The Wall Street Protests

[Kathryn]

Ah, well I might have been remembering a statistic from a certain city or state. OTOH, 1 in 570 sounds REALLY low for a national average. There are only 300 million Americans. About 3 million homes had already been repossessed by January of this year - projected to be 6 million by 2013. Even if every single man, woman and child in America held the title to a house, the foreclosure rate would still be one in a hundred. How many houses does each American own?

• Three million homes have been repossessed since 2006. In other words, over the past 6-7 years, not just in one year.
• The 2009 Census recorded 91, 241,000 single detached and mobile homes in the US (this does not include apartments, townhouses, etc.) Census Bureau Home Page
• The US population is around 309,000 and growing 2010 Census Data - 2010 Census

 

[Kathryn]

By the way, did you guys hear about the fault line that scientists discovered that runs right through Washington, and directly under the White House?

It's called Bush's Fault.



Ba da BOOM!

 

[Sunstone]

In case you haven't heard, there is an ongoing protest taking place on Wall Street. There is no shame in being ignorant of the event; the "mainstream" news media has gone out of its way to ignore what is happening down there, Yahoo's email service was recently busted for blocking messages having to do with the protest, and Twitter - that bastion of protest messaging for the people who organized the Arab Spring movements - has reportedly been quashing Wall Street protest-oriented tweets out of hand.
If a tree falls in the forest and the "mainstream" news doesn't report it, did it happen?
Of course it did. Ask the tree.

Source.


Looks like the protests are being censored.

 

[Alceste]

• Three million homes have been repossessed since 2006. In other words, over the past 6-7 years, not just in one year.
• The 2009 Census recorded 91, 241,000 single detached and mobile homes in the US (this does not include apartments, townhouses, etc.) Census Bureau Home Page
• The US population is around 309,000 and growing 2010 Census Data - 2010 Census

I didn't say anything about one year. So your original claim of one in 500-something is low. It's one in 30 already foreclosed and many more facing foreclosure.

 

[Rakhel]

News stories about Occupy Wall Street.


Wall St. protesters shut down Brooklyn Bridge - NYPOST.com

Dozens arrested at Occupy Wall Street protest; Brooklyn Bridge shut down

Police Arrest About 400 Protesters on Brooklyn Bridge - NYTimes.com

'Wall Street' protesters jailed after Union Square scuffle vow to keep fighting for financial reform

Park Gives Wall St. Protesters Place to Call Home - NYTimes.com

Ex-guv David Paterson: Occupy Wall Street 'very well organized' - am New York

Metro - 'Occupy Wall Street': Police paying protest

Occupying, and Now Publishing, Too - NYTimes.com

I'll try to get my hands on one their newspapers. I'm not up that way often.


and if you want the one about the pepper spraying inccident I'll get that for you too


adding their website
https://occupywallst.org/

 

[Rakhel]

Must add these Hundreds Arrested on Brooklyn Bridge - WSJ.com

The Book Bench: The Occupy Wall Street Library : The New Yorker

Rational Irrationality: The Anti-Wall Street Protesters’ Best Friend: Ray Kelly : The New Yorker

 

[Kathryn]

I didn't say anything about one year. So your original claim of one in 500-something is low. It's one in 30 already foreclosed and many more facing foreclosure.

I guess we were both off then - neither one in five or one in five hundred.

Also, the stats didn't address multi- family homes, such as duplexes, townhomes, condos, etc. So even the 1 in 30 figure is probably incorrect.

8 percent of homeowners missed at least one payment within the past year. In other words, 8 percent of US mortgages are delinquent.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/08/22/foreclosure-us-america-mortgage-payment_n_933106.html

Excellent article on the subject of home buyers, mortgages, and foreclosures in the US:
http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/subjects/f/foreclosures/index.html

 

[9-10ths_Penguin]

I never said I can't stand complains. I said I think protesting is a waste of time, normally.

I used to think this, but I've come to disagree. Public protest has some very profound effects.

Without any sort of public assembly, it could be the case that you hate what's going on and I hate what's going on, but neither of us will never know how the other feels. Conceivably, an entire society of people could be like this, all unknowingly in agreement with each other, but none wanting to disrupt What they think is the status quo.

OTOH, when we have a protest, it changes the knowledge dynamic. If we all come together and we see each others' picket signs, then not only do each of us hate what's going on separately, but now we both know that the other one feels the same way. This creates the potential for us and all the like-minded people protesting to be a political force. It also sends an implicit threat to those in power, since doing it in public sends the same message to them.

All the measures you suggested can have your place, but why would you, say, run for office if you didn't know that there were other people out there to support you? Protest lets this happen.

 

[Alceste]

I think the difference between the police treatment of tea party protesters and the wall street protesters is fascinating. If you're demonstrating to protect the interests of the Koch brothers you can do whatever you want, including packing a gun to town hall meetings. If your in it for yourself, your family, and your neighbours, prepare to be beaten, pepper sprayed or arrested.

 

[Revoltingest]

I think the difference between the police treatment of tea party protesters and the wall street protesters is fascinating. If you're demonstrating to protect the interests of the Koch brothers you can do whatever you want, including packing a gun to town hall meetings. If your in it for yourself, your family, and your neighbours, prepare to be beaten, pepper sprayed or arrested.

To legally carry a gun is no problem for me.
But for protestors who disrupt traffic, I say toss da bums in da slammer!
If tea partiers did da same, den toss dem in too! (But dey don't act dat way...do dey?)

 

[Rakhel]

These idiots don't even know what they want.

 

[T-Dawg]

To legally carry a gun is no problem for me.
But for protestors who disrupt traffic, I say toss da bums in da slammer!
If tea partiers did da same, den toss dem in too! (But dey don't act dat way...do dey?)

So carrying guns into town halls, making the occasional thinly veiled violent threat towards a public official, and expressing a strong desire to either destroy or reduce the Government (and many other negative things) is perfectly ok, but potentially disrupting traffic is highly controversial.

Americans have strange priorities O_O.



Why haven't I heard anything at all about these protests? I read the Wall Street Journal on a regular basis as part of my Macroeconomics class. It seems incredibly strange and suspicious that the freakin' WALL STREET Journal wouldn't mentioned a protest going on in Wall Street...

 

[Rakhel]

700 arrested at Occupy Wall Street protest as demonstrators and NYPD shut down Brooklyn Bridge

NYPD video: Occupy Wall Street protesters at Brooklyn Bridge warned they could be arrested

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/10/02/o....html?_r=1&scp=8&sq=occupy wall street&st=cse

Conflicting Videos Tell Two Sides Of "Occupy Wall Street" Mass Arrest - NY1.com

 

[Revoltingest]

So carrying guns into town halls, making the occasional thinly veiled violent threat towards a public official, and expressing a strong desire to either destroy or reduce the Government (and many other negative things) is perfectly ok, but potentially disrupting traffic is highly controversial.

Huh....is that what you think I said?

Americans have strange priorities O_O.

Less so if you read their posts carefully.

Why haven't I heard anything at all about these protests? I read the Wall Street Journal on a regular basis as part of my Macroeconomics class. It seems incredibly strange and suspicious that the freakin' WALL STREET Journal wouldn't mentioned a protest going on in Wall Street...

They're all over the news....more than they appear to deserve.

 

[Rakhel]

Why haven't I heard anything at all about these protests? I read the Wall Street Journal on a regular basis as part of my Macroeconomics class. It seems incredibly strange and suspicious that the freakin' WALL STREET Journal wouldn't mentioned a protest going on in Wall Street...

Did you not see this link that I posted yesterday?

Hundreds Arrested on Brooklyn Bridge - WSJ.com

I guess that means one of two things. Either you weren't looking or this "protest" is nothing but a gnat. a minor annoyance in what The Wall Street Journal considers news worthy.

Me thinks it's both.

 

[Revoltingest]

People always want to see their own annoying gadflies to be on front page.
When they aren't, it's a conspiracy.

 

[T-Dawg]

Did you not see this link that I posted yesterday?

Hundreds Arrested on Brooklyn Bridge - WSJ.com

I guess that means one of two things. Either you weren't looking or this "protest" is nothing but a gnat. a minor annoyance in what The Wall Street Journal considers news worthy.

Me thinks it's both.

Well, to be fair, I wasn't exactly looking for a protest I didn't know about. But I would have expected to see some headline on a protest. Maybe they were in something other than the politics section, or only available on the online version or something...

EDIT: Or it could be that I haven't read the Oct 2 paper yet (I'm generally behind on my readings). Silly me...

Huh....is that what you think I said?

Yes, that is obviously what you said.

To legally carry a gun is no problem for me.
But for protestors who disrupt traffic, I say toss da bums in da slammer!
If tea partiers did da same, den toss dem in too! (But dey don't act dat way...do dey?)

You said this in response to this:

I think the difference between the police treatment of tea party protesters and the wall street protesters is fascinating. If you're demonstrating to protect the interests of the Koch brothers you can do whatever you want, including packing a gun to town hall meetings. If your in it for yourself, your family, and your neighbours, prepare to be beaten, pepper sprayed or arrested.

Implying that you were ok with the weapons (and the basic fundamentals of Tea Party agenda that I mentioned), but disrupting traffic is wrong.

 

[Rakhel]

well you do know that the Wall Street Journal's headquarters is no where near Wall Street, right?

It's headquartered up in Rockefeller Center. A good 4 mile walk from 11 Wall St(NY Stock Exchange) and Zaccotti Park(where the protesters are camping out).

 

[T-Dawg]

well you do know that the Wall Street Journal's headquarters is no where near Wall Street, right?

It's headquartered up in Rockefeller Center. A good 4 mile walk from 11 Wall St(NY Stock Exchange) and Zaccotti Park(where the protesters are camping out).

Nope, didn't know that. Thanks for the info.

Did they used to be at Wall Street and then moved? Or is the name based on their subject matter?

 

[Revoltingest]

Yes, that is obviously what you said.

You added some language (underlined for your convenience).

So carrying guns into town halls, making the occasional thinly veiled violent threat towards a public official, and expressing a strong desire to either destroy or reduce the Government (and many other negative things) is perfectly ok, but potentially disrupting traffic is highly controversial.

I don't mind your disagreeing with what I post. But I do mind being misquoted & re-stated for straw man purposes.

To state my position simply:
I discretely & daily carry a gun. I favor this right.
Where open carry is legal & appropriate, I favor that right.
I'm uncomfortable with open carry where it causes distress.
I oppose protest which unduly interferes with the rights of others.
I believe that all discourse should be civil, & serve the purpose of persuasion & understanding.

You & everyone else are welcome to agree or disagree. It's all OK.