Re: Occupy America To play devil's advocate, and because this keeps popping up: The fact that you knew what you wanted to do with yourself after graduating high school, stuck with it, and were motivated enough to succeed, places you in a very, very rare category of people. All of us were idiots at 18, hell, most of us still are. Knowing that you want to get to X and you are going to do Q R Y and Z to get it is not exactly a trait that most high school graduates have at that time. You're permitted a little time to figure things out. Now, colleges saying "LOOK AT OUR JOB PLACEMENT" for their useless social sciences to impressionable high school graduates, plus the idea that "you need to get your degree, in ANYTHING" that permeates a lot of the middle class culture, and on top of that all the loans in the world to get it done... I don't think anyone should be surprised, but the blame is not 100% on 3.0 high school GPA kid.
Re: Occupy America This is only tangentially related, but people who bitch about US gov't spending on social welfare programs without mentioning tax policy make me facepalm. The Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) is the single largest assistance program for low-income families in the US, eclipsing any other social program by billions of dollars. Over the last 20 years EITC has consistently increased spending while funding for "tangible" services (food stamps, temporary assistance for needy families, etc.) has diminished. Politicians manipulate complex tax codes in order to successfully increase near-cash assistance for those in poverty. Americans living in poverty are stigmatized so badly politicians have to use deception to initiate policy change. There are a lot of interrelated factors that screw over the average American. The fundamental idea I support OWS for is the need to crack down on corporate influence in US politics. For instance, lobbyists are hired to ensure that Congress allocates $20 billion per year on agricultural subsidies which goes primarily towards corn, soy, wheat, and tobacco. This artificially decreases the cost for unhealthy processed food products and incentivizes subsidized food programs (school lunches, food stamps) to purchase them. In turn obesity rates increase which increases medicaid costs. Problems within the status quo are a lot more nuanced than "Tax the rich!" or "Tax the poor!", and at the very least OWS is helping raise awareness that some sketchy shit is going down behind the scenes in 'Merica.
Re: Occupy America This sums up my feelings about this whole thing. At worst, it's a giant circle jerk. At best, it's getting the word out that shit isn't right. Truth be told, I don't think OWS, or any of its offshoots, (including the one going on in Saskatoon right now) is going to accomplish a damn thing directly. However, it may just pave the way for other, decidedly more organized folks, to make a move and get things done. That being said, I wish them the best of luck.
Re: Occupy America Cracked weighs in: <a class="postlink" href="http://www.cracked.com/blog/3-types-wall-street-protesters-hurting-their-own-cause/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;">http://www.cracked.com/blog/3-types-wal ... own-cause/</a>
Re: Occupy America If nothing else, it tells third party candidates and others outside the mainstream political system that they may have a source of support.
Re: Occupy America Indeed. Companies are no longer as willing to invest in new hires, and show less loyalty than ever, while new hires show less and less loyalty to the companies that hire and train them and give them experience. More and more graduates are treating jobs as stepping stones to the next one. Where is the motivation for companies to invest the time and training in a new employee when odds are pretty good that they'll fuck off sooner rather than later, and that training will have to be redone for someone new? Better for them to just pay more an hire someone pre-trained and likely to stick around.
Re: Occupy America What came first, the chicken or the egg? You want a hire to stick around, you offer them a contract with some job security, not an at will employment loaded with unpaid overtime.
Re: Occupy America I don't think it matters which came first... it's all converging here at once. Combine all that shit, along with the short-term view of investors that pressure companies to be profitable THIS quarter without giving a fuck about the next, rampant bullshit political correctness, bullshit legal fears, etc., and it's a recipe for disaster. Personally, I blame short-term view investors as the biggest problem.
Re: Occupy America Are you suggesting that paying fund managers based only on the highest value their fund reaches, regardless of length at that peak, and ignoring long term growth of the fund could be problematic? Next you're going to start saying that 30:1 is an inappropriate amount of leverage for a commercial bank.
Re: Occupy America It's interesting, if you ignore all the BS and really break down what the Tea Party and OWS are after, they're basically two pieces a puzzle that needs solving. One side wants more economic fairness and higher taxes, the other wants the government to stop spending so much money. Put those together, and you might have an economy on the path of being fixed. They mirror politicians who echo the same sentiment but are incapable of compromising (more than they are at least). Maybe the next logical step is the melding of these groups and the rise of a powerful 3rd party after all.
Re: Occupy America Unfortunately, it's too late. Ultimately, what the two are seeking to redress - though somewhat indirectly - is the lack of jobs that can sustain a family. What we are now seeing is that there's been a class war going on in this country for 30 years. Sadly, one of the two sides (the so-called 99%) - is just figuring this out. Yes, ladies and gentlemen, the 99% were sold out long before most of you were even a twinkle in your daddy's eye. This is one of the reasons I'm not so critical of Obama in general, because economic policies - even very good ones - can take 5-10 years to really be felt. Obama was handed a sinking ship and asked to make it float, and with what the government is up against (assuming that they were actually interested in redressing the problems), it will take a very long time, even making the 'right' decisions to save this country from becoming an 'also ran.' This is why I am not quite so critical of OWS. At the very least, someone (whatever you may think of them) is finally standing up and saying 'Hey, wait a minute.' Yes, they're agendas are scattered, and their reasoning even more so, but if anything comes of this, I would hope it would be the following: Be critical. Be super critical, of the government and business. We have been shown a few Horatio Alger stories and told that if we had made all the same choices, we too could make it rich. But like most illusory tales, when the sun rises and reality returns, the fact is none of us probably will ever make in 20 years what the 1% makes in a month. But make no mistake: the deck is stacked, and hard, against you. It has been for 30 years. Sure, the house will throw you a winning hand once in a while, but that's just to get you on the comeback. I'll throw out this one issue that some have taken up (and which I did my independent study for in college): campaign finance reform. If you don't get that, the rest of the issues will never be resolved. Yes, there are obstacles to it, but it is the only fight that matters at this time. Until normal everyday men and women can get elected, and not party hacks that are beholden to powers that are far too often exerted against the common citizen, nothing will change. So while the OWS may be a bunch of misguided 'students and hippies' - you know what, at least the hippies said something.
Re: Occupy America Who cares? At the end of the day someone opened their mouth and then nothing got done about it so it was spent air. The point I've been trying to make to everyone is actually DO something, anything. Every single person without fail I've asked about this hasn't given me something concrete they've done. They tell me something they are "going to do".
Re: Occupy America I spent four years getting an engineering degree and am sitting here applying for engineering jobs instead of taking the easy out and going into finance. I have friends in finance that say my brain is perfectly suited to it and they could probably hook me up with a job if I asked. I could rob your pensions blind. But I want to build something worthwhile, so I plod away at engineering, thoroughly undervalued by vaginas and the world at large.
Re: Occupy America Another nice collection of graphs about the US economy: <a class="postlink" href="http://imgur.com/a/U4FR4#2" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;">http://imgur.com/a/U4FR4#2</a> For me, I think OWS has been successful in generating awareness and demonstrating unhappiness. 50,000 people protesting in New York is remarkable. The fact that there are groups expressing solidarity from Argentina to Jordan is incredible. Hell, there is an "Occupy Birmingham", which is astounding to me. I think the major problem is (again) the way wealth is generated, distributed and managed in the US. The incentive system for paid labor does not accurately reward social value, and it's reached a point that is untenable for a lot of people. <a class="postlink" href="http://wsws.org/articles/2011/oct2011/hung-o17.shtml" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;">http://wsws.org/articles/2011/oct2011/hung-o17.shtml</a> How is the wealthiest country on Earth struggling to feed it's people, provide them with medical care at a feasible cost, and take full advantage of one of the strongest, most educated labor forces on Earth? Another thing worth considering is: how does corporate profit benefit society? After a certain point, is what they spend money on doing any good? I ask this because, the tax rate has been as high as 90% and the private sector flourished. So, with a tax rate of 35%, what is the rest of that money being used for? And are these expenditures doing any good? How are they creating more wealth or adding value? Also, I recall a Lewis Black quote about Enron that stuck with me about Goldman Sachs and the financial derivative market: "If you have a company, and you can't explain in one sentence...what it does....it's illegal."
Re: Occupy America Just to be the Seagull again, but how is a country that is suffering from an Obesity Epidemic struggling to feed its citizens? And just to cut you off at the pass, it's not just the uber rich that are obese.
Re: Occupy America Kudos to you. If we had more people like you, we wouldn't be in the crisis we're in. Just to give you an example, everyday I go to work I hear people say "I wish they would stop giving us this overtime." I'm paid $17 an hour regular time and $25 an hour for every OT hour with the potential of 40 hours a week of OT alone. On average after taxes most people are bringing home around $700-$1000 a week where I work and this is without a degree. I'm like really? You motherfuckers are complaining about having too much work when there are people who can't legitimately feed their families and losing their houses? It makes me sick to my stomach when I hear these jerks complain. I know you're being facetious but you wouldn't take my pension. My pension is under my mattress, my seed bank, in my food stockpile, and chambered in 5.56 NATO, 9mm, 30.06, 22LR and 12/20 gauge. Most importantly, my knowledge.
Re: Occupy America To paraphrase Ron White: "Now I don't know how many congressman it'll take to steal your pension despite never doing business with my bank... but I know how many I'm gonna use."
Re: Occupy America Food insecurity in America: <a class="postlink" href="http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5iBqLSupV9yvkFTu3jfhBDK5lJnjQ?docId=CNG.c08d50927e48321e5e784e1f7b45cbbc.251" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;">http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/ar ... 45cbbc.251</a> The number of people on food stamps is increasing (15% of Americans). <a class="postlink" href="http://www.americanprogress.org/issues/2011/10/hunger.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;">http://www.americanprogress.org/issues/ ... unger.html</a> 48.8 million people lived in food insecure households in 2010. <a class="postlink" href="http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/39211644/ns/us_news-life/t/record-number-americans-living-poverty/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;">http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/39211644/ns ... g-poverty/</a> Again, record number of Americans living in poverty. The obesity epidemic doesn't have anything to do with the fact that you can't afford food. In fact, poverty may contribute to it, because healthy food is generally more expensive than unhealthy food.
Re: Occupy America Again this is just a poor education thing more than anything else. Given the choice between healthy eating and easy eating, stupid people seem to err on the side of easy. Buying twenty bucks worth of Tombstone pizzas and soda is much easier than twenty for a healthier meal you need to cook from scratch (Don't really feel like linking the wealth of information online on how to eat healthy and cheap). People like to blame corn subsidies for the whole mess. Not that I agree with corn subsidies but people like to shift the blame completely off slothen fat bodies.