ago.
I watched MLK march in my neighborhood, and local news coverage of the Yippies in Grant Park a few miles from my home. In each case everyone on the street was talking about these protesters–mostly dismissing and maligning them. Well, they did have impact, although it wasn’t necessarily always what was desired (uh, Nixon?). There’s some deja vu here, making me wonder if “There’s something happening here What it is ain’t exactly clear” http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qOezOJevD6E
ilsm,
Don’t delude yourself. We the people *are* the government of this country. There will always be corruption working to bribe or otherwise influence the government *we* send to delegate on our behalf.
Now, we see those very delegates being bought, bribed, corrupted and maligned… yet we gloss over *their* dereliction. Who would have thought that people would be so easily swayed by sleight of hand… not by separable corrupt individuals (who will always exist and always seek to corrupt) but by the very people they have empowered to lead them…
Again, we *EMPOWER* our legislators to *LEAD* us. Their authority is in *our* hands, and we can so easily hold them accountable, replace them or otherwise rebuke their abject failures.
Eliminate the *WEAK* government accepting bribery and you eliminate the power of those plutocrats offering bribes.
Do we have to stones to do that? I doubt it; because, deep down, we all love being bribed and it’s easy to blame somebody out of our control when we could so easily purge our government of this filth. Only except that they have retained their positions by being so skilled at diversion and deflection.
Hate the rich!, but love your rich leaders, but HATE the Koch brothers! but love Warren Buffet, but HATE the banks, but love lax lending, but HATE hedge funds, but demand good returns on your investments… I can’t keep track anymore…
Rdan,
Hasn’t a significant part of this very blog’s message recently been on the ignorance of fiscal policy and the impact of tax cuts? Don’t you all-but-condemn people meaninglessly repeating the mottos on banners of misguided ideologogies?
So then don’t you think it’s a bit arrogant to presume that they can’t be ideologue drones which just happen to be on your side? Don’t fall into the academically dishonest trap of thinking that most of those who *disagree* with you are misgudied sheep but most of those who *agree* are independent thinking do-gooders.
As to my Brando reference… if you’ve seen the film I’d hope you’d get my point: that they are rebelling for the sake of being rebellious…. Insurrectum Gratia Insurrectum.
Old fart? How old do you think I am? 😀
PJR:
It is called “Occupy Together.” Its just not Wall Street, ts happening everywhere. There is also the Showdown group as in Showdown in Chicago.
Nancy,
You’re right!
My position is much better than a person who *chose* to take on student loans in an education program without a viable career path.
My position is much better than a person who *chose* to pursue an undemanded degree rather than developing other experience.
My position is much better than a person who *chose* to get pregnant with an unstable and unreliable man.
Why do you suppose that is?
Youngsters sometimes rebel, yes. It can be a great deal of fun too unless hurt in the crowds.
And posters have to be short. I tried putting one of Linda Beale’s posts on a poster and it was too tiny to read or too large to carry…sloagans had to do I guess, and don’t have to be marxist if well made. And poster slogans written here on a differrent platform and time frame and intent certainly is not an equivalent to posters on the street.
Use of the word drones is a bit much…probbably a number are idealogues in their enthusiasm, yes. So are twenty somethings enthusiastic in many eras and places.
Whether as buff asks will it go anywhere…who knows.
And a more mundane reason is the fact that the masks were used worldwide because they were cheap and available worldwide. But were not a major feature.
Matt Stoller: The Anti-Politics of #OccupyWallStreet – What do the people at #OccupyWallStreet actually want? What are their demands? For many people, this is THE question. So let me answer it. What they want… is to do exactly what they are doing. They want to occupy Wall Street. They have built a campsite full of life, where power is exercised according to their voices. It’s a small space, it’s a relatively modest group of people at any one time, and the resources they command are few. But they are practicing the politics of place, the politics of building a truly public space. They are explicitly rejecting the politics of narrow media, the politics of the shopping mall. To understand #OccupyWallStreet, you have to get that it is not a media object or a march. It is first and foremost, a church of dissent, a space made sacred by a community. But like Medieval churches, it is also now the physical center of that community. It has become many things. Public square. Carnival. Place to get news. Daycare center. Health care center. Concert venue. Library. Performance space. School.
Matthew,
Do not patronize me.
Do not rely on the whim that people like me are deluded.
You are wrong.
Matthew,
You are devoid of compassion.
You do not see human dignity.
Recognize the spark of the universe in even the poorest whom may have chosen wrong in your judgement.
All men are created equal.
The movement is about human dignity, compassion and non violence.
Look to Gandhi and Martin Luther King.
Ill-used resources, a failure of economic mechanisms, the focus of the social contract.
The rights of man!
Rdan,
Someone will be financeing this shortly if its to grow. As their website mentions, they need to get the loonies under control becuase right not they look, well, like lunatics.
You see plenty of Socialist for America signs in the photos I’ve seen. pretty much a fringe nut-case group if therer ever was one. Admittedly they’ve had time to get there act together and make professional signs. Who’s paying for it?
And have you actually trolled through their websites? Talk about incohenrent rants. I posted one I got from the Atlantic, but it is very indicative of what I saw. People who made not just one bad decision, but a long series of just plain stupid. And guess what. They don’t want to pay for their mistakes, and want someone else to pay for them. Its one of the themes of the movement – no responsibility.
A lot don’t want to pay back their college loans! So why are they not down at the college for making them pay six figures a worthless degree??? Go to the legal blogs and here the tale of woe from the recent law school grads. Heck some are even trying to sue the schools! And what’s hilarious is all those loans they took out can’t even be discharged in bankruptcy and the Gov will garner your SS checks to get their money back!
And di you see the demand for $20/hr even if you not employed? Bwahahaha…
We will see if they are as successful (at what, I don’t know) as the last grass-roots effort – the Tea Party.
But they need a coherent message – anarchy doesn’t sell.
Right now they should be laughed at – call me when they have something.
Islam will change
Matthew,
Becuase you have a brain? Good decisions should be rewarded. Some peoples only purpose in life is to provide a example of what not to do. I’ve already shared this example with my daughter and her friends and their consensus can be boiled down to,”what an idiot.”
Darwin was more right than he knew…
Islam will change
Lys,
You correct. The Tea Party took awhile to get its act together. So I expect if this movement is to survive, and not become another bunch of loonies on the fringe, they will morph into something recognizable to the Dem left with a few recogniizable demands. Say universal health-care and cradle to grave benefits.
My bet they will came down to a list of demands that other people pay them money just so they can ‘self-actualize’ or not have to actually work for a living.
Socialism works until you run out of other people’s money.
Islam will change
rjs,
That sounds nice. Laughably naive, but nice. What does it build? What does it produce? Where does it get the funds to buy food, clothing, medicine, etc.
The list of meaningless phrases in that paragraph is truely astounding. Is this performance art?
But we have free society (still, thankfully), and they can hang around all they want. No body that actually works seems to be inconvienced so everythings all right.
Have fun when the snows come.
Islam will change
Astroturf
Buff,
Capitalism works until the taxpayers have to bail it out and protect it from its own excesses. Don’t forget, it takes guns to protect it. If things get even a little nasty the government will come down on the side of the big money. The Wall St. guys don’t have to make their hands dirty.
I’m not patronizing you.
I’m wrong? Point out the error, please. Why is Washington not responsible for their corruption and taking bribes?
ilsm,
I am not devoid of compassion.
In fact to lower your expectations of people and to inhibit their ability to *learn to support themselves* is malicious.
It is not in peoples’ interests for their to be blunted consequences to their own choices.
Yes, we should certainly help them… but I contend that the structure of our entitlement system today *DOES NOT* help them. It perpetuates their struggle by not *teaching them to resolve their problems and make better choices*.
The statist approach as it stands today HINDERS the progress of the poor. I’m not advocating a “screw them all” approach or any nonsensical social-Darwinism.
I’m telling you that holding people accountable and setting expectations for them to *help themselves* is essential in them exiting poverty and subjugation.
All people are created equally.
This movement is about funneling anger on some nebulous idea of “the rich” and “corporatism” which has apparently wronged them all… Yet there is no accountability to their *ELECTED LEADERS* who have (and continue to) accept bribes and be swayed by their own love of power.
Look the Gahndi and King indeed, who both explained the importance of self-reliance and a struggle for *bettering yourself* as a means to demonstrate your deservedness of equality.
Neither Gahndi nor King asked for handouts. In fact they both rejected the very notion.
Yet this movement is demanding “theirs”.
Rdan,
Anon started using the masks based on the scene in “V for Vendetta” when everybody joined the uprising.
They clearly harken back to that premise.
Lys,
When I see teh Dem Mayors and Obama send in the troops to clean out rioters I’ll beleive it. As long as teh protestors are peaceful and don’t get in the way, their fine. The second they try to stop people from getting to/from work or damaging property they become criminals and should be treated as such. So far everything is great. BUt considering the historical pattern of the looney left I would expect things to get out of hand in a few weeks.
Of course the cold may get here soon and take them out more efficiently than riot police.
As for the bailout – that’s why my question is why the protestors aren’t in DC in front of the Treasury, White House and Capital building? You know the places run by Democrats? Oh wait, I answered my own question.
Islam will change
Don’t recall the police beating up on the Tea Party people, but they sure do in NYC on the OWS. Never expected them to show their color so soon.
Lys,
The Tea Party obey their permits. The Tea Party didn’t destroy anything.
One incident does not show anything. Mayby I go by the Occupy Dallas with a Impeach Obama and a ‘Everyman has a right to work’ sign. I bet everyone would just be so accepting – correct?
If you’ve noticed the SIEU has shown up along with noted intelectual heavyweights as Susan Sarandon and Michael Moore. Starting to go hard-left as the advocates and apologists for tyranny show up. I bet no one advocating for smaller government, increased personal and economic freedom, and for personel responsibility is welcome.
BTW, The TeaParty people showed up, treated the cops nicely and followed directions, didn’t get in anyones way, and picked up their trash when they left.
Will OWS continue that way?
When are you going to be protesting Obama? Remember he’s “the man” keeping you down!
Yes, I’m laughing at them. Call me when they get people elected to the House and Senate (which will be in 14 months)
Islam will change
Lys,
Bailouts are not a capitalistic endeavor. The bad debt would have otherwise been purged and shareholders would have lost capital for their foolish and unsustainable investments.
Furthermore, the moral hazard which lead (in large part) here would not have occurred in a “free” market.
We operate in a manipulated market.
Buff,
“Someone will be financeing this shortly if its to grow.”
C’mon dude….do you really beleive that these poeple showed up as a grass roots movement on their own dime all over the country. This has Soros, the Unions, MoveOn, and ACORN written all over it.
“Billionaire financier George Soros’ fingerprints, for example, have been all over the anti-Wall Street campaign from the very beginning. And this week, the infamous hedge-fund boss publicly announced his sympathy for the protesters and their complaints about bailouts — despite the fact that he lobbied for even greater unconstitutional handouts to bankers in 2009.”
Matthew, who owns the banks and the corporations if not the shareholders? Who exactly made the foolish and unsustainable investments if not the CEOs, investment bankers and managers? Who are the people behind the hordes of lobbyists? The markets always have been and always will be manipulated, no regulations, no or almost no government, can change that. Libertarians are fools if they believe it can be done, the markets will take care and will be fair and just. People are greedy, they are gluttons, some just never get enough. True, they can eat only so much, but they want it all to show off, to show they are greater than other people, even the trophy wife is part of it, the more divorces the merrier. See Donald Trump, he likes to get his ring kissed. That too is a moral hazard.
Darren,
What exactly was destroyed? I saw white shirts, supervisors, clubbing the protesters, the dark blue uniformed cops did NOT do it. When the going gets rough the supervisors will not be around at all, they are not riot police.
I saw very hysterical tea party people at the town-hall meetings, including very brutal aggression there, I have not seen such people at the OWS.
But in your eyes the tea party people can do no wrong, they are on the right side.
Buff,
and Stiglitz, don’t forget. They are not the Rush, Hannyties, and Becks on the right either.
Why, in your mind, should the SIEU not come out and demonstrate for their own intest? Yes they have to work for their paycheck, have no college degrees, can barely make ends meet and yes, you look down on them and you think they have no right to speak for themselves. You also think they are the enemies of the state and their union must be eliminated just like ACORN. They should not finance politicians of their choice, only the corporations, which are people as we know, should do that. Sorry, I am a bit snarky.
Buff, the nation took the wrong turn in 2000 when the SC appointed Bush president. The people elected Gore, not Bush. I do not think the nation will elect the Republicans, people will stay home, they know their votes don’t count, money does. The bought Republic.
darren,
Its starting to come out. With the influx of the UNion goons, now busing people in to Occupy LA and paying hispanics in NYC, its getting quite obvious this may have started as something grass-roots but the astroturf has taken over the lawn.
Islam will change
Lys,
By any reasonable recount of the votes Bush won Florida.(Every major paper in the US went to Florida to do the recount after the fact – and they all came to that conclusion). And it would all have been moot if Gore could have won is home state…
I have no problems with private Unions. None at all. I don’t think government employees at any level should be allowed to unionize, period (agree with FDR on this point). Corrupt organizations like ACORN are a bundle of thugs bleeding the government. They should be eliminated, or at least not get 1 dime from any level of government.
So if the SEIU is welcome would a bundle of Tea-party types also be welcome? No problems?
You have the hard left showing up at these things. America doesn’t want what there pushing and have rejected it many times at the poles.
These guys have 14 months to get organized, raise funds, find candidates and get them voted into office. Any bets on their ability to do it without Soro’s money?
Islam will change
Lys,
The shareholders don’t endeavor to hold their boards accountable because their boards are bailed out and the market consequence for their foolish investments never reaches them.
While we support “leaders” who spend our cash to mitigate the consequences of unsustainable corporate practice; we protest fund managers wer’re all invested with (or, those of us with any savings… which isn’t very many).
You don’t like that your leaders accept bribes? You don’t like that they are ruled by money? You don’t like that they are ethically BANKRUPT?
STOP contributing to their advancement. YOU are enabling them with your vote and support. You are COMPLICIT in their debauchery.
Actively fight the *demand* for bribes in Washingon and you will organically mitigate the impact that bribes have.
This is America; the buck stops with YOU.
MoveOn, by the way, is funded by its millions of participants. If it is involved, it means its participants have decided to be involved. That’s not Big Money–it’s little people acting together. Contrast that with the growth of the “tea party” movement with support from a variety of right wing organized groups, largely funded by ‘interested’ wealthy parties like the Koch brothers and the Walton heirs. On the one hand (OWS), real populism; on the other hand (tea party; FreedomWorks, etc.), fake populism. Yet it was the OWS movement, which has largely been calm, peaceful and law-abiding (except for walking on the traffic portion of the Brooklyn Bridge, following police officers that individuals thought were directing the group to that space), that was called mere “mobs” by Eric Cantor and “unAmerican” by one of our right-leaning presidential hopefuls.
Didn’t you invent the idea that this woman is in an undemanding and useless XXX Studies program? Many people in college have had the tables turned on them by the length and depth of the Great Recession. First, many colleges (especially the private, for-profit colleges) have recruited intensely and pushed the use of federal student loans, without much regard for the facts about employability or likelihood of being able to pay back the loans. Many accept applicants they know are ill prepared to succeed, because they see students as “customers” that are essentially a statistic on their bottom line revenue statement. Second, even the smartest find it difficult to predict what degree will likely lead to jobs skills in demand –a “hot” field today is just as likely to be a “cold” one four years from now, because everybody thought it was hot and the field is overpopulated. Third, some fields that are especially likely to be successful require preparation that starts in K-12: students who got lousy primary education may simply not have the skills to acquire the skills to be successful engineers. Fourth, you made up the facts as to the woman’s pregnancy (at least as far as the part you excerpted here goes)–women can get pregnant without “choosing” to do so (even those who use birthcontrol/abortifacients) and then are faced with the difficult choice of aborting or keeping the baby. That choice would be doubly difficult if there were something wrong with the baby (which apparently is the case here).
One of the real and lasting scars from the reaganomics revolution coupled with the friedmania for purportedly “free” markets (which of course do not in reality exist) is the reinforcement the two have given to the “rugged individualist” myth that underlies much of the current American cult of greed. Very few of us can make it entirely on our own; very few of us get where we do purely through our own efforts; very many of us are waylaid by social-cultural disadvantages (discrimination, abuse, neglect) that make it extraordinarily difficult to climb out of whatever social status life has cast us in. One despicable result of the rugged individualist myth is the have-mores use of “personal responsibility” (tied to property ownership–so that those who have are assumed to be responsible and those who have not are assumed to be irresponsible). It has driven us towards less community spirit, less cooperation and even more ‘what’s in it for me’-ism. The OWS movement seems to reflect, in spite of its lack of a single set of demands or even a single underlying goal, a sense that the trend towards selfishness– most ably represented by the financial industry’s socialization of losses/privatization of gains and continued wealth accrual from speculation in ways that increases economic instability for most of us– is a genuine problem of our society.