Forum Post: I'm part of the 99% paying for the hundreds of thousands of dollars of overtime for NYPD for the 1% camping out at zuccotti!
Posted 13 years ago on Oct. 27, 2011, 12:06 a.m. EST by armchairecon
(138)
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Are you part of the 99% or the 1%?
Well paid price of a free society, i have no sympathy for your position armchairecon. Things are f'ed up, do you not agree with that? I'm not sure there are more effective/efficient ways to get that message across loud and clear.
whats my position? that we are driving up our debt but inefficiently occupying a park and debating how many hours drummers can drum?
what about we move all of this to DC and demand politicians not take money from lobbysts? i think this ONE demand can gain widespread support... rather than all of the rich vs. poor rhetoric that is never going to get anywhere (because most americans still believes that you can become successful through hard work) so you will never get the critical mass to effect change
ah... from your post thought you were just whining about paying cops to do their job given the special circumstances in some places... i buy the thing to push for is getting big money out of politics too :)
Those police wages are pocket-change compared to what Wall Street has stolen from all of us. And besides, cops need to eat, too. So easy for you to sit at home and whine on the computer, when the people in Zucotti Park have put their comfort and safety to the side to take action in defense of the people.
how much has wall street stolen from you?
it is quite easy for me to sit home in front of my computer killing time as it is for you.. the people are at zucotti because they have nothing better to do, it is an experience they hope will turn into something meaningful.. maybe it will and maybe it wont, atleast itll make for interesting stories to tell their grandkids.
if they had jobs or other responsibilities (ie: kids) they wouldnt be out there mentally masturbating. if they really wanted change, they would/could effect it it in more efficient ways.
I'm on the computer at 1am, because I've been working here on it since 7am, and am taking a break, unwinding and catching up on news, etc., before finally calling it a day. I work. A lot. I'm self-employed, and entrepreneur, and I have a lot of work, lately. That's great. It's almost impossible to calculate how much Wall ST. has stolen from all of us in exploitive practices, unjust banking charges and interest, etc. I get paid only 70% of what I made 5 years ago, for the same work, yet, the money I earn buys less, because prices have gone up on everything while wages have stagnated, because corporate fascists decided to freeze wages, while their profits have gone through the roof. People are in the streets protesting, because they've already tried to effect change by other means. The fact remains that our government is owned by monied interests. All the phone calls, letter writing, even voting have produced no change, because the government isn't listening to the people. It caters only to the corporate fascists who fill their campaign coffers and shower them with money as lobbyists. This is the problem. OUR government is controlled by Wall Street. We protest, because we want OUR democracy returned to the people. Corporations are not people.
I agree with you regarding money in politics.
the beauty of wall street is that if you feel corporations are making all the money, you you can buy their stocks and get a piece of it. (easier said than done)
banking charges/interest = they suck yes.. but you dont NEED to borrow.. you can either save (and take longer to reach your goals) or borrow to finance that life now (the american way?) i only borrow if it benefits me (ie: tax write offs) but otherwise, i still rent and drive a 15 yr old car that was paid for in cash.
wages stagnate when demand goes down.. i graduated in 2000 and i was shocked at how much we were paid for doing monkey work (~50k but i dont think what i did really required someone with a college degree, i think any smart high school kid with the drive to learn could do it.. i even asked my client (i was a consultant) and he said i pay you guys the big bucks because you deliver on time even if it means given an impossible deadlines vs. the cheaper consultants) i wasnt going to argue.
if OWS spent their efforts trying to lobby washington against money influencing politics i think they could actually get somewhere.. instead they are arguing amongst themselves about how many hours drummers can drum and how to spend the 300k donated moneys (how bout give it to NYC so they can pay the NYPD overtime bill that OWS is creating?)
Hmmm...giving some of that money to the NYPD makes sense, but as a charitable donation to some police charitble fund, like those things they do for children, or whatever. That's a great idea. I don't borrow from banks, and likewise, have a 15 year old car I paid for in cash. The thing is, the American people simply do not have the financial power to counter corporate lobbyists to pay off politicians. Wall Street has too much financial power. We can't compete, and that's why our government has been bought out from under us. That's precisely the problem. Or, really, the problem is, we shouldn't have to lobby our own government, that is supposed to be of/by/for the people, not of/by/for the money.
wall street may have too much power, but if you cut off their power at the teat (ie: remove their ability to effect policy) the change will come. also make it clear that there cannot be 'too big to fail' (3 years ago, i actually coined a phrase 'to big to fail premium' for risky investments (something alittle more eloquent IRCC) meaning a free insurance backed by the government against black swan events that increased in value the riskier the bet was.
i dont necessary believe that wall street is 'evil'. financing makes the world go around (including many public projects).. if banks want to make bets, so be it, just dont expect government to back stop it if it goes bad... also give banks/govt a right to claw back profits from shareholders on bad bets and from employees/managers.. this will serve to limit the risk that bankers will take.
one of the problem with wall street (and insurance products like health insurance) is that it is structured as a short term game - once you marked your profits (at the risk of long term results) you can take your profits off the table via the corporate structure (ie: dividends, bonuses) but once the shit hits the fan, the cash/profits are no longer there to backstop the potential losses... so the government needs to step in.
Exactly... These occupiers have no idea of what their actions are actually doing. COSTING MORE MONEY
No youre not. JpMorgan Chase donated 4.6 million to NYPD like 2 weeks ago
You live in NYC. That's the breaks. If it is not one thing, it will be another.
Personally, I didn't like paying all the ot for the stinking repub convention but no one listened to me.
And they won't listen to you two, either.
i think its time to join the NYPD to get in on all this overtime.
Now that's good ole american ingenuity.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/10/26/michael-moore-piers-morgan_n_1032428.html