Forum Post: What we need to do
Posted 13 years ago on Oct. 11, 2011, 2:07 p.m. EST by Carmine
(1)
This content is user submitted and not an official statement
I believe what occupy Wallstreet is doing is good for this country, but if we plan on making a big impact on the country we need to become united with the rest of the protestors across the country and get organized as a whole, being in dozens of cities is great, but all the cities arent protesting over the same issues at hand, in order for the message to get across we have to become one, and fight for the Same reasons. Individual protests are useless unless it's met with organization and a committee that can make decision for the protestors to follow and demonstrate. If we want to get our points across we must have unity.
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MY WORRY: when it gets cold, this important protest will fizzle. MY IDEA: that we organize via facebook/twitter and choose a date where we completely evacuate wall street....in otherwords, one day we are there, the next we're not...all over country, the protests stop on purpose. that would make a serious impact.
THEN: we stage targeted "boycotts" that are announced, again, via facebook/twitter. for instance, the entire 99% does not shop for only one day at a different place and this place changes every single day. (after all we are not trying to put anyone out of business or do harm but make a point and show our power.) for instance, monday no amazon NOT ONE DIME...tuesday no starbucks...wednesday no arco...etc. Again, the company does not matter. All companies are culpable, even the good ones, because they are all part of the Wallstreet Machine. Our goal is not to shut down the country, after all we want to employ people. But we will no longer feel like helpless consumers that have no choice but to buy the "company stores" product no matter what the price. We have a choice...let’s choose!
AND THEN, TO EXPLAIN OUR PURPOSE: we will calculate the amount of money a company lost by losing 99% of the country's business and say... "hey, that's a lot of money in just one day." Now let's compare that to the modest and FAIR amount of tax we'd like you to pay...or “how much is that compared to the insane bonuses you give your CEO” etc etc etc.
BECAUSE: we are not trying to screw anyone, we just demand fairness.
AND: the best way to achieve fairness is to REGULATE Wallstreet and modify the tax code (i.e. add a tax bracket for millionaires, scrap overseas tax havens, introduce a modest financial transaction tax, revamp the estate tax, end preferential treatment on capital gains tax)
AND IN THE END: this is a relatively painless thing for all. the rich will still be rich. the free market will still be free (just not allowed to be as corrupt) and ALL OF US will enjoy our American citizenry without so much contempt for each other.
AND TO END WITH A SLOGAN THAT MATTERS: "when we all do better, we all do better."
(duh)
PS If you think this could work please forward to as many people necessary and feel free to use any or all of my ideas to make this protest lead to positive policy change.
I am also waiting for a coherent organization and leadership. Right now I know I'm in the 99%, but I still don't know if y'all represent me. There are some pretty wild demands being bandied about, and they definitely don't represent 99% (even if I agree with some of them).