Occupy !

[Fred Sherman]

false

Beat you by 30 minutes!

 

[grant sarver]

 

[erich37]

nice read:
80 Years Later - Same Culprits, Same Rage

 

[grant sarver]

I am for doing good to the poor, but I differ in opinion of the means. I think the best way of doing good to the poor, is not making them easy in poverty, but leading or driving them out of it. In my youth I traveled much, and I observed in different countries, that the more public provisions were made for the poor, the less they provided for themselves, and of course became poorer. And, on the contrary, the less was done for them, the more they did for themselves, and became richer.
~Ben Franklin~

 

[Kim]

I am for doing good to the poor, but I differ in opinion of the means. I think the best way of doing good to the poor, is not making them easy in poverty, but leading or driving them out of it. In my youth I traveled much, and I observed in different countries, that the more public provisions were made for the poor, the less they provided for themselves, and of course became poorer. And, on the contrary, the less was done for them, the more they did for themselves, and became richer.
~Ben Franklin~

Yeah, coz that really works.. as evidenced by all the super rich poor people in countries like India, oh and the USA.

I don't think 200 year old thinking applies to a modern age.

I also don't agree with making life "comfortable" in poverty, ridiculous notion that that is. Poverty is never comfortable. What ended the great depression was great big infrastructure expenditure, and a great big war.

The infrastructure expenditure is a good thing, we spent a lot here on such projects recently and it really did help Australia through the GFC.

Let's hope we don't have to have the great big war to get all those countries in trouble.. out of trouble.

 

[grant sarver]

 

[TheLaw]

I just saw a fantastic movie that evaded me for many years. It was a little awkward at the end but the climactic scene just 20 minutes earlier made up for everything. It's called "Network" and probably was before it's time and scary how it seems more like a documentary than a work of fiction. Many other films seems to have been somewhat derivative. But the essence of the film, especially that scene, describes this movement perfectly IMHO.

I'm mad as hell and I'm not going to take it any more.

 

[Fred Sherman]

The problem with the Occupy nuts is they remind me of my daughters when they turned 13. Their favorite phrase became, "Thats not fair".

What that really meant is, "I don't like the outcome, but I don't have a suggestion for something better either, so I am just going to whine and complain until you figure out a way to shut me up."

If all the left has to offer is the equivalent of a girl entering puberty, driven by hormones and an unreasonable sense of entitlement, I'll pass.

 

[Fred Sherman]

http://www.cnbc.com/id/45019789

At least they're finally reporting who is driving the protest bus. Robin Hood tax? At least they're implicitly acknowledging that they are stealing.

 

[SchmitzIT]

12.5% of the Planets have 71% of the mass. #OccupyJupiter

 

[Fred Sherman]

12.5% of the Planets have 71% of the mass. #OccupyJupiter

Its great to start the day off with a good laugh. Thanks you.

 

[SchmitzIT]

I'm mad as hell and I'm not going to take it any more.

You have meddled with the primary forces of nature, Mr Beale!

 

[Floris]

Right winged Fox news is doing nothing but nitpicking on people these days to show that those who stand up for what they believe in are just exploiting the system, are horrible people, are just hippies, can't be trusted, liars and are all the same at this disgusting filth occupy stuff.

But I guess when they have to answer to their own behavior suddenly Fox for example says : views of our reporters are not ours, despite that these tabloid journalists in the morning shows are nothing but pathetic losers that read from prompters.

And no, I am not exht. http://videocafe.crooksandliars.com/scarce/fox-friends-protesting-mom-more-disgusting-/

In the Netherlands we have a tiered system where if you earn more, you pay more. It goes in levels, and I don't know if this is the same in the USA, but what I think the problem is - is that these 1%-ers apparently can re-purpose their money for certain things that give them major tax cuts that aren't available to the other 99%-ers.

 

[Fred Sherman]

In the Netherlands we have a tiered system where if you earn more, you pay more. It goes in levels, and I don't know if this is the same in the USA, but what I think the problem is - is that these 1%-ers apparently can re-purpose their money for certain things that give them major tax cuts that aren't available to the other 99%-ers.

Its the same here, except that:

• The bottom 51% don't pay anything at all
• The bottom 31% not only pay nothing, but actually get money
• The top 20% paid 68.9% of federal taxes
• The top 1% paid 28.1% of federal taxes
• These percentages are even higher than their share of the nation's total income.
  • The top 20% earn 61.4% of income
  • The top 1% earn 21.3% of income
• The richest 10%, 5% and 1% of taxpayers each paid significantly higher tax rates than those lower on the income spectrum.

 

[grant sarver]

Where the bottom 10% live (600 square feet - must be what they mean by 1%):

Bill Gate's house (66,000 square feet):

Bill needs tax relief?

 

[The Geek]

Things are pretty humped up. But tunnel vision doesn't give great perspective.

Western Civilisation has been and still is a culture obsessed with entitlement. Building a home employs a large amount of builders, plumbers, electricians, material suppliers etc... Those people are paid market demand for their time and goods which contribute to their income. If you are not lucky enough to have the cash to pay these people, you take a huge loan to pay them. They in turn often use their income to pay for the homes they live in funded via debt (your debt helps fund thiers). Our culture is one of entitlement that pushes you to stretch the boundaries of what you can actually afford in order to get bigger and better irrespective of your ability to afford it. Our debt accumulation has been spent buying homes we couldn't afford, buying gadgets we didn't need and driving big ol' expensive cars simply reached breaking point with the average person piling up more debt per head faster than at any time in history. All that debt we were generating was busy paying for stuff that contributed to the incomes of sales people, distribution centres, manufacturers, etc... which almost all happened to also be spending above their means.

As a society we created a debt culture and spent more than we earned for a very prolonged period of time. That money has to come from somewhere. Its coming from here, now and our future. But no one wants to pay for it. They want the government or the bankers or the 1% to cough up for it. After all, isn't that what entitlement is all about?

It isn't just us... our children have grown up with this entitlement mentality - countless have chosen to go to school choosing to chase uncomercial diplomas while piling on debt they were well aware of before signing up. Only to then complain that they now have debt and can't get a job. Even though they received the education they chose and purchased for that debt. That is how the world freaking works. You can't afford to pay for something, you borrow the money. Whomever lends you the money takes a profit on the lend as well as a risk you won't pay him.

... And we all get up in arms blaming governments and corporations and the "1%" who most likely have no debt. Because it clearly isn't OUR fault. Its "theirs" (We can discuss over a Starbucks, I’ll put it on my Visa).

Corporate profits are up on companies that are surviving (they are not including those that are going bust every single day). These companies have more profit mainly because they are doing what most people do right now: Spending less in an effort to survive. Companies right now are making redundancies, slashing salaries, drastically reducing overheads and eliminating investments just like everyone should be doing. That easily increases profit, though sadly at the expense of the economy, but hey - this is all about survival now isn't it? If they go bust, no one makes anything anyway.

Society is broke, but it won't get fixed with our cultures perception of entitlement and blame gaming.

We all need to assume responsibility or nothing will change.

 

[Fred Sherman]

Where the bottom 10% live (600 square feet - must be what they mean by 1%):

Bill Gate's house (66,000 square feet):

Bill needs tax relief?

I think you just stated your real goal. Take from the rich and redistribute to the poor until everyone is equal. By which, the result will be equally poor. The rich will no longer be able to employ anyone, everyone will be unemployed and everyone will be poor.

Repeat after me...

Equality in opportunity, not in outcome.

 

[kkm323]

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[grant sarver]

I think you just stated your real goal. Take from the rich and redistribute to the poor until everyone is equal. By which, the result will be equally poor. The rich will no longer be able to employ anyone, everyone will be unemployed and everyone will be poor.

Repeat after me...

Equality in opportunity, not in outcome.

LOL! Oh Fred, you see what you want to see and read in what was never intended. Your own figures show that the top 20% earn 61.4% of the income and pay 68.9% of the tax. Where is the onerous tax burden they are forced to bear? "Oh, we have to give tax breaks to the rich so they will bless us with more jobs. I got news for you: the vast majority of jobs are created by SMALL BUSINESSES! Not the ones owned by the super-rich.

I used to have a company with 22 employees and I was far from rich. As a percentage of my wealth, I risked far more every day. If you're not motivated, a tax break won't make a damn bit of difference. I wasn't in it for the tax breaks.

Someone said something the other day like " I believe in people climbing the ladder, but there has to be a ladder to climb"!

 

[grant sarver]

Taxes can be targeted much better. Rather than hope they create jobs, how about higher taxes for the rich and credits for creating new jobs?

At one time we had a short-term capital gains tax that punished speculating and a long-term capital gains that rewarded investing. Now all unearned income is taxed at half the rate of earned income. That is just a gift to the rich, the rest have to earn their money.

Let them eat cake!​

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