Category Archives: Occupy Wall Street

Occupy Wall Street, Obama, The American Jobs Act, Veterans & Patriots

The same way that they filibustered the The American Jobs Act of 2011, Senate Republicans filibustered the Veterans Jobs Corps Act of 2012. According to the Examiner, here,

the proposal failed 58-40, with most Republicans voting against it. Sixty votes were needed to overcome the procedural hurdle and push the bill toward final passage. Five Republicans – Sens. Scott Brown (Mass.), Susan Collins (Maine), Dean Heller (Nev.), Lisa Murkowski (Alaska) and Olympia Snowe (Maine) – voted with all 53 members of the Democratic Conference to sidestep the procedural roadblock.

I know the Republicans CLAIM to be “Fiscal Conservatives” and “Patriots” but the evidence shows that they are neither.
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Occupy Wall Street – On Taxes

Woman Dancing on the Bull

“Taxes are the price we pay for civilization.” – Oliver Wendell Holmes.

Progressive tax structures are not about punishing the rich. They are a recognition that wealthy people – like everyone else – derive benefits from being in society. Warren Buffett, Steve Jobs, Bill Gates, Michael Jordan, Oprah, for example, got rich because people buy their products or watched them play basketball or on TV.  Paris Hilton is wealthy because her great-grandfather built a successful business. Their successes are wonderful. But their success should not require me to subsidize their lifestyles.

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Occupy Wall Street – On Energy

Woman Dancing on the Bull

Monday, Sept. 17, was the First Anniversary of the “Occupy Wall Street” protests.

The protesters at Occupy are/were demonstrating against the current economic system and to make “Fracking” illegal.  (See “Stop Spectra: Resist Fracking in NYC” or “City Limits, Occupy Wall Street, Opposes Fracking“) Energy Policy and Economics … the intersection of energy and economics in the bio-humanosphere – the memes we knit together at Popular Logistics.

My coverage of Occupy Wall Street started on Sept. 22, 2011, with “Protesting Marked Cards and a Stacked Deck.” Quoting Mr. Buffett’s op-ed in the NY Times, “Stop Coddling the Super-Rich,” and citing President Obama’s statement about the American Jobs Act, explained on White House . gov and Talking Points Memo, which Senate Republicans subsequently filibustered, I called for repeal of the “Bush Tax Cuts” on the wealthy, and for passage of Obama’s American Jobs, the so-called Buffett Rule.

I concluded,

Tax policy must be linked to fiscal policy. What we are doing today, Obama, Buffett, and the protesters would say, is using tax policy to make rich people more rich…. we should use tax policy to develop infrastructure… to build a 40 kilowatt photovoltaic solar array on each of the 92,000 public schools in the United States…. This would use tax revenues to pay for infrastructure upgrade – and tax revenues pay public schools electric bills. PV Solar systems provide energy without pollution, without toxic wastes, without greenhouse gases. And in the event of an emergency, if disconnected from the grid, we would have a network of 92,000 local emergency shelters with power during the day, when the sun is shining.

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Co-Ops 102: Credit Unions

“Not for profit, not for charity, but for service.”

– Credit Union motto

“The National Bank at a profit sells road maps for the soul to the old folks home and the college.”

–   Bob Dylan, “Tombstone Blues”

Graph showing deposits of top 20 credit unions and top four banks in the US

Back in 2010, over 9,000 credit unions in the United States had over $500 Billion in deposits. In November, 2011, the top 20 credit unions had $149 Billion in deposits, while Chase, Bank of America, Wells Fargo, and Citibank, the four largest U.S. banks, had over $4.0 trillion. However, as of the end of the first quarter, 2012, credit unions had over $1.0 trillion in deposits – their deposits doubled since 2010.  What happened?

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NYPD Shield Assessment for Occupy Wall St, Nov 17

NYPD SHIELD Countering Terrorism through Information Sharing| |Follow LJF97 on Twitter Tweet |NYPD Shield, NYPD Counterterrorism Bureau, Terrorism Threat Analysis Group, “Countering Terrorism Through Information Sharing” sent me an email:

RE: NYPD SHIELD – Plans for All-Day “Mass Non-Violent Direct Action” On November 17th, 2011

Demonstrations are scheduled to take place in multiple locations throughout the five boroughs of New York City on Thursday, November 17th, 2011.  To view a copy of our assessment containing information regarding these demonstrations, please log into our website at secure.nypdshield.org and click on the Plans for All-Day “Mass Non-Violent Direct Action” On November 17th, 2011 PDF file under “Features.”

Regards,

NYPD SHIELD

I logged in. Downloaded the PDF. Here’s the text of the assessment:

Plans for All-Day “Mass Non-Violent Direct Action” on November 17th

Executive Summary

Demonstrations are scheduled to take place in multiple locations throughout the five boroughs of New York City on Thursday, November 17th.

Stated locations for mass demonstrations include the New York Stock Exchange and Foley Square.

Goals of the demonstrations include occupying subway trains, bridges in New York City, and Foley Square.

Advertisements for the demonstrations are being disseminated on various websites, online forums, social media groups, and blogs associated with the hacking group Anonymous, and the event has already received coverage in mainstream media sources.

Background

Recently, posts appeared on websites associated with groups engaged in protests in New York City and other cities announcing all-day citywide public demonstrations opn Thursday, November 17th. The demonstrations, labeled the day of Mass Non-Violent Direct Action!, are being heavily publicized and have three goals: 1) Shut Down Wall Street; 2) Occupy the Subways; and 3) Take The Square (referring to Foley Square). Organizers of the planned demonstration hope that many thousands of people will participate.  Although the planned demonstrations call for non-violent direct action, in recent weeks protests in other cities in the United States and Europe have led to riots, clashes with law enforcement, physical assaults, and property damage.

Schedule of Public Actions on November 17th

  • Shut Down Wall Street
    • Time: 7:00 AM
    • Location: New York Stock Exchange, Lower Manhattan
    • Description: This demonstration is planned to begin at Zuccotti Park and lead to a mass-gathering in front of the New York Stock Exchange prior to the opening bell of the market.
  • Occupy the Subways
    • Time: 3:00 PM
    • Description: This demonstration is planned to involve multiple groups protesting on subway platforms and trains.
  • Take The Square
    • Time: 5:00 PM
    • Location: Foley Square, Lower Manhattan
    • Description: This demonstration is planned to follow Occupy the Subways and to involve large groups gathering and then marching to “the bridges.”

I agree with the many of the Occupiers, and with members of the Tea Party, that there are profound systemic challenges facing the United States, and humanity; however, the goals noted above, along with Tea Party solutions as enunciated by Michele Bachmann, Sarah Palin, Rick Perry, Paul Ryan, etc., are patently absurd.  While the Tea Party can shut down the Federal Government – many are members of Congress – the Occupiers cannot “Shut Down Wall Street.” They are unarmed. They wear t-shirts, sweat-shirts, and jeans. The NYPD officers surrounding Zuccotti Park are heavily armed and wear riot gear. Similarly, based on my personal observations and my reading news accounts, primarily in the NY Times and the San Francisco Chronicle, it seems that most of the physical assaults and much of the property damage described in the analysis portion of NYPD Shield’s “Threat Assessment” was committed by members of the police and directed against the protesters; including, for example, clearing Zuccotti Park and destroying the property of the occupiers, beginning 1:30 AM local time, Tuesday, November 15. (Note comment 19, to the NY Times Editorial “The Mayor Confronts the Occupiers“. The Mayor DIDN’T confront the occupiers. The Mayor sent in the police who arrested many and destroyed whatever property was left.)

Having said that, I must note that the writers and editors of Popular Logistics are not associated with the hacking group “Anonymous.”  And I also would like to respectfully point out that NYPD Shield is, ironically, one of the “online forums, social media groups, and blogs” that is disseminating information – essentially advertising – the demonstrations. (Obviously, Popular Logistics is another.)

NYPD_Shield.Assessment.Mass_Nonviolent_Direct_Action_11_17_2011

Occupy Wall Street – Stay Awake – Save The Baby

Occupy Wall Street, OWS

| |Follow LJF97 on Twitter Tweet |  In ending the camp-out phase of Occupy Wall Street, Mayor Brookfield and Judge Stallman did the Occupy movement a favor.  The Occupiers can claim victory. Now they can focus on delivering the message –
  • Economic Democracy – We must build sustainable economic systems which recognize that Earth is a stakeholder, that economic activity must be in harmony with earth / the biosphere.
  • We May Occupy Wall Street – But No Sleeping and Banksters need Watchin’ – You can’t shut your eyes when the “Banksters” are in town – there must be strong regulations such as those both presidents Roosevelt put in place to regulate the railroads (Theodore) and the financial industry (Franklin).
  • Dismantle the Revolving Doors between Wall Street and Washington (And City Hall)!

And do so without worrying about the logistics problems of food, water, shelter, sanitation, medical care, all of which are important – they are, after all, why they are there.

Mayor Brookfield threw out the bath. Let’s save the baby!

See also –

It's The Feedback – It's Always The Feedback

NYPD Interacts WithProtester  Follow LJF97 on Twitter Tweet On Nov 2, 2011, Senator Tom Udall of New Mexico introduced a Constitutional Amendment that would overturn the Citizens United decision of the Supreme Court (Technorati / WSJ).

The managers of Bank of America, who accepted $45 billion in TARP money, and decided to pay back its customers with a $5 per month fee for the privilege of holding a debit card, recently recently decided to reverse course on the fee for debit cards ( CBS Miami /Oregon Live).

Meanwhile, back on the streets, the authorities appear to believe that a show of force and the use of force by the police will quell the demonstrations. Yet the opposite is the case. As the cops overreact – pepper spraying 4 women in NYC (NY Times / YouTube), running over a lawyer for the Occupiers (CBS / Daily Mail / Salon / Yahoo) people get angrier and join the Occupation – causing the police to either moderate or escalate their response.

The Plot to Sieze the White HouseAfter a US Marine Corps veteran of the Iraq war was injured in Oakland other veterans come to occupations all over the country. They came quoting Smedley Darlington Butler, the Marine Corps General who wrote “War is a Racket,” ISBN: 978-1434407009, and figured in the events described in “The Plot to Seize The White House,” by Jules Archer, ISBN: 978-1602390362.

These are examples of balancing feedback loops, as described by Dana Meadows in Thinking in Systems, A Primer, ISBN: 978-1603580557. (A researcher with Jay Forrester at MIT and Dartmouth, Meadows founded the Sustainability Institute.)

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Occupy Wall Street Is News Fit To Print

_Follow LJF97 on Twitter Tweet  Monday’s NY Times leads with a story on arrests of “Occupy Wall Street” protesters in Denver and Nashville.  I don’t understand how can we give corporations free speech, yet deny people the right to assembly. On the Op-Ed page, Friedman gets it right in Did You Hear The One About The Bankers, Douthat misses the point in “What Tax Dollars Can’t Buy, ” and on the editors provide some data that supports the protesters, here. Continue reading →

Progressive Tax Policy

“Taxes are the price we pay for civilization.” – Oliver Wendell Holmes.

Progressive tax structures are not about punishing the rich. They are a recognition that wealthy people derive benefits from being in society. Warren Buffett, Steve Jobs, Bill Gates, Michael Jordan, Oprah, for example, got rich because people buy their products or watched them play basketball or on TV.  Paris Hilton is wealthy because her great-grandfather built a successful business. Their successes are wonderful. But their success should not require me to subsidize their lifestyles.

This tax structure can be implemented by October 31, 2012, and effective January 1, 2013, if not by Congress, then by Executive Order.

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Occupy Wall Street – Why are They There?

_Follow LJF97 on Twitter Tweet  Sometimes the “Invisible Hand” shoots itself in its “Invisible Foot.”

I’m here and most of us are here because we see dramatic inequities in the system.  We play by the rules.  The banksters are playing Three Card Monte and we are captive players – marks – in the game. They’ve marked the cards and stacked the deck. Bank of America, for example, took $45 Billion in TARP money and then started charging $5.00 dollars a month to depositors who hold a debit card. The bank borrows money for which it pays next to nothing. The bank charges usurious fees to customers who borrow money using credit cards, and it charges depositors absurd fees to access their funds on deposit in the bank.

This is one issue. Other issues include taxes, access to health care, education, jobs, and energy. All have to do with our nature as economic actors within the larger communities of the nation and the world. The question we are trying to answer, with a resounding “YES!” is “Should we live in an economic democracy?”

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