What are these people bitching about?

[Irridium]

People hate the fact that the billionars who are the reason of the current recession get to keep all their money while everyone else gets fucked.

Spoiler: Basically, things like this.

The general idea I can get behind. The fact that the people who are the cause of the recession got to keep their billions and even profited on it while everyone else got fucked is pretty fucked up. Quite a few of the people protesting seem to be pricks though.

 

[Caverat]

Every so often there needs to be something for large numbers of born-into-privileged-society(Western World) people to ***** and moan about. Since the civil rights movement, there hasn't been anything of any substance, so every so often folk get together for the single purpose of being heard. This happens to just be the latest thing. 5 years from now no one will remember what these folk were there for (If anyone even knows now), if they remember the events at all.

 

[lobster1077]

They're trying to recreate the plot of Deus Ex 1, splitting up the top 1 percent's money with everyone. I'm telling ya Deus Ex is more effective at predicting the future than a bus full of fortune-tellers.

 

[Sectan]

Corporations say they need tax cuts to have enough money to create jobs, while they're outsourcing most of their labor for cheaper production. Can't have your cake and eat it too. Also a lot of big companies are asking for a tax holiday so they can bring in trillions of dollars without having to pay taxes on it.

 

[lobster1077]

People hate the fact that the billionars who are the reason of the current recession get to keep all their money while everyone else gets fucked.

Spoiler: Basically, things like this.

.

I love how proud she is of her placard.

 

[THAC0]

in case you are interested, here is their "official" decoration.

http://www.care2.com/causes/occupy-wall-street-issues-first-official-declaration.html

 

[FunKing]

They are hippies. Dirty, whiney, pathetic hippies who expect the rich to pay for them.
I have zero respect for any of them. So they are not part of the 1%, whose fucking fault is that? They had the same chances, they did not go for it so they have no right to whine.

Besides, they piss me off talking about how bad they have it while they have food, clean water, homes, medicines and many luxuries people in other countries could not possibly dream of.

But I guess that saying "We are the lower 99% of the top 25%[footnote]Rough estimate of living standards of everyone around the world.[/footnote] of the worlds population!" just does not have the same ring to it. But then whiney peoples complaints rarely do when you phrase it correctly.

Basically they are pissed off that the top 1% is much much richer than they are while ignoring that they are much much richer than 75% of the worlds population.

I hope you're joking. Because there's no way in hell they had the same chances as all the 1%. That's like... a fundamental ignorance of how things work. Having rich parents opens opportunities. Who you know. The quality of the education you received when younger. More time. More money to actually start a business with or the like.

It's not some kind of magical coincidence that the kids of rich people tend to have money too. Or do you really think, say, Paris Hilton is amazingly talented?

very well said

 

[Jegsimmons]

its basically just haters.

and we all know what haters are gonna do.

their gonna march and protest about stuff they don't understand and couldn't write a one page paper about.

 

[Westaway]

The participants are mainly protesting social and economic inequality, corporate greed, as well as the power and influence of corporations, particularly from the financial service sector, and lobbyists over government.

That. Corruption, not debt, not whinging, not your stupid right wing fucking fantasies, it's a protest about the corruption of governments and said government being in the pocket of big business. Denying this is like denying the earth is round. Anything else while im here? Or have the tea party chimpanzees gone?

Thank God you came, I thought I was the last liberal on the Escapist!
Jokes aside, although I may be a 15 year old Canadian boy with a 65% average and who hasn't kept up with the news for a month due Dark Souls, I don't think this thing is only bitching hippies. Maybe if it were 100 of em, but there are thousands! Although their answers may be different, that all feel like they belong there, and they probably DO have something to complain about.

 

[neurohazzard]

They are protesting the system in it's entirety. Not just the economic system, or the political system, or the system in any one country or group of countries, but the global meta system that has allowed %1 of the planets population to amass %99 of it's wealth. They're protesting not just for themselves, but for the fate of the planet and everyone on it. That's why it's hard to sum up or even understand what they're protesting, because it's so large it doesn't all fit into one's mind at once.

 

[Canadamus Prime]

If I understand the situation correctly, it's all about the whole rich getting richer, poor getting poorer thing.

 

[ReincarnatedFTP]

Well the main thing from a moderate point of view would be that we repealed and need to bring back Glass Steagall act, which separated investment and commercial banks, thus curbing the consequences of extreme greed. The main drive behind our current economic woes is deregulation. Booms and busts are normal in capitalism, but it's dragging out because since 1970 wages for the middle and upper class have stagnated while their productivity has increased. The average American worker today works harder for less pay then in past decades. Meanwhile, ever since Reagan's election, the wealthy have gone into super-class warfare mode for "trickle down economics" that widened the wealth gap.

To me it seems the main items are this:
THE STATE (AND STATES AROUND THE WORLD) ARE BEING BOUGHT AND SOLD AS CAPITAL ESSENTIALLY BY CORPORATIONS. PRIVATE WEALTHY HANDS ARE INCREASINGLY TAKING DEMOCRACY AWAY FROM THE PEOPLE IN THE NAME OF AUSTERITY AND "SOCIALIZE THE LOSSES PRIVATIZE THE PROFITS" (I.E. "WE FAIL YOU BAIL US OUT WITH TAXPAYER MONEY AND THEN WE DEMAND THE MIDDLE AND POOR SACRIFICE WHILE WE GIVE OURSELVES RAISES").

AMERICA NEEDS TO EARN THE TITLE OF "FIRST WORLD NATION" BY ACTUALLY ACTING LIKE ONE. GETTING UHC, UNIVERSAL EDUCATION, AND FAIR COMPENSATION IN TERMS OF LABOR LAWS/WAGES.

1% OF THE POPULATION (WHICH IS WHY WE ARE THE 99%) OWNS MORE WEALTH THAN THE REMAINING 99% AND THE STRATIFICATION IS ONLY GROWING WORSE.

However as an anarchist, I'm more in favor of this movement for the processes its organized by and the way it motivates people to direct action. "Small-government conservatives" and "libertarians" are authoritarians. They are expressly interested in slashing away at the foundations of democracy and the ability of the government to effectively execute the will of the people in any way, while maintaining and expanding the organs of state violence. In other words, they want a government that is expressly and only empowered to act as an enforcement arm for the capitalist class. The occupations are building a truly democratic and egalitarian system, and, surprise of surprises, it looks very much like what anarchists have been talking about for a long time. I never thought I'd see it and I've rarely been happier to be wrong.

The State and Capital have always worked hand in hand, and State "Socialism" is no better. I'm an anarcho-socialist that detests revolutionary Marxists and authoritarian communists for their vanguard attitude and belief in a need for hierarchy to end up with no hierarchy.

The truth is the 1% have fucked us in so many ways from so many angles its hard to have a coherent focused stance. But the main problem is the financial sector and the huge wealth disparity all the while a few tax raises or enforcing regulations is called "class warfare" while it's practiced through the violence of police and in the name of "austerity".

 

[Versuvius]

The participants are mainly protesting social and economic inequality, corporate greed, as well as the power and influence of corporations, particularly from the financial service sector, and lobbyists over government.

That. Corruption, not debt, not whinging, not your stupid right wing fucking fantasies, it's a protest about the corruption of governments and said government being in the pocket of big business. Denying this is like denying the earth is round. Anything else while im here? Or have the tea party chimpanzees gone?

Thank God you came, I thought I was the last liberal on the Escapist!
Jokes aside, although I may be a 15 year old Canadian boy with a 65% average and who hasn't kept up with the news for a month due Dark Souls, I don't think this thing is only bitching hippies. Maybe if it were 100 of em, but there are thousands! Although their answers may be different, that all feel like they belong there, and they probably DO have something to complain about.

Not sure what i am. English, think the liberals are too wishy washy and the conservatives too stuck up their own upper class arses (or in america, FUCK THE ECONOMY JESUS IS COMIN REAL SOON) to know what the fuck is going on. If you haven't been made redundant or crippled by taxes and bills you are incredibly lucky. Know what the current statistics in the UK are? half a million jobs, a million students unemployed. Do the math. Oh did i mention 3000 jobs were lost in the past year in my town a alone because of firms and companies going bust? Wanna say "shut up baby?" go ahead. You know who's the big childish fuckhole? I will let you take a guess. Rant over, no that wasn't directed at you will i'm just getting annoyed by calous retards posting in the thread just to annoy me.

 

[dangitall]

I live in the Vancouver area, and the newspaper I've read states: 'The protesters claim they will not leave the area of the Vancouver art gallery unless "change happens".'
I'm guessing it's just stupid people with too much free time loafing together so it looks like they're actually doing something.

 

[BeerTent]

Ugh wow ok the 1% of the population pretty much controls the entire government and 42% of the world's wealth, while the 99% of the rest of the world control nothing and barely fight over whats left of the wealth.

It's basically civil unrest because the economy is going down, jobs keep becoming lost or shipped over seas, taxes keep going up along with the price of food, gas, clothes everything else you'd need.

with while how bad everyone in the world is doing, and debt keeps piling up, government decide to let things like banks not pay their taxes, give companies big bail outs that are suppose to go to more jobs but go to bonuses instead, while we end up paying for these tax breaks and bail outs to cover us.

and last but not least, if you don't have 250k, you can't buy a lobbyist to say what you want for the government.

These people are a group of people that believe that enough pissed off people can get together, that they can change something. and while everyone tends to have their own message, they are all doing it together.

So get out there and join them if your pissed off at the government, or afraid you might lose your job, or think something else in unfair that you don't have a say anymore in the country you live in.

If this is really what they want, then they're doing it completely wrong. Seriously, I thought they were pro-anarchy after someone told me it wasn't a joke/art show. (I saw them the night of Nocturn, Halifax's city-wide art show) You really, and truly have the best statement regarding what these people are trying to accomplish.

It's a shame they're all fucking idiots.

 

[Jodah]

They are pissed about the economy and instead of going after the root cause they decided to screw around and protest.

 

[Tommeh Brownleh]

I think legendary hero Captain Obvious would like to butt in here: *ahem* None of them know what the hell they're trying to stop. They are probably just there because they have nothing better to do or they were bribed.

 

[lacktheknack]

People hate the fact that the billionars who are the reason of the current recession get to keep all their money while everyone else gets fucked.

Spoiler: Basically, things like this.

The general idea I can get behind. The fact that the people who are the cause of the recession got to keep their billions and even profited on it while everyone else got fucked is pretty fucked up. Quite a few of the people protesting seem to be pricks though.

If only the protesters actually put effort into their signs like that. Maybe I'd take them seriously.

 

[chowderface]

I think legendary hero Captain Obvious would like to butt in here: *ahem* None of them know what the hell they're trying to stop. They are probably just there because they have nothing better to do or they were bribed.

Not quite. ReincarnatedFTP has the clearest picture of why they're protesting. The main problem is that they have a lot of reasons to be protesting, but they can't seem to agree on which one they're focusing on at the moment, which makes them look (and I'm sure you'll find this a shock) unfocused and vague, and not really sure what they're protesting.

The other problem is that, as I've seen pointed out in one or two places, Wall Street is the wrong place to occupy for this protest; Wall Street is as much a victim of what they're protesting as they are, and they should be occupying places that'll put pressure on legislators.

 

[NiPah]

So I'm just wondering what exactly the people on Wall Street are bitching about, from what I've heard it's mostly people who don't have jobs who have nothing better to do or people who DO have jobs bitching about there being no jobs and that it's all just a waste of time. Could someone explain this whole mess to me?

I can't speak for everyone, but from what I've gathered, they are pissed that the government gave money to the banks which then went on to foreclose on record amounts of homes leaving huge amounts of people homeless. They are pissed that our government gives tax breaks and incentives to huge corporations who then take jobs overseas and put Americans out of work. They are pissed that the top 1% make more money than god, but pay the lowest amount of taxes for the Rich we?ve seen since the first great depression. They are pissed that lobby and special interest groups hold so much power that Congress cares more about what Koch and Cisco wants instead of what the American citizen wants.

The middle class work force has been annihilated, jobs have been moved overseas in the name of company profit and structural mobility. We exist in a world where people who should be retired after working 50 years as a mid level manager are now having to work in the service industry to live paycheck to paycheck, hell you?re competing for a job at Burger King with the recently widowed 60 year old Buick executive.

Most likely if you?re posting on this forum you are young and technically savvy; yes you most likely will find a job in the service industry if you pass out a few applications. These demonstrators are fighting for something a little more, unless you?re not expecting to move beyond the service industry or line worker.