Occupy Wall Street

[duffman1278]

Has anyone seen this in person? Or participated? It's about damn time

KiG4zDpo9mU

[superbike81]

I'm glad the cops are finding ways to arrest them. Just another pointless protest, which is exactly why it hasn't been covered in any mainstream media.

These dumbshits call it greed, but they can just as easily use the stock market for investments and personal gain as anyone else. Its not like it's some exclusive club that no one is allowed into. Granted, the true "market movers" are a limited few, but anyone can get in and make (or lose) money via Wall Street. For the past 8 years I've made more money from investing and trading each year than my annual salary. With enough time, research, and of course a little luck anyone can do it.

I just hate all this crap about trying to bring down the rich.

[BustedS13]

I think the rich should pay 0% taxes, they've earned it. Protests are silly, they should send in the scoops

http://i.imgur.com/LcRFQ.jpg

Get a job! and a haircut!

[EhrikETFG]

I'm glad the cops are finding ways to arrest them. Just another pointless protest, which is exactly why it hasn't been covered in any mainstream media.

These dumbshits call it greed, but they can just as easily use the stock market for investments and personal gain as anyone else. Its not like it's some exclusive club that no one is allowed into. Granted, the true "market movers" are a limited few, but anyone can get in and make (or lose) money via Wall Street. For the past 8 years I've made more money from investing and trading each year than my annual salary. With enough time, research, and of course a little luck anyone can do it.

I just hate all this crap about trying to bring down the rich.
how do i invest money when i have no money to begin with?

[orion::S14]

I think the rich should pay 0% taxes, they've earned it.

Like the middle class?

But even many members of the solid middle class – just above the median family income – pay no income tax, 30% of families earning between $33,542 and $59,486. ( from the WSJ: GOP Candidates: Too Many Americans Pay No Taxes - Washington Wire - WSJ (http://blogs.wsj.com/washwire/2011/08/17/gop-candidates-too-many-americans-pay-no-taxes/) )

.

I'd think that the 30% of American families that pay nothing, have it pretty good. Compared to the "rich", who pay more than 70% of ALL the income tax paid yearly.

Yeah, the current system is "unfair"...the middle class paying all the taxes while the rich pay none. Sure. :rolleyes:

- Brian

[tacoboy]

how do i invest money when i have no money to begin with?

Get a job.

[BustedS13]

Compared to the "rich", who pay more than 70% of ALL the income tax paid yearly.

the top 25% control almost 90% of the wealth in this country. yeah, they totally shouldn't pay more than the other 75%, you're right. America is so abusive to the cartoonishly wealthy.

just to be clear, you place your empathy with Scrooge McDuck instead of Launchpad McQuack, am I getting this right?



KiG4zDpo9mU

1:35, video clip framed by a picture of an lcd tv on an lcd tv. WHY DO THEY DO THIS?

[yokotas13]

why is this in off topic and not loud noises?

[duffman1278]

Yea I just figured it might be better in the loud noises.

The rich though are basically running this country now. They were even getting blocked from yahoo emails promoting the event and on twitter. Scary if you ask me

[superbike81]

Would you rather have the poor people making the decisions in this country? Maybe Cletus from the deep south and Tyrone from Compton would do a better job?

Granted, our country isn't doing so well managing our money right now, but that's because of the people who can't understand the fact that this decade long war is destroying our country.

[godrifttoday]

More like 1% of the rich control the country... Loop holes in taxes work towards people advantage.

[az_240]

Granted, our country isn't doing so well managing our money right now, but that's because of the people who can't understand the fact that this decade long war is destroying our country.


Not to mention the outrageous amount the US spends on welfare for those that don't need it or use the money to buy drugs. They need to stop enabling these people.

0% taxes on the rich makes no sense... where are the tax dollars going to come from? The already devastated middle class?

[superbike81]

I still agree with the idea that welfare checks should come with mandatory drug tests. The lines would be so short!

[WanganRunner]

I still agree with the idea that welfare checks should come with mandatory drug tests. The lines would be so short!

While I'm generally in the Buffett "tax the fuckers" camp in regards to the very very wealthy, I definitely agree with this welfare comment.

I don't know why we're writing checks to crackheads.

[aziankingz]

Saw these fuckers protesting down broadway earlier today.. these fucks arent even out of college yet - looking like pot smoking hippies with nothing better to do.. i don't feel bad for them one bit because most of them are emo douchebags that just blames everyone else for their own failures.. Also they fucking held up traffic on one of the busiest streets in new york for just about 200 people..

[orion::S14]

the top 25% control almost 90% of the wealth in this country. yeah, they totally shouldn't pay more than the other 75%, you're right. America is so abusive to the cartoonishly wealthy.

I guess that's the point - They (the "rich") do pay more, WAY more.

As a percentage, not just dollars.

They pay enough (in dollars) that 4 out of 10 people DO NOT HAVE TO PAY TAXES AT ALL.

...

Here's a realistic scenario:

"Guy A" makes $60,000/year...and pays a nominal tax rate of 12% (after the standard deduction, child tax credits, etc...).

"Guy B" makes $300,000 year...and pays a nominal tax rate of 30% (after deductions, exploited loopholes, etc...)

As an individual, the rich guy is paying $90,000/year in taxes...and the middle class guy pays $7,200.

So the rich guy pays 11 times as much in taxes compared to the middle class guy.

5 times the income, but ELEVEN times as much in taxes?

How is that not "paying his fair share"...???

Rich guy pays 2.5 times the taxes as a percentage, and $82,800 more in dollars. Yeah, he should pay MORE. He's clearly got it easy. :rolleyes:

EDIT: And that example covers 97% of all taxpayers. Only ~3% made more than $250,000 last year.

- Brian

[BustedS13]

Not to mention the outrageous amount the US spends on welfare for those that don't need it or use the money to buy drugs. They need to stop enabling these people.

0% taxes on the rich makes no sense... where are the tax dollars going to come from? The already devastated middle class?

1.) drugs are rad and make a shitty situation awesome for a little while. we should give them free drugs.
2.) the bulk of our money goes towards murdering brown people in other countries. that's where we should be making cuts.

[DS562]

but if we cut spending there, they could keep on being brown :ugh:

[usdm180sx]

IRS section 412i

[lflkajfj12123]

1.) drugs are rad and make a shitty situation awesome for a little while. we should give them free drugs.

d0pe　　　　　　　　　　　　　

[ESmorz]

why is this in off topic and not loud noises?

Because Loud Noises fucking sucks and is a boon to any conversation worth having. No one wants to wait four days to get a page of responses.

[EhrikETFG]

Would you rather have the poor people making the decisions in this country? Maybe Cletus from the deep south and Tyrone from Compton would do a better job?


guess no one found this offensive..

[Matej]

America started going downhill when it began caring about poor and stupid people.
Now China has the longest bridge and Dubai has the tallest building, because they do not care how many expendable workers die building things that will still be awe-inspiring generations from now.

America needs to go back to its glory days of raising sky scrapers, NASA, and always trying to one-up everyone else.
Go back to recruiting the brightest minds and brilliant scientists from all over the world, instead of illegal immigrants and 'refugees' who are only causing a social backlash.
Everyone got way too soft, lazy, and sensitive. Everything is over-regulated. It is quite depressing.


I totally have a plan on how to do my part in getting western society back on track to progress. Who can lend me a few billion dollars to start my own media group?

[superbike81]

guess no one found this offensive..

Wasn't meant to be offensive. Was meant to be satirical, and I'm guessing most people took it that way. Point being, the stereotypical poor person can't manage their own money, so they don't need to be managing our country's money.

[BustedS13]

Wasn't meant to be offensive. Was meant to be satirical, and I'm guessing most people took it that way. Point being, the stereotypical poor person can't manage their own money, so they don't need to be managing our country's money.

like the rich are doing such a great job. "go to durkastan, turn it to glass, get cheap oil" is not working. i feel like if poor people were in charge of the money, the wars would be over and welfare recipients would be waist deep in top ramen. FINE BY ME.

[DS562]

sounds good to me. i love top ramen. but im not a welfare using parasite.

[superbike81]

like the rich are doing such a great job. "go to durkastan, turn it to glass, get cheap oil" is not working. i feel like if poor people were in charge of the money, the wars would be over and welfare recipients would be waist deep in top ramen. FINE BY ME.

"The lesser of two evils."

You are probably right, the war would end, and I for one would be happy, I'm tired of deploying to southwest Asia.

But if the poor truly made the financial decisions in this country it would go to shit really quick. They would take away from the rich to give to the poor, which would make things much more equal but then many people would find no reason to be innovative any more. Money and the prospect of wealth drives improvements. Why work hard when our government is just going to give us everything we need? What is the point of trying to become a supervisor or work your way up in any job when any extra money you make will just be taken away so the poor won't be poor any more?

[ESmorz]

Occupy LA is happening October 1st at City Hall, come get your freedom on.

Many other Occupy rallies are starting around the country tomorrow as well.

[S14DB]

I still agree with the idea that welfare checks should come with mandatory drug tests. The lines would be so short!
In the states that this has been implemented less than 10% have been turned away due to failing a drug test. Your logic is flawed.
Saw these fuckers protesting down broadway earlier today.. these fucks arent even out of college yet - looking like pot smoking hippies with nothing better to do.. i don't feel bad for them one bit because most of them are emo douchebags that just blames everyone else for their own failures.. Also they fucking held up traffic on one of the busiest streets in new york for just about 200 people..

Yeah, They don't seem to be getting their point across. What was it again?

[DriftN00b]

Would you rather have the poor people making the decisions in this country? Maybe Cletus from the deep south and Tyrone from Compton would do a better job?

Granted, our country isn't doing so well managing our money right now, but that's because of the people who can't understand the fact that this decade long war is destroying our country.

you're such an ignorant idiot. To everyone else, once you realize your own economic interest you will stop saying such stupid thing.

[superbike81]

you're such an ignorant idiot. To everyone else, once you realize your own economic interest you will stop saying such stupid thing.

My own "economic interest" is WELL met by Wall Street and the rich running this country. If we had morons like these protesters running the country it would be horrible.

[WanganRunner]

Someone making $300k isn't rich, at least not the kind of rich the Dems are talking about lately. A "millionaires tax" would really just be a narrowing of the spread between the capital gains tax and the income tax, not more income tax, as people above a certain worth level either don't have jobs and thus don't have income tax or have jobs as PE sharks or hedgies wherein they are paid in carried interest taxed as capital gains rather than as income.

People who live off investments are "rich", and these people are taxed at a far lower percentage rate than the middle or mid-wealthy classes. Their tax rate maxes at 15% if we are talking capital gains, and them they are eligible for many more deductions that we are not.

[superbike81]

I made significantly more from capital gains over the last 5 years than I made from my military salary each year. While it would cut into my profits some, I do believe that capital gains should be taxed higher than 15%.

[92SEric240sx]

Granted, our country isn't doing so well managing our money right now, but that's because of the people who can't understand the fact that this decade long war is destroying our country.

This ^^


Come on politicians, is it financially feasible to supply a war that is 6200 miles away. ( 6204 Miles from Washington DC to Baghdad)

We got Saddam Hussein, we got Osama Bin Laden, and many other high priority personnel, let's get out. Bring our soldiers home. Spend some of that defense budget on developing alternative energy, that way the oil exporting countries won't have us by the balls

Many great empires have fallen because they tried to expand their reach beyond what they could afford to handle, let's learn from others mistakes.


I still agree with the idea that welfare checks should come with mandatory drug tests. The lines would be so short!

This sort of^^^

But I'm sure we can all agree that the last thing we want is more drug related stabbings/robberies because Tyrone Biggums can't get his fix. (Chapelle's Show reference to a crackhead, explained so no one gets offended)



The one thing that a lot about people in this country need to understand is that Life does not owe you anything. Life is hard, for most people. If you want to feel sorry for yourself, compare the poor of our country to the poor of unestablished nations.

In those countries, if you don't make it for yourself, you die. If you can't afford to take care of the babies you've had they die. If you go missing, the government doesn't send out search parties, doesn't waste their resources. Life is very cheap,

The United States government provides you with a high value for your "life" and will protect your stuff for you. That is to say there is a correct scale of crime and punishment that is enforced upon offenders, should they ever tread on you the wrong way.

In my eyes, ^^^that is all^^^ the government owes you, the rest is up to you


Oh yeah, and in response to that video>>> Neo-Hippies. Nuff said

[Otto347]

America started going downhill when it began caring about poor and stupid people.
Now China has the longest bridge and Dubai has the tallest building, because they do not care how many expendable workers die building things that will still be awe-inspiring generations from now.

America needs to go back to its glory days of raising sky scrapers, NASA, and always trying to one-up everyone else.
Go back to recruiting the brightest minds and brilliant scientists from all over the world, instead of illegal immigrants and 'refugees' who are only causing a social backlash.
Everyone got way too soft, lazy, and sensitive. Everything is over-regulated. It is quite depressing.


I totally have a plan on how to do my part in getting western society back on track to progress. Who can lend me a few billion dollars to start my own media group?

^^^This...

[imotion s14]

the top 25% control almost 90% of the wealth in this country. yeah, they totally shouldn't pay more than the other 75%, you're right. America is so abusive to the cartoonishly wealthy.

So who should control it? You?

You don't even know what wealth is.

just to be clear, you place your empathy with Scrooge McDuck instead of Launchpad McQuack, am I getting this right?DO THIS?

Scrooge makes me money, Launchpad doesn't.

I guess that's the point - They (the "rich") do pay more, WAY more.

As a percentage, not just dollars.

They pay enough (in dollars) that 4 out of 10 people DO NOT HAVE TO PAY TAXES AT ALL.

...

Here's a realistic scenario:

"Guy A" makes $60,000/year...and pays a nominal tax rate of 12% (after the standard deduction, child tax credits, etc...).

"Guy B" makes $300,000 year...and pays a nominal tax rate of 30% (after deductions, exploited loopholes, etc...)

As an individual, the rich guy is paying $90,000/year in taxes...and the middle class guy pays $7,200.

So the rich guy pays 11 times as much in taxes compared to the middle class guy.

5 times the income, but ELEVEN times as much in taxes?

How is that not "paying his fair share"...???

Rich guy pays 2.5 times the taxes as a percentage, and $82,800 more in dollars. Yeah, he should pay MORE. He's clearly got it easy. :rolleyes:

EDIT: And that example covers 97% of all taxpayers. Only ~3% made more than $250,000 last year.

- Brian

The whole stink about "fair share" comes from the idea that wealth is fixed, that economics is a Zero-sum game where if you win, someone has to lose. It's a pie that doesn't expand, so if you get more pie than someone else, it's because you took more than your "fair share". "Tax the rich" stems from this idea that since you took more than your fair share of the pie, you should pay increasingly more taxes as you get more of the pie. It's only fair.

Whether Bill Gates gets taxed at 35% or 50%, what does it matter to any individual? It's not like it goes directly into your bank account. By the time you see it, your "share" is probably a fraction of a road reflector.

[duffman1278]

So who should control it? You?

I don't think he means they make too much money, I believe what he's trying to get at is that those top people are pretty much running our country and controlling our politicians because of all the money they give them in endorsements, lobbiest, etc. And it's become so bad that the middle class is slowly starting to die out. Our government is favoring these billionaires and while they make more, we (the middle and lower class) continue to make less. Our government doesn't seem to be listening to us.

And as for having the average joe call the shots in the economy, obviously we don't want that, we need smart and well educated people to help us out of this mess however, it becomes a problem when their solutions are only to help favor the rich.

[Otto347]

.............pretty much running our country and controlling our politicians because of all the money they give them in endorsements, lobbiest, etc.

Yup, its not the best candidate its whoever has the most money.

[imotion s14]

I don't think he means they make too much money,

No but he's using the tired old zero-sum argument. When you put wealth into a context like that and frame the question in that manner. It's a supposition that suggests that their share of wealth is obtained unjustly.

If that wasn't the case, why else would anyone care if Bill Gates was worth 60 billion? Unless you believed that to be the case.

I believe what he's trying to get at is that those top people are pretty much running our country and controlling our politicians because of all the money they give them in endorsements, lobbiest, etc.And of course the politicians are innocent. They're just being controlled by the puppet masters. Or maybe they're willingly colluding with monied interest?

Of course the people who cry the most about lobbying want more expansive government. They never bothers to ask WHY monied interest are so interested in influencing government? Maybe it's because they seek to influence government power to gain protection in the market place?

Think about it, the government has shown that they see no limits to their power to interfere in the market. There is no authority that gives them the power to bail out private enterprise. But that's exactly what they did.

Now wouldn't you want this type of protection where you can make a shit load of profits but if you place the wrong bets, the government comes in and saves you? What company wouldn't want that kind of protection from market discipline?

That the more power you give government the more they want to throw money at it to influence government.

And it's become so bad that the middle class is slowly starting to die out. Our government is favoring these billionaires and while they make more, we (the middle and lower class) continue to make less. Our government doesn't seem to be listening to us.

You're right they are, but who's fault is that really? Our own damn fault for looking towards government for government solutions. The market had a solution for those billionaires who made the wrong bets. All the gains they saw during the boom was going to be wiped out. That's what should have happen. Instead it was too big to fail. Basically saying hey, make all they money you can, even if you bet wrong, you're too big to fail. What do you think that's going to do? Is it going to make companies be more cautious or do you think they're going to be less cautious in a market place where it's WIN-WIN for them?

The middle class is getting squeezed because jobs are leaving due to capital flight. It's going to Asia and it's not because of slave labor. Does S.Korea, Japan, Malaysia and Singapore have slave labor? If capital chases labor like the left says then why didn't it flee to Africa? Why did it go to Asia? The magical ingredient is Asia has capital. Labor chases capital. People left rural small towns because all the capital was in the big city. People moved south because the capital left the rust belt.

A certain sided of the political spectrum expects corporations to be socially responsible to employees. Just hiring someone involves assuming a whole slew of legal liabilities that can cost a company thousands in legal bills. Yet if a employee wants terminate their relationship with the company, they can do so just like that.

And as for having the average joe call the shots in the economy, obviously we don't want that, we need smart and well educated people to help us out of this mess however, it becomes a problem when their solutions are only to help favor the rich.It has noting to do with smart people a lot of smart people made some very bone headed decisions during the boom. You can have 1000 smart people in a room planning everything and they wouldn't be able to figure out how to make the economy work. We know central planning of the economy doesn't work. But we keep trying over and over and the results have always been the same. Why do we continue to make the same mistakes over and over again?

If it was possible for smart people to allocate resources efficiently, we wouldn't need a market economy to determine where capital should.

The only solution that we know works is to get government out of the way, let the people who failed fail and let the people who made the right decision buy up all the assets from the people who fail and start over.

[tricky_ab]

Of course there's going to be more poor, but that's inevitable simply based on the distribution of wealth ALONE. Do you really see multimillion/billionaires going out of their way to fix the broken systems that got some of them wealth?

There's going to be a group of people that feel they're 'owed' something, and there's a group of people that feel they are without fault completely. All of the above are wrong. This does not stop the fact that the system right now is completely fucked up and needs changing. It's exceptionally aggravating when people try to jump from one extreme to the next. That's not how things are...Stop it!

[superbike81]

I'm honestly glad we have people like this. They are so against "the system" that they won't ever use it to their own advantage. This leaves that much more opportunity for me to capitalize on it for my own gain. Call me selfish, but I'm looking out for number one here (my family) so I will capitalize on Wall Street and the real estate market as much as I possibly can.

If these guys did manage to somehow completely change the way things work, people will still find a way to capitalize on the new system.

[bardabe]

http://i.imgur.com/t1onp.jpg

[revcyanide]

ITT: people who think they are rich and want to brag about it, while spouting bullshit out of their ass.




lol you don't even know what real wealth is.

And this isnt about you, as a normal person investing in wall street.

That's what it's there for! more power to you!

What this is about is he MAIN playing in wall street doing shady dealing, KNOWING it will screw companies over. but not caring because they know their companies are so large america cannot let them fail, and will help them out.


If you are using wall street correctly, you are very much positively influencing our economy, and you are rad.

However if you are a CIO/CEO doing insider trading, and destroying our economy because of it, YOU are whats wrong with this country, and what these protests are against.