Occupy Wallstreet

[Puddle Jumper]

I will point out though, if it was the Tea Party protesting, there wouldn't be as much of an outcry in the media.

The media loved to hate the Tea Party but they were much less violent and disruptive of the local communities so there was less to go after them for.

Sadly I don't have the links but I read several articles about the damage OWS was doing to local businesses and it was staggering. The level of entitlement displayed by the protestors would easily turn the real 99% against them.

 

[PP Mguire]

People like me? If you mean people who like to think for themselves and do research of their own instead of coddling the mainstream media's views (which, if you've actually been paying attention, have mostly been AGAINST the Occupy movement, the front runners of which being Fox News), then I'm proud to be that kind of person.

But you're 100% right, it IS super easy to google the reasons behind the Occupy movement...so why don't more people do it instead of making baseless accusations on the intentions? In this thread alone, all I've seen written is about how people want to make more money, want a bigger piece of the pie, which is just downright wrong. And pardon me for saying so, but I haven't seen a vast majority of "intelligent" people oppose the movement for legitimate reasons. I'm sure there are a few, but with all the reading and watching I've been doing, they are few and far between.

Also, I highly doubt the comment was sarcastic, especially followed by a clear and concise opinion stated in all seriousness.

So please tell me, what is it you disagree with? Why do you hate the Occupy movement? I'd love to hear clear reasoning. And please, PLEASE don't try to tell me it's lessening our reputation with other countries, because that is a ridiculous notion when the rest of the world already thought poorly of the US before 2009. I want to hear a straight reason why you are against people being angry about corporations making more money than ever, rich people getting taxed less by percentage, and banks getting bailouts.

Short and simple? Because it is never going to change no matter how hard any amount of people try.

As for the bold, people don't want to make more money? Try again. This WHOLE movement is based on the wealthy vs the poor. You need to reanalyze your thoughts on this movement and what it's really about which is where my previous statement comes to play. Nothing will change and this will go away like the tree hugging hippies of the 60s. There is only one way to get to the closed minds this movement is targeting, and that is their wallet. Well, we just did a double about-face. I find it funny that ALL of the people I know that Occupy Dallas all voted Obama. Now they all want him out and things to "change". Oh brother lol. This is exactly why I don't partake in political stuff.

I appreciate you not flaming my opinion, unlike others who simply don't want to listen to what I have to say.

The only thing I agree with is sadly, OWS probably won't make the difference it wants to, not because the movement isn't important, but because of people with limited view perspectives.

This is basically proving my point from the beginning. Nobody on the Occupy side of things wants to agree with me, but 90% of the people occupying have no idea what they are doing, what they are protesting for, and what the stance is really about. They all just seem like a bunch of hipster idiots who are doing it just because their friends are. They remind me of the same people who will post on Facebook "My life sucks so hard" via iPad/iPhone 4.

 

[hikaricloud]

This is basically proving my point from the beginning. Nobody on the Occupy side of things wants to agree with me, but 90% of the people occupying have no idea what they are doing, what they are protesting for, and what the stance is really about. They all just seem like a bunch of hipster idiots who are doing it just because their friends are. They remind me of the same people who will post on Facebook "My life sucks so hard" via iPad/iPhone 4.

I wasn't saying the protestors have a limited worldview, I meant the country as a whole.

Honestly, I've said my bit. What you guys make of it is your business I guess.

 

[Sheepykins]

i think the problem is that some people who earn ridiculous amount of money abuse their position for that money or end up doing underhanded things.
for example the CEO of my company got 100% bonus of his salary (about a mill) if he made the company money. all he did was lay people off and through a technicality, got his bonus.

now we're in worse shape than we were before, stocks plummeting and the next guy they get in with the incentive "make us money" will end up hiring everyone back lol.

im fine earning my mediocre wage, well i get paid well not the point, who needs more than say, 50'000 a year to be happy?

still, this hippy occupy stuff is BS and they should be smoked out of their craptents

 

[Oreo]

I havn't really read about it all that much, but looking at it quickly to me these people just seem jealous that they are not as wealthy as this supposed 1%. Maybe they should spend less time protesting and more time working.

I shall read about it more and perhaps provide a more constructive response at some point.

 

[Puddle Jumper]

At least part OWS Movement is starting to sound more like domestic terrorists than legitimate protesters.

I-5 traffic stop yields incendiary devices and gas masks - Breaking News, Local News, Local Weather, Local Sports

A traffic stop of a speeding vehicle led to the arrest of three men, who claimed to be Occupy Portland demonstrators, and the seizure of incendiary devices, gas masks and fireworks.

If this is the direction the movement is headed the police need to put an end to it immediately.

 

[Kharn]

Right I am posting this as a Business owner, and a Tax payer and as a rational person.

Tax on sales has gone up, that's bad for business as the 17.5% VAT was not great when it was for a short while 15% it let me drop my tax a little I was able to compete with companies based outside the EU on a more even keel leading to more customers, the higher tax above 2.5% of UK historic norm lead to a loss of customers for some not all of the products and services I offered (I have since restructured).

I earn through TWO of my companies well over the UK's super tax rate, and I gladly pay it because I see direct benifits from it. Less people on the dole less people starving and free medical services to every one.
I was approached at one point by a Private Bank saying I could be paying less than 1% Tax from all my earnings if I joined them and payed £150 a month for asset management. I turned them down for two reasons 1) As far as I am concerned if I earn £XXX,XXX a year I can VERY comfortably live of that and still have lots of £ left at the end of the month to save. 2) We all pay for the same basic level of care given in Hospitals and Doctors surgeries and we all have the right to be cared for when we are sick or old.
Having said that I also so do have a staff sachem for a private health plan and cash back that covers the whole family of a employee that I pay for if they join it. It covers things that are not normally covered under the NHS such as corrective lenses for childern, Dental treatment etc. I gladly do this as I feel its owned to my staff who work hard to make ME money, as the saying goes What comes around goes around and £10 a month for 1M£ a year worth of cover is MUCH better than average and also covers holidays (In the UK your payed for your holidays and s far as I am concerned healthy staff are happy staff so I cover them 24/7/365).

Pensions are a given for me, if you give me time and want to save money for your old age I will help there two for example I pay well over the market rate for 1st Line Tech support by about 5/6K the UK average is about £14.500 to £16.500 PA, I pay over 19.000K because I only hire talent and talent is more likely to stay with me. For instance If I employ a guy who is 1st line Unix tech and figures out that there is a bug on Apache causing a web application to crash, he will get a £500 to £2000 bonus in that months pay check, if he does that consistently (and yes it happens) i'll promote him not just to 2nd line but to a rank in my company's called "BUG CRUSHER" and even then I will train you with a developer and a experienced BUG HUNTER to write exploits.

I reward talent just as much as I penalize incompetence, before any one ask's. I unhappily have to have a few Web 2.0 developers work for me who are used to knocking out Social media pages, and all the rest of web 2.0 guff. I can expect the odd vulnerability in software and I wont penalise some one for mistakes as **** happens what I will fine some one for is multiple easy to see flaws that could be detected with automated testing. This has came to the level of me having a reputation of Hire an Fire when it comes to web developers, and to be frank with you if you can't write good code and take short cuts I don't want to employ you, and no I don't care that your the guru in php with X million lines of code under your belt it means **** all to me if you supposed to be able to write social media rich applications if I can gain admin in 3 seconds.

Now back to OWS, I can get what they are saying, but they are going about it the wrong way.

What people seem to forget is, the Government work for the people. If you ignore the current system it has no effect if done in enough numbers you can have what you want. The problem is at least in the UK you have a limmited choice of leadership.

In the UK we have running business and politics Eaton and Oxford educated Rupert's, with education and no real world experience. For insance you know 3 years ago Dave Cameron had a Tog taking pictures of him looking sorrowful they where staged since then he hasn't shed a tear at the cenotaph (THE NATIONAL MEMORIAL) and you know what he did BEFORE he came to politics? PR (public relations) so he is good at tugging heart strings its what he did for the last 20 years.

Whats needed is a totally radical approach to Democratic governance (In the UK politic it's a extension of Aristocracy justifying peership) where lobbyists have 0 influence of policy and if your going to cut a benefit or adjust it have to live of it for a year first. OR how about having real people stand for elections people with real experience of life.

You know what I find funny what has been enacted by the Tory government wont be counteracted by a Labor government and they will cuddle up to BIG US health company's and erode the NHS an still Tax for it. We pay for health care in the UK and should get it.

 

[Ethereal_Dragon]

I really don't know that much about OWS, nor do I particularly care....

My opinion is that (as mentioned above), there needs to be a static tax rate across all income levels, and for ALL corporations. I understand what taxes are, and what they go towards. I am not against paying them, I like to be able to drive to work on a paved road, and have police/fire/etc. on call should I need them, among other things.

Off the top of my head, I couldn't say what tax rate I pay right now, nor am I familiar with the exact percentages paid by different income levels, but I do know that they differ.

Also, it goes without saying that the government needs to wrangle in all the wild spending it does, and needs to start doing some kind of checks on government aid.... I know some people that are on gov't aid, friends of friends, and I think it's total BS that some of the low-life's take advantage of the system and lie and cheat their way into assistance when there are actual people out there that genuinely need the help... Oh, and you should have to pass a drug test for welfare. If you can afford to buy yourself drugs, you don't need the governments help.