Forum Post: looking at the big picture.
Posted 12 years ago on Dec. 21, 2011, 2:12 p.m. EST by 99PercentFriendly
(31)
This content is user submitted and not an official statement
There are around 10 billion people in the World, there are more than enough natural and manmade resources available on this planet to make it possible for everyone to make a comfortable living, so why is it that we see so much pain and suffering everywhere.
99 percent of the people around the World are suffering because the one percent who are in charge of managing this planet are not taking their responsibilities seriously and are doing an absolute terrible job in governing and guiding the mankind and have been a big failure so far in looking after this planet as a whole.
This is more than just a money issue this is about everything that’s wrong around us. Financial inequality is only one part of what needs to be corrected, most of the problems that we are facing around the World are tied together and they all need to be addressed if we are going to make everyone’s life better.
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Turn around the USA and humanity can start working on a brighter future. OWS has the potential the Tea Party never even dreamed of.
http://www.the99declaration.org/
We hit 7 billion at the end of October, 2011. The only proposal I've seen that could address the comfortable living issue is from the Global Basic Income Foundation, but I don't know if any economists take it seriously.
From their about page, "Although we see a GBI as an open concept, there are at least two basic convictions that we don't want to compromise on: (1) poverty should be and can be eradicated, and (2) it is the responsibility of humanity as a whole to guarantee every human being the means to satisfy basic needs and to live a worthy live. Compassion shouldn't stop at borders and the global economic market can only be regulated adequately through an international framework. The international community must devise a framework of rules, arrangements and institutions that ensures that the outcomes of global competition serve the interests and dignity of all people and that protects nature and our environment."
At the least, they have some disconcerting statistics of suffering around the world.
1 young child dies every 6 seconds from hunger
11 children every minute ..
600 children every hour ..
15.000 children every day ..
5.6 million children each year ..
http://www.globalincome.org/English/English.html
And to think that this all has been going on year after year while the greedy and the power hungry one percent have been enjoying a life of excesses and luxury all along.
It's inexplicable. It's like there is this human race and then this other group, a handful of malcontents who want everything. Personally, I blame the libertarians for perverting the scales of justice and using laws as their guiding principle, instead of morality. It's a convenient excuse to go against one's better judgment.
I think most of the folks around the world who live in real poverty would substitute 'greedy and power hungy one percent' with AMERICANS.
We consume a far larger percentage of global resources than our mere 300 million outta 7 billion deserve. Sorta like your one percent argument.
This is more of a global problem as in every corner of the World there are elite groups that are living in the lap of luxury and excesses while the 99 percent are struggling just to get the necessities of life.
Even in poor countries where millions of children are dying of starvation the elites in those countries still manage to live in multimillion dollar homes and waste a lot of food in their lavish parties.
What we need here is a global reform to change the status quo, unfortunately the one percent that holds all the power and wealth on this planet are not willing to change voluntarily and don’t want to listen to the voice of reason. The only way that we can get the one percent off our backs in a nonviolent way is by creating more awareness amongst ourselves and by uniting the global resistance movements.
But we need to realize that not all protestors are working towards the cause of equality and freedom, some groups are active because they actually want to take away our freedoms and their ultimate goal is to force their fanatic political, religious, or racial agendas on the rest of us. We need to support only the groups and the movements that respect the universal human rights and that abide by the principals of true democracy and that are working towards raising the quality of life for everyone (not just for the middle class or members of a certain party or group, but for every human being on this planet).
Hi friendly- nice post - impressive . yes there is enough natural resources on this planet, of seven billion people, to live reasonably comfortable. but because of the greed of the 1% of the worlds population, who demand thousands of times more then the 99% -- millions starve to death weekly. and billions live in horrible poverty. That's why OWS was formed, and why its a world wide movement. - Its the only hope the people of this planet have- and if we allow ows to die, then so does humanity. training web page http://tinyurl.com/7rvpv43
Thanks for your kind words maryab, I have a feeling that this movement has started something very big that will be talked about for years to come.
Correct. This is the big goal. We need to sort out the greedy banking executives first though.
That's great, I just like to see people address all the other problems that are holding the 99 percent back in addition to the financial inequality that is being focused on here.
No. This is the scope of other movements. The Occupy Movement's promary goal is to get all the banking criminals in prison. This alone is a huge task. You have to remember that most if not all bank executives have caused the massive grief to billions of innocent people.
If we are fighting to raise the quality of life for the 99 percent, then we should address all the issues that affect the quality of life of the 99 percent.
The insurance companies and politicians who stand in the way of the 99 percent from getting adequate and timely healthcare are as guilty as the bankers.
40,000 people die in America each year because of lack of adequate and timely healthcare, even those who have insurance will find out the hard way that they still have to fight the insurance companies in order to get the necessary medical procedures if they get a serious illness.
1.000.000 families go bankrupt in America each year and in many cases lose their homes because they get hit with huge medical bills that they can’t afford (even those who have insurance).
Equality is an issue which has been pushed by certain people in the Movement. It was never a core issue. The core issue is to end "the monied corruption of our Democracy". It is about corporate greed, in particular Wall Street and the banks. People losing their homes is a direct result of banking greed. Healthcare issues seem somewhat outiside the scope. The could be part of the cutbacks because of bank bailouts, but the link is tenuous.
“ The core issue is to end "the monied corruption of our Democracy". ”
That’s exactly why we need to consider all the issues that affect the quality of life for the 99 percent. Whether it’s the lack of adequate and timely healthcare or whether it’s the fact that this whole planet is being poisoned by the big corporations or even worse whether it’s the betrayal of our democratic and moral principals which has made us close our eyes to systematic killings and torture, it all has to do with corrupt politicians protecting the interest and agendas of the one percent at the expense of the other 99 percent.