Alter: Why Occupy Wall Street Should Scare Republicans
By Jonathan Alter 36 Comments
The Occupy Wall Street protest in Zuccotti Park. Photographer: Paul Goguen/Bloomberg
In Florida this week, Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney was asked about the growing Occupy Wall Street movement. “I think it’s dangerous, this class warfare,” he said.
Romney’s right. It may be dangerous -- to his chances of being elected.
Occupy Wall Street, now almost three weeks old, isn’t like the anti-globalization demonstrations that disrupted summits in the 1990s or even the street actions at the 2004 Republican National Convention in New York, though some of the same characters are probably in attendance. With unemployed young protesters planning to camp out all winter in Zuccotti Park (with bathrooms available only at a nearby McDonald’s), it’s more like a cross between a Hooverville and Woodstock -- the middle-class jobless of the 1930s and the hippie protesters of the 1960s.
With the help of unions and social networking, the movement has at least some chance of re-energizing Democrats in 2012 and pushing back against the phenomenal progress Republicans have made in suppressing voter turnout in several states.
Why? Because the tectonic plates of U.S. politics are shifting in ways we don’t yet fully understand. We don’t know whether Occupy Wall Street is a carnival party -- a piece of left-wing street theater that gets old fast -- or a nascent political party that revives a long-dormant tradition of class- based politics.
It’s possible that these demonstrations, which have now spread to about 150 cities and campuses, will be hijacked by extremists or dissipated by obnoxiousness; the American left has practice in committing suicide. The whole thing could fade as young people find a better way of hanging out offline.
Something Consequential
But my visits to Zuccotti Park made me think it’s the beginning of something consequential. So far it looks like a younger, lefty version of the early days of the Tea Party -- a leaderless, mostly organic movement with a catchy symbolic name that captures the public imagination by channeling anger against elites.
Like the Tea Party on the Republican side, Occupy Wall Street makes the party establishment nervous. It’s not just that Democratic candidates have done well fundraising on Wall Street in recent years. The bigger problem is getting the activists to draw a distinction between bringing specific greedheads to justice and mocking those parts of Wall Street that are blameless in the 2008 crash and do plenty to invest in the future of the country.
Directing Anger
But a healthy rebalancing of the national conversation is nonetheless under way. The Tea Party directed public anger against the federal government in general and President Barack Obama in particular; Occupy Wall Street directs that ire against Wall Street in general and -- inevitably -- Romney in particular.
This will have no effect on Romney in the Republican primaries, of course, but in a general election it could make him the poster boy of the big banks that many see as the cause of their woes. The specifics of his record running Bain Capital LLC will be subsumed in the image of his rationalizing the actions (resisting any tax increases) of the “1 percenters.”
The arguments I heard from the often-articulate protesters in the park were economic, not partisan. None of the posters depicted Romney, House Speaker John Boehner or any other Republicans. Instead they said things like “Top 1% Want Everything,” “Listen to the Drumming of the 99% Revolution,” “Stop Off-Shore Tax Evasion,” and “Protect Medicare, Not Billionaires.”
It’s easy to denigrate the movement for simplistic sentiments that lack a clear agenda. But as the Tea Party demonstrations showed in 2009, that very shapelessness is a huge asset (to use the Wall Street term). If “We’re the 99 percenters” catches on, and the crazies can be marginalized, then the challenge will be to move from the streets to the ballot box, as the Tea Party did in 2010.
Voting Barriers Multiply
Lack of enthusiasm for Obama would be one problem. But the young people brought into activism by Occupy Wall Street may face other impediments. Today’s Republican Party is not just anti-Democratic but anti-democratic. The Brennan Center for Justice at New York University just released a disturbing report showing that changes in state laws could make it much harder for more than 5 million eligible voters to cast ballots in 2012. Some states are putting barriers in the way of early voting and student voting, both of which are used heavily by the liberal base.
The most appalling laws make it almost impossible to vote without a driver’s license, which 11 percent of U.S. adults don’t have. College ID cards are not an acceptable substitute in several states. Texas Governor Rick Perry recently signed a bill saying you can vote with a concealed-handgun permit but not with identification from the University of Texas.
Discipline Needed
It isn’t hard to see what Republican-controlled legislatures are trying to do. They want to make sure that the kind of free-floating anger expressed by Occupy Wall Street doesn’t end up helping Obama’s reelection. The claim that the purpose of the new election laws is to prevent voter fraud is itself a fraud, given that there’s no widespread evidence of ballots cast under assumed identities.
To make something lasting of this movement, the left must move from legitimate moral outrage to a disciplined approach for electing candidates who want to make Wall Street more answerable for the mess we’re in. Even as they’re outspent by the Koch brothers and their corporate ilk, the 99 percenters will make 2012 a helluva lot more compelling.
(Jonathan Alter, a Bloomberg View columnist, is the author of “The Promise: President Obama, Year One.” The opinions expressed are his own.)
To contact the writer of this article: Jonathan Alter at alterjonathan@gmail.com.
As Wall Street protest enters 3rd week, movement gains steam
Moderators: alvin, learner, Dennis Ng
Occupy Wall Street shifts from protest to policy phase
http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-h ... 761.column
Occupy Wall Street shifts from protest to policy phase
Protesters face the difficult and interesting task of leveraging their influence to achieve concrete policy changes addressing their concerns.
How do you know when a protest movement is starting to scare the pants off the establishment?
One clue is when the protesters are casually dismissed as hippies or rabble, or their principles redefined as class envy or as (that all-purpose insult) "un-American."
Nothing shows that as powerfully as the reaction to the Occupy Wall Street protests that have spread from the financial district in lower Manhattan to cities nationwide, including Los Angeles. Conservative politicians have condemned the Occupy Wall Street protesters as "mobs" supporting the "pitting of Americans against Americans" (Rep. Eric Cantor, R-Va.) and proponents of "class warfare" (GOP Presidential hopeful Herman Cain, who also hung on them the "anti-American" label).
On the other side of the aisle, Democrats are expressing support, if gingerly thus far, for the anger against the financial industry underlying the new protests: "People are frustrated, and the protesters are giving voice to a more broad-based frustration about how our financial system works" (President Obama) or "I support the message to the establishment…that change has to happen" (House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-San Francisco).
Progressives plainly hope that Occupy Wall Street will help give concrete form to a political narrative that so far has remained abstract in the public mind: That the financial industry has so far gotten a pass on its responsibility for the 2008 crash and escaped sufficiently stringent regulation, while government assistance to banks and Wall Street firms has left consumers in the dust.
But moving from protest to policy is the hardest leap that grass-roots organizations face, akin to turning a promising patent into a billion-dollar business. Occupy Wall Street is just now entering that very difficult, and very interesting, phase.
The principal rap against the protests is that they're inchoate — both in their ends (Are they articulating much more than an undifferentiated rage at banks and wealth?) and their organization (Are they more than idle hippies camping out in a downtown park?). Yet both points are erroneous.
For one thing, the concerns of the protesters are considerably more focused than their critics acknowledge. They involve the extreme inequality of wealth and income that has hobbled the U.S. economy over the last few decades, the imbalance between the government assistance given big banking institutions and that offered the homeowners who are their customers, and the failure to implement meaningful reform on elaborate financial strategies and instruments.
That the latter contributed overwhelmingly to the crash of 2008 is no secret. Jamie Dimon, chairman and CEO of JPMorgan Chase, acknowledged as much in his 2010 annual letter to shareholders. In it he listed six causes of the crisis, the first four of which were a lack of liquidity in money market funds and the rest of the short-term financial markets; high leverage (that is, excessive borrowing) "omnipresent" in the financial system; poor mortgage underwriting; and unregulated "shadow banking" (off-the-books investing and trading).
Those were not conditions that just happened to the banks, as though deposited by a meteor shower. They were created by the banks, including Dimon's, in an effort to exploit flaws and gaps in government regulations in quest of short-term profits. And the banks have been front and center in campaigns to dilute regulations proposed to address almost all of them.
Implicit in the protests is the idea that the banks have resumed their old practices with barely a hiccup, while pleading that the modest regulatory changes that have been passed have somehow hobbled their ability to do business. How do we know this plaint is a sham? One only has to look at the handsome resurgence of profits in the financial industry since 2008. According to the government's bureau of economic analysis, those profits reached an annualized $438.9 billion in the second quarter this year, up from $122.2 billion in calendar 2008.
More telling, they accounted for nearly 32% of all U.S. corporate profits in the second quarter, up from 13.4% in 2008. That's important, because it documents an unhealthy domination of economic activity in the U.S. by financial transactions, many of which, as we've come to learn, contribute little to economic productivity. That ratio is not only too high, incidentally, it's way out of line with the historical norm, which is closer to the range of 8% to 12%.
Meanwhile, the income disparity between the top earners and everyone else has soared. According to the Congressional Budget Office, in 1980 the share of all pre-tax income collected by the top 1% of earners was 9.1%; in 2006 it was 18.8% (federal taxation cut that share to 16.3%). In 1980, the average income of the top 1% was about 30 times that of the lowest 20% of households; in 2006 it was more than 100 times that of the lowest quintile.
These are the conditions and numbers that inspire the Wall Street protests. On a march through lower Manhattan staged last week by Occupy Wall Street, two placards were most commonly seen, says Todd Gitlin, a Columbia University expert in social movements and a former student activist who accompanied the march: "We are the 99%" and "The banks got bailed out, we got sold out."
As for planning, Occupy Wall Street has reached a delicate stage at which what may have been born as a ragtag protest is being infused with professionals from groups with organizational skills such as Moveon.org and labor unions. Those groups helped plan the attention-grabbing march Thursday, but the change may produce internal dissension over the participants' conflicting agendas.
Yet grass-roots movements rarely achieve much until they're yoked to movements with specific goals and the wherewithal to achieve them. After all, Rosa Parks was not just another seamstress angered by racial segregation on the bus system in her hometown of Montgomery, Ala.; she was the secretary of the local National Assn. for the Advancement of Colored People chapter. Her refusal to give up her seat to a white passenger one day in 1955 was a spontaneous act of civil disobedience, but it wasn't lost on civil rights leaders that her standing in the community, the stability of her home life and her personal dignity made her the ideal symbol of an organized bus boycott and a test case challenging segregation in court.
No one can know today whether this new protest has legs. ("It's somewhere between a moment and a movement," Gitlin says.) History warns, however, that it's unwise to dismiss it as merely the work of a rabble. In 1932, after an Army detachment under the command of Douglas MacArthur violently broke up a peaceable encampment of the Bonus Army — a movement of World War I veterans agitating for early payment of a promised government bonus to help overcome destitution caused by unemployment — President Herbert Hoover endorsed the bloody confrontation with the words "Thank God we still have a government in Washington that knows how to deal with a mob."
Listening to radio reports of the violence from his New York home, Franklin Roosevelt turned to his close aide Felix Frankfurter. "Felix," he said, "this elects me."
Occupy Wall Street shifts from protest to policy phase
Protesters face the difficult and interesting task of leveraging their influence to achieve concrete policy changes addressing their concerns.
How do you know when a protest movement is starting to scare the pants off the establishment?
One clue is when the protesters are casually dismissed as hippies or rabble, or their principles redefined as class envy or as (that all-purpose insult) "un-American."
Nothing shows that as powerfully as the reaction to the Occupy Wall Street protests that have spread from the financial district in lower Manhattan to cities nationwide, including Los Angeles. Conservative politicians have condemned the Occupy Wall Street protesters as "mobs" supporting the "pitting of Americans against Americans" (Rep. Eric Cantor, R-Va.) and proponents of "class warfare" (GOP Presidential hopeful Herman Cain, who also hung on them the "anti-American" label).
On the other side of the aisle, Democrats are expressing support, if gingerly thus far, for the anger against the financial industry underlying the new protests: "People are frustrated, and the protesters are giving voice to a more broad-based frustration about how our financial system works" (President Obama) or "I support the message to the establishment…that change has to happen" (House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-San Francisco).
Progressives plainly hope that Occupy Wall Street will help give concrete form to a political narrative that so far has remained abstract in the public mind: That the financial industry has so far gotten a pass on its responsibility for the 2008 crash and escaped sufficiently stringent regulation, while government assistance to banks and Wall Street firms has left consumers in the dust.
But moving from protest to policy is the hardest leap that grass-roots organizations face, akin to turning a promising patent into a billion-dollar business. Occupy Wall Street is just now entering that very difficult, and very interesting, phase.
The principal rap against the protests is that they're inchoate — both in their ends (Are they articulating much more than an undifferentiated rage at banks and wealth?) and their organization (Are they more than idle hippies camping out in a downtown park?). Yet both points are erroneous.
For one thing, the concerns of the protesters are considerably more focused than their critics acknowledge. They involve the extreme inequality of wealth and income that has hobbled the U.S. economy over the last few decades, the imbalance between the government assistance given big banking institutions and that offered the homeowners who are their customers, and the failure to implement meaningful reform on elaborate financial strategies and instruments.
That the latter contributed overwhelmingly to the crash of 2008 is no secret. Jamie Dimon, chairman and CEO of JPMorgan Chase, acknowledged as much in his 2010 annual letter to shareholders. In it he listed six causes of the crisis, the first four of which were a lack of liquidity in money market funds and the rest of the short-term financial markets; high leverage (that is, excessive borrowing) "omnipresent" in the financial system; poor mortgage underwriting; and unregulated "shadow banking" (off-the-books investing and trading).
Those were not conditions that just happened to the banks, as though deposited by a meteor shower. They were created by the banks, including Dimon's, in an effort to exploit flaws and gaps in government regulations in quest of short-term profits. And the banks have been front and center in campaigns to dilute regulations proposed to address almost all of them.
Implicit in the protests is the idea that the banks have resumed their old practices with barely a hiccup, while pleading that the modest regulatory changes that have been passed have somehow hobbled their ability to do business. How do we know this plaint is a sham? One only has to look at the handsome resurgence of profits in the financial industry since 2008. According to the government's bureau of economic analysis, those profits reached an annualized $438.9 billion in the second quarter this year, up from $122.2 billion in calendar 2008.
More telling, they accounted for nearly 32% of all U.S. corporate profits in the second quarter, up from 13.4% in 2008. That's important, because it documents an unhealthy domination of economic activity in the U.S. by financial transactions, many of which, as we've come to learn, contribute little to economic productivity. That ratio is not only too high, incidentally, it's way out of line with the historical norm, which is closer to the range of 8% to 12%.
Meanwhile, the income disparity between the top earners and everyone else has soared. According to the Congressional Budget Office, in 1980 the share of all pre-tax income collected by the top 1% of earners was 9.1%; in 2006 it was 18.8% (federal taxation cut that share to 16.3%). In 1980, the average income of the top 1% was about 30 times that of the lowest 20% of households; in 2006 it was more than 100 times that of the lowest quintile.
These are the conditions and numbers that inspire the Wall Street protests. On a march through lower Manhattan staged last week by Occupy Wall Street, two placards were most commonly seen, says Todd Gitlin, a Columbia University expert in social movements and a former student activist who accompanied the march: "We are the 99%" and "The banks got bailed out, we got sold out."
As for planning, Occupy Wall Street has reached a delicate stage at which what may have been born as a ragtag protest is being infused with professionals from groups with organizational skills such as Moveon.org and labor unions. Those groups helped plan the attention-grabbing march Thursday, but the change may produce internal dissension over the participants' conflicting agendas.
Yet grass-roots movements rarely achieve much until they're yoked to movements with specific goals and the wherewithal to achieve them. After all, Rosa Parks was not just another seamstress angered by racial segregation on the bus system in her hometown of Montgomery, Ala.; she was the secretary of the local National Assn. for the Advancement of Colored People chapter. Her refusal to give up her seat to a white passenger one day in 1955 was a spontaneous act of civil disobedience, but it wasn't lost on civil rights leaders that her standing in the community, the stability of her home life and her personal dignity made her the ideal symbol of an organized bus boycott and a test case challenging segregation in court.
No one can know today whether this new protest has legs. ("It's somewhere between a moment and a movement," Gitlin says.) History warns, however, that it's unwise to dismiss it as merely the work of a rabble. In 1932, after an Army detachment under the command of Douglas MacArthur violently broke up a peaceable encampment of the Bonus Army — a movement of World War I veterans agitating for early payment of a promised government bonus to help overcome destitution caused by unemployment — President Herbert Hoover endorsed the bloody confrontation with the words "Thank God we still have a government in Washington that knows how to deal with a mob."
Listening to radio reports of the violence from his New York home, Franklin Roosevelt turned to his close aide Felix Frankfurter. "Felix," he said, "this elects me."
Cheers!
Hendra
Like to share and give opinions.
However, please do your own homework!
You have been given the tools and the knowledge, try to fish yourself, so you will never be hungry again....
---
RTW (Ride The Wave) http://www.facebook.com/RTWLearningLab
Hendra
Like to share and give opinions.
However, please do your own homework!
You have been given the tools and the knowledge, try to fish yourself, so you will never be hungry again....
---
RTW (Ride The Wave) http://www.facebook.com/RTWLearningLab
Wall Street protests swell in New York, Boston
This movement has been a month! So far peaceful... Hopefully stays that way, and the politicians MUST not take this lightly.
http://edition.cnn.com/2011/10/11/us/oc ... hpt=ibu_c2
Wall Street protests swell in New York, Boston
New York (CNN) -- A group of union-backed organizations joined the loosely defined Occupy Wall Street movement again Tuesday, leaving behind the confines of New York's financial district for the posh neighborhoods that dot Manhattan's Upper East Side, according to multiple group representatives.
Crowds also swelled in Lower Manhattan's Zuccotti Park, where demonstrators waved placards and chanted slogans attacking corporate greed and social inequality.
The union-organized march, meanwhile, took protesters past the homes of well-to-do residents like billionaire David Koch, News Corp. CEO Rupert Murdoch and JP Morgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon.
Organizations such as UnitedNY, the Strong Economy for All Coalition, the Working Families Party, and New York Communities for Change were accompanied by protesters typically based in Zuccotti Park, a privately owned park in New York's financial district.
The Upper East Side march was "in support" of the Occupy Wall Street movement, but was not organized by it, said T.J. Helmstetter, a spokesman for Working Families Party, a coalition of New York community and labor groups.
Protesters hopped on the subway, emerging at Fifth Avenue and 59th Street near Central Park, where organizers held a press conference that addressed both New York-centric themes, such as state taxes, and the movement's broader concerns of social inequity.
"We are the 99%," the group chanted, a reference to their insistence that most Americans lack the influence in their country's political and financial affairs enjoyed by the elite 1%.
"I think it's time that these people realize that people are hurting in this country and it's time to reform what's going on in Washington," said New York resident Lenore Silverstein, who attended Tuesday's march.
Emily Monroe , a North Carolina college student and marcher, said the city's wealthiest "are buying billion-dollar apartments and living lavishly, while we are just trying to sustain ourselves."
"The American dream is no longer possible because these people are stealing from the middle class," she told CNN Radio.
New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, meanwhile, said authorities will defend protesters' right to demonstrate, but he doesn't appreciate "the bashing of all of the hardworking people who live and work here."
"Our city depends on the jobs that the financial services industry provides," Bloomberg said during a news conference in the Bronx.
He added that he didn't understand what the picketing of wealthy and prominent New Yorkers is intended to achieve.
The mayor's comments coincided with a state comptroller report released Tuesday that predicts Wall Street could lose an additional 10,000 jobs by the end of next year, raising the total number of jobs lost in the securities industry since 2008 to 32,000.
Earlier, in Boston, 129 protesters were arrested during a similar demonstration Tuesday, mostly for "unlawful assembly and trespassing," said police spokesman Eddy Chrispin.
The group allegedly blocked traffic and refused to disperse while marching to "areas of the city where they hadn't been previously," he said.
Protesters have been occupying Dewey Square Park in downtown Boston, but expanded to the neighboring Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy Greenway on Monday night. Protesters were given a 1:30 a.m. deadline to move back to Dewey Square. Those who did not were arrested.
The nationwide Occupy movement has been largely peaceful, though it has led to some skirmishes with police and arrests. It has also stoked fervent public debate, including among politicians. Democrats have generally offered sympathy for protesters' concerns while several Republicans, among them 2012 presidential candidates Herman Cain and Newt Gingrich, have described the demonstrations as "class warfare."
The movement shows few signs of slowing down. Rallies and marches have been held in numerous towns and cities in recent days, with many more planned.
That includes a "Call to Action Against Banks" planned for Saturday, which New York's Occupy Wall Street announced on its Facebook site.
"No longer will banks take our homes. No longer will banks rob students of our future. No longer will banks destroy the environment. No longer will banks fund the misery of war. No longer will banks cause massive unemployment. And no longer will banks create and profit from economic crisis without a struggle," according to the online message Monday.
It then urges people to "visit your local Bank of America, Wells Fargo or Chase (branches) and let them know, we will not allow business as usual."
"We. Will. Occupy. Everywhere," the posting ends.
http://edition.cnn.com/2011/10/11/us/oc ... hpt=ibu_c2
Wall Street protests swell in New York, Boston
New York (CNN) -- A group of union-backed organizations joined the loosely defined Occupy Wall Street movement again Tuesday, leaving behind the confines of New York's financial district for the posh neighborhoods that dot Manhattan's Upper East Side, according to multiple group representatives.
Crowds also swelled in Lower Manhattan's Zuccotti Park, where demonstrators waved placards and chanted slogans attacking corporate greed and social inequality.
The union-organized march, meanwhile, took protesters past the homes of well-to-do residents like billionaire David Koch, News Corp. CEO Rupert Murdoch and JP Morgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon.
Organizations such as UnitedNY, the Strong Economy for All Coalition, the Working Families Party, and New York Communities for Change were accompanied by protesters typically based in Zuccotti Park, a privately owned park in New York's financial district.
The Upper East Side march was "in support" of the Occupy Wall Street movement, but was not organized by it, said T.J. Helmstetter, a spokesman for Working Families Party, a coalition of New York community and labor groups.
Protesters hopped on the subway, emerging at Fifth Avenue and 59th Street near Central Park, where organizers held a press conference that addressed both New York-centric themes, such as state taxes, and the movement's broader concerns of social inequity.
"We are the 99%," the group chanted, a reference to their insistence that most Americans lack the influence in their country's political and financial affairs enjoyed by the elite 1%.
"I think it's time that these people realize that people are hurting in this country and it's time to reform what's going on in Washington," said New York resident Lenore Silverstein, who attended Tuesday's march.
Emily Monroe , a North Carolina college student and marcher, said the city's wealthiest "are buying billion-dollar apartments and living lavishly, while we are just trying to sustain ourselves."
"The American dream is no longer possible because these people are stealing from the middle class," she told CNN Radio.
New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, meanwhile, said authorities will defend protesters' right to demonstrate, but he doesn't appreciate "the bashing of all of the hardworking people who live and work here."
"Our city depends on the jobs that the financial services industry provides," Bloomberg said during a news conference in the Bronx.
He added that he didn't understand what the picketing of wealthy and prominent New Yorkers is intended to achieve.
The mayor's comments coincided with a state comptroller report released Tuesday that predicts Wall Street could lose an additional 10,000 jobs by the end of next year, raising the total number of jobs lost in the securities industry since 2008 to 32,000.
Earlier, in Boston, 129 protesters were arrested during a similar demonstration Tuesday, mostly for "unlawful assembly and trespassing," said police spokesman Eddy Chrispin.
The group allegedly blocked traffic and refused to disperse while marching to "areas of the city where they hadn't been previously," he said.
Protesters have been occupying Dewey Square Park in downtown Boston, but expanded to the neighboring Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy Greenway on Monday night. Protesters were given a 1:30 a.m. deadline to move back to Dewey Square. Those who did not were arrested.
The nationwide Occupy movement has been largely peaceful, though it has led to some skirmishes with police and arrests. It has also stoked fervent public debate, including among politicians. Democrats have generally offered sympathy for protesters' concerns while several Republicans, among them 2012 presidential candidates Herman Cain and Newt Gingrich, have described the demonstrations as "class warfare."
The movement shows few signs of slowing down. Rallies and marches have been held in numerous towns and cities in recent days, with many more planned.
That includes a "Call to Action Against Banks" planned for Saturday, which New York's Occupy Wall Street announced on its Facebook site.
"No longer will banks take our homes. No longer will banks rob students of our future. No longer will banks destroy the environment. No longer will banks fund the misery of war. No longer will banks cause massive unemployment. And no longer will banks create and profit from economic crisis without a struggle," according to the online message Monday.
It then urges people to "visit your local Bank of America, Wells Fargo or Chase (branches) and let them know, we will not allow business as usual."
"We. Will. Occupy. Everywhere," the posting ends.
Cheers!
Hendra
Like to share and give opinions.
However, please do your own homework!
You have been given the tools and the knowledge, try to fish yourself, so you will never be hungry again....
---
RTW (Ride The Wave) http://www.facebook.com/RTWLearningLab
Hendra
Like to share and give opinions.
However, please do your own homework!
You have been given the tools and the knowledge, try to fish yourself, so you will never be hungry again....
---
RTW (Ride The Wave) http://www.facebook.com/RTWLearningLab
Wall St. office cleaners join march for better jobs
http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/10/ ... VA20111013
Wall St. office cleaners join march for better jobs
* Rallies planned for Thursday at college campuses
* Citigroup CEO says happy to speak with protesters
By Michelle Nichols and Paula Rogo
NEW YORK, Oct 12 (Reuters) - Hundreds of office cleaners and guards marched near Wall Street on Wednesday demanding good jobs and protesting economic inequality, while a smaller group of demonstrators rallied at JPMorgan Chase's skyscraper.
The marches were part of a growing Occupy Wall Street movement, the month-long protests that have inspired solidarity rallies planned for Thursday at some 90 U.S. college campuses. Demonstrations have occurred in more than 1,400 cities around the world.
The movement began on Sept. 17, when protesters set up camp in a park near Wall Street in Lower Manhattan, upset that the billions of dollars in bank bailouts doled out during the recession allowed banks to resume earning huge profits while average Americans have had no relief from high unemployment and job insecurity.
Participants also complain the richest 1 percent of Americans do not pay their fair share of taxes.
More than 750 cleaners, security guards and other building service workers converged on the financial district to march for better-paying jobs, while at a nearby rally outside a JPMorgan Chase skyscraper police said about 100 people walked around the building and then returned to their camp in the park.
Police said they arrested four people at the bank building.
Barricades had been placed outside the JPMorgan Chase building in preparation for the protest, and many police officers stood on duty.
The building service workers union, the Service Employees International Union, which organized the march, said contracts for tens of thousands of workers were about to expire.
"We're out here because there's no jobs and we're about to lose our jobs. We're tired and we're fed up and we need these people in here to hear us," said Carla Thomas, 47, a building security guard, gesturing toward Wall Street.
People who live near Zuccotti Park where the protesters are based have been complaining that loud music at night, including bongo playing, is keeping their children awake.
New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg has said the protests can continue as long as laws are obeyed.
Deputy Mayor Cas Holloway said the mayor told the protesters the park would be cleaned on Friday due to unsanitary conditions created over the past three weeks.
"The cleaning will be done in stages and the protesters will be able to return to the areas that have been cleaned provided they abide by the rules" established for the park, Holloway said in a statement.
At a rally in San Francisco, 11 protesters were arrested on Wednesday when up to 200 people demonstrated at the Wells Fargo corporate headquarters, blocking entrances and sticking posters on the building, one that read: "My bank went to bail-out land and all I got was a lousy recession."
TRUST BROKEN
Protesters appeared to be directing frustration at JP Morgan Chase's high-profile chief executive, Jamie Dimon.
About 500 protesters on Tuesday met on Manhattan's upscale Upper East Side, marching past the homes of Dimon, hedge fund manager John Paulson, media mogul Rupert Murdoch and David Koch, co-founder of energy firm Koch Industries.
Several of those being criticized by the protesters have shown understanding, sympathy or support for the Occupy Wall Street movement, including a U.S. Federal Reserve official, President Barack Obama and some corporate executives.
Citigroup Chief Executive Vikram Pandit said on Wednesday the sentiments of the protesters were "completely understandable" and that he would be happy to speak with them.
"Trust has been broken between financial institutions and the citizens of the U.S., and that is Wall Street's job, to reach out to Main Street and rebuild that trust," he told a business breakfast hosted by Fortune magazine.
Bill Gross, manager of PIMCO, the world's biggest bond fund, posted on Twitter late on Tuesday: "Class warfare by the 99%? Of course, they're fighting back after 30 years of being shot at."
A Reuters/Ipsos poll found on Wednesday that 82 percent of Americans had heard of the Occupy Wall Street protest movement, and 38 percent felt favorably toward it. Thirty-five percent were undecided, and about one-quarter unfavorable.
Hundreds of people were arrested in previous rallies in New York, and police have used pepper spray on protesters.
Demonstrators were arrested in Washington, Boston and Chicago on Tuesday at protests inspired by the Occupy Wall Street movement.
Wall St. office cleaners join march for better jobs
* Rallies planned for Thursday at college campuses
* Citigroup CEO says happy to speak with protesters
By Michelle Nichols and Paula Rogo
NEW YORK, Oct 12 (Reuters) - Hundreds of office cleaners and guards marched near Wall Street on Wednesday demanding good jobs and protesting economic inequality, while a smaller group of demonstrators rallied at JPMorgan Chase's skyscraper.
The marches were part of a growing Occupy Wall Street movement, the month-long protests that have inspired solidarity rallies planned for Thursday at some 90 U.S. college campuses. Demonstrations have occurred in more than 1,400 cities around the world.
The movement began on Sept. 17, when protesters set up camp in a park near Wall Street in Lower Manhattan, upset that the billions of dollars in bank bailouts doled out during the recession allowed banks to resume earning huge profits while average Americans have had no relief from high unemployment and job insecurity.
Participants also complain the richest 1 percent of Americans do not pay their fair share of taxes.
More than 750 cleaners, security guards and other building service workers converged on the financial district to march for better-paying jobs, while at a nearby rally outside a JPMorgan Chase skyscraper police said about 100 people walked around the building and then returned to their camp in the park.
Police said they arrested four people at the bank building.
Barricades had been placed outside the JPMorgan Chase building in preparation for the protest, and many police officers stood on duty.
The building service workers union, the Service Employees International Union, which organized the march, said contracts for tens of thousands of workers were about to expire.
"We're out here because there's no jobs and we're about to lose our jobs. We're tired and we're fed up and we need these people in here to hear us," said Carla Thomas, 47, a building security guard, gesturing toward Wall Street.
People who live near Zuccotti Park where the protesters are based have been complaining that loud music at night, including bongo playing, is keeping their children awake.
New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg has said the protests can continue as long as laws are obeyed.
Deputy Mayor Cas Holloway said the mayor told the protesters the park would be cleaned on Friday due to unsanitary conditions created over the past three weeks.
"The cleaning will be done in stages and the protesters will be able to return to the areas that have been cleaned provided they abide by the rules" established for the park, Holloway said in a statement.
At a rally in San Francisco, 11 protesters were arrested on Wednesday when up to 200 people demonstrated at the Wells Fargo corporate headquarters, blocking entrances and sticking posters on the building, one that read: "My bank went to bail-out land and all I got was a lousy recession."
TRUST BROKEN
Protesters appeared to be directing frustration at JP Morgan Chase's high-profile chief executive, Jamie Dimon.
About 500 protesters on Tuesday met on Manhattan's upscale Upper East Side, marching past the homes of Dimon, hedge fund manager John Paulson, media mogul Rupert Murdoch and David Koch, co-founder of energy firm Koch Industries.
Several of those being criticized by the protesters have shown understanding, sympathy or support for the Occupy Wall Street movement, including a U.S. Federal Reserve official, President Barack Obama and some corporate executives.
Citigroup Chief Executive Vikram Pandit said on Wednesday the sentiments of the protesters were "completely understandable" and that he would be happy to speak with them.
"Trust has been broken between financial institutions and the citizens of the U.S., and that is Wall Street's job, to reach out to Main Street and rebuild that trust," he told a business breakfast hosted by Fortune magazine.
Bill Gross, manager of PIMCO, the world's biggest bond fund, posted on Twitter late on Tuesday: "Class warfare by the 99%? Of course, they're fighting back after 30 years of being shot at."
A Reuters/Ipsos poll found on Wednesday that 82 percent of Americans had heard of the Occupy Wall Street protest movement, and 38 percent felt favorably toward it. Thirty-five percent were undecided, and about one-quarter unfavorable.
Hundreds of people were arrested in previous rallies in New York, and police have used pepper spray on protesters.
Demonstrators were arrested in Washington, Boston and Chicago on Tuesday at protests inspired by the Occupy Wall Street movement.
Cheers!
Hendra
Like to share and give opinions.
However, please do your own homework!
You have been given the tools and the knowledge, try to fish yourself, so you will never be hungry again....
---
RTW (Ride The Wave) http://www.facebook.com/RTWLearningLab
Hendra
Like to share and give opinions.
However, please do your own homework!
You have been given the tools and the knowledge, try to fish yourself, so you will never be hungry again....
---
RTW (Ride The Wave) http://www.facebook.com/RTWLearningLab
Occupy Wall Street braces for showdown
Let's hope no clash...
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld ... 7959.story
Occupy Wall Street braces for showdown
Thousands of anti-greed protesters, told they must clear their camping gear out of Zuccotti Park, brace for a showdown with the NYPD on Friday.
By Geraldine Baum, Los Angeles Times
October 13, 2011, 9:15 p.m.
Reporting from New York— Wall Street protesters were preparing Thursday for a confrontation with authorities who are expected to enforce new rules in the Lower Manhattan park where the demonstrators have been camped out for almost a month.
The protesters were told to clear out while Brookfield Office Properties Inc., the owner of Zuccotti Park, power-washes the area Friday morning. But company representatives — accompanied by police — handed out leaflets Thursday notifying the protesters that they could return only if they abide by new rules, which include no tents, tarps or sleeping bags on the ground, no lying on benches and no storing of personal property on the ground.
A confrontation also appeared to be brewing in San Diego, where police ordered protesters to remove tents and other property from the plaza behind City Hall by midnight Thursday or face arrest.
Occupy Wall Street's website sent supporters a call for help.
"For those of you who plan to help us hold our ground — which we hope will be all of you — make sure you understand the possible consequences," the post said. "Be prepared to not get much sleep. Be prepared for possible arrest.... We are pursuing all possible strategies; this is a message of solidarity."
The protesters also accused Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg of using the cleaning as a ruse to shut down their activity.
A protest spokesman emailed supporters urging them to show up at 6 a.m. Friday "to defend the occupation from eviction."
Some had already tried Thursday to do their part to clean up, washing down benches and the stone flooring and replanting trampled flower beds.
But Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly made it clear that he was behind the owner, who had apparently sent a letter to police earlier asking for support in clearing the park.
"After it's cleaned, they'll be able to come back, but they won't be able to bring back the gear, the equipment, sleeping bags," Kelly told reporters. "That sort of thing will not be able to be brought back into the park."
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld ... 7959.story
Occupy Wall Street braces for showdown
Thousands of anti-greed protesters, told they must clear their camping gear out of Zuccotti Park, brace for a showdown with the NYPD on Friday.
By Geraldine Baum, Los Angeles Times
October 13, 2011, 9:15 p.m.
Reporting from New York— Wall Street protesters were preparing Thursday for a confrontation with authorities who are expected to enforce new rules in the Lower Manhattan park where the demonstrators have been camped out for almost a month.
The protesters were told to clear out while Brookfield Office Properties Inc., the owner of Zuccotti Park, power-washes the area Friday morning. But company representatives — accompanied by police — handed out leaflets Thursday notifying the protesters that they could return only if they abide by new rules, which include no tents, tarps or sleeping bags on the ground, no lying on benches and no storing of personal property on the ground.
A confrontation also appeared to be brewing in San Diego, where police ordered protesters to remove tents and other property from the plaza behind City Hall by midnight Thursday or face arrest.
Occupy Wall Street's website sent supporters a call for help.
"For those of you who plan to help us hold our ground — which we hope will be all of you — make sure you understand the possible consequences," the post said. "Be prepared to not get much sleep. Be prepared for possible arrest.... We are pursuing all possible strategies; this is a message of solidarity."
The protesters also accused Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg of using the cleaning as a ruse to shut down their activity.
A protest spokesman emailed supporters urging them to show up at 6 a.m. Friday "to defend the occupation from eviction."
Some had already tried Thursday to do their part to clean up, washing down benches and the stone flooring and replanting trampled flower beds.
But Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly made it clear that he was behind the owner, who had apparently sent a letter to police earlier asking for support in clearing the park.
"After it's cleaned, they'll be able to come back, but they won't be able to bring back the gear, the equipment, sleeping bags," Kelly told reporters. "That sort of thing will not be able to be brought back into the park."
Cheers!
Hendra
Like to share and give opinions.
However, please do your own homework!
You have been given the tools and the knowledge, try to fish yourself, so you will never be hungry again....
---
RTW (Ride The Wave) http://www.facebook.com/RTWLearningLab
Hendra
Like to share and give opinions.
However, please do your own homework!
You have been given the tools and the knowledge, try to fish yourself, so you will never be hungry again....
---
RTW (Ride The Wave) http://www.facebook.com/RTWLearningLab
S'pore police warn against Raffles Place protest
Friday, 14Oct2011
SINGAPORE - Singapore police warned anyone planning to attend an Occupy Wall Street-style demonstration in the city-state's financial district this weekend that their involvement would be "unlawful".
Officers urged members of the public not to participate in the protest in Raffles Place, which organisers said would include a march to the Singapore Exchange building.
"Police received reports that a netizen is instigating the public to stage a protest gathering at Raffles Place on Saturday, 15 October 2011 in support of a similar protest action in New York," police said in a statement.
"Police urge members of the public not to be misled and participate in an unlawful activity."
However, organisers insisted they would push ahead.
"#OccupyRafflesPlace is still happening!" proclaimed a post on the social networking site Facebook.
It was unclear who was organising the mass action, which exhorted would-be participants to bring placards, musical instruments and other devices to "make as much noise as possible".
But organisers also urged protesters to refrain from violence and not to bring political party or trade union banners, drugs or alcohol.
"We are occupying Singapore's Central Business Districts to demand accountability and change," said the Facebook posting, which also criticised state-linked investment firms Temasek Holdings and the Government of Singapore Investment Corp.
A Facebook community site set up by the anonymous organisers - who have denied links with any political parties - received 211 "likes" by 0300 GMT Friday.
The Occupy Wall Street protests in the US were launched on September 7 by Americans protesting "greed" in the country's financial heartland.
Friday, 14Oct2011
SINGAPORE - Singapore police warned anyone planning to attend an Occupy Wall Street-style demonstration in the city-state's financial district this weekend that their involvement would be "unlawful".
Officers urged members of the public not to participate in the protest in Raffles Place, which organisers said would include a march to the Singapore Exchange building.
"Police received reports that a netizen is instigating the public to stage a protest gathering at Raffles Place on Saturday, 15 October 2011 in support of a similar protest action in New York," police said in a statement.
"Police urge members of the public not to be misled and participate in an unlawful activity."
However, organisers insisted they would push ahead.
"#OccupyRafflesPlace is still happening!" proclaimed a post on the social networking site Facebook.
It was unclear who was organising the mass action, which exhorted would-be participants to bring placards, musical instruments and other devices to "make as much noise as possible".
But organisers also urged protesters to refrain from violence and not to bring political party or trade union banners, drugs or alcohol.
"We are occupying Singapore's Central Business Districts to demand accountability and change," said the Facebook posting, which also criticised state-linked investment firms Temasek Holdings and the Government of Singapore Investment Corp.
A Facebook community site set up by the anonymous organisers - who have denied links with any political parties - received 211 "likes" by 0300 GMT Friday.
The Occupy Wall Street protests in the US were launched on September 7 by Americans protesting "greed" in the country's financial heartland.
Price is what you pay; Value is what you get
RayNg
RayNg
Wall Street Protests Spread Globally as Rome Turns Violent
http://news.businessweek.com/article.as ... TGS7SRLBFP
Wall Street Protests Spread Globally as Rome Turns Violent
Oct. 15 (Bloomberg) -- The Occupy Wall Street protest against income disparity spread across Western Europe, Asia, the U.S. and Canada today. Rome's demonstration turned violent, contrasting with peaceful events elsewhere.
As many as 500 marchers in Rome wielding clubs attacked police, two banks and a supermarket, Sky TG24 reported. Authorities used tear gas and water cannon. Londoners were barred from Paternoster Square, home of the London Stock Exchange, and Tokyo protesters demanded an end to nuclear power. New York police arrested 24 at a Citigroup Inc. bank branch and 6,000 gathered in Times Square.
The rallies started last month in New York's financial district, where people have been staying in lower Manhattan's Zuccotti Park. They widened to 1,500 cities today, including Sydney and Toronto, the organizers said, in a “global day of action against Wall Street greed.”
“The world will rise up as one and say, ‘We have had enough,'” Patrick Bruner, an Occupy Wall Street spokesman, said in an e-mail.
Protesters say they represent “the 99 percent,” a nod to a study by Nobel Prize-winning economist Joseph Stiglitz showing the top 1 percent of Americans control 40 percent of U.S. wealth.
March on Banks
In New York, demonstrators marched past a JPMorgan Chase & Co. branch urging clients to transfer accounts to “a financial institution that supports the 99 percent.” They distributed fliers with a list of community banks and credit unions.
“I'm interested in sending a message to support banks that actually support the community as opposed to those like Chase that took government money and fired workers anyway,” said Penny Lewis, 40, a City University of New York labor professor. She said she planned to close her Chase account.
Twenty-four were arrested later for refusing to leave a Citibank branch, the police said, and about 6,000 marched to Times Square as night fell, the organizers said. There were also protests in Boston, Philadelphia, Miami, Denver, San Francisco and other U.S. cities.
About 1,000 people gathered in Toronto's financial district carrying signs saying “Nationalize the Banks,” “CEO Pay Up 444 Percent in 12 years. How About You?” and “We're All in the Same Boat.” Others opposed war, serial killers and hydro- electric costs.
Protests were planned in at least 15 Canadian cities, including Montreal, Calgary, Vancouver, Edmonton and Winnipeg, according to the Canadian Broadcasting Corp.'s website.
Violence in Italy
Demonstrations turned violent in Italy, where the unemployment rate for 15-to-24-year-olds was 27.6 percent in August. Thirty police and 20 protesters were injured in Rome, Sky TG24 reported. Firecrackers were thrown at the Ministry of Defense and windows of Cassa di Risparmio di Rimini and Poste Italiane SpA shattered, according to the report.
“Something like this is clearly not spontaneous,” James Walston, who teaches politics at the American University in Rome, said in a telephone interview. “We have been in a risky situation for months with expectations -- above all of young people -- falling lower and lower. The potential for violence today, with so large a number of demonstrators, was high.”
Mayor Giovanni Alemanno told Sky TG24 that “the worst of Europe planned to meet in Rome.”
“Now, the citizens of Rome are those who have become angry,” he said.
London Banners
The Occupy London Stock Exchange protest drew about 4,000 people, according to organizers. Police didn't provide a number. In the shadow of St. Paul's Cathedral, banners had slogans that read “No Bulls, No Bears, Just Pigs” and “Bankers Are the Real Looters.”
“The financial system benefits a handful of banks at the expense of everyday people, the taxpayers,” said Spyro Van Leemnen, a 27-year-old public-relations agent. “The same people who are responsible for the recession are getting away with massive bonuses.”
In Berlin, 6,000 took to the streets and 1,500 gathered in Cologne, ZDF television said. In Frankfurt, 5,000 marched by the European Central Bank headquarters with toy pistols firing soap bubbles and planned to camp out, ZDF reported.
“A few hundred” met at the Paris city hall, according to BFM TV. Thousands marched in Madrid with placards criticizing bank bailouts. In Zurich, about 200 coalesced on Paradeplatz, playing Monopoly and sipping free coffee from a stand.
In Taiwan, several hundred demonstrators sat mostly quietly outside the Taipei World Financial Center, known as Taipei 101.
Communist Anthem
Levin Jiang, 22, an English major at Taipei's Fu Jen Catholic University, joined others singing the communist anthem L'Internationale in front of a Hermes watch shop.
“I'm angry about the unjust capitalist society,” he said. “I'm anti-capitalism.”
In Seoul, 600 converged on the city hall after changing the location of the protest as police banned the rally today, Yonhap News reported. They urged rules for speculative investments and demanded lower college tuition.
In Hong Kong, about 200 people gathered at the Exchange Square Podium in the central shopping and business district, according to Napo Wong, an organizer.
“Hong Kong is heaven for capitalists,” said Lee Chun Wing, 29, a community college social sciences lecturer in Hong Kong. “Wealth is created by workers and so should be shared with the workers as well. Capitalism is not a just system.”
In Tokyo, morning rain may have deterred some from joining three planned protests. More than 120 people demanding an end to nuclear power marched from Hibiya Park to the offices of Tokyo Electric Power Co., owner of the Fukushima atomic plant crippled by a March 11 earthquake.
--With assistance from Corinne Gretler in Zurich; Richard Weiss in Frankfurt; Alan Katz in Paris; Seonjin Cha in Seoul; Naoko Fujimura, Patrick Harrington and Jim McDonald in Tokyo; Lisa Pham in Sydney; Chinmei Sung and Janet Ong in Taipei; Stephanie Tong and Fion Li in Hong Kong; Weiyi Lim in Singapore; Seonjin Cha in Seoul; Sean B. Pasternak in Toronto, and Joel Stonington and Chris Dolmetsch in New York. Editors: Jerry Hart, Dick Schumacher, Sylvia Wier, Mike Millard
Wall Street Protests Spread Globally as Rome Turns Violent
Oct. 15 (Bloomberg) -- The Occupy Wall Street protest against income disparity spread across Western Europe, Asia, the U.S. and Canada today. Rome's demonstration turned violent, contrasting with peaceful events elsewhere.
As many as 500 marchers in Rome wielding clubs attacked police, two banks and a supermarket, Sky TG24 reported. Authorities used tear gas and water cannon. Londoners were barred from Paternoster Square, home of the London Stock Exchange, and Tokyo protesters demanded an end to nuclear power. New York police arrested 24 at a Citigroup Inc. bank branch and 6,000 gathered in Times Square.
The rallies started last month in New York's financial district, where people have been staying in lower Manhattan's Zuccotti Park. They widened to 1,500 cities today, including Sydney and Toronto, the organizers said, in a “global day of action against Wall Street greed.”
“The world will rise up as one and say, ‘We have had enough,'” Patrick Bruner, an Occupy Wall Street spokesman, said in an e-mail.
Protesters say they represent “the 99 percent,” a nod to a study by Nobel Prize-winning economist Joseph Stiglitz showing the top 1 percent of Americans control 40 percent of U.S. wealth.
March on Banks
In New York, demonstrators marched past a JPMorgan Chase & Co. branch urging clients to transfer accounts to “a financial institution that supports the 99 percent.” They distributed fliers with a list of community banks and credit unions.
“I'm interested in sending a message to support banks that actually support the community as opposed to those like Chase that took government money and fired workers anyway,” said Penny Lewis, 40, a City University of New York labor professor. She said she planned to close her Chase account.
Twenty-four were arrested later for refusing to leave a Citibank branch, the police said, and about 6,000 marched to Times Square as night fell, the organizers said. There were also protests in Boston, Philadelphia, Miami, Denver, San Francisco and other U.S. cities.
About 1,000 people gathered in Toronto's financial district carrying signs saying “Nationalize the Banks,” “CEO Pay Up 444 Percent in 12 years. How About You?” and “We're All in the Same Boat.” Others opposed war, serial killers and hydro- electric costs.
Protests were planned in at least 15 Canadian cities, including Montreal, Calgary, Vancouver, Edmonton and Winnipeg, according to the Canadian Broadcasting Corp.'s website.
Violence in Italy
Demonstrations turned violent in Italy, where the unemployment rate for 15-to-24-year-olds was 27.6 percent in August. Thirty police and 20 protesters were injured in Rome, Sky TG24 reported. Firecrackers were thrown at the Ministry of Defense and windows of Cassa di Risparmio di Rimini and Poste Italiane SpA shattered, according to the report.
“Something like this is clearly not spontaneous,” James Walston, who teaches politics at the American University in Rome, said in a telephone interview. “We have been in a risky situation for months with expectations -- above all of young people -- falling lower and lower. The potential for violence today, with so large a number of demonstrators, was high.”
Mayor Giovanni Alemanno told Sky TG24 that “the worst of Europe planned to meet in Rome.”
“Now, the citizens of Rome are those who have become angry,” he said.
London Banners
The Occupy London Stock Exchange protest drew about 4,000 people, according to organizers. Police didn't provide a number. In the shadow of St. Paul's Cathedral, banners had slogans that read “No Bulls, No Bears, Just Pigs” and “Bankers Are the Real Looters.”
“The financial system benefits a handful of banks at the expense of everyday people, the taxpayers,” said Spyro Van Leemnen, a 27-year-old public-relations agent. “The same people who are responsible for the recession are getting away with massive bonuses.”
In Berlin, 6,000 took to the streets and 1,500 gathered in Cologne, ZDF television said. In Frankfurt, 5,000 marched by the European Central Bank headquarters with toy pistols firing soap bubbles and planned to camp out, ZDF reported.
“A few hundred” met at the Paris city hall, according to BFM TV. Thousands marched in Madrid with placards criticizing bank bailouts. In Zurich, about 200 coalesced on Paradeplatz, playing Monopoly and sipping free coffee from a stand.
In Taiwan, several hundred demonstrators sat mostly quietly outside the Taipei World Financial Center, known as Taipei 101.
Communist Anthem
Levin Jiang, 22, an English major at Taipei's Fu Jen Catholic University, joined others singing the communist anthem L'Internationale in front of a Hermes watch shop.
“I'm angry about the unjust capitalist society,” he said. “I'm anti-capitalism.”
In Seoul, 600 converged on the city hall after changing the location of the protest as police banned the rally today, Yonhap News reported. They urged rules for speculative investments and demanded lower college tuition.
In Hong Kong, about 200 people gathered at the Exchange Square Podium in the central shopping and business district, according to Napo Wong, an organizer.
“Hong Kong is heaven for capitalists,” said Lee Chun Wing, 29, a community college social sciences lecturer in Hong Kong. “Wealth is created by workers and so should be shared with the workers as well. Capitalism is not a just system.”
In Tokyo, morning rain may have deterred some from joining three planned protests. More than 120 people demanding an end to nuclear power marched from Hibiya Park to the offices of Tokyo Electric Power Co., owner of the Fukushima atomic plant crippled by a March 11 earthquake.
--With assistance from Corinne Gretler in Zurich; Richard Weiss in Frankfurt; Alan Katz in Paris; Seonjin Cha in Seoul; Naoko Fujimura, Patrick Harrington and Jim McDonald in Tokyo; Lisa Pham in Sydney; Chinmei Sung and Janet Ong in Taipei; Stephanie Tong and Fion Li in Hong Kong; Weiyi Lim in Singapore; Seonjin Cha in Seoul; Sean B. Pasternak in Toronto, and Joel Stonington and Chris Dolmetsch in New York. Editors: Jerry Hart, Dick Schumacher, Sylvia Wier, Mike Millard
Cheers!
Hendra
Like to share and give opinions.
However, please do your own homework!
You have been given the tools and the knowledge, try to fish yourself, so you will never be hungry again....
---
RTW (Ride The Wave) http://www.facebook.com/RTWLearningLab
Hendra
Like to share and give opinions.
However, please do your own homework!
You have been given the tools and the knowledge, try to fish yourself, so you will never be hungry again....
---
RTW (Ride The Wave) http://www.facebook.com/RTWLearningLab
We cannot underestimate the 'TIPPING POINT' to something bigger to happen... whatever that is...
http://www.todayonline.com/World/EDC111 ... -hits-Asia
'Occupy Wall Street' hits Asia
04:46 AM Oct 16, 2011
HONG KONG - People throughout the Asia-Pacific rallied yesterday to protest the widening gap between rich and poor as part of a planned day of demonstrations in dozens of cities across the world against the global financial system.
Most events in Asia drew modest numbers - the largest crowd was in Sydney, Australia, where reports estimated up to 800 protesters. Rallies in Tokyo, Hong Kong, Taipei, Seoul and Melbourne, drew a few hundred people each.
Across Europe, however, tens of thousands nicknamed "the indignant" marched yesterday. Violence broke out in Rome, where some protesters smashed shop windows, torched cars and attacked news crews. In Frankfurt, some 5,000 people protested in front of the European Central Bank. The protests are being held as finance ministers and central bankers from the Group of 20 industrialised nations meet in Paris to discuss the global economy, including ways to tackle Europe's sovereign debt crisis.
Yesterday's protests sprang first from demonstrations in Spain in May and then the "Occupy Wall Street" movement that began last month in New York.
In Sydney, several hundred protesters, some carrying signs with slogans as disparate as "We are the 99%" and "Capitalism is Killing our Economy" packed one of the public thoroughfares outside the headquarters of the Reserve Bank of Australia in the financial district. While the atmosphere was lively, many individuals seemed to have difficulty articulating just what it was that they were protesting against.
In central Tokyo, where periodic rallies against nuclear power have been held since the March accident at the Fukushima Dai-ichi Nuclear Power Plant, about 300 protesters marched with signs through busy streets and heavy traffic, chanting "We're with Occupy Wall Street!" "Down with the rich!" and "No more nukes!"
Two young men held a banner that expressed a somewhat apologetic solidarity with the world: "Radioactivity has no borders. To the world from Japan: Sorry!"
In Hong Kong, about 200 people rallied at Exchange Square, an open area near the International Finance Centre, in the heart of the city's banking and commerce district. Various groups staged sit-ins alongside each other, protesting issues ranging from growing income disparity to a local political system that some demonstrators said is undemocratic. AGENCIES
http://www.todayonline.com/World/EDC111 ... -hits-Asia
'Occupy Wall Street' hits Asia
04:46 AM Oct 16, 2011
HONG KONG - People throughout the Asia-Pacific rallied yesterday to protest the widening gap between rich and poor as part of a planned day of demonstrations in dozens of cities across the world against the global financial system.
Most events in Asia drew modest numbers - the largest crowd was in Sydney, Australia, where reports estimated up to 800 protesters. Rallies in Tokyo, Hong Kong, Taipei, Seoul and Melbourne, drew a few hundred people each.
Across Europe, however, tens of thousands nicknamed "the indignant" marched yesterday. Violence broke out in Rome, where some protesters smashed shop windows, torched cars and attacked news crews. In Frankfurt, some 5,000 people protested in front of the European Central Bank. The protests are being held as finance ministers and central bankers from the Group of 20 industrialised nations meet in Paris to discuss the global economy, including ways to tackle Europe's sovereign debt crisis.
Yesterday's protests sprang first from demonstrations in Spain in May and then the "Occupy Wall Street" movement that began last month in New York.
In Sydney, several hundred protesters, some carrying signs with slogans as disparate as "We are the 99%" and "Capitalism is Killing our Economy" packed one of the public thoroughfares outside the headquarters of the Reserve Bank of Australia in the financial district. While the atmosphere was lively, many individuals seemed to have difficulty articulating just what it was that they were protesting against.
In central Tokyo, where periodic rallies against nuclear power have been held since the March accident at the Fukushima Dai-ichi Nuclear Power Plant, about 300 protesters marched with signs through busy streets and heavy traffic, chanting "We're with Occupy Wall Street!" "Down with the rich!" and "No more nukes!"
Two young men held a banner that expressed a somewhat apologetic solidarity with the world: "Radioactivity has no borders. To the world from Japan: Sorry!"
In Hong Kong, about 200 people rallied at Exchange Square, an open area near the International Finance Centre, in the heart of the city's banking and commerce district. Various groups staged sit-ins alongside each other, protesting issues ranging from growing income disparity to a local political system that some demonstrators said is undemocratic. AGENCIES
Cheers!
Hendra
Like to share and give opinions.
However, please do your own homework!
You have been given the tools and the knowledge, try to fish yourself, so you will never be hungry again....
---
RTW (Ride The Wave) http://www.facebook.com/RTWLearningLab
Hendra
Like to share and give opinions.
However, please do your own homework!
You have been given the tools and the knowledge, try to fish yourself, so you will never be hungry again....
---
RTW (Ride The Wave) http://www.facebook.com/RTWLearningLab
Anti-Wall Street demonstrations heat up around worldwide
http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/sto ... 50797274/1
Anti-Wall Street demonstrations heat up around worldwide
WASHINGTON – Anti-Wall Street demonstrations against corporate greed spread across the USA and the world over the weekend, with protests turning violent in Rome.
By Melissa Griffiths, Juneau Empire, via AP
Protesters rally outside a bank Saturday as part of "Occupy Juneau" protest in Alaska.
Though demonstrations were largely peaceful, 175 people were arrested in Chicago early Sunday after refusing to take down tents in a city park. Dozens of others were arrested from New York to Arizona on Saturday.
The protests are loosely organized, but a general theme is based on the theory that the richest 1% of the population controls a disproportionate share of wealth and political power. Complaints focus on the 9.1% U.S. unemployment rate, the housing crisis, and the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.
PHOTOS: Occupy protests around the world
"The majority of people in this country and around the world are tired of big corporations and big money ruling the world," said Bruce Wright, 50, of St. Petersburg, Fla., who helped organize the demonstration at Freedom Plaza in Washington.
"If we want revolutionary change in this country, we have to be willing to do the same things that they're doing in Tunisia and Egypt," he said.
Larry Sabato, director of the Center for Politics at the University of Virginia, said now that the "Occupy Wall Street" movement has grown, the question is whether it can organize for political effect.
"The easier part is protesting," he said. "It's the nitty-gritty work of politics, day in and day out, that actually makes a difference in an election season."
•In Chicago, 2,000 attended a protest, and then 500 set up camp at an entrance to Grant Park before police began the arrests.
•In New York City, thousands of protesters in Times Square chanted, "Banks got bailed out! We got sold out!" and 42 were arrested for taking down police barriers. Two-dozen were arrested after entering a Citibank branch and refusing to leave.
•In Arizona, about 100 people were arrested — 53 in Tucson and 46 in Phoenix — after protesters refused police orders to disperse. In Phoenix, 1,000 people packed César Chávez Park to protest abuses by banks and corporations. Several hundred rallied in Tucson's Military Plaza Park.
Elsewhere Saturday: About 1,500 demonstrators marched for several blocks in Pittsburgh; an estimated 1,500 marched past banks in Orlando; about 1,000 rallied in downtown Denver and nearly 200 spent the night in Detroit's Grand Circus Park.
Similar demonstrations took place in London, Toronto and Mexico City. In Rome, protesters broke away from the main demonstration, smashing shop and bank windows, and burning cars. Mayor Gianni Alemanno estimated the damage to city property at $1.4million.
Tarak Kauff, 70, a member of Veterans for Peace who attended the Washington demonstration, said the message isn't just from his group but is bubbling up everywhere.
"People have tasted what it means to have people power," said Kauff, of Woodstock, N.Y.
"They're not only suffering in Afghanistan and Iraq, but they're suffering right here in this country," he said.
Contributing: AP, KPNX-TV
Anti-Wall Street demonstrations heat up around worldwide
WASHINGTON – Anti-Wall Street demonstrations against corporate greed spread across the USA and the world over the weekend, with protests turning violent in Rome.
By Melissa Griffiths, Juneau Empire, via AP
Protesters rally outside a bank Saturday as part of "Occupy Juneau" protest in Alaska.
Though demonstrations were largely peaceful, 175 people were arrested in Chicago early Sunday after refusing to take down tents in a city park. Dozens of others were arrested from New York to Arizona on Saturday.
The protests are loosely organized, but a general theme is based on the theory that the richest 1% of the population controls a disproportionate share of wealth and political power. Complaints focus on the 9.1% U.S. unemployment rate, the housing crisis, and the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.
PHOTOS: Occupy protests around the world
"The majority of people in this country and around the world are tired of big corporations and big money ruling the world," said Bruce Wright, 50, of St. Petersburg, Fla., who helped organize the demonstration at Freedom Plaza in Washington.
"If we want revolutionary change in this country, we have to be willing to do the same things that they're doing in Tunisia and Egypt," he said.
Larry Sabato, director of the Center for Politics at the University of Virginia, said now that the "Occupy Wall Street" movement has grown, the question is whether it can organize for political effect.
"The easier part is protesting," he said. "It's the nitty-gritty work of politics, day in and day out, that actually makes a difference in an election season."
•In Chicago, 2,000 attended a protest, and then 500 set up camp at an entrance to Grant Park before police began the arrests.
•In New York City, thousands of protesters in Times Square chanted, "Banks got bailed out! We got sold out!" and 42 were arrested for taking down police barriers. Two-dozen were arrested after entering a Citibank branch and refusing to leave.
•In Arizona, about 100 people were arrested — 53 in Tucson and 46 in Phoenix — after protesters refused police orders to disperse. In Phoenix, 1,000 people packed César Chávez Park to protest abuses by banks and corporations. Several hundred rallied in Tucson's Military Plaza Park.
Elsewhere Saturday: About 1,500 demonstrators marched for several blocks in Pittsburgh; an estimated 1,500 marched past banks in Orlando; about 1,000 rallied in downtown Denver and nearly 200 spent the night in Detroit's Grand Circus Park.
Similar demonstrations took place in London, Toronto and Mexico City. In Rome, protesters broke away from the main demonstration, smashing shop and bank windows, and burning cars. Mayor Gianni Alemanno estimated the damage to city property at $1.4million.
Tarak Kauff, 70, a member of Veterans for Peace who attended the Washington demonstration, said the message isn't just from his group but is bubbling up everywhere.
"People have tasted what it means to have people power," said Kauff, of Woodstock, N.Y.
"They're not only suffering in Afghanistan and Iraq, but they're suffering right here in this country," he said.
Contributing: AP, KPNX-TV
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Hendra
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Wall Street Protests Span Four Continents, Arrests Climb
http://news.businessweek.com/article.as ... 0I9H300C92
Wall Street Protests Span Four Continents, Arrests Climb
Oct. 17 (Bloomberg) -- British police sealed off routes to the London Stock Exchange and Italian officers conducted nationwide raids following protests against economic inequality on four continents.
Officers carrying batons and gas sprays manned steel barriers close to St Paul's Cathedral in London, blocking supporters of the Occupy London Stock Exchange group from approaching the LSE. At least 25 police vans with wire-mesh screens and carrying additional officers were parked in side streets.
“We'll stay for however long it takes to build a new democratic financial system,” said Kai Wargalla, a 26 year-old German studying sustainable economics in London, who's one of those camping next to Christopher Wren's 17th century church. “It's about creating something new.”
The Occupy Wall Street demonstrations began last month, with about 6,000 people gathering in Times Square for what organizers called a “global day of action against Wall Street greed” on Oct. 15. The protests then spread to Europe and Asia, with more than 100 people injured in Rome after as many as 200,000 people gathered on the same day, the Corriere della Sera newspaper reported.
Italian police today launched raids in cities including Rome and Milan, according to the Ansa news agency, while gas masks and balaclavas were seized in Florence.
A board placed on Paternoster Square, home to the LSE, said the area is private land and that “any licence to the public to enter or cross this land is revoked forthwith.”
‘Working Groups'
The St Paul's demonstrators had divided into “working groups” to formulate their demands and organize a kitchen, said protest spokeswoman Wargalla, who estimated as many as 250 people were taking part. About 4,000 people had signaled their intent to attend, a spokeswoman said on Oct. 12.
The campers had been given indefinite permission to remain by cathedral authorities, who also asked police to leave the area, Wargalla said, and this “sets the stage for long-term occupation.” An e-mailed statement from the Cathedral today did not explicitly support the protest and said that the building must remain open to the public. Clerics would not be giving interviews, a spokeswoman said.
“I want to see stricter regulation of the finance system,” said Joe Spence, 23, an anthropology student at Kent University. “I want a government that will not just pander to the banks.” A notice at the campsite, about 100 yards from the LSE, read “Jail the Bankers.”
‘Boom and Bust Cycle'
A capitalist economy “is the quickest way to generate wealth,” LSE Chief Executive Officer Xavier Rolet said at a conference in London on Oct. 14. “What is profoundly disliked by -- I wouldn't say average citizens in the street -- is the boom and bust cycle of the capitalist economy. This is directly connected in the mind of citizens to unemployment.”
In Amsterdam, protesters lined up at the entrance of the Amsterdam Stock Exchange this morning and greeted employees with slogans, broadcaster AT5 reported. Demonstrators burnt fake money and hosted an alternative exchange, bidding for “shares” titled stress, health, future and happiness.
About 50 people took over a disused hotel close to the Puerta del Sol square, the focus of demonstrations in Madrid, Efe news agency reported.
In Zurich, an estimated 1,200 protesters at the weekend occupied the Paradeplatz, home of Credit Suisse Group AG, the Swiss Social Democratic Party's youth organization said in a press release. Over 60 people stayed overnight, until police asked them to leave this morning. Protests have now moved to the nearby Lindenhof, overlooking Zurich's old town.
Chicago Arrests
In Australia, about 30 people gathered in front of the central bank in Sydney. Signs on a nearby fence included: “When I do it, it's counterfeiting. When the Reserve Bank does it, it's called Quantitative Easing.” Another 70 protesters occupied Melbourne's city square in front of the Westin Hotel.
“Around the world, we're seeing people coming out in record numbers -- not just to protest and then go home,” said Tim David Frank, 27, a teacher involved with the Occupy Sydney movement.
Chicago police arrested about 175 protesters in Grant Park around 1 a.m. local time yesterday after they refused to disperse, the Chicago Tribune reported.
Tokyo, Toronto and other cities also saw protests in support of the month-old movement, which organizers say represents “the 99 percent,” a nod to Nobel Prize-winning economist Joseph Stiglitz's study showing the top 1 percent of Americans control 40 percent of U.S. wealth.
‘Tear Down Capitalism'
In Hong Kong, protests extended for a second day yesterday after about 40 demonstrators slept overnight in a foyer beneath the Asian headquarters of HSBC Holdings Plc in the central financial district.
Equipped with tents, bullhorns and a gas-powered generator used to help them recharge their laptops, the protesters occupied the public thoroughfare under the building as about a dozen police stood by. Demonstrations were also held in Seoul and Taipei.
“Wall Street has a campaign to start asking questions about capitalism but this is not enough,” said art student Derrick Benig, 22, who slept in a tent overnight in Hong Kong. “I want to tear down capitalism.”
‘Worrying Signal'
In Rome on Oct. 15, firecrackers were thrown at the Ministry of Defense and windows of Cassa di Risparmio di Rimini and Poste Italiane SpA shattered, Sky TG24 reported. Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi called “the unbelievable violence” in Rome “a worrying signal for civil coexistence.”
“Violent extremists have to be identified and punished,” Berlusconi said in a statement.
More than 800 people have been arrested in New York since the protests began Sept. 17, mostly for disorderly conduct, as demonstrators solidified their hold on Zuccotti Park, which has become the de facto epicenter of Occupy Wall Street.
A wider confrontation was avoided after the park's owner, Brookfield Office Properties Inc., postponed a cleanup that would have removed and banned protesters' sleeping bags, tents and other gear that provided overnight accommodations.
Protesters and local politicians had gathered 300,000 signatures, flooded the city's 311 information line and drew more than 3,000 people to the park to oppose the cleanup, according to Patrick Bruner, an Occupy Wall Street spokesman.
“The world will rise up as one and say, ‘We have had enough,'” Bruner said in an e-mail. A news release from the organization said there were demonstrations in 1,500 cities worldwide, including 100 in the U.S.
--With assistance from Maud Van Gaal in Amsterdam, Nandini Sukumar in London, Joe Brennan in Dublin, Charles Penty in Madrid, Carolyn Bandel in Zurich, Frederik Balfour in Hong Kong and Robert Fenner in Melbourne. Editors: Francis Harris, Edward Evans
Wall Street Protests Span Four Continents, Arrests Climb
Oct. 17 (Bloomberg) -- British police sealed off routes to the London Stock Exchange and Italian officers conducted nationwide raids following protests against economic inequality on four continents.
Officers carrying batons and gas sprays manned steel barriers close to St Paul's Cathedral in London, blocking supporters of the Occupy London Stock Exchange group from approaching the LSE. At least 25 police vans with wire-mesh screens and carrying additional officers were parked in side streets.
“We'll stay for however long it takes to build a new democratic financial system,” said Kai Wargalla, a 26 year-old German studying sustainable economics in London, who's one of those camping next to Christopher Wren's 17th century church. “It's about creating something new.”
The Occupy Wall Street demonstrations began last month, with about 6,000 people gathering in Times Square for what organizers called a “global day of action against Wall Street greed” on Oct. 15. The protests then spread to Europe and Asia, with more than 100 people injured in Rome after as many as 200,000 people gathered on the same day, the Corriere della Sera newspaper reported.
Italian police today launched raids in cities including Rome and Milan, according to the Ansa news agency, while gas masks and balaclavas were seized in Florence.
A board placed on Paternoster Square, home to the LSE, said the area is private land and that “any licence to the public to enter or cross this land is revoked forthwith.”
‘Working Groups'
The St Paul's demonstrators had divided into “working groups” to formulate their demands and organize a kitchen, said protest spokeswoman Wargalla, who estimated as many as 250 people were taking part. About 4,000 people had signaled their intent to attend, a spokeswoman said on Oct. 12.
The campers had been given indefinite permission to remain by cathedral authorities, who also asked police to leave the area, Wargalla said, and this “sets the stage for long-term occupation.” An e-mailed statement from the Cathedral today did not explicitly support the protest and said that the building must remain open to the public. Clerics would not be giving interviews, a spokeswoman said.
“I want to see stricter regulation of the finance system,” said Joe Spence, 23, an anthropology student at Kent University. “I want a government that will not just pander to the banks.” A notice at the campsite, about 100 yards from the LSE, read “Jail the Bankers.”
‘Boom and Bust Cycle'
A capitalist economy “is the quickest way to generate wealth,” LSE Chief Executive Officer Xavier Rolet said at a conference in London on Oct. 14. “What is profoundly disliked by -- I wouldn't say average citizens in the street -- is the boom and bust cycle of the capitalist economy. This is directly connected in the mind of citizens to unemployment.”
In Amsterdam, protesters lined up at the entrance of the Amsterdam Stock Exchange this morning and greeted employees with slogans, broadcaster AT5 reported. Demonstrators burnt fake money and hosted an alternative exchange, bidding for “shares” titled stress, health, future and happiness.
About 50 people took over a disused hotel close to the Puerta del Sol square, the focus of demonstrations in Madrid, Efe news agency reported.
In Zurich, an estimated 1,200 protesters at the weekend occupied the Paradeplatz, home of Credit Suisse Group AG, the Swiss Social Democratic Party's youth organization said in a press release. Over 60 people stayed overnight, until police asked them to leave this morning. Protests have now moved to the nearby Lindenhof, overlooking Zurich's old town.
Chicago Arrests
In Australia, about 30 people gathered in front of the central bank in Sydney. Signs on a nearby fence included: “When I do it, it's counterfeiting. When the Reserve Bank does it, it's called Quantitative Easing.” Another 70 protesters occupied Melbourne's city square in front of the Westin Hotel.
“Around the world, we're seeing people coming out in record numbers -- not just to protest and then go home,” said Tim David Frank, 27, a teacher involved with the Occupy Sydney movement.
Chicago police arrested about 175 protesters in Grant Park around 1 a.m. local time yesterday after they refused to disperse, the Chicago Tribune reported.
Tokyo, Toronto and other cities also saw protests in support of the month-old movement, which organizers say represents “the 99 percent,” a nod to Nobel Prize-winning economist Joseph Stiglitz's study showing the top 1 percent of Americans control 40 percent of U.S. wealth.
‘Tear Down Capitalism'
In Hong Kong, protests extended for a second day yesterday after about 40 demonstrators slept overnight in a foyer beneath the Asian headquarters of HSBC Holdings Plc in the central financial district.
Equipped with tents, bullhorns and a gas-powered generator used to help them recharge their laptops, the protesters occupied the public thoroughfare under the building as about a dozen police stood by. Demonstrations were also held in Seoul and Taipei.
“Wall Street has a campaign to start asking questions about capitalism but this is not enough,” said art student Derrick Benig, 22, who slept in a tent overnight in Hong Kong. “I want to tear down capitalism.”
‘Worrying Signal'
In Rome on Oct. 15, firecrackers were thrown at the Ministry of Defense and windows of Cassa di Risparmio di Rimini and Poste Italiane SpA shattered, Sky TG24 reported. Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi called “the unbelievable violence” in Rome “a worrying signal for civil coexistence.”
“Violent extremists have to be identified and punished,” Berlusconi said in a statement.
More than 800 people have been arrested in New York since the protests began Sept. 17, mostly for disorderly conduct, as demonstrators solidified their hold on Zuccotti Park, which has become the de facto epicenter of Occupy Wall Street.
A wider confrontation was avoided after the park's owner, Brookfield Office Properties Inc., postponed a cleanup that would have removed and banned protesters' sleeping bags, tents and other gear that provided overnight accommodations.
Protesters and local politicians had gathered 300,000 signatures, flooded the city's 311 information line and drew more than 3,000 people to the park to oppose the cleanup, according to Patrick Bruner, an Occupy Wall Street spokesman.
“The world will rise up as one and say, ‘We have had enough,'” Bruner said in an e-mail. A news release from the organization said there were demonstrations in 1,500 cities worldwide, including 100 in the U.S.
--With assistance from Maud Van Gaal in Amsterdam, Nandini Sukumar in London, Joe Brennan in Dublin, Charles Penty in Madrid, Carolyn Bandel in Zurich, Frederik Balfour in Hong Kong and Robert Fenner in Melbourne. Editors: Francis Harris, Edward Evans
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Hendra
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However, please do your own homework!
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Hendra
Like to share and give opinions.
However, please do your own homework!
You have been given the tools and the knowledge, try to fish yourself, so you will never be hungry again....
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New Yorkers support anti-Wall Street protests: poll
http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/10/ ... ews&rpc=71
New Yorkers support anti-Wall Street protests: poll
(Reuters) - Anti-Wall Street protests have won broad support among New York City voters, who would overwhelmingly favor tougher regulations on the financial industry, new poll results showed on Monday.
Sixty-seven percent of those who responded to a Quinnipiac University survey said they agreed with the Occupy Wall Street protesters, who are upset that banks were allowed to earn huge profits after being bailed out during the recession, while average Americans remained under financial strain.
An even wider margin, 87 percent, agreed with the protesters' right to camp out in Lower Manhattan, as long as they obeyed the law. The movement began staging rallies more than a month ago.
Support for the protests was split down party lines, with 81 percent of the Democrats saying they backed them, while only 35 percent of Republicans said so.
The protests have spread across the country and moved overseas over the weekend. While most rallies were relatively small, violence flared in Rome where tens of thousands of people came into the streets.
The movement's focal point, however, has been New York, where protests have been largely peaceful. Still, less than half of those surveyed approved of the way police have handled the demonstrations, after several episodes in which force has been used on protesters.
The largest block of voters, 37 percent, blamed former President George W. Bush's administration for the nation's economic problems, while 21 percent blamed banks. Seventy-three percent said they would support tougher government regulation.
The Oct 12-16 poll of 1,068 registered voters had a margin of error of plus or minus 3 percentage points.
(Reporting by Paul Thomasch; Editing by Paul Simao.)
New Yorkers support anti-Wall Street protests: poll
(Reuters) - Anti-Wall Street protests have won broad support among New York City voters, who would overwhelmingly favor tougher regulations on the financial industry, new poll results showed on Monday.
Sixty-seven percent of those who responded to a Quinnipiac University survey said they agreed with the Occupy Wall Street protesters, who are upset that banks were allowed to earn huge profits after being bailed out during the recession, while average Americans remained under financial strain.
An even wider margin, 87 percent, agreed with the protesters' right to camp out in Lower Manhattan, as long as they obeyed the law. The movement began staging rallies more than a month ago.
Support for the protests was split down party lines, with 81 percent of the Democrats saying they backed them, while only 35 percent of Republicans said so.
The protests have spread across the country and moved overseas over the weekend. While most rallies were relatively small, violence flared in Rome where tens of thousands of people came into the streets.
The movement's focal point, however, has been New York, where protests have been largely peaceful. Still, less than half of those surveyed approved of the way police have handled the demonstrations, after several episodes in which force has been used on protesters.
The largest block of voters, 37 percent, blamed former President George W. Bush's administration for the nation's economic problems, while 21 percent blamed banks. Seventy-three percent said they would support tougher government regulation.
The Oct 12-16 poll of 1,068 registered voters had a margin of error of plus or minus 3 percentage points.
(Reporting by Paul Thomasch; Editing by Paul Simao.)
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Hendra
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Ironically, Occupy Wall Street movement has to manage growin
http://www.freep.com/article/20111019/B ... wing-funds
Ironically, Occupy Wall Street movement has to manage growing funds
NEW YORK -- After a month of bashing banks and other corporations, the Occupy Wall Street movement has had to become a money manager itself.
It has $435,000 -- most of it from online credit-card donations, but tens of thousands donated in person at the Manhattan park that's become the epicenter of the global anti-greed protests. Handling the money, and figuring out what to do with it, could prove to be one of the biggest challenges for a movement united by anger more than by strategy, and devoted to building consensus among activists with wide-ranging goals.
The protesters have been spending about $1,500 a day on food, and also just covered a $2,000 laundry bill for sleeping bags and jackets and sweaters. They've spent about $20,000 on equipment such as laptops and cameras, and costs associated with streaming video of the protest on the Internet.
They also have a mountain of donated goods, from blankets to cans of food to swim goggles to protect them from pepper spray -- some stored in a cavernous space on Broadway a block from Wall Street.
Roughly $8,000 is now coming in every day just from the lock boxes set up to take donations at Zuccotti Park, said Darrell Prince, an activist using his business background to keep track of the daily donations. More is coming through the mail and online.
"It's way more support than we ever thought would come in," Prince said.
The cash flow has forced changes in the "finance working group" that arose spontaneously among the self-governed protesters to handle the movement's money.
Prince, who has worked in sales, said the volunteers they recruit for the work generally "have experience running their own businesses or have worked in the industry."
They've also been getting help from a nonprofit group. Occupy Wall Street officially became a project of the Washington, D.C.-based Alliance for Global Justice on Sept. 28, 11 days after protesters began camping out at the park.
The status allows the alliance to process donations on the movement's behalf, and makes it responsible for tax reporting.
"They approached us after people started wanting to give them money," said Chuck Kaufman, a coordinator for the alliance. "We agreed, not realizing the volume that it was going to turn out to be. It's been a learning experience for both of us."
The Manhattan activists have been sticking to a simple, organized routine that works in the ragtag protest community.
In the park, passersby drop bills or coins into monitored lock boxes. Several times a day, volunteers collect the boxes and bring them to a central point.
The boxes are then taken to a nearby office space that is itself a gift from a New York union.
Prince said about $350,000 has been donated by credit card through the movement's Web site, while the rest was given by mail or in person.
The alliance takes 7% of each credit card donation. That gets split between the credit card companies' fees and the salary of the alliance's accountant, Kaufman said.
Prince said volunteers were working to have Occupy Wall Street's financial records posted online as soon as the end of the week.
The amorphous group has no clear plans yet on how to spend much of the money. For now, the fund doles out $100 a day to each of the dozen "working groups" that keep the month-long protest going -- from sanitation and medical to finance and media.
Ironically, Occupy Wall Street movement has to manage growing funds
NEW YORK -- After a month of bashing banks and other corporations, the Occupy Wall Street movement has had to become a money manager itself.
It has $435,000 -- most of it from online credit-card donations, but tens of thousands donated in person at the Manhattan park that's become the epicenter of the global anti-greed protests. Handling the money, and figuring out what to do with it, could prove to be one of the biggest challenges for a movement united by anger more than by strategy, and devoted to building consensus among activists with wide-ranging goals.
The protesters have been spending about $1,500 a day on food, and also just covered a $2,000 laundry bill for sleeping bags and jackets and sweaters. They've spent about $20,000 on equipment such as laptops and cameras, and costs associated with streaming video of the protest on the Internet.
They also have a mountain of donated goods, from blankets to cans of food to swim goggles to protect them from pepper spray -- some stored in a cavernous space on Broadway a block from Wall Street.
Roughly $8,000 is now coming in every day just from the lock boxes set up to take donations at Zuccotti Park, said Darrell Prince, an activist using his business background to keep track of the daily donations. More is coming through the mail and online.
"It's way more support than we ever thought would come in," Prince said.
The cash flow has forced changes in the "finance working group" that arose spontaneously among the self-governed protesters to handle the movement's money.
Prince, who has worked in sales, said the volunteers they recruit for the work generally "have experience running their own businesses or have worked in the industry."
They've also been getting help from a nonprofit group. Occupy Wall Street officially became a project of the Washington, D.C.-based Alliance for Global Justice on Sept. 28, 11 days after protesters began camping out at the park.
The status allows the alliance to process donations on the movement's behalf, and makes it responsible for tax reporting.
"They approached us after people started wanting to give them money," said Chuck Kaufman, a coordinator for the alliance. "We agreed, not realizing the volume that it was going to turn out to be. It's been a learning experience for both of us."
The Manhattan activists have been sticking to a simple, organized routine that works in the ragtag protest community.
In the park, passersby drop bills or coins into monitored lock boxes. Several times a day, volunteers collect the boxes and bring them to a central point.
The boxes are then taken to a nearby office space that is itself a gift from a New York union.
Prince said about $350,000 has been donated by credit card through the movement's Web site, while the rest was given by mail or in person.
The alliance takes 7% of each credit card donation. That gets split between the credit card companies' fees and the salary of the alliance's accountant, Kaufman said.
Prince said volunteers were working to have Occupy Wall Street's financial records posted online as soon as the end of the week.
The amorphous group has no clear plans yet on how to spend much of the money. For now, the fund doles out $100 a day to each of the dozen "working groups" that keep the month-long protest going -- from sanitation and medical to finance and media.
Cheers!
Hendra
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However, please do your own homework!
You have been given the tools and the knowledge, try to fish yourself, so you will never be hungry again....
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Hendra
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However, please do your own homework!
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NIA Exposes Occupy Wall Street Truth
The Occupy Wall Street movement is gaining tons of momentum and is likely to continue picking up steam in the weeks and months ahead. Americans are angry but they aren't exactly sure what they are angry about and they don't know for sure who they should be angry with. It is easy for them to point their fingers at Wall Street, but Wall Street is in no way responsible for the financial crisis our country has today.
NIA believes that Occupy Wall Street protesters need to be educated to the facts and truth about the U.S. economy and what is truly causing our economic problems. NIA is getting ready to release 'Occupy Wall Street the Documentary', which NIA has produced so that Occupy Wall Street protesters can understand exactly what changes need to be made in America if our country is going to survive the Hyperinflationary Great Depression that will soon hit America and steal all remaining purchasing power that the U.S. dollar still has left.
NIA first saw signs of the protests taking place today back in November of 2009 when we were in Beverly Hills filming our documentary 'The Dollar Bubble'. We were alerted by NIA members to a major protest that was breaking out at the University of California. We went to see it and witnessed a very violent protest of students upset about a 32% increase in college tuition for the next semester.
The UCLA protest showed us just how angry Americans can become about inflation. Because we were forecasting massive food inflation to start breaking out in 2010, we made the prediction that we would see large "End the Fed" protests beginning in 2010. We did see massive food inflation in late 2010, accelerating greatly throughout 2011. However, we overestimated the ability for average Americans to quickly point the finger at the Federal Reserve. We also didn't expect many citizens of foreign countries, especially Arab nations, to begin protesting before Americans did.
About one year after the violent UCLA tuition inflation protest that we witnessed, a larger even more violent tuition inflation protest broke out in London. When Prince Charles' security detail made the mistake of driving him and the Duchess of Cornwall past the area where the protest was taking place, in a vehicle that cost more than what each protester will earn in the next ten years combined, about 50 of the protesters broke through the motorcycle police protecting the Prince chanting "Off with their heads!", beating on the side of their Rolls-Royce with sticks and bottles. Luckily, the car was armored and only suffered minor damages, keeping Prince Charles and the Duchess safe. A Jaguar behind it containing police officers was destroyed to the extent that the officers ended up using car doors from the Jaguar as shields, which still couldn't prevent six of them from being seriously injured.
The food inflation protests that NIA had been expecting for over a year, started to break out in late January of this year in Algeria, with citizens chanting "Bring Us Sugar!" Eight citizens were killed during the protests in Algeria. This quickly spread to a massive outbreak of civil unrest in neighboring Tunisia, where thousands protested food inflation and high unemployment. The Tunisian revolution led to the ousting of longtime President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali, but came at the expense of 79 protesters being killed.
This rapidly spread to the riots in Egypt. Before the Egyptian protests even began, six Egyptian citizens committed suicide in front of government buildings by dousing themselves with fuel and lighting themselves on fire. All together, 846 protesters were killed across different parts of Egypt and over 6,000 more were injured. The Egyptian protesters were eventually successful at getting Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak to resign from office.
NIA saw the resignation of Mubarak as a farce from the beginning. We couldn't understand how thousands of angry Egyptians who were calling for Mubarak's head would within seconds of his resignation announcement erupt into cheers like Egypt had just won the World Cup. The resignation of one man would not eliminate the corruption in Egypt's government and fix their inflation and jobs crisis. Most of Mubarak's cronies are still in power. Mubarak agreed to just take one for the team. For the protesters to declare victory and go home after one man announced his resignation shows that most of the protesters were sheep who were just copying their friends without having a real grasp on the issues affecting the economy in Egypt. What if Mubarak came back on television and said "I was just kidding" or "I just changed my mind and decided not to resign", would the protesters have come back?
After Egypt, the protests spread to Jordan and Yemen. Once again, food inflation was the main root cause of the protests, something that the mainstream media in the U.S. largely ignored when reporting on the protests. The American mainstream media was not allowed to discuss inflation when corresponding about the global inflation protests, because it didn't want the world to connect the dots and realize that Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke is more responsible for the global food inflation crisis and protests than the leader of any foreign country.
Because of the U.S. dollar's status as the world's reserve currency, the majority of the world's most important agricultural and energy commodities are traded in U.S. dollars. When Bernanke prints trillions of dollars out of thin air in an attempt to reinflate the Real Estate bubble and lower unemployment in the U.S., it has a direct affect on what foreigners pay for all goods and services around the world. With China printing massive amounts of Yuan to keep it pegged to the U.S. dollar and the Bank of Japan intervening to keep the Yen from appreciating too rapidly against the U.S. dollar, countries like Australia are now quick to blame any short-term dip in manufacturing, agriculture production, or energy commodity exports on their currency being too strong against not just the U.S. dollar but the Yen, Yuan, and most other fiat currencies.
In just the last two weeks, the Australian dollar has risen 9.5% against the Yen, 8.5% against the U.S. dollar, and 8.6% against the Yuan. It should be no surprise to NIA members that attempts to copy "Occupy Wall Street" in Australia have been dismal. After 1,000 protesters initially showed up in Sydney on Saturday for their own "Occupy Wall Street" protest that was supposed to continue "indefinitely", less than 50 protesters remained on Monday as most people returned to work. Australia doesn't have an inflation or unemployment crisis because their central bank did the right thing and raised interest rates to 4.75% at a time when everybody else was lowering them. This is why since the inception of NIA we have always suggested Australia as our top choice for Americans to move to if they want to get out of harms way before hyperinflation hits the U.S. We hope that the Reserve Bank of Australia will continue to do the right thing and ignore calls from all around the world for them to lower rates.
The mainstream media is currently once again focused on the financial crisis in Europe, which is temporarily distracting from the debt crisis that really matters in the U.S. On Halloween, the official U.S. national debt for the first time ever will surpass U.S. GDP. At any time now without any warning or any new catalyst, we could see a huge onslaught of dollar dumping that causes the economic equivalent of 9/11.
There is no hope of preventing hyperinflation in America when President Obama is unwilling to consider any measure that would cut government spending in a meaningful way. In August when the Budget Control Act of 2011 was enacted by Congress, the mainstream media was widely reporting that the "supercommittee" formed by the act would be in charge of finding $1.5 trillion in spending cuts by Thanksgiving. In reality, this "supercommittee" that Obama was so heavily relying on to pay for his proposals in his "jobs bill", is not responsible for finding $1.5 trillion in spending cuts but only a $1.5 trillion reduction in the budget deficit over 10 years.
Obama promises to veto any proposals that make large spending cuts, especially to entitlement programs. Many Democrats are calling for a new 5% "surcharge" on Americans earning over $1 million per year. Within a few years, an annual income of $1 million will only have the purchasing power of what a $100,000 salary has today. This proposed new tax would discourage small business owners from expanding and hiring new employees. It would destroy any remaining hope that is left for a real economic recovery and encourage most American entrepreneurs to leave the country permanently.
The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) yesterday released their consumer price index (CPI) data for the month of September. The BLS reported year-over-year CPI growth of 3.87%, the highest rate of U.S. price inflation in three years. The official government reported year-over-year U.S. price inflation rate of 3.87% for September was up from 3.77% in August, 3.63% in July, 3.56% in June, 3.57% in May, 3.16% in April, 2.68% in March, 2.11% in February, 1.63% in January, 1.5% in December, and 1.1% in November. Year-over-year increases in the CPI have risen by 252% over the last ten months.
Even year-over-year core-CPI growth rose for the 11th straight month to 1.97% in September, an increase of 223% from year-over-year growth of 0.61% in November. NIA estimates the real rate of U.S. price inflation to currently be 8.5% on a year-over-year basis. It was just announced that American retirees receiving Social Security will receive a 3.6% COLA increase, the first increase since 2009. Social Security is the main reason the U.S. government reports artificially low CPI numbers. By giving retired Americans only a 3.6% Social Security payment increase when real price inflation is now 8.5%, Congress gets to spend the difference in the ways they see fit.
With inflation spiraling out of control, the government knows that they soon won't be able to afford even the artificially low COLA increases they are making today. Congress is now exploring ways to keep future COLA increases as low as possible. Many clueless Keynesian economists in Washington are now arguing that the inflation measure the government uses to calculate COLA increases, the CPI-W, is overestimating true increases in the cost of living. These economists claim that Americans can shift between items and if veal prices are rising too much, they can eat chicken or if lobster prices are rising too much, they can eat shrimp. They propose that the government switches to a version of CPI that accounts for these changes, called "chain weighted" CPI.
All Americans know that their cost to maintain the same standard of living has increased by a lot more than 3.6% over the past year. The CPI-W being used today already artificially understates inflation so much that current Social Security recipients deserve to be receiving triple their current payments. If "chain weighted" CPI was being used today, American seniors would only receive a 3% COLA increase next year.
If the U.S. government did the right thing and invested all FICA tax receipts into gold, it would be able to give Social Security recipients an increase next year of around 8.5% like they should be entitled to. American seniors are being hurt most by inflation because health care has consistently had the highest rate of inflation out of all goods and services. A COLA increase of 3.6% is nothing when NIA estimates the real rate of health care inflation to currently be 15% or 76.5% higher than the overall real rate of price inflation. To artificially lower COLA increases even more would mean utter devastation to the U.S. economy as seniors would need to reenter the workforce and Americans with jobs would need to stop spending money on goods and services in order to help their parents. This would mean even less jobs for the youth in America and less support for them from their parents.
If you would like your friends and family members to be the first to see 'Occupy Wall Street the Documentary' coming soon, simply tell them to become a member of NIA for free today at: http://inflation.us
The Occupy Wall Street movement is gaining tons of momentum and is likely to continue picking up steam in the weeks and months ahead. Americans are angry but they aren't exactly sure what they are angry about and they don't know for sure who they should be angry with. It is easy for them to point their fingers at Wall Street, but Wall Street is in no way responsible for the financial crisis our country has today.
NIA believes that Occupy Wall Street protesters need to be educated to the facts and truth about the U.S. economy and what is truly causing our economic problems. NIA is getting ready to release 'Occupy Wall Street the Documentary', which NIA has produced so that Occupy Wall Street protesters can understand exactly what changes need to be made in America if our country is going to survive the Hyperinflationary Great Depression that will soon hit America and steal all remaining purchasing power that the U.S. dollar still has left.
NIA first saw signs of the protests taking place today back in November of 2009 when we were in Beverly Hills filming our documentary 'The Dollar Bubble'. We were alerted by NIA members to a major protest that was breaking out at the University of California. We went to see it and witnessed a very violent protest of students upset about a 32% increase in college tuition for the next semester.
The UCLA protest showed us just how angry Americans can become about inflation. Because we were forecasting massive food inflation to start breaking out in 2010, we made the prediction that we would see large "End the Fed" protests beginning in 2010. We did see massive food inflation in late 2010, accelerating greatly throughout 2011. However, we overestimated the ability for average Americans to quickly point the finger at the Federal Reserve. We also didn't expect many citizens of foreign countries, especially Arab nations, to begin protesting before Americans did.
About one year after the violent UCLA tuition inflation protest that we witnessed, a larger even more violent tuition inflation protest broke out in London. When Prince Charles' security detail made the mistake of driving him and the Duchess of Cornwall past the area where the protest was taking place, in a vehicle that cost more than what each protester will earn in the next ten years combined, about 50 of the protesters broke through the motorcycle police protecting the Prince chanting "Off with their heads!", beating on the side of their Rolls-Royce with sticks and bottles. Luckily, the car was armored and only suffered minor damages, keeping Prince Charles and the Duchess safe. A Jaguar behind it containing police officers was destroyed to the extent that the officers ended up using car doors from the Jaguar as shields, which still couldn't prevent six of them from being seriously injured.
The food inflation protests that NIA had been expecting for over a year, started to break out in late January of this year in Algeria, with citizens chanting "Bring Us Sugar!" Eight citizens were killed during the protests in Algeria. This quickly spread to a massive outbreak of civil unrest in neighboring Tunisia, where thousands protested food inflation and high unemployment. The Tunisian revolution led to the ousting of longtime President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali, but came at the expense of 79 protesters being killed.
This rapidly spread to the riots in Egypt. Before the Egyptian protests even began, six Egyptian citizens committed suicide in front of government buildings by dousing themselves with fuel and lighting themselves on fire. All together, 846 protesters were killed across different parts of Egypt and over 6,000 more were injured. The Egyptian protesters were eventually successful at getting Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak to resign from office.
NIA saw the resignation of Mubarak as a farce from the beginning. We couldn't understand how thousands of angry Egyptians who were calling for Mubarak's head would within seconds of his resignation announcement erupt into cheers like Egypt had just won the World Cup. The resignation of one man would not eliminate the corruption in Egypt's government and fix their inflation and jobs crisis. Most of Mubarak's cronies are still in power. Mubarak agreed to just take one for the team. For the protesters to declare victory and go home after one man announced his resignation shows that most of the protesters were sheep who were just copying their friends without having a real grasp on the issues affecting the economy in Egypt. What if Mubarak came back on television and said "I was just kidding" or "I just changed my mind and decided not to resign", would the protesters have come back?
After Egypt, the protests spread to Jordan and Yemen. Once again, food inflation was the main root cause of the protests, something that the mainstream media in the U.S. largely ignored when reporting on the protests. The American mainstream media was not allowed to discuss inflation when corresponding about the global inflation protests, because it didn't want the world to connect the dots and realize that Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke is more responsible for the global food inflation crisis and protests than the leader of any foreign country.
Because of the U.S. dollar's status as the world's reserve currency, the majority of the world's most important agricultural and energy commodities are traded in U.S. dollars. When Bernanke prints trillions of dollars out of thin air in an attempt to reinflate the Real Estate bubble and lower unemployment in the U.S., it has a direct affect on what foreigners pay for all goods and services around the world. With China printing massive amounts of Yuan to keep it pegged to the U.S. dollar and the Bank of Japan intervening to keep the Yen from appreciating too rapidly against the U.S. dollar, countries like Australia are now quick to blame any short-term dip in manufacturing, agriculture production, or energy commodity exports on their currency being too strong against not just the U.S. dollar but the Yen, Yuan, and most other fiat currencies.
In just the last two weeks, the Australian dollar has risen 9.5% against the Yen, 8.5% against the U.S. dollar, and 8.6% against the Yuan. It should be no surprise to NIA members that attempts to copy "Occupy Wall Street" in Australia have been dismal. After 1,000 protesters initially showed up in Sydney on Saturday for their own "Occupy Wall Street" protest that was supposed to continue "indefinitely", less than 50 protesters remained on Monday as most people returned to work. Australia doesn't have an inflation or unemployment crisis because their central bank did the right thing and raised interest rates to 4.75% at a time when everybody else was lowering them. This is why since the inception of NIA we have always suggested Australia as our top choice for Americans to move to if they want to get out of harms way before hyperinflation hits the U.S. We hope that the Reserve Bank of Australia will continue to do the right thing and ignore calls from all around the world for them to lower rates.
The mainstream media is currently once again focused on the financial crisis in Europe, which is temporarily distracting from the debt crisis that really matters in the U.S. On Halloween, the official U.S. national debt for the first time ever will surpass U.S. GDP. At any time now without any warning or any new catalyst, we could see a huge onslaught of dollar dumping that causes the economic equivalent of 9/11.
There is no hope of preventing hyperinflation in America when President Obama is unwilling to consider any measure that would cut government spending in a meaningful way. In August when the Budget Control Act of 2011 was enacted by Congress, the mainstream media was widely reporting that the "supercommittee" formed by the act would be in charge of finding $1.5 trillion in spending cuts by Thanksgiving. In reality, this "supercommittee" that Obama was so heavily relying on to pay for his proposals in his "jobs bill", is not responsible for finding $1.5 trillion in spending cuts but only a $1.5 trillion reduction in the budget deficit over 10 years.
Obama promises to veto any proposals that make large spending cuts, especially to entitlement programs. Many Democrats are calling for a new 5% "surcharge" on Americans earning over $1 million per year. Within a few years, an annual income of $1 million will only have the purchasing power of what a $100,000 salary has today. This proposed new tax would discourage small business owners from expanding and hiring new employees. It would destroy any remaining hope that is left for a real economic recovery and encourage most American entrepreneurs to leave the country permanently.
The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) yesterday released their consumer price index (CPI) data for the month of September. The BLS reported year-over-year CPI growth of 3.87%, the highest rate of U.S. price inflation in three years. The official government reported year-over-year U.S. price inflation rate of 3.87% for September was up from 3.77% in August, 3.63% in July, 3.56% in June, 3.57% in May, 3.16% in April, 2.68% in March, 2.11% in February, 1.63% in January, 1.5% in December, and 1.1% in November. Year-over-year increases in the CPI have risen by 252% over the last ten months.
Even year-over-year core-CPI growth rose for the 11th straight month to 1.97% in September, an increase of 223% from year-over-year growth of 0.61% in November. NIA estimates the real rate of U.S. price inflation to currently be 8.5% on a year-over-year basis. It was just announced that American retirees receiving Social Security will receive a 3.6% COLA increase, the first increase since 2009. Social Security is the main reason the U.S. government reports artificially low CPI numbers. By giving retired Americans only a 3.6% Social Security payment increase when real price inflation is now 8.5%, Congress gets to spend the difference in the ways they see fit.
With inflation spiraling out of control, the government knows that they soon won't be able to afford even the artificially low COLA increases they are making today. Congress is now exploring ways to keep future COLA increases as low as possible. Many clueless Keynesian economists in Washington are now arguing that the inflation measure the government uses to calculate COLA increases, the CPI-W, is overestimating true increases in the cost of living. These economists claim that Americans can shift between items and if veal prices are rising too much, they can eat chicken or if lobster prices are rising too much, they can eat shrimp. They propose that the government switches to a version of CPI that accounts for these changes, called "chain weighted" CPI.
All Americans know that their cost to maintain the same standard of living has increased by a lot more than 3.6% over the past year. The CPI-W being used today already artificially understates inflation so much that current Social Security recipients deserve to be receiving triple their current payments. If "chain weighted" CPI was being used today, American seniors would only receive a 3% COLA increase next year.
If the U.S. government did the right thing and invested all FICA tax receipts into gold, it would be able to give Social Security recipients an increase next year of around 8.5% like they should be entitled to. American seniors are being hurt most by inflation because health care has consistently had the highest rate of inflation out of all goods and services. A COLA increase of 3.6% is nothing when NIA estimates the real rate of health care inflation to currently be 15% or 76.5% higher than the overall real rate of price inflation. To artificially lower COLA increases even more would mean utter devastation to the U.S. economy as seniors would need to reenter the workforce and Americans with jobs would need to stop spending money on goods and services in order to help their parents. This would mean even less jobs for the youth in America and less support for them from their parents.
If you would like your friends and family members to be the first to see 'Occupy Wall Street the Documentary' coming soon, simply tell them to become a member of NIA for free today at: http://inflation.us
Cheers!
Dennis Ng - When You Master Your Finances, You Master Your Destiny
Note: I'm just sharing my personal comments, not giving you investment advice nor stock investment tips.
Dennis Ng - When You Master Your Finances, You Master Your Destiny
Note: I'm just sharing my personal comments, not giving you investment advice nor stock investment tips.
Watch if the clash become big.
When the tipping point reached, unstoppable protests may begin.
The tipping point could be triggered slowly as people injured and anger accumulated for long... it's been two months!
Let's pray this WILL NOT happen.
I hope those politician can open their eyes, and act for the 99%.
I remember when I was learning about democracy, it says
"FROM the people, BY the people, and FOR the PEOPLE"
Is it not?
----
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1000142 ... _US_News_5
Protesters Clash With Police
Several Hundred Arrested Around U.S. on Movement's Two-Month Anniversary
Thousands of people massed near Wall Street and marched elsewhere in Manhattan to mark the Occupy Wall Street movement's two-month anniversary Thursday, blocking streets and resulting in scores of arrests and more than a dozen injuries, as similar protests arose around the country.
In Los Angeles, hundreds of people marched in the financial district downtown, resulting in 27 arrests.
At least 100 Occupy DC protesters marched through the heart of Washington, heading to a rally at a Potomac River bridge to highlight their contention that repairing aging infrastructure would create jobs.
Chris Rooney, 27 years old, of Baltimore, carried a sign at the Washington march that read, "Dude, where's my job?" Mr. Rooney said he never has been fully employed, despite having a college degree. "I have a job at a department store. They gave me four hours a week—I can't live on that," he said.
In Portland, Ore., police blocked protesters from crossing a major bridge to the business district and arrested 25 on disorderly conduct charges. Later, a group of protesters disrupted a Wells Fargo bank branch in downtown Portland, staging a sit-in in the bank's lobby similar to one held Wednesday at a Bank of America branch in San Francisco.
Meantime, more than 100 police, some in riot gear, cleared out a camp in Dallas outside City Hall, citing unsanitary conditions and safety concerns. Officers arrested 18 for refusing to obey orders to disperse. Police in Berkeley, Calif., also cleared a protest camp Thursday, arresting two.
In Atlanta, police said they arrested eight protesters for blocking traffic en route to a rally at the state capitol building. Philadelphia authorities told protesters they had to vacate a camp next to City Hall to make way for long-planned plaza renovations. As the evening commute got under way, Philadelphia TV showed some protesters with arms locked blocking traffic on a bridge over the Schuylkill River.
But the most concentrated action was in New York, birthplace of the Occupy movement two months ago. Police said they arrested 177 people as they crowded intersections near the New York Stock Exchange on Thursday morning. Later, 99 more were arrested as they tried to block access to the Brooklyn Bridge. Seven officers and 10 protesters were injured, officials said.
Some police hit and shoved protesters in an effort to clear the way for workers trying to get to jobs on Wall Street. One woman pinned to the ground by police was bleeding from her mouth.
"I'm hoping they [the workers] see that they are being held accountable to the 99%," said Katie Ferrari, a 23-year-old protester from Queens, who said she had linked arms with others to stop workers from passing a barricade at Wall Street.
Two officers were injured while responding to a call inside Zuccotti Park, the former site of Occupy Wall Street's encampment where, two days earlier, police cleared out the tent city in a predawn raid. Several officers were struck in the face with a liquid, possibly vinegar, said a police spokesman.
New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg in a Thursday afternoon news conference said the protesters "so far have caused minimal disruptions to our city." But, he added, "Unfortunately, some protesters today have deliberately pursued violence."
Later, some protesters marched south from Union Square, briefly blocking Fifth Avenue, and reconvened with thousands of others at Foley Square, just north of City Hall.
Protesters next moved to the Brooklyn Bridge. At the entrance, police arrested 99 people—including a city council member—who blocked the roadway in an act of civil disobedience that had been arranged with the NYPD.
The number of arrests was a reference to the 99% of Americans that protesters say have been failed by the political and economic systems.
The day's events tested both the movement's resilience following its eviction Tuesday from Zuccotti Park and New York City's ability to deal with the newly decentralized protests.
Occupy Wall Street protesters first gathered at the park Sept. 17. What many expected to be a short-lived demonstration instead appeared to capture resentment against corporate bailouts and economic inequity. It soon spread to protests in cities world-wide.
—Sean Gardiner, Andrew Morse, Jim Carlton, Eric Morath, Timothy W. Martin, Bobby White and Ana Campoy contributed to this article.
When the tipping point reached, unstoppable protests may begin.
The tipping point could be triggered slowly as people injured and anger accumulated for long... it's been two months!
Let's pray this WILL NOT happen.
I hope those politician can open their eyes, and act for the 99%.
I remember when I was learning about democracy, it says
"FROM the people, BY the people, and FOR the PEOPLE"
Is it not?
----
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1000142 ... _US_News_5
Protesters Clash With Police
Several Hundred Arrested Around U.S. on Movement's Two-Month Anniversary
Thousands of people massed near Wall Street and marched elsewhere in Manhattan to mark the Occupy Wall Street movement's two-month anniversary Thursday, blocking streets and resulting in scores of arrests and more than a dozen injuries, as similar protests arose around the country.
In Los Angeles, hundreds of people marched in the financial district downtown, resulting in 27 arrests.
At least 100 Occupy DC protesters marched through the heart of Washington, heading to a rally at a Potomac River bridge to highlight their contention that repairing aging infrastructure would create jobs.
Chris Rooney, 27 years old, of Baltimore, carried a sign at the Washington march that read, "Dude, where's my job?" Mr. Rooney said he never has been fully employed, despite having a college degree. "I have a job at a department store. They gave me four hours a week—I can't live on that," he said.
In Portland, Ore., police blocked protesters from crossing a major bridge to the business district and arrested 25 on disorderly conduct charges. Later, a group of protesters disrupted a Wells Fargo bank branch in downtown Portland, staging a sit-in in the bank's lobby similar to one held Wednesday at a Bank of America branch in San Francisco.
Meantime, more than 100 police, some in riot gear, cleared out a camp in Dallas outside City Hall, citing unsanitary conditions and safety concerns. Officers arrested 18 for refusing to obey orders to disperse. Police in Berkeley, Calif., also cleared a protest camp Thursday, arresting two.
In Atlanta, police said they arrested eight protesters for blocking traffic en route to a rally at the state capitol building. Philadelphia authorities told protesters they had to vacate a camp next to City Hall to make way for long-planned plaza renovations. As the evening commute got under way, Philadelphia TV showed some protesters with arms locked blocking traffic on a bridge over the Schuylkill River.
But the most concentrated action was in New York, birthplace of the Occupy movement two months ago. Police said they arrested 177 people as they crowded intersections near the New York Stock Exchange on Thursday morning. Later, 99 more were arrested as they tried to block access to the Brooklyn Bridge. Seven officers and 10 protesters were injured, officials said.
Some police hit and shoved protesters in an effort to clear the way for workers trying to get to jobs on Wall Street. One woman pinned to the ground by police was bleeding from her mouth.
"I'm hoping they [the workers] see that they are being held accountable to the 99%," said Katie Ferrari, a 23-year-old protester from Queens, who said she had linked arms with others to stop workers from passing a barricade at Wall Street.
Two officers were injured while responding to a call inside Zuccotti Park, the former site of Occupy Wall Street's encampment where, two days earlier, police cleared out the tent city in a predawn raid. Several officers were struck in the face with a liquid, possibly vinegar, said a police spokesman.
New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg in a Thursday afternoon news conference said the protesters "so far have caused minimal disruptions to our city." But, he added, "Unfortunately, some protesters today have deliberately pursued violence."
Later, some protesters marched south from Union Square, briefly blocking Fifth Avenue, and reconvened with thousands of others at Foley Square, just north of City Hall.
Protesters next moved to the Brooklyn Bridge. At the entrance, police arrested 99 people—including a city council member—who blocked the roadway in an act of civil disobedience that had been arranged with the NYPD.
The number of arrests was a reference to the 99% of Americans that protesters say have been failed by the political and economic systems.
The day's events tested both the movement's resilience following its eviction Tuesday from Zuccotti Park and New York City's ability to deal with the newly decentralized protests.
Occupy Wall Street protesters first gathered at the park Sept. 17. What many expected to be a short-lived demonstration instead appeared to capture resentment against corporate bailouts and economic inequity. It soon spread to protests in cities world-wide.
—Sean Gardiner, Andrew Morse, Jim Carlton, Eric Morath, Timothy W. Martin, Bobby White and Ana Campoy contributed to this article.
Cheers!
Hendra
Like to share and give opinions.
However, please do your own homework!
You have been given the tools and the knowledge, try to fish yourself, so you will never be hungry again....
---
RTW (Ride The Wave) http://www.facebook.com/RTWLearningLab
Hendra
Like to share and give opinions.
However, please do your own homework!
You have been given the tools and the knowledge, try to fish yourself, so you will never be hungry again....
---
RTW (Ride The Wave) http://www.facebook.com/RTWLearningLab
it is not. The FACT is in most countries, the politicians are controlled by and listen to the Rich, the politicians get money from the Rich, selected by the Rich (to represent their party) and the Politicians act FOR the Rich.yhendra wrote: I remember when I was learning about democracy, it says
"FROM the people, BY the people, and FOR the PEOPLE"
Is it not?
In Singapore, we are very fortunate. Our politicians are the most powerful people, not the Rich. And the good news is so far the Ruling Party has acted largely in the interests of the nation, not for the Rich.
However, as our nation grows, increasingly, many people will feel the pressure of rising cost of living, while income cannot increase much in order to compete with the world...so many people belong to the "sandwiched" class, where your income is considered too high to enjoy most of the subsidies, but not high enough to feel financially comfortable.
Cheers!
Dennis Ng - When You Master Your Finances, You Master Your Destiny
Note: I'm just sharing my personal comments, not giving you investment advice nor stock investment tips.
Dennis Ng - When You Master Your Finances, You Master Your Destiny
Note: I'm just sharing my personal comments, not giving you investment advice nor stock investment tips.