Forum Post: Less talking, more DOING
Posted 13 years ago on Oct. 4, 2011, 9:03 p.m. EST by LauraLane
(8)
from Boyertown, PA
This content is user submitted and not an official statement
People on the streets are making HUGE sacrifices for all Citizens of this country. We will sort out the details later....for now, we must DO. OCCUPY, DONATE, SPREAD THE WORD. The boat is rocking, but people are too concerned about which direction to rock...flip the damn thing over, it's fubar! Get off your couch!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Hey patriots Albany NY'er here with some footage I grabbed from Occupy wall street yesterday when I drove down to support the movement. Please share the video and subscribe to my youtube channel I'll have plenty more to come http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vyEiIvFKVEM
I see this movement as void of any real ideas. A lot of pissed off people who think they should have something they don't have and with lots of nebulous phrases about how they can get it. I don't see any real workable solutions proposed. I am not casting blame, or against expression social frustration, but I see very little being offered that makes any sense. Pull all money out of banks. Gee, a run on the banks is really going to do wonders. Has anyone ever heard of the great depression. Vote out the rascals. Okay. Vote in who? What are they going to do for you when you vote them in? Raise taxes? Cut taxes? Give you a job? Doing what? A job is somebody doing a task which needs done. Obviously we have more people than things which need done at the moment.
Here are the concrete ideas....maybe you will read them.
http://coupmedia.org/occupywallstreet/occupy-wall-street-official-demands-2009
Just did - with all due respect, unimpressive.
A tweek here, sand off some rough edges there.
This is not a revolution. It's more of the same old tired ideas. Asking the political class to work our your problems. The system is broke, top to bottom. You need some really fresh thinking.
You against the corporations. Do you know how many people actually don't have a problem with corporations? Even with 9%-20% unemployment, corporations employ hundreds of thousands of people. Corporations do many great things for all the evil they do. And the biggest corporation of all, the federal government and federal reserve is gonna be who you trust to solve your problems with the system?
Thanks for looking through them!
There are perhaps many ways to effect some changes...I'm not against corporations like they're poison ivy or something...It's not a knee-jerk reaction like Four Legs Good -Corporations Bad.
But I think,as the demands you just read show, that "fairness" in lobbying, in revolving door policies, financing of elections, and keeping over-site on financial institutions may have become skewed and need to be altered.
Now maybe that's not much of an idea. Maybe its just a drop in the bucket. But I think those ideas are do-able and will start to heal the gulf in fairness.
Sure. Thanks to you for offering them up. That's the closest thing I've seen yet to counterbalance the typical media lack of substance on anything which stands to rock the system. For example, Ron Paul would rock the system, so they try to ignore him at all cost.
I wish you all well, and I do hope you all can come up with some real fresh ideas to really rock the world. Liberal, conservatives, socialists, communists, to me they're all pawns in the game. It's not who has the most money that is at issue as I see it - it's power.
In your favor is the US Constitution. Last I read it, there is no economic order deffined therein. Something about the current economic process just smells bad to me. I wish I had ideas on how to really make things better. That's why your movement needs to really take the high road. You don't need the people who already agree with you. You need as many as you can recruit from the everybody else camp, and it won't be easy.
How many people have to stand together before anyone will actually listen?? I don't think we've reached that number yet.
Huh? I think there is plenty of talking to be done! If you don't know what the word is, or have a clear plan of action, then you are occupying for nothing and donating money into thin air.
What's the plan, for christ sakes! How will this be anything more than a waste of time? These are points that need discussion; every organization attempting anything should be asking themselves this question.
Less Talking, More DOING is analogous to making chess moves without thinking, or even looking at the board. This is a losing strategy in games and in politics.
Why do we have to keep playing the same games? These games are rigged so the 1% always wins.
Luckily this is not the 1st Revolution to ever happen, so we have plenty of examples to learn from when we get a chance to outline the "perfect USA"....not that any plan is foolproof. For now, we have to show our numbers...we have to stay strong and united instead of trying to pick it all apart.
TOTALLY AGREE! (Just tell that to the political parties) We don't need more 'revolutions' we need evolution: to get ride of ideologies (tea, coffe or cocoa parties) we need facts like more jobs, more economic stability and less 'discourses'...
We aren't planning to start a civil war. We can all get together. By the thousands, and tell our senators "Pass this, or we vote you out!"
we vote you out ...when your term is done.....IF we remember what you did to piss us off. not quick enough. those threats have not worked in the past. 99% of the politicians don't care what We The People think.
Well if we truly get together the 99%, they can't be in office.
they are already THERE
Yes, but they won't stay there. We do need to force some changes, such as shorter terms, and less money in government. Then we vote in new politicians when their time is up, or demand to be able to vote new ones in asap (Though that probably won't be passed).
After that, we vote for what we want passed seperately, through democracy.
I have done all of the above.....do you actually think that stuff works??? a revolution levels the playing field. a very good starting point. are you afraid to be uncomfortable? how's that kool-aid?
please consider what a revolution does to a country. please educate yourselves. do the right thing and vote people out. have any of you ever even wrote or called your senators before? have any of you even voted?
please consider what a revolution does to a country. please educate yourselves. do the right thing and vote people out. have any of you ever even wrote or called your senators before? have any of you even voted?
The 98% is tired of the 99% and the 1%. You children have not realistic expectations. Have you sat down with your parents and said "Mom, Dad, I really want you to get rid of all those things you have. I want you to stop paying my bills for me and please give my college money to the poor". You continually bitch and moan about corperate greed. The terrible profits. The high pay for CEOs, but how in the hell do you think all this technology you are using came to be? ATT, Sprint, Verizon etc has spent Billions inventing in the infrastructure so that you can stream Netflix and You Tube on your phone. How did they get the billions? PROFIT! If there is no profit motivation there is no desire to invest. Simple economics (that would be class 101). are you willing to give up all that is ties to Wall Street? did not think so as it would not be convenient. You are all straw men. No substance and noisy. A drain on society. You are all misguided and are protesting at the wrong place. You should be in DC demanding a change to the regulations as that is at the crux of your bitch. Wall Street will do whatever they want to do within the the guidelines of the regulations. I suppose that it would not be prudent to protest the president as that would show that you myrmidons voted for an incompetent boob.
It is not the pay but the fact that they are not paying their fair share of taxes on that salary. It is not fair in the current tax system that someone who makes several million dollars a year pays less of a percentage than someone who makes minimum wage simply because they could afford to hire a lawyer to avoid paying their share.
What is fair? Is it fair that almost 50% pay no income tax at all while the remainder pay in so the others can take? Everyone who lives here should pay in to the system, maybe a flat tax with no deductions, say 10%. So if you make 10k you owe 1k. If you earn 1m you pay 100k. Everyone owns the debt, everyone should have to pay it back.
Thank you Rob. You make lots of great points. I'm 47. I'm not occupying anything except my office chair.
Now, I ask you to do as I am doing. Consider that some of these protesters, kids, young adults, whatever have legitimate complaints. I think many of them do. I think many of them would like to be working, have looked for jobs, and failed. I suspect many of them went to college, with optimism and what they thought were promising futures. I suspect many of them have lost that optimistic spirit.
If you're like me, and still fortunate enough to work, just start to consider that maybe there are others who really wish they were as fortunate as us. The system isn't working for millions of people, Rob. The system is broke.
Now, consider something else - the political class doesn't know how to fix it, for if they could, I believe they would. Neither party has any answers at this point. I'm pretty sure of that. Oh sure, they talk alot - but really, they are powerless to fix the system as it is today. That's what I think.
Try not to demonize the protesters. Try some empathy. Try to come up with solutions. That's what I'm trying to do.
What I do know is the circus that is liberal vs. democrat serves only polticians and the news media. It isn't working for us. We need to quit labeling and diminishing the humanity of our neighbors and treat them like as one of our own.
Oh yea, as for Profit motive, I know we're all trained to accept that as necessary and good. I'm starting to wonder about everything we're been taught about profit, debt, etc, and how good is it really? Perhaps this is the place where everything needs to change - from the ground up.
The political class created the mess. I am not saying the are not problems, but again they are protesting at the wrong place. I take offense to being labeled as fortunate to have my job. Fortunate is to imply that I was lucky I am doing what I am doing, not through putting myself through school debt free and spending years building a resume in a field that is in demand. I know it is tough out there for these kids, but what field did they choose? Then there are those complaining about the school debt. Many of these kids are going to NYU, Cornell, Harvard, etc. The question is why? The answer is prestige and the belief that a degree from these schools are worth more and will pay more when they start their careers. State universities are more than competent for whatever they choose to do. A law degree from Harvard is no better than a law degree from Georgia State. The law is the law and each state has its own bar exam. A law degree from Harvard does not guarantee you will pass the bar.
We were all complicite (sp?) in the mess. I didn't hear a lot of crying during the hey day of housing leading up to 2007. Debt was flowing, people were buying houses, unions were building houses. Few were complaining. It was the new economy and everyone was loving it. Only complaints I heard were from poor folks being unable to get in on the fun.
Folks who couldn't really afford a house by historical standards, but got a mortgage and doorkeys were excited, and were adding up their good fortunes which were yet to come - because as my step kids and their spouses were anxious to inform me - you can't lose money on a house. I'd lived through the s&l debacle, and knew they were very naive. It was just a matter of time.
As for all the folks screaming about banks loaning mortgages which eventually went bad, hindsight is always convenient. Again, we were all complicit. I read alot of people screaming for clawbacks against bankers. Only bankers. How about clawbacks from union workers who got paid to build houses which should have never been built? How about clawbacks for building supply stores using the same arguments? Bankers are convenient scapegoats which only recognize a small piece of the overall issue.
Challenge your belief system.