It's offical. The protestors are getting stupider.

[TheBelgianGuy]

snip

A very well written statement, sir. I agree wholeheartedly with you on this.

 

[NinjaDeathSlap]

The 'story' behind the pepper spay thing was that these women had been backed into a corner and separated from the rest of the protesters. They were in no position to be a threat to anyone and even if they were they weren't trying anything. The Police then suddenly decide to pepper spray them both for no reason. I don't care if the effects go away after a while, pepper spray is nasty shit and I somehow doubt that you have ever felt it if you're so keen to shrug it off as nothing. They were causing two defenseless people intense pain just for kicks. That's not just Police brutality, that's torture.

Ehh. I'm not sure there is any support for that. First I think a bunch of things need to be ruled out first, e.x. misreading a situation, exhaustion, fear, anger. They all pretty much range from mistakes to flat out bad, but for fun is a different level.

Let's take it from the top. "Well, he kinda worked for it." Correction, some of them worked for it. There are just as many others, particularly in government and the banking sector, who got their jobs and their huge salaries not because they were the best qualified, not because they were the hardest worker, but because they had connections. They could attend the right parties, schmooze the right people, and drop the right names, while people more talented than them get to continue sitting on the scrap heap because they didn't get a leg-up. Believe me, there's nothing that annoys me more than laziness, but even I have to admit that when you're born in the wrong neighborhood it doesn't matter how talented or ambitious you are, you're always going to be the little guy; and because big business has such a hold on government policy, they get pretty much free reign to shit on the little guy as much as they like. The protesters are right, that isn't fair.

It may not be fair, but for a private company, it isn't the public's business either. As you did point out, government or government contracting does change things.

"They may have started it but everybody contributed to it". Yes, the culture of a 'buy now, pay later' economy existed on all levels of society. People borrowed and overspent for the sake of short term benefit without thinking about long-term implications. The financial crisis shouldn't have been a shock, it had been coming for a while and so no particular entity can hold all of the blame. However, you have to ask yourself, 'Who were the big players in propping up this system?'

Fair.

'Who could have warned people to change in order to avoid this, but instead chose to bury their heads in the sand rather than give up their short-term profits?' The answer is certainly the big banks, and to a lesser extent the government. We all had a part in steering that ship, but they were on the bridge, telling us where to go, and now we have to take action to make sure they can't be allowed to have that level of control anymore.

I think that absolves the populace a bit too much. If we elect people who promise increases to government assistance/reduced taxes and don't elect people who want to shrink the debt, it shouldn't be a surprise when the debt grows larger.

While I'm not saying they should be absolved completely, the most you can really blame the populace for is being gullible and short-sighted, which isn't exactly a crime. It's the politicians, and particularly the bankers and tycoons, who carry the real guilt. The were the ones who lied and made corrupt decisions out of nothing but pure greed and contempt for their fellow man, the worst the public ever did was believe them when they said they had their best interests at heart.

 

[dangoball]

As I always say: money and measuring time are the two biggest idiocies humans ever invented. Lets just go back to barter, k?
Who em I kidding... As long as there is something shiny, who's gonna care it's shit in disguise?

 

[cookyy2k]

snip

While I'm not saying they should be absolved completely, the most you can really blame the populace for is being gullible and short-sighted, which isn't exactly a crime. It's the politicians, and particularly the bankers and tycoons, who carry the real guilt. The were the ones who lied and made corrupt decisions out of nothing but pure greed and contempt for their fellow man, the worst the public ever did was believe them when they said they had their best interests at heart.

The general populous was stupid and greedy, as you'd expect taking loans and mortgages they simply couldn't afford. I don't know about the US but in the UK a big problem was so many people lied on mortgage applications to make it appear like they could afford it. Many did just think they would be fine and others knew full well what they were doing. They scraped by just fine when the going was good, but when a problem came along that's when all the toxic mortgage thing hit the fan.

 

[Yopaz]

http://www.cnbc.com/id/44800021/

People keep bitching about police brutality that isn't even happening. Maybe the police actually do need to start beating some sense into these people.

People are stupid, thus police brutality doesn't exist?
We should ignore the flaws of the hand of the government because there are flaws within a group of people?
We should ignore injustice and taking away freedom because freedom will only cause our own demise?
I'm not following your reasoning here...

 

[Zoe Castillo]

---

 

[Fusioncode9]

Ah, yes, because a group of imbeciles completely represents tens of thousands of people, right?

Try again. Without the lies, if you would.

According to their page, 40,333 people (so far) will be participating in this. Try again.

40,333 people SAY they're going to participate in this, only about 10% of them will.

 

[ScreamingNinja]

The whole occupy wall street is the dumbest shit.
"That guy has more money than me, it's not fair!" well he kinda worked for it.
"They are the ones that ruined the economy" well not really they may have started it but everybody contributed to it.

Yet alot of the time, these people don't 'work' for their money. They basically shaft other people out of theirs. Congrats, you 'worked' your way to the top! (And by top, it's mostly brown nosing and sucking up to everyone) And now that you're up there, clearly your job allows you to earn millions of dollars! As opposed to a Doctor or cop or someone who actually helps the world.

So I say, fuck it. The world, if it's going to stay with using money, needs to go back to the whole Gold/Silver Standard. Not magical money that's not there any more. And everyone who just trades stocks? Fuck that, go get a real job that helps the world out, you lazy bastards.

 

[AlphaEcho]

I love how the OP actually knows what he is talking about, then everyone runs in going 'LOLZ YOU AR PRICK POHWICE R EBIL!!!!!!!!!'

 

[Khallios]

You guys need to stop worrying about the economy and start worrying about Winter.

You won't be crying about banks when the whitewalkers storm the cities.

Aye, the Night's Watch is dangerously low on men, a war between the North and South ravages the land, and the Hillmen march.

Winter is coming.

 

[Tanakh]

The thing is, the only reason 'bust' follows 'boom' in global economics is because we never learn are bloody lesson. We keep on building huge economic booms on corrupt practices that we should know full well are going to fail in the long term. If we just went back to the drawing board, and tried to build a system that is fairer and more transparent than the current one, economic growth may be slower, but it will be so much more stable, and scene's like this may never be seen again.

Hehe, you are funny. Of course we have learn from previous lessons, people have been swindling their fellow humans with fake assets since financial instruments were established, and look at the last couple of great crisis, the guys who implemented them had huge profits, no legal responsibility, they didn't even lost credit in the public eye, how much better can they be?

 

[StrixMaxima]

No matter how you look at it, blaming the protesters over the banks is a fallacy. There is simply no way to do this with any known logic line pertaining this dimension.

Also, the fearmongering used by the OP is quite amusing, and shows a complete lack of understanding on why the Great Depression occurred, as well as the financial mechanisms regarding it.

Sometimes Wikipedia won't cut it.

 

[ScreamingNinja]

Clegane]

SNIP

The Wall Street protesters are stupid anyway. hey don't have a clue how the economy works, they don't have a clue what they're arguing for, their just a bunch of idiots with too much spare time. There's a brilliant photo of a protester holding up a "Down with corporations sign" While he is texting on his iphone, wearing oakleys sunglasses and designer clothes. What an idiot.

The most annoying ones are the ones who think the rest of the world support them. I saw one sign that read "London is rising with us." Lol, no it isn't.

Because if you want a change in the way the world works, you're not allowed to wear/use the toys that corporations make, amirite?

HEY YOU! YOU DON'T LIKE CAPITALISM! YOU HAVE TO WEAR CLOTHING YOU MADE YOURSELF OUT OF FLAX! YOU CANNOT DRIVE! YOU MUST WALK EVERYWHERE, BAREFOOT!

Sorry, doesn't work that way.

 

[cookyy2k]

I love how the OP actually knows what he is talking about, then everyone runs in going 'LOLZ YOU AR PRICK POHWICE R EBIL!!!!!!!!!'

yeah, is a usual internet reaction to such a situation.

 

[ScreamingNinja]

http://www.cnbc.com/id/44800021/

So, a group of the Occupy Wall Street protestors decided, 'Hey. Let's make a Bank Run!' (For those who don't know what that is, it's when a bunch of people go to withdraw their money at the same time with the purpose of causing the bank to crash. This happens because the banks don't actually have large amounts of money in them. When you put money in the bank, they loan that money out to other people.)

When this happens on a wide scale, it's called a bank panic. Know what happened the last time a bank panic occurred? The Great Depression. And no, that wasn't coincidental. The bank panic directly caused the Great Depression because everyone attempting to withdraw money that didn't exist caused the economy to completely collapse. Which leads me to my point-

Crashing the economy would mean that the 99% will be the only ones who suffer. The people with obscene amounts of money will just ride through the inevitable rampant inflation like nothing happened while everyone else loses everything because they can't afford $1,000 loafs of bread.

People keep bitching about police brutality that isn't even happening. Maybe the police actually do need to start beating some sense into these people.

first off, the plan was to remove their money from the main banks, then invest it into smaller community banks that are not corporations in disguise.

The mere act of people withdrawing such sums from their banks proves they no longer have faith in the banks. Community Banks on the other end, Banks that have no affiliation with the major ones, would thrive.

Please, before you start shouting how "retarded" people are, you would do well to make a solid argument in the first place.


Secondly:





Police brutality not happening?

Truth, it offends you, yeah?

Yeah, see, I got no problem with the Cops chucking people on the ground to arrest them. But when you end up yanking them by the hair, THROUGH the barrier they've put up to stop people getting through, so they can be chucked on the ground and arrested.. That shit's too far. O_O

 

[Assassin Xaero]

Ok, so I guess I completely missed the point of this thread with the opinion-based looking description of the cause of the great depression. People withdrew money from the bank to try and get them to run out of money? And people taking money own of banks didn't cause the great depression. There were a number of things that caused it, and that most likely just made it worse.

 

[bue519]

It's like human reponses are scripted. Protestors are argued for, against, the inherent failures of both sides are explained in great detail and whilst you're busying going "I'm right because of this" it just goes on.
Perhaps your time would be better served at looking why the situation is going whatever way and how you might steer it in such a way that progress might be achieved?

Shut up hippie!
Just kidding, your way makes the most sense but people don't usually come to the internet to have an informed discussion. Civility is for nerds.

 

[Da Orky Man]

How am I giving the police a bad name? The only thing I'm pointing out is that it isn't as one-sided as people think. If someone punches a police officer, they have a right to defend themselves, with pepper spray or without. 'Police brutality' is exceedingly rare.

No one is saying they don?t have the right to defend themselves but what they aren?t allowed to do is attack people without provocation and reason. And if you really think that cases of police brutality are rare all you need to do is look on google or even just here on the escapist we have plenty of threads . people are getting hit , pepper sprayed and even run over by motorcycles ???

As for why I think you shouldn?t be a cop. as someone who was part of the army police force ( for a short while) I can tell you that (at least here) you are only allowed to use minimal force ( just slightly above the person who is attacking you. just enough to stop him nothing else ) and you are only allowed to use force if the attack was meant to harm you . so when it comes to ground control in protests you are expected to understand that sometimes you may be struck by accident and are not allowed to start randomly hitting people because some guy bumped into you

The few cases of actual police brutality we see are few and far between. They're incredibly rare here in the UK. Even with hyperactive media and the recent-ish London Riots we only saw about three cases appear. At least two of those were later repealed after the video footage was actually seen. This was during a violent protest with thousands of police being called to London, at least tens of thousands of protesters.
However, I don't know the figures where you live, Israel, if your profile is to be believed.

If someone does indeed punch you, then pepper spray is of suitable use. It temporarily blinds you so they can't hit you again. If anything, a retaliatory punch intended to prevent them from hitting you again is much more dangerous. In the heat of a protest, you can't realistically tell the difference between an accidental shove and an actual punch.

 

[Lilani]

-snip-

I just went to a university computer lab located in the downtown sector of my city, and I saw a Guy Fawkes mask outline with the word "OCCUPY" below it spray-painted on the ground just before you enter the building. Needless to say, my respect for this whole occupy movement is quickly slipping away. I understand the point they started out trying to make, but like the riots in London, the bulk of their supporters are forgetting their original mission and rules of engagement. They seem to be very against having a central hierarchy to answer to, trying to uphold their "by the people, for the people" stance, but if they want to get anything done and be taken seriously they're going to have to take themselves seriously and get some leadership in order.

 

[Zoe Castillo]

====