Is the Jig Up on Wall Street?

[Donnachaidh]

http://www.counterpunch.org/2011/10/04/is-the-jig-up-on-wall-street/

Humble though its beginnings, the so-called Occupy Wall Street protest movement launched recently in Zuccotti Park in Lower Manhattan could have profound national and international political and economic implications. Finally, political activists have the right target for their concerns, and it is neither the White House nor the Congress, for the U.S. Government is owned, operated, and controlled by Wall Street and Corporate America.

Seduced by the success of the Civil Rights and Anti-Vietnam War political movements of the late 60s and early 70s, who focused their attention on Washington, left-leaning political activists have tried unsuccessfully to replicate this approach for the past three decades. Antiwar, environmental, climate change, working class, antipoverty, and health care activists have all failed to gain traction by concentrating their efforts on Washington. What seems to have eluded them is the fact during the Reagan years Wall Street and Corporate America gained hammerlike control over our government, and they have remained in charge ever since. In 1981, when President Reagan fired 13,000 striking air traffic controllers, he dealt organized labor virtually a knockout blow. Previously organized labor had provided a political counterbalance to the influence of Corporate America.

Since taking charge of our government in the 1980s, conservative business leaders, Democratic and Republican alike, have cleverly blamed all of our economic problems on the federal government, the same government which they control. The effect of this sham has been to deflect public attention away from the fact that while we pretend to be a democracy, the vast majority of Americans are virtually powerless.

The global war on terror, the suppression of civil liberties, corporate greed, pandering to the rich and powerful, global warming, full spectrum dominance, imperial overstretch, and a culture of deceit can all be traced to Wall Street and Corporate America. The outsourcing of millions of American jobs, massive military spending, skyrocketing health care costs, financial bailouts, and multi-trillion dollar budget deficits have all been influenced by decisions made on Wall Street, the epicenter of evil in the world.

More at the link --

[Bonhomme Richard]

1. It is the right target. The politicians are only doing.....

their bidding.

[Raster]

2. This is truth: "...for the U.S. Government is owned, operated, and controlled by...

...Wall Street and Corporate America.":applause:

[rurallib]

3. If anyone thinks a little protest is going to stop these guys

if anything this is but one tiny first step.
These people will not give up money and power without a HUGE and destructive fight.

[socialist_n_TN]

7. What you said rurallib

Or as another poster said yesterday, this isn't a revolution or even a precursor to a revolution. It MIGHT be the precursor to the precursor to a revolution, but the list of demands MUST get more focused and the tactics for achieving those demands must be laid out in plain language for it to even achieve precursor to precursor status.

[starroute]

15. That's why you're seeing signs saying "The beginning is near"

The people doing this know it's only the prelude. What they need now is the strength to keep going as the PTB try to nip it in the bud.

But for the same reason, the list of demands can't get focused too narrowly -- because we're only just starting to figure out the real issues.

On one level, there are a few short-term fixes in the way of regulation and reform that might help. But in the long term, the problem is that the system is rotten to the core and needs to be turned upside down and inside out.

Horizontal democracy, the involvement (on a global basis) of the people affected in all crucial decision-making, and the removal of the profit motive from the essentials of life (food, housing, health, education) are pretty central to the movement. But it's going to take a while to formulate those goals in terms of action steps, and meanwhile premature demands for focus risks losing sight of the real objectives.

I've spent more than 50 years fretting over the tendency of the left to be satisfied with half measures, and I want that to change now. "Eyes on the prize" has to be the watchword, and nothing less should be acceptable.

[Raster]

8. I agree, however, the first step is always the most difficult. And at last...

...more are coming to the realization that Wall Street and its pseudo-person corporations are to blame for most of this planet's woes. At last people are starting to realize the problem is NOT the gays or the blacks or the immigrants or the whatever boogie man du jour. The underlying great evil is carnivore capitalism that encourages deception and destruction of the many for self-enrichment for just a few.

The rigged casino called Wall Street is rotten to the core, and every day, more people come to this realization.

The Wall Street banksters are the reason your grandmother's house was taken from her.

The Wall Street corporate priests are the reason your son died in Iraq.

The Wall Street attorneys make it possible for poisons to foul our water and our air.

The Wall Street money-changers are the reason you will spend your last days in abject poverty.

[socialist_n_TN]

13. And if you'll notice every one of the abuses mentioned

in their statement cuts across sector, industry, and business lines. But they won't NAME the base cause of all of these problems EVEN THOUGH THE GRIEVANCES THEMSELVES POINT DIRECTLY AT THE CAUSE.

To paraphrase an old saw, it's the capitalism stupid. These abuses are WAY too widespread to be anything OTHER than the system itself.

[gratuitous]

14. I agree

This gang of thugs is incredibly ruthless and tenacious. Caught red-handed, they aren't about to smile ruefully and shrug, "Ya got me." No, they'll fight with everything they have and then some. If you've ever played a game of Monopoly down to the bitter end, you know it's going to go down to the last roll of the dice and the loser finally landing on Boardwalk one time too many. In the meantime, they'll kick and scratch, bite and claw, holler and squeal. They'll use as much force as they can muster, and even at the bitter end will be such a pathetic spectacle, pissing and shitting themselves, that compassion would dictate just letting them go.

That would be a mistake, because they'll be back to plunder society again as soon as our vigilance lapses. It's never over, and no victory is final. But it appears the masses have at last reached a reaction point. The overclass ignores us at their peril.

[harun]

18. For the few politicians we have that aren't bought, the protests assist

them in trying to change things. It also shines a light on the corrupted politicians who sit silent and collect from their master's.

[Kolesar]

4. Bill Moyers' guest described them at the "oligarchs", who the President could not control

There was no question about "nationalizing the banks" in 2009. The bankers were running everything, on their terms. They put the federal government on the hook to cover their risks during the "liquidity crisis" or WTF was going on.

[pangaia]

5. This is the REAL TEAPARTY !

This is what the REAL Boston Tea Party was about. You know, this might be nuts..but imagine if it were actually possible to convince those fake teaparty folks that THIS is what they need..THIS is all for them..somehow get their brains around the FACTS ...open their eyes...and win them over...Humm.. just thinkin.'

[formercia]

6. Dick Armey co-opted the message by forming the T(errorist) Party.

The PTB saw the message on the wall, long ago and realized their days were numbered, their only solution was to loot as much as they could and place as many barriers, in order to give them as much time as possible to do their dirty work. The T(errorist) Party is one example.

Something similar happened in Germany in WWII. The Nazi leadership and Industrialists saw the end coming, even before D-Day. They did everything they could to prolong the War to give them time to loot the conquered Countries. At the end, the Allies found huge caches of loot, Trains loaded with Treasure headed for safe hiding.

The T(errorist) Party was created to divide the opposition and make them fight among themselves.

You're right in thinking that the citizens who fell for the Propaganda need to see the light. When that happens, the end will be near, at least in the US and Europe. Just like many Nazis who packed up their loot and went into hiding, the boys will do the same and try to set up shop elsewhere, where the labor is cheap and a strong Military is available to propagate their agenda. India is a prime candidate.

[Whiskeytide]

9. I don't think we can fight the TP PR machine...

...They will issue a statement reminding the TP faithful that Jesus went into the temple and threw out all the poor, disenfranchised protesters, the union thugs and the college students, and 87% of them will say "damn right, I remember that!". The other 13% won't get the reference.

[Javaman]

12. So just give up, right?

go away.

[Raster]

10. Kick!

[Kurovski]

11. K&R (nt)

[Mojorabbit]

16. marking for later nt

[moondust]

17. Professor Emeritus of Economics at Duke University?

"Global capitalism is one of the biggest lies ever perpetrated on humankind. It has no moral authority whatsoever."

Thomas H. Naylor is Founder of the Second Vermont Republic and Professor Emeritus of Economics at Duke University; co-author of Affluenza, Downsizing the U.S.A., and The Search for Meaning.

What is the world coming to?

:kick: