Occupy Wall Street

[Lucky]

Protesters world-wide can, at least to this point, be proud of those who are occupying the Zuccotti Park near Wall Street. A Lucky investigation revealed the park to be quite tidy, organized, and even providing a medical tent for those who meed assistance.

There was no harassment of police officers or obstruction of traffic. On the other hand, it was pretty cold. The park does look like a tent city. Given New York hotel prices, this thing could catch on with folks just needing a place to stay.

[KYTOP]

Protesters world-wide can, at least to this point, be proud of those who are occupying the Zuccotti Park near Wall Street. A Lucky investigation revealed the park to be quite tidy, organized, and even providing a medical tent for those who meed assistance.

There was no harassment of police officers or obstruction of traffic. On the other hand, it was pretty cold. The park does look like a tent city. Given New York hotel prices, this thing could catch on with folks just needing a place to stay.

I have seen a few stories were these "protests" are becoming homes to many of the homeless population.

I'm still trying to figure out what their real message is except that they are mad at someone or something. The only thing I've been able to gather so far is that they don't like the banks and all the college age people want all of their college loans forgiven. That wouldn't be fair to those that didn't get a free college education or didn't go because they couldn't afford it. Hell I'm not a big fan of my bank either but I realize it is a necessity and the only time I stand outside it is waiting for it to open in the morning. Looks like just a different group of tea party protesters to me but not as organized.

[OneFinger]

I have seen a few stories were these "protests" are becoming homes to many of the homeless population.

I'm still trying to figure out what their real message is except that they are mad at someone or something...

I'm currently splitting time between homes in two different states. In both locations the camps have become a haven for the homeless. One reporter in Portland described the "Occupy" organizers as idealistic kids that didn't anticipate the influx of homeless or the needs / priorities of that population.

I think the "Occupy" message is not being clearly or concisely communicated. And, I'm getting more than a little pissed off at their impact / disruption of mass transit and the cost to the taxpayers to restore the damage they are doing to our parks.

It's time to enforce the "no urban camping" restrictions and send these kids home. Rules and law are there for a purpose. They've been able to break them for 3 weeks and I'm getting tired of it.

[Lucky]

Well, excuse me. The banks ripped off the country and ruined the lives of multitudes, but far be it from us to protest it. The park that I saw was quite clean, and yes, I have hard that some homeless have moved in. Good for them. Now they can stay in clean and safe places, get medical care, and have something to eat. The way that the economy is going, these tent cities will multiply soon.

For those unscathed by the economic collapse, think of all of those folks who thought they were secure in their homes too. The worst of it may be yet to come.

Yet Wall Streeters continue to rip people off, the latest example being Jon Corzine, former governor of New Jersey. He ruined his company, yet was set up to get a $12 million severance when it was sold. You complain of these protesters, but let's hear about the corporate predators in their nice suits who go home at night to nice homes that they "earned" off the backs of Joe Citizen.

[KYTOP]

Well, excuse me. The banks ripped off the country and ruined the lives of multitudes, but far be it from us to protest it. The park that I saw was quite clean, and yes, I have hard that some homeless have moved in. Good for them. Now they can stay in clean and safe places, get medical care, and have something to eat. The way that the economy is going, these tent cities will multiply soon.

For those unscathed by the economic collapse, think of all of those folks who thought they were secure in their homes too. The worst of it may be yet to come.

Yet Wall Streeters continue to rip people off, the latest example being Jon Corzine, former governor of New Jersey. He ruined his company, yet was set up to get a $12 million severance when it was sold. You complain of these protesters, but let's hear about the corporate predators in their nice suits who go home at night to nice homes that they "earned" off the backs of Joe Citizen.

OK, as a Wall Street protester you would have a "reason" but when the media talks to them I NEVER hear what you are saying like you did from any of these people. I hear stuff all over the place, even saw one guy protesting for Communism and numerous wanting their college loans forgiven. NEVER hear a solution from anyone they have interviewed. So go protest, this is America and I defend anyone's right to protest (but not necessarily to occupy public or private space forever). But give some solutions also instead of bitching like a Tea Party person. So you and others don't like the banks, what is your solution? Maybe you can invite the homeless to your private property to occupy for a while? So what is YOUR solution since you have a protest issue?

The protest in my city stopped after the media quit covering it on the news every night. Even though the city gave them access to a city park across from City Hall to get them off a private plaza.

I want to protest all the people that do nothing but bitch and never offer a solution.

[Lucky]

You have a good point, KYTOP. I, too, would like to see a more unified and coherent protest. But the US Congress was given an opportunity to forge a solution in the form of the Dodd-Frank bill which allowed for multiple banking reforms. What we are getting instead is a watered down list of nothing. The committee assigned to delineate the reforms cannot do it. The banks are exercising their right to protest, and they are telling Congress no dice- don't you dare reform us. So how can the guys in the street be expected to come up with solutions when our own Congress cannot?

From politico.com: President Barack Obama signed the Dodd-Frank financial reform bill into law 15 months ago, saying he was anxious to put new rules of the road in place for Wall Street.

But federal agencies have blown about 77 percent of the rule-making deadlines for the massive overhaul, according to a recent progress report by the law firm Davis Polk — meaning key parts of the bill are far from implementation...GOP lawmakers also have introduced bills to repeal all or part of the 848-page Dodd-Frank law.

Read more: http://www.politico.com/news/stories/1011/67192.html#ixzz1cWJvkPNF

[KYTOP]

From politico.com: President Barack Obama signed the Dodd-Frank financial reform bill into law 15 months ago, saying he was anxious to put new rules of the road in place for Wall Street.

But federal agencies have blown about 77 percent of the rule-making deadlines for the massive overhaul, according to a recent progress report by the law firm Davis Polk — meaning key parts of the bill are far from implementation...GOP lawmakers also have introduced bills to repeal all or part of the 848-page Dodd-Frank law.

Read more: http://www.politico.com/news/stories/1011/67192.html#ixzz1cWJvkPNF

So if the Federal Agencies have blown 77% of the deadlines and this is the major issue, Why aren't they protesting outside the White House since the last time I checked The President was in charge of the Federal Agencies?

And as for Dodd and Frank, both of those guys were up to their necks in helping create this crisis with Dodd and Countryside and both protecting Fannie and Freddy. Why do you think Dodd didn't run for re-election?

[Guest hitoallusa]

A new form of society is needed and eventually will occur. Changes will come in one or another. What has happened we can't do anything about it but we need to forgive and move on. The protest are probably not effective in bringing any significant changes but it identifies problems that our current society faces. Good thing is a better world will come and we will evolve into a better society.

[Lucky]

Frank Rich, in a recent column in New York magazine on Occupy Wall Street, had this to say on Steve Jobs:

But while Romney is a class enemy liberals and conservatives can unite against, perhaps nothing has revealed how much the class warriors of the right and left of our time have in common than the national outpouring after Steve Jobs’s death. Indeed, the near-universal over-the-top emotional response—more commensurate with a saintly religious or civic leader, not a sometimes bullying captain of industry—brought Americans of all stripes together as few events have in recent memory.

Some on the right were baffled that the ostensible Marxists demonstrating in lower Manhattan would observe a moment of silence and assemble makeshift shrines for a top one-percenter like Jobs, whose expensive products were engineered for near-­instant obsolescence and produced by Chinese laborers in factories with substandard health-and-safety records. For heaven’s sake, the guy didn’t even join Warren Buffett and Bill Gates in their Giving Pledge. “There is perhaps no greater image of irony,” wrote the conservative blogger Michelle Malkin, “than that of anti-capitalist, anti-corporate, anti-materialist extremists of the Occupy Wall Street movement paying tribute to Steve Jobs.”

Of course, that's not all he has to say on Jobs, Occupy Wall Street, or the economy. Read the whole article for choice comments like this:

The anger of the class war across the spectrum seems fatalistic more than incendiary. No wonder. Everyone just assumes the fix is in for the highest bidder, no matter what. Take—please!—the latest bipartisan Beltway panacea: the congressional supercommittee charged by the president and GOP leaders to hammer out the deficit-reduction compromise they couldn’t do on their own. The Washington Post recently discovered that nearly 100 of the registered lobbyists no doubt charged with besieging the committee to protect the interests of the financial, defense, and health-care industries are former employees of its dozen members. Indeed, six of those members (three from each party) currently have former lobbyists on their staffs. nymag.com