Classic SeaCraft Community - Occupy Movement Explained

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The answer to all of this is real simple!!

THROW THEM ALL OUT!!!!

Now how hard is that???

Ken, you said it perfectly!!!! They have had enough chances..........more than enough.

And as luck would have it, I've only got one vote, rats!

Quote:

Originally Posted by McGillicuddy (Post 195703)

Heading for deep water now but I really don't believe the Executive Branch leadership is the problem right now (although B is very guilty of cronyism). Keep in mind there are 3 separate branches of government and some very polarizing figures (most of which are on Capitol Hill).

The president has morphed perhaps more than he should have in many cases to try keep a hurting nation moving forward when the world is at an economic standstill. The Judiciary has been mostly unheard because B hasn't tried to slip anything by, and the Legislature can't resolve an argument for them to consider.

I think leadership at the Legislative Branch has been the problem since before Clinton was run from office, but that period really polarized the legislative parties. Lack of co-operation between the legislators and their incessant respective pimping to corporate players that affect their constituencies has been the root of this economic dark age. I think the Nanci Pelosis and her republican mirror images need to get the hell out of the way, and that this legislative mass of egomaniacs elected by the people for the people need get their collective feces together to find common ground for the people. A good start would be to address single issues rather than bundling ridiculous fecal matter into unrelated bills for their cronies. Works for the Judiciary...

These folks are elected to do whats best for the most people - not always easy I know, but hell, couldn't they at least make an effort to consider the people that actually make the nation. e pluribus unum - remember? This is only my opinion, but a single corporation's political want should never trump the vote of a million American taxpaxers, and yet it happens every day:confused:

I see democracy as a fair way to do the best for the majority. The agreement is to agree to disagree. If I win the debate we do do it my way. You don't have to like it but you go along with it rather than sabotaging the process. When you win the debate the roles are reversed.
It's a good step toward the unattainable "Utopia."

But if one man's avarice and greed for more than he needs, or his disdain for another man's point of view force that other man to feel compelled or desperate enough steal or kill to get a bag of beans or a bottle of beer, then the principal itself is lost.

In that case only Sir Thomas More (on paper) and Todd Rundgren (on vinyl) will have Utopia. Well, and those who ride on a vdh, of course:cool:

Can We Still Be Friends?

Where is my soap box?

Forgive me, I just got an invite to AARP.

Maybe this is just what we need.

Focus!

Put our beliefs aside and shake it up.

Every incumbent gets a pink slip.

And district 4 gets a page of his choice as a wonderful parting gift.

As Danny said, what are we doing?

Nothing, that`s what.

We have this wonderful thing called the net. Look at the Arab Spring. Get inspired.

Gillie,
This burns my biscuits,

One thought, one bill.

Get it?

We the people need to get off our collective fat rumps and type.

Flood the world with thought,
GFS

One focus. Pink slips for all, and for all, a good night.

My country is upside down and I don`t like it at all.
Do You?

Quote:

Originally Posted by NoBones (Post 196182)

The answer to all of this is real simple!!

THROW THEM ALL OUT!!!!

Now how hard is that???

Well, pretty hard, it looks like. Not saying it's a bad start, but throwing them out is easy compared to keeping them out once they've been given the boot. The problem is, we've allowed a political class to establish itself in our country. These folks aspires to a life of "public service". Unfortunately, those inclined to "serve", eventually notice that nobody fires them if they help themselves to the goods. How many politicians do you know of that haven't made a career of it?

The same yahoos that were active in student government when I was in college are now screwing up government on a state and national level. These are people who go straight from school to government, usually without stopping off to prove their worth in private enterprise.

If you "fire them all", there's a whole slew of "politicians in waiting" that are ready to fill the gap. The only way I can think of to throw the bastards out, AND KEEP THEM OUT, is to place a cap on how many years any individual can serve in elective office. I'm thinking 15 years ought to be enough. Anyone up for a Constitutional Convention?

George Washington had enough sense to return to private life after serving two terms as president. That kind of statesmanship is nonexistent in this country today. Maybe we should ask ourselves why.

Stepping down from soap box now....

Dave

A link in one of Bigshrimpin's posts clarified the targets of the OWS movement -- from a Canadian's perspective I think they were: Wall St, Washington DC, big Banks, CEOs and the Fed. That's more than I understood thus far. Thanks, Big.

If that's the case, I'm pretty sure the campus cops at UC Davis got the wrong gang here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-15809742

Not quite Kent State, but the University Chancellor should probably step aside for not better protecting these kids or for complicity in use of excessive force by the "authorities." I guess the kids must have been killing the grass by sitting on their asses or something...:confused:

Obviously, just a snippet, but, that looked like peaceful assembly. I think lawyers are gonna have a field day with this one. Pretty bright kids at UC-Davis...whaddaya think, strick? Bet you would'a got out of the way or at least donned an organics mask:eek::D

I guess we can look forward to a Happy Thanksgiving - least the Chancellor didn't call in Syrian tanks.... yet... what a model for the world:(

Tin soldiers and Nixon's comin'... part II - I hope not...

couple more things that made the "news" this week

Prosecuting Wall Street, pt. 1
http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=7390540n

************************************************** ********
Bloomberg is reporting that the Federal Reserve had made a total of $7.77 trillion in financial commitments to the big banks by the end of March 2009....

Add up guarantees and lending limits, and the Fed had committed $7.77 trillion as of March 2009 to rescuing the financial system, more than half the value of everything produced in the U.S. that year.

But as mentioned above, a one-time limited GAO audit of the Federal Reserve that was mandated by the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act covered an even broader time period and revealed even more bailout loans.

According to the GAO audit, $16.1 trillion in secret loans were made by the Federal Reserve between December 1, 2007 and July 21, 2010. The following list of firms and the amount of money that they received was taken directly from page 131 of the GAO audit report....

Citigroup - $2.513 trillion
Morgan Stanley - $2.041 trillion
Merrill Lynch - $1.949 trillion
Bank of America - $1.344 trillion
Barclays PLC - $868 billion
Bear Sterns - $853 billion
Goldman Sachs - $814 billion
Royal Bank of Scotland - $541 billion
JP Morgan Chase - $391 billion
Deutsche Bank - $354 billion
UBS - $287 billion
Credit Suisse - $262 billion
Lehman Brothers - $183 billion
Bank of Scotland - $181 billion
BNP Paribas - $175 billion
Wells Fargo - $159 billion
Dexia - $159 billion
Wachovia - $142 billion
Dresdner Bank - $135 billion
Societe Generale - $124 billion
"All Other Borrowers" - $2.639 trillion

This report was made available to all the members of Congress, but most of them have been totally silent about it. One of the only members of Congress that has said something has been U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders.

"All Other Borrowers" - $2.639 trillion

Hummmm.....I wonder who these folks are?? It's probably the Solyndra type loans, you know, the loans where they never pay back the money.

What's amazing is that all unemployment benefits both State and Federal from 2008 - Present don't even come close to the "loans" made to these banks.

http://i2.cdn.turner.com/money/2011/...s-paid.top.gif

Well heck......it would only rank 9th. :( Pretty sad.

From the first Bloomberg article:

Quote:

Medtronic does more than half of its $16 billion in annual sales of pacemakers, defibrillators and other devices in the U.S. It manufactures the equipment at this facility, legacy of a defunct U.S. tax break designed to encourage investment on the poverty-stricken island. Yet, Medtronic credits the income to a mailbox in a Cayman Islands office building.

Ok. US corporations are sheltering lots of income offshore. So i guess the question is whether we vilify the corporations, or whether we blame our government for the second highest corporate tax rate in the world. Corporate profits are subject to tax rates over 30%, and then any profits passed along to stockholders are taxed as personal income.

Regardless of who the bad guys are, we are faced with a simple pragmatic truth. In a global economy where people and corporations can move wherever they choose, They're going to go to the places with the most favorable regulatory and tax environment. Countries with unfavorable economies will continue to be on the losing end of this migration. Obviously, there are other factors that go into where we live and work, but high taxation will eventually drive productive people away. Or it will at least tempt them to find ways to avoid taxes.

Dave

I agree with you Dave...no matter how you slice it or dice it all this Bull Crap starts with the Government, no matter which party is in power.

No one in power right now has the balls to change the tax system. It is broken and yet they go right along and say we need more money.

How many of us on the sight have cut back to match our budget?

The Senate has not passed a budget in what 2 plus years? Come on now don't blame the Companies ...

I read something the other day, (I did not have a chance to verify) that if you taxed everyone over 250K 100% and all corps 100% on all there profits, you would not even pay off a 1/2 year of our debt obligations...

I still like Ronnies quote..."taxing did not get us into trouble...spending did"

I knew I felt at home at this forum. I'll wait till I can come up with an intelligent response,but after last night's cave by congress it looks like business as usual. "They all succomb to their Masters". Always remember, we do have term limits; Every 2 years at the polls. Get out the message and vote!

Quote:

Originally Posted by WildBill (Post 196861)

Always remember, we do have term limits; Every 2 years at the polls. Get out the message and vote!

I wish I could believe that fixing our problems was as simple as changing our representation in DC, but I'm afraid our two party system is circling the drain.

I was looking at a national debt clock site yesterday and did a little simple math to put it in perspective. If you compare the federal government's financial situation with a family with an annual income of $100K, it looks like this:

$100,000 Annual income
$152,000 Annual spending
$650,000 Debt

Few would argue that a situation like this is sustainable, but nobody in office, and almost nobody running for office is willing to talk about the painful changes it will take to fix it. Anybody that does talk about it is labeled as a nut or extremist by Demopublican party leadership and the establishment press. It's a train wreck waiting to happen and the more we resist government austerity measures, the more we look like the Greeks and Italians. Face, it, the only difference is the US has better credit. But how long can that last?

Quote:

Originally Posted by Islandtrader (Post 196860)

Problem is when the government is bought off by corporations. You combine that with media outlets plugging bs propaganda 24 x 7 to push xyz message, so we elect corporate puppet 1, 2, or 3. The "government" / corporate puppets are deciding xyz corporation is too big to fail and that the public must bail them out with tax dollars. Then you have those same puppets deciding on a budget . . . i.e. which company is gonna get a slice of government spending. We are not longer talking about capitalism. Government is not the top of the food chain and NOT working for the people.