"Mirror, Mirror on the wall . . . where did he go, and why doesn't he call?"

Occupy Movement: Are You In or Out?





It’s on the television, it’s being discussed in forums, on social media sites, in newspapers and across the Net. And one thing shocks me about all of this discussion – that many people are ridiculing and mocking the protesters.

I hear people like Newt Gingrich saying silly things like they need to “get a job” and “take a bath?” Seriously, Newt? They WANT jobs, that’s part of the movement. So you tell me, where can they get one? At McDonald’s? Or maybe the local gas station?

And take a bath? Wow, you really left yourself open for this one, Newt. You know who needs a bath? Some of our filthy dirty politicians, that’s who. To ridicule American citizens that just want to be able to put food on the table just goes to show you the arrogance and elitist attitude of people in positions of power nowadays that are unaffected by the conditions of our economy.

Another thing I’m hearing repeatedly is that these protestors are on private property. Newsflash, folks. Public parks are not private property. There are only two privately owned parks in the entire city of New York and if you have a right to be there, so do they. Many are saying the same thing about the students at UC Davis University that were pepper-sprayed by police. Again, newsflash. That is a taxpayer funded institution, they were on taxpayer property.

Frankly, I’m amazed this movement didn’t start years ago when the American taxpayers bailed out large corporations and financial institutions that then proceeded to reward themselves for a “job well done” with gigantic bonuses. Bonuses that were taxpayer funded. And when it was all said and done, collectively, these institutions made $13 billion (yes, I said billion) that they freely pocketed from the bailout. If you're somewhat confused regarding what the movement is about or what some of their complaints are, check out this video that explains the "robbery" that took place by the 1% from the bailouts and see what the Feds didn't want you to see:



Regarding the Occupy Wall Street movement, I’m glad those people are out there bringing attention to the unethical trading behavior that has taken place which, ultimately, brought the housing industry to its knees. One of these behaviors took place within Goldman Sachs. Let’s take a look at this one example. Goldman played both sides of the fence with sub-prime mortgages.

Here’s how it worked: Goldman Sachs underwrote CDO’s which are securities created from pools of sub-prime mortgages. When they began to plunge, Goldman’s customers suffered some serious losses. However, in the year 2007, Goldman’s itself made millions and boasted $4 billion (yes, I said billion) dollars in profit.

How did they do this? Here’s the kicker – they bet AGAINST you paying your mortgage. They bet AGAINST the sub-prime mortgages they themselves underwrote. While Goldman continued to peddle CDO’s as profitable investments to their customers, they themselves BET AGAINST them – they placed bets, just like in Vegas, that you would fail at paying that loan. And the financial institutions began issuing mortgage loans to people that they knew really couldn’t pay them back because either way, there was money to be made. And when that happened – voila!

Millions in the pockets of Goldman-Sachs:
“Goldman's mortgage department underwrote collateralized debt obligations, or CDOs, complex securities created from pools of subprime mortgages and other debt. When those securities plunged in value this year, Goldman's customers suffered major losses, as did units within Goldman itself, due to their CDO holdings.

The question now being raised: Why did Goldman continue to peddle CDOs to customers early this year while its own traders were betting that CDO values would fall? A spokesman for Goldman Sachs declined to comment on the issue.“

How is this all legal? You’d have to pose that question to our government, particularly the Clinton administration. They lifted all of the restraints on the operations of large financial institutions:
“An agreement between the Clinton administration and congressional Republicans, reached during all-night negotiations which concluded in the early hours of October 22, sets the stage for passage of the most sweeping banking deregulation bill in American history, lifting virtually all restraints on the operation of the giant monopolies which dominate the financial system.”

Legal, yes. Ethical, no. Which begs me to ask the question, why is it that ethics do not play a part in business in this country? Clearly, many people are “in bed” together here and the corruption runs deep. And the answer to my own question: The reason ethics do not play a part in business in this country is because too many people in positions of power are making too much money by separating the two.

And for those of you who do not see that our government is threatened by this movement, those of you mocking and ridiculing it out there, just an FYI – The Huffington Post reported that one of its editors spotted two Homeland Security vans observing the movement:
“A Huff Post editor said he saw two Homeland Security vans parked near the Brooklyn Bridge during Thursday night's march.”

Our leadership doesn’t want American citizens speaking up, they want them to shut up and just “drink the Kool-Aid.” An example of this is the treatment of the UC Davis students that were pepper-sprayed while enacting Freedom of Assembly and Freedom of Speech on taxpayer property. That’s what leadership thinks about your Freedom of Speech.

And a little known fact about this particular incident, not only did they spray peaceful, unarmed American citizens at point blank range – they pinned several of the students down and forced them to ingest the toxic irritant by spraying it directly down their throats. One student was coughing up blood some 45 minutes later.

Is this how you want your children treated on a college campus by our authorities? Umm, can anyone say Kent State? There is now a full investigation taking place and the police chief along with two officers on the scene are now on leave.

For those of you who haven’t seen it yet, I would advise you to watch the documentary titled “Inside Job” which Matt Damon narrates. Even if you don’t back the Occupy movement, I ask you to give it a watch anyway:

And a freaky video started going viral recently by an anonymous group. It’s somewhat bizarre, but the message is clear. They’re calling for a world-wide revolution against the powers that be. Not sure what I think of this one, but I’ll leave that up to you to decide. One more thing. Many have been claiming that the businesses surrounding the areas where these protests are taking place are against it. I have a friend of a friend that actually works on Wall Street – and she’s FOR the movement. She works there and she sees what takes place there. And she has personally witnessed many of the restaurants in the area supporting the protestors by giving out some free food and drink to them. And now we have former Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and Procter & Gamble director Rajat Gupta facing criminal charges. Gupta allegedly leaked confidential information about Goldman and P&G to hedge-fund manager Raj Rajaratnam, who was convicted of criminal insider-trading charges in May.

I again ask Newt Gingrich – who needs a bath? American citizens protesting and exposing men in positions of power behaving nefariously? Or could it be that the men in positions of power need that bath just a little bit more, Newt?

So now I ask you, regarding the Occupy movement, are you in or out? Or are you taking a big ole’ chug o’ the Kool-Aid right now?

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7 Comments:

Anonymous said...

I'm all for this movement! This country was founded by people who spoke out against the system and against injustice. And I too, am shocked that there are American citizens that are against it.

WARNING: You may feel comfortable now, you may not be feeling the affects. However, if this continues, your job and your livelihood may be in jeopardy soon, as well as those of your familly and friends!

Things that are bad only become worse if they are left unadressed.

And a big THANK YOU to those that are out there on the streets fighting for you and me!!

Anonymous said...

Posting anonymous because I work in the administration building at ah, guess where. I don't know if I am "in or out" or not. For work purposes I need to stay the fuck out of protesting here so I can cover my ass, because you never know any more and I am not willing to put my job on the line for this. But even before last week, I still don't understand why camping out in most locations (that aren't Wall Street) is supposed to do, exactly. I don't agree with this stuff either, but going around making noise without an actual goal to shoot for-- or annoying the people who are directly causing you harm-- doesn't make sense to me.

I'm all for putting it to the bad guys, but what is camping out doing other than making noise? I have no idea.

Anonymous said...

The media is trying to ridicule the movement and get American citizens against it by making claims that they have no real demands, so what's the point?

The point of any activism has always been to create awareness. Make other American citizens aware of what's going on, get people talking, get the media involved. Making noise is the point. That noise has all American's raising their eyebrows right now and suddenly taking note.

The noise is a call to other American citizens to join in the movement. If it builds enough steam hundreds of thousands join - then you're in a position to start making demands. You're power is then in your numbers.

But at this point, it's about creating awareness and increasing the numbers so that they can be taken seriously. And once that happens, you won't hear politicians mocking and ridiculing them anymore.

There's an old saying by Ghandi, "First they mock you, then they ridicule you, then they fight you - then you win."

And I'd like to thank you for taking the time to post your thoughts here, given the fact that you're on Wall Street. Thank you.

Anonymous said...

It's a shame that people can make exorbitant amounts of money without producing anything worthwhile in this country. This country was not made on speculation on projects, but actually making great things. Now when people want to produce, the ones who make money by guessing do not allow them. The occupy movement exposes both an intellectual and moral wrong that is revered by the ones in positions of power in this country and a view that most definitely needs to be challenged

Anonymous said...

If they/we are not protesting in a non violent manner I wonder what the preference is? How should people go about educating others on what is really going on? If you don't know, just type in Wallstreet and you will find one story after another about how our great country is getting financially mucked by the players on Wallstreet. The non violent means of protesting anger those that only understand force, and therfore will use force to stop the movement. We the people must prevail, we know it is the metaphore of what we are standing for that frieghtens them. The U.S.A. Metaphore, let freedom ring.

Anonymous said...

As a military Veteran, I have taken a lifelong oath to defend my country from all threats foriegn and domestic. Right now the biggest threat to my country is it's government. WTF?

flip said...

I am in. Part of the Occupy Teton Valley group. This is why we have the right to assemble and freedom of speech. So we can take to the streets and protest injustice. We are following in the footsteps of dirty, hippies like the american revolutionaries.

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