Paul Krugman writes: "It remains to be seen whether the Occupy Wall Street protests will change America's direction. Yet the protests have already elicited a remarkably hysterical reaction from Wall Street, the super-rich in general, and politicians and pundits who reliably serve the interests of the wealthiest hundredth of a percent."
Portrait, New York Times columnist Paul Krugman, 06/15/09. (photo: Fred R. Conrad/NYT)
Panic of the Plutocrats
10 October 11
It remains to be seen whether the Occupy Wall Street protests will change America's direction. Yet the protests have already elicited a remarkably hysterical reaction from Wall Street, the super-rich in general, and politicians and pundits who reliably serve the interests of the wealthiest hundredth of a percent.
And this reaction tells you something important - namely, that the extremists threatening American values are what F.D.R. called "economic royalists," not the people camping in Zuccotti Park.
Consider first how Republican politicians have portrayed the modest-sized if growing demonstrations, which have involved some confrontations with the police - confrontations that seem to have involved a lot of police overreaction - but nothing one could call a riot. And there has in fact been nothing so far to match the behavior of Tea Party crowds in the summer of 2009.
|
THE NEW STREAMLINED RSN LOGIN PROCESS: Register once, then login and you are ready to comment. All you need is a Username and a Password of your choosing and you are free to comment whenever you like! Welcome to the Reader Supported News community. |
Comments
We are concerned about a recent drift towards vitriol in the RSN Reader comments section. There is a fine line between moderation and censorship. No one likes a harsh or confrontational forum atmosphere. At the same time everyone wants to be able to express themselves freely. We'll start by encouraging good judgment. If that doesn't work we'll have to ramp up the moderation.
General guidelines: Avoid personal attacks on other forum members; Avoid remarks that are ethnically derogatory; Do not advocate violence, or any illegal activity.
Remember that making the world better begins with responsible action.
- The RSN Team
Audit the FED!
NEVER VOTE REPUBLICAN
It seemed that is was the police who sought to keep protestors away from the people who need to pay attention to them, it was the police with pepper spray and night sticks, it was the police hemming in peaceful citizens walking down sidewalks. The police told protestors where to walk on the Brooklyn Bridge and when they followed their directions arrested them.
Admittedly, protestors have passively resisted arrest in many cases. But this is nothing that a Dr. King or a Gandhi migh advise or teach in the Civil Rights years and as so many people have done.
It it this that they are so afraid of. If people who are not in power simply express their opinion via their mouths and speech and writings and walk in public in polite groups it is a riot and they have become dangerous mobs.
Give me a break you plutocrats! That is all the protestors have been seeking since 1980 and later. It's all I have been seeking. And you're not doing it.
This is a bit different and the word to keep front and center now is "SOLIDARITY". I've been waiting for a sign of this for a long time, as in the 60's and 70' and more recently WTO Seattle. OWS is spreading like wildfire -to 180 cities nationwide so far, agents provocateurs and infiltrators notwithstanding ! The cops should actually be in there with them as in Wisconsin!
The last thing that the power-drunk elites want is "Community" which is what their grand plan has been trying to destroy!
Solid mass is happening and the world is watching. Preceding and coming actions are fueling each other globally! People (including me) are deserting banks for Credit Unions and others questioning their foreclosures -and the domino effect is cumulative.
No wonder the bastards are scared (heh-heh!)!
I revert again to the Bard o' Stratford (Henry V).
"By Jove, I am not covetous for gold,
Nor care I who doth feed upon my cost;"
then:
"He which hath no stomach to this fight,
Let him depart; his passport shall be made
And crowns for convoy put into his purse:
We would not die in that man's company
That fears his fellowship to die with us"!
Apt, eh?
Warren's position seems so terribly reasonable and truly conservative that the hysterical reactions from all the right wing hacks from Will to Limbaugh in response reveals their real nature. They are not "conservatives, " but faithful toadies and bootlickers to the plutocracy.
Support the occupy movements and participate if you can.
My old ex, a pioneer in the software industry and alum of Booz Allen, has filled me in how easy it is to manipulate the vote/count via software (and even by satellite virus infusion).
Watch the documentary "The Uncounted" and hear the software expert who was hired by the Repugs in Florida in 2000 to switch votes via software. He was ready to testify, but no big suprise, no investigation, either in the Bushwhacked years or since the 2008 elections when we had such hope for change, and ended up OhBombAh'ed.
American Revoltion II (vs. the phoney baloney, Koch funded Tea Party) has begun. About time, and thank God for the Occupy Wall Streeters. It's been my pleasure to join and assist them.
Monday, May 4, 1970, the National Guard opened fire on unarmed students, many of these college protestors weren't even born yet, but it can happen again and I believe Obama is watching and waiting to bring them on...certainly the NYPD and the infiltrators from the media and FBI and CIA are trying to force confrontations for an excuse...camera s should always be loaded and primed, if the government is that foolish again, this movement will explode...
And keep in mind that George W. passed legislation that lets the President (I'm sure he thought it would be him)take over control of all National Guard troops, even over the objection of the state's governor, if he decided to use them to put down civil unrest, or for any other reason he designated. So the mechanism is in place for our corporate overlords to "control" us with overwhelming military power.
Fractional reserve banking has been in private hands for most of this country's history. That means banks loan the U.S. government all our money and we pay them interest on every penny.
Typically banks have been allowed to 1oan $10 for each $1 on deposit. During the latest disaster they were loaning $30 or more for each $1 on deposit. When people wanted to withdraw funds there wouldn't have been enough funds so the government raised the deposit guarantees.
As others have said-private banking should, at best, be an option. Either the Federal Government should operate a nationalized Bank of the United States and issue all money in Federal Treasury notes, or individual states should charter their own banks and utilize the same Federal Treasury notes. The people should own the banks. There is no way thaat private individuals should be allowed to own banks that loan money to the Federal Government and collect interest on every U.S. dollar. Under the current system the country can NEVER be out of debt to the private bankers.
http://fdlaction.firedoglake.com/2008/12/20/plane-crash-kills-rove-it-guy-testified-in-oh-voter-fraud-case-key-in-white-house-email-scandal/
RSS feed for comments to this post