Wednesday, October 19, 2011

Occupy Wall Street : "What's it all about?"

in a nutshell


I've posted this before. This is what the teaparty is angry about (but don't realize it),
too. It's what everyone should be angry about. 

It's About an Economy that has Screwed the Middle Class and Poor for 30 years. It's About a Political System that has been Corrupted by Big Money Controlling Policy

It's the Unequal and Unfair Economy
It's the Corrupted Politics, Oiled by Money
Who's it All About?
Right-Wing Criticisms of Occupy Wall St.
CLASS WARFARE! You're hurting the 1%'s feelings! (11/2/2011)

"Mainstream" Skepticism of Occupy Wall St.
  • Echoes, with less vitriol and more sincere confusion/wait-n-see-ism, the politically motivated knee-jerk criticism by the right wing, e.g, the message is vague, a bunch of hippies (see 10/19/11 The Daily Show segment with John Oliver)
  • For more thoughts on how the "Normals" in the Suburbs can Occupy without camping, and without having to join a drum circle, see #OccupyBoston and the 99% 
Who's supporting Occupy? (polls, public opinion)
The Media and #Occupy
What's Next for #Occupy
Commentary on Income Inequality/Wealth Gap, from the Right
More Reading

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3 comments:

  1. MargaretOctober 21, 2011 at 10:48 AM

    Great compilation! However, I disagree that the graphs represent what the teaparty is upset about. They are furious about TARP, about ANY talk of mortgage relief or assistance for underwater/foreclosure mortgage holders. And they are furious that 43% pay "no taxes." I just heard that cited at the Lynch townhall - actually, the person said she read in the WALL STREET JOURNAL that 50% of Americans pay no taxes. so, wrong on 2 fronts - it's 43%, not 50, but more importantly they pay no Federal income taxes, etc, but of course, they pay taxes – payroll taxes, property tax, sales tax, etc etc. Anyway, I get no sense that the teapary crew is upset by increasing inequality. They are upset by “out of control Government spending.” Basically, in 2008, the elite business interests/Republicans were very quick on their feet and managed to get what could have been anger at Wall st., big banks, financial shenanigans, morphed into anger at government and the teaparty was born.

    Now, finally, the Occupy protests are taking the opposite approach – anger at Wall St., at income inequality, etc. Of course, Occupy Wall St. has complaints about govt – about how money stacks the deck, etc. But the Occupy complaint, so far as I’ve heard, is not about government spending and the need to slash the social safety net. I view the 2 groups as diametrically opposed.

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  2. HarmonyOctober 22, 2011 at 4:11 PM

    Hi Margaret, thanks for responding. You make really important points/distinctions in response to my comment (in the caption of the graph above) that the sucky economy is the reason why the Teaparty is angry, too.

    I 100% agree with you that they are diametrically opposed in terms of what actions they want to see in our political and economic system.

    I guess I think that the "REAL" reason why there's been such an undercurrent of anger and unease and fear in the country these last few years (teaparty) is because it's the economy stupid.

    In other words, I think that the unstable economic conditions of most of America can be manifested productively (reform Wall Street and increase oversight and seek cultural re-assessment of priorities; why DO execs make 36x their employees?) or unproductively (getting mad at a teacher's pension, wanting to fully dismantle the safety nets of Medicare and Social Security, etc).

    Trust me I don't think that Teaparty has been particularly productive. But I do think, and have been saying all along, that they have a REASON to be angry... They're just angry at the wrong things.

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  3. HarmonyOctober 29, 2011 at 10:57 AM

    Because this is a discussion that is on-going, I'm just gonna cut/paste some things I wrote about "They need to get on to specifics" on a discussion thread at Occupy Burbs on FB:

    "there needs to be a "next phase" but do not assume that's not already happening! It's what we're doing here/now. I just want to push back against the idea that we should not try to sustain and support the actual Encampments (I really think they are CRUCIAL to leverage real change) or push "The Movement" to declare specific policies... Once that happens, I believe the media and some supporters will start dropping off, focusing on how to criticize those policies. Better IMO to declare a small set of centrall principles/goals, and have groups like us tactically shift towards working on policies that will fix them. (And this is, by the way, something a lot of organizations have been doing for years).

    To me it's 3-4 central things:
    1) We should have a fair economy that works for more than 1%
    2) We should have a clean politics, w/o the warping and distortions of MONEY
    3) We should approach our Resources --the earth, people!-- as precious and make the above changes in a way to conserve and sustain them long term
    4) The "system" should not be rigged (and it is, see 1,2); when people/institutions cheat, there should be Real accountability. "

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