A large rally is planned for Wednesday in New York City, with backing from union groups.
More than 700 protesters were arrested on Saturday on Brooklyn Bridge.
The demonstrations - based at Zuccotti Park, near Wall Street and the Federal Reserve - are now entering their third week.
Answering questions during a news conference at UN headquarters on Monday, Mr Soros said: "The decision not to inject capital into the banks, but to effectively relieve them of their bad assets and then allow them to earn their way out of a hole leaves the banks bumper profits and then allows them to pay bumper bonuses."
I had to laugh at some conservative talking heads trying to marginalize the ramblings and incoherence of some of the demonstrators on Wall Street. The conservative pundits have no clue. Water will find its level and water is rising fast. The meaning of the demonstrations will fast become clear. People have had it. They and we all know the system does not work. It is broken. Fixed. Fucked up FUBAR, Beyond all Recognition. They all suck. All of them. The Courts, The Congress, The President, Wall Street, The Banks, The Chinese, all of them.
"Protests continued on Monday in New York, with many under the Occupy Wall Street banner wearing make-up to pose as "corporate zombies", eating fake money.
One of the protesters, John Hildebrand, 24, an unemployed teacher from the US state of Oklahoma, told the Associated Press news agency: "My issue is corporate influence in politics. I would like to eliminate corporate financing from politics."
Union members are expected to back a large rally planned for Wednesday."
Last Thursday, the United Federation of Teachers and the Transport Workers Union, which has 38,000 members, pledged support for the protests.
In Los Angeles on Monday, an anti-Wall Street demonstration was held outside the court where Michael Jackson's doctor is being tried for manslaughter.
Protests were held in recent days in Boston, Los Angeles and Chicago in front of their respective cities' Federal Reserve buildings. A march was also held in Columbus, Ohio.
Helllllo 1968.
ReplyDeleteThe Times They Are A'Changin'
ReplyDeletePeople have no idea how important investment banking is to the growth of economy, or to what extent basic living standards are dependent on the skills of people who are good at figuring out the most beneficial and efficient ways to invest capital.
ReplyDeleteAnd, they have no idea how bad it can get when the Greedy Assholes fuck it up.
ReplyDeleteA Hard Rain's Gonna Fall
Obama is scratching his head trying to figure out how much more stimulus money has to be thrown off the white house balcony, but on one thing he is right.
ReplyDeleteIt is all about jobs but fixing the problem seems to be beyond everyone. if the much-touted job creators in the private sector aren't going to do anything about it because they don't see any customers, the public sector employer of last-resort is the only place to which we can turn to get money trickling into the economy, deficits in the future or not.
Any number of talking heads (mainly employed) can point to reasons not to push much more energetically on this lever. But we face an aging work and more importantly, retiree force, and if some form of productivity can't be wrung out of them, economic collapse is damn near inevitable.
William McKinley, and his Treasury Sec, Lyman Gage, inherited a Brutal Depression - the Panic of 1893.
ReplyDeleteOne of the first things they did was pass a huge Import Tariff. They wanted to knock the foreign goods off the store shelves, and get people back to work.
Within 12 Months we were out of the Depression, and on our way.
Don't believe everything the powers-that-be are telling you about "free trade." It's "different horses for different courses."
This course was built by the Chinese, and they don't do "free trade."
Banks are not loaning to small businesses. The US has lost the ability to create jobs over the past 10 years except low paying ones. Many people over 50 , unemployed, will never work again. They won't even get an interview. I believe it's important for the middle class to know what has and is being done to them. Maybe these protests will succeed in doing that.
ReplyDeleteThe Congress is finally taking a sensible step against China. It will not only pass, but it will probably pass by a veto-proof majority.
ReplyDeleteThe Middle-Class knows. They just don't have the time to go camp out on Wall Street.
ReplyDeleteI think the kids will be astonished to find out how many of us are pulling for them.
When people figure out that they are better off being producers than consumers, this will begin to improve.
ReplyDeleteThose kids looked (and, sounded) mostly, like High School Grads.
ReplyDeleteThey are "Boned;" and they know it.
There are No Decent jobs for them.
The Decent jobs their class once did are gone to China. A "Dead-End" Kid can be a real pain in the ass.
A Couple of Million of them might be more than you would care to contemplate.
ReplyDeleteI added a video clip to show how the left views this. Remarkably, a lot of people on the right would agree with a lot of the sentiments expressed by some seriously far lefties.
ReplyDeleteObama, fresh from Martha's Vineyard, will have to forget his golf lessons and practice his high-wire act.
A lot of political fingers will be trying to see which way the wind blows on this one.
ReplyDeleteWe will see more of this.
ReplyDeleteDo these people have a website, or something. Some way to follow the "action?"
ReplyDeleteIt's the only mildly interesting thing going on, anywhere, at present.
Livestream….Occupy Wall Street
ReplyDeleteThere are links at the bottom for more info.
The Official Website of the GA at #OccupyWallStreet
ReplyDeleteJust wait, when the seed group sprout and hundreds of thousands of looters join the protest all hell will break loose....
ReplyDeleteI can see it now... Violent looting by tens of thousands of young disaffected xbox players. They will burn down the inner cities and then head for the burbs...
Then the fun will begin...
The looters will disrupt any and all commerce they can.
The funny thing? They will stop their own food supplies from arriving....
It's going to be fun!
Pitchforks...
AR-15's
bayonets...
There´s a grief that can´t be spoken
There´s a pain goes on and on
Empty chairs at empty tablesNow my friends are dead and gone.
Here they talked of revolution
Here it was they lit the flame
Here they sang about tomorrow
And tomorrow never came
>From the table in the corner
They could see a world reborn
And they rose with voices ringing
I can hear them now
The very words that they had sungt
Became their last communion
On the lonely barricade at dawn
Oh my friends, my friends, forgive me
That I live and you are gone
There´s a grief that can´t be spoken
There´s a pain goes on and on
Phantom faces at the window
Phantom shadows on the floor
Empty chairs at empty tables
Where my friends will meet no more
Oh my friends, my friends, don´t ask me
What your sacrifice was for.
Empty chairs at empty tables,
Where my friends will sing no more
Yep... The XBOX and Hot Pocket crowd will meet the bayonet....
It's will not be pretty....
Naw, Melody; we won't let anything like that happen to them. :)
ReplyDeleteDon't like the banks?
ReplyDeleteDon't use the credit cards...
Don't buy what you cannot afford.
Don't like Wall Street and Corporate America?
Start your own business.
Start with a hotdog cart.
Time to cut off the banks and the looters that use them.
Just how many credit cards are out there and at what interest rate.
Have you been to a Best Buy? Hundreds of people a day buying flat screens and XBOXs they cannot afford.
It's the Matrix baby...
Reminds me of a friend that used to own a luxury auto dealer. He always claimed that when times got tough businessmen came in to get a new car to make themselves feel better. Maybe a flat screen has the same affect.
ReplyDelete.
ReplyDeleteHave you been to a Best Buy? Hundreds of people a day buying flat screens and XBOXs they cannot afford.
Anecdotal observation at best.
There are still 90% of the people out there that have jobs albeit in a lot of cases not very good jobs. That's why it will be difficult getting the "Occupy Wallstreet" movement going. Overcoming inertia isn't easy.
However, what the movement has going for it is the general mood of the country. If it can gain some traction, and more importantly, come up with a specific agenda that people can relate to and get behind, it could grow.
It's how the Tea Party started off.
.
There are still 90% of the people out there that have jobs albeit in a lot of cases not very good jobs. That's why it will be difficult getting the "Occupy Wallstreet" movement going. Overcoming inertia isn't easy.
ReplyDeletenow that's your opinion...
The Hot Pocket/Xbox crowd's rate is considerably HIGHER than 9.1%, closer to 18-28%, these are the looters that will be rioting...
The Best Buy crowd?
Matrix surfers....
.
ReplyDeleteWhat will be interesting is to see which way this goes.
The movement is operating in a bit of a vacuum right now. Organized in the manner of a flash mob.
Will it just fade away in a few weeks or will someone step in and try to give it some focus?
Who would that be?
The unions?
The Tea Party?
One of the political parties?
A new political party?
Or perhaps some of the very people and organizations the protests are designed to hit?
Will the movement be coopted or grow like Topsy based on the general discontent in the country?
It could be interesting.
At least it is more interesting than what is going on in OZ.
.
.
ReplyDeletenow that's your opinion...
Of course, this is a blog afterall.
.
Rick Perry's campaign in a nutshell (or why he's polling fourth place in most states):
ReplyDelete1. Suggested that Bernanke should be lynched.
2. Defended his decision to give government injections to innocent little 12-year-old girls.
3. Suggested that if you disagree with his policy on in-state tuition for illegal immigrants, you have a heart.
4. Proposes that U.S. troops should be used to fight Mexican drug lords in Mexico.
5. Revelations that his family leases a hunting spot called "Niggerhead."
Er,,,number three, you have no heart.
ReplyDeleteWell, the GOP co-opted the frustrations of the Tea Partiers.
ReplyDeleteSo, watch the Dems move on the Occupiers.
Fixed bayonets, aye?
Doubtful.
If the "White Shirts" of NYPD had not attacked the female protestors with pepper spray, these protests would still be "unknown", Nationally.
ReplyDeleteThis could "stir the pot".
ReplyDeleteChristian Science Monitor -
Afghan President Karzai arrives in India today to discuss economic and security partnerships amid a recent volley of Afghan accusations against Pakistan, India's longtime foe.
ReplyDeleteDocs put Holder on the spot in Fast & Furious
Politico -
Attorney General Eric Holder knew about the Fast and Furious gun program as far back as July 2010, which may contradict his statements to Congress, new documents suggest.
The Democratic Senate is about to launch a trade war with China over their currency manipulation, that's what the Occupy Wall Street movement has wrought. Smoot-Hawley II. It's 1930 all over again.
ReplyDeleteThe effect, the new Trade legislation, is not "caused" by the "Occupiers", Ms T.
ReplyDeleteMore the result of a Tea Party, than an occupation.
The "Occupation" movement, just two weeks old.
ReplyDeleteThe Trade legislation has been in gestation much longer than that.
Reversing free trade is a demand of the Marxists on Wall Street, and the Donks are cowtowing to it. The Pubs don't have the Senate yet. The Senate debates what Harry Reid says it will debate.
ReplyDelete.
ReplyDeleteUsed to be a free-trader. Now? Not so much.
.
Debate is so much hot air, Ms T.
ReplyDeleteYou are looking at rhetoric, instead of performance.
If it cannot pass in the House, it's just positioning. If you want to be rhetorically positioned as "pro China", you'll be standing in the street, alone, without much GOP support.
None from the Tea Partiers.
ReplyDeleteYou still see the choices as being binary, when the situation is not binary, not at all.
The economic situation crosses the aisle.
The demand for "accountability" a Tea Party plank, first.
Now it is spreading.
When the Congress moves to audit the Federal Reserve, then the Tea Party and Occupation forces will have been successful in creating "Change".
ReplyDeleteThe Tea Partiers and the Occupation forces, well, they see the same effects.
ReplyDeleteThey differ only in the "Cause" of that effect.
One sees the cause as to much government, the other, not enough.
Both are correct.
As the "Cause" is primarily misdirected government policies and actions.
100 years in the making.
With respect to the Federal Reserve, we should harken back to Mr Reagan and the advise he gave US.
ReplyDeleteTrust, but verify
I am hearing that Mr Perry has "lost" the support of the Black bloc.
ReplyDeleteThe idea that the loss would derail his campaign, farfetched. Being, as it were, that he never had any support, from that bloc.
Look at it this way, T. If we were going along swimmingly, here, and all of a sudden we decided to "Declare War" on Most of the Known World, that would, indeed, be madness.
ReplyDeleteHowever, on the other hand, if we allowed another semi-strong, but belligerant, country to continually snip off parts of our territory, and conduct border raids against our citizens on a daily basis, without pushing back, THAT would be "Suicide."
To put a temporary tariff on one country (China) until they mend their ways isn't really very analogous to Smoot-Hawley.
To maintain sustainable consumption, you must either create wealth or borrow it. We chose to borrow it. Socialism offers the prospect of "equality" in consumption. I call it "equality of misery". Socialism fails to create wealth. So, we end up indebted and unable to revive the engine of wealth creation. Who's surprised? Although the question should be, 'Who is angry and what are they going to do about it?"
ReplyDelete.
ReplyDeleteI don't see Perry getting the nomination.
In the last GOP debate, he was wearing a suit that gave me the impression of Billy Sunday.
Gun-toting, bible-thumping, tell-you-whatever-you-want-to-hear, typical pol. Carrying a little baggage with the GOP base also.
Bachman? Out.
Paul? Out.
Palin? Never in.
Christie? I figure he will definately rule out a run shortly.
Still thinking,
Romney By default.
.
9 9 9
ReplyDeleteA Northeastern Liberal vs a Midwestern Liberal.
ReplyDeleteLots of the GOP base will "stay home" come November '12, if that's the case.
Perry will never sell outside of the South.
ReplyDeletePerry still has a strong shot at the nomination.
ReplyDeleteIt's a tad early to write him off.
Seeing as how there has yet to be a single vote cast, anywhere.
Romney will not ride, in the South.
ReplyDeleteWill lose in West Virginia, North Carolina.
For those Republicans that take their religion seriously, Mr Romney will be a problematic choice.
While the Northeast is lost to the GOP, regardless.
Romney wins the primary in New Hampshire, Perry in South Carolina.
ReplyDeleteWho carries Florida?
Christie to announce this afternoon that he isn't running. Reuters, confirmed by NBC.
ReplyDeletePalin waited him out. Her DVD goes on sale at Walmart, today.
The babydoll in the red, do-me pumps will be announcing, shortly.
One downside risk in applying tariffs to China's goods is that prices will be forced up which will put upward pressure on inflation which will put upward pressure on interest rates. Higher interest rates will cause the heavily indebted American economy much grief.
ReplyDeletePalin wins Iowa, comes a closer second than expected in NH, Wins South Carolina, rides the wave into Florida,
ReplyDeleteand wins in a walk.
Inflation is the friend of the debtor.
ReplyDeleteWhich is when Obama takes the US out of the debt market, ash.
ReplyDeleteHe'll embrace Jeffersonian and Jacksonian Democratic Principles.
Move "against" the Federal Reserve, and mint some coin. Taking the Treasury out of the debt markets.
Become the "Class Warrior".
ReplyDeleteIn the face of perceived GOP intransigence.
rising prices due to increasing economic activity can be a debtors friend but I don't see rising prices as a function of increased tax as helpful in that regard.
ReplyDeleteWhether the fed mints coin or treasury does the minting there is little difference.
ReplyDelete.
ReplyDeleteThe babydoll in the red, do-me pumps will be announcing, shortly.
Don't see it. Mainly, because I don't see the lady as a risk taker.
If she could be guaranteed the presidencey, she would do it. However, she currently has a sweet gig going. I doubt very much she would take a chance on losing that on a roll of the dice for the presidency.
.
What does the Alinsky influenced Community Organizer do, when the community starts to march?
ReplyDeleteIf Mr Obama is who you fellas have telling me he is, well, the course he will chart forward is clear, as crystal.
Taking it to the Streets.
.
ReplyDeleteBeen watching a three part series on Prohibition.
Didn't realize that prior to prohibition, the US was getting 70% of its revenue off excise taxes for booze.
.
There is a great deal of difference, ash, politically.
ReplyDeleteEconomically, on a macro level, you may be right. But for the micro-economics of the Federal budget, it'd have great impact.
For the politics of the moment ...
Obama mints the coin and calls for an audit of the Fed. Leading the Democrats home, to their ideological roots.
Huge impact.
What does the Alinsky influenced Community Organizer do, when the community starts to march?
ReplyDeletethat is a fascinating question.
The Moral Majority of the Temperance Leagues, joining with political progressives of the day, to implement the Income Tax, to make the Federals independent of that revenue.
ReplyDeleteYep. An interesting show.
A story that certainly has analogies to the Drug Wars of today.
The current political climate suggests that the pols, if given the power over the mint, would choose not to mint new coin. Heck, Perry has even suggested that it would be treasonous to do so.
ReplyDeleteIs the "Occupation" spontaneous, or part of a larger plan?
ReplyDeleteHow else do the Democrats create their own T-Party faction, in a year?
All that is heard, on MSNBC, is that the "Base" wants Obama to "fight" for the Middle class.
The common Democratic historic perception, that the Middle class was best represented by Jefferson, Jackson and FDR.
Mr Perry, does not represent Mr Obama's constituency.
ReplyDeleteMr Perry would applaud reining in the Fed, as would Dr Paul, but would bemoan minting the coin.
Obama, taking up the fight, for the extremes on both sides of the aisle.
Selling it to the Middle as a battle against what Mr Bush described as the drunks at the wheel.
Obama rams it down the throat of the GOP.
ReplyDeleteAfter his "Jobs Bill" dies.
He uses the power and authority that he already has vested instead of reaching for a "new" solution that is mired in gridlock.
He tells US he's been painted into a corner, by intransigent Republicans and has been forced to take unilateral Presidential action, to save the economy and Country.
He has the legal authority to move.
The politics are coming into alignment.
.
ReplyDelete"Rat in Dreamland"
coming soon to a theater in your neighborhood.
.
It would never make it to the theaters - gotta have some chance of being 'popular'. Libertarians tilting at windmills though Rat's version wouldn't fly with the Libertarians other than the gutting of the Fed.
ReplyDeleteI have Bernanke in front of the Joint committee on mute. I've had it on for thirty minutes, or so.
ReplyDeleteHe looks under tremendous pressure. Everyone looks very stressed. No one has cracked a smile since I've been watching.
No time for "Collegiality" this day.
Those political animals can smell the wind blowin' up a shitstorm.
Besides, it is only some policy wonks and students of the Great Depression who believe that pouring freshly minted coin into the economy will save everything. Most think that the blatant debasing of the value of the dollar will just lead to something like the Wiemar Republic.
ReplyDeleteI do find it interesting that I'm running in to an increasing amount of business/trader folk who think that all will be fine because the Central banks will just print more money if needed. One guy recommended I take my shorts out of the market 'cause QE3, 4 and 5 are on the way.
Bernanke is, basically, it looks to me like, supporting the idea of jerking a knot in the Chinee tail.
ReplyDeleteThe President is going to turn on the Federal Reserve.
ReplyDeleteWhether or not he mints the coin, an aside that interests me.
It s not a Libertarian move, ash, but as it relates to reining in the National Bank. Beyond that, most people think the Central Banks are going to continue "easing", as you say.
The President can create his desired economic stimulus, without debt to the National Bank, flanking the GOP and taking the Democrats home to "Jacksonville".
A "real" radical community organizer would make that move.
Look for the President to support the Congressional audit of the Federal Reserve, at a minimum.
ReplyDeleteIf Mr Cain were to be the VP nominee, would that take a sizable chunk of the Black bloc from the President?
ReplyDeleteWatching Congressman Dennis J. Kucinich say that the President needs to "Go Big" be "Grand" work to emulate FDR.
ReplyDeleteThat "common knowledge", ash, is that what is driving the spontaneous demonstrations across the US?
ReplyDeleteDemonstrations that are targeting the physical locations of the Federal Reserve Banks.
That is something I've never seen nor heard of, before.
It may just may be that we are in the midst of an "Awakening".
Are they targeting the Federal Banks? I hadn't heard that. I have heard they are targeting most all capitalist stuff with Wall Street being the symbol (ironically wasn't the World Trade Center targeted because of similar but different sentiments?)
ReplyDelete"One of the protesters, John Hildebrand, 24, an unemployed teacher from the US state of Oklahoma, told the Associated Press news agency:
ReplyDelete"My issue is corporate influence in politics. I would like to eliminate corporate financing from politics.
"Union members are expected to back a large rally planned for Wednesday."
THE LARGEST, DIRTIEST POT ON THE STOVE CALLS THE KETTLE BLACK
Last Thursday, the United Federation of Teachers and the Transport Workers Union, which has 38,000 members, pledged support for the protests."
Yes, ash. I posted a piece, yesterday, one that specified the Fed Reserve building in Chicago as a target.
ReplyDeleteThat locale, is a telling sign.
That it was written about, too.
Occupy movement heads to Chicago’s Federal Reserve
ReplyDeleteBy By Jonathan Samples
Last Wednesday was the second consecutive day Charlie Town had been outside of Chicago's Federal Reserve Bank, protesting what he feels is a corrupt financial system in the United States.
With bull horn in hand, the native of the northwest suburbs shouted various slogans that were aimed at rallying the crowd of nearly a hundred, who had gathered to support the Occupy Wall Street protests taking place in New York and to speak out against what they say are unfair corporate bailouts.
"We're trying to gain awareness of the corruption that exists in the financial system," said Town. "We're out here protesting in conjunction with Occupy Wall Street and other Occupy movements that are going on."
protest federal reserve chicago
Another point of symbolism
ReplyDelete999
99% ers
Any mention of Crony Capitalism?
ReplyDeleteThe transfer of Trillions to Wall St. and Foreign Banks by the politicians the biggest financial story in decades.
Supported here as necessary by some now righteously criticizing Wall St!
Considering the shows on documentary TV, Ancient Aliens, Wormholes, Freemasons and Knights Templar.
ReplyDeleteThe Grail in America, it is easy to envision the story of the National Bank.
Having Thomas Jefferson and Mr Jackson explain the economic and political dangers that result from the concentration of power in a National Bank, educational.
The System is now well out of balance, someone needs to check it.
That is the President's duty.
Per Mr Jackson.
Home to Jacksonville."
Crony Capitalism, dougo, an extension of the "Spoils System"
ReplyDelete“If the American people ever allow the banks to control the issuance of their currency, first by inflation and then by deflation, the banks and corporations that will grow up around them will deprive the people of all property until their children will wake up homeless on the continent their fathers occupied.
ReplyDeleteThe issuing power of money should be taken from the banks and restored to Congress and the people to whom it belongs. I sincerely believe the banking institutions (having the issuing power of money) are more dangerous to liberty than standing armies.
My zeal against these institutions was so warm and open at the establishment of the Bank of the United States (Hamilton’s foreign system), that I was derided as a maniac by the tribe of bank mongers who were seeking to filch from the public.”
— Thomas Jefferson
.
ReplyDeleteIt would never make it to the theaters - gotta have some chance of being 'popular'.
What about Gigli?
.
Another point of symbolism
ReplyDelete999
99% ers
Symbolism only to those looking for symbolism. The two have nothing to do with each other.
.
666 upside down
ReplyDelete
ReplyDeleteMajority of IEDs traced to Pakistan...
WASHINGTON – Pakistan is the source of explosives in the vast majority of makeshift bombs insurgents in Afghanistan planted this summer to attack U.S. troops, according to U.S. military commanders.
From June through August, U.S. troops detected or were hit by 5,088 improvised explosive devices (IEDs), the most for any three-month period since the war began in 2001.
Those bombs killed 63 troops and wounded 1,234, Defense Department records show.
I half nothing to with your half.
ReplyDeleteIt is easier, for me, to envision Mr Obama drawing on the ideology of Jefferson and Jackson rather than agreeing with Mr Romney, that the Banks are people, too.
ReplyDeleteOh, Q, they certainly have a lot in common, the 999 and 99% ers.
ReplyDeleteBoth exemplify dissatisfaction with the status que.
The inequities of the tax code, the use of government power to chose winners and losers, through the writing, interpretation and implementation of that code.
Supported here as necessary by some now righteously criticizing Wall St!
ReplyDeleteThe Prophet of Maui deigns to visit us mortals on the blog.
Some people have the flexibiility to change their minds yet you rail against them for this.
Tell us guru, how would you solve the current problems, jobs, housing, the debt, a stalling econonomy, et al?
Cynicism while cathardic is not especially helpful.
.
Would there be a 9% transfer tax on equity sales?
ReplyDeleteAs well as on consumer product transfers?
.
ReplyDeleteBoth exemplify dissatisfaction with the status que.
From two different sides of the equation, kind of like you and WiO on Israel. Different sides of the coin.
If you consider that symbolism? Well, as I said, symbolic to those seeking symbolism.
.
There is no way, Q, that a 9% national sales tax could be "sold" as a Libertarian or even "Conservative" option.
ReplyDeleteIt is as intrusive a proposal as possibly imaginable, even from the GOP.
A 9% tax on every home sale?
Every stock trade?
Or just groceries?
The 99% ers, who knows what the Occupation wants, from the Government, except to demonize the Federal Reserve,
ReplyDelete.
ReplyDeleteHaving Thomas Jefferson and Mr Jackson explain the economic and political dangers that result from the concentration of power in a National Bank, educational.
Educational, but that is all.
The Fed is a child of Congress. Should the FED be audited? I think so. Should the FED be bailing out foreign entities with US money? I don't think so. Congress should periodically review the actions of the FED.
That being said, without a central bank to provide liquidity when required, how long would it take to end up in another Panic of 1907 situation?
The banks are just businesses. They are the same as any other business. Their executives are driven by the same motivations as the other 'Princes of Wall Street'. They are going to take the same risks. There has to be a monitoring/regulating entity overseeing them, i.e. the central bank.
Likewise, the FED needs to be controlled to a certain degree. Not in day to day operations but on macro issues such as 'too big to fail' and bailing out foreign entities.
.
Most of them probably just want to get laid. :)
ReplyDeletethat was always my motivation.
DR: Demonstrations that are targeting the physical locations of the Federal Reserve Banks.
ReplyDeleteJesus, Bernanke will just meet the regional governors on Skype. This IS the 2010s after all.
.
ReplyDeleteThere is no way, Q, that a 9% national sales tax could be "sold" as a Libertarian or even "Conservative" option.
You don't have to try to convince me of that. But then it is not really an answer to the point of my post.
You seem to be arguing that if it is not GOP or Libertarian inspired that it is not the opposite of what the 99's are preaching.
That doesn't make sense.
.
A CBS News reporter says DOJ reps screamed and swore at her over her Fast and Furious reporting (so they're not all in the tank for Obama).
ReplyDeleteChris Christie is definitely out. Newt now has the coveted double chin vote to himself
White House claims Geithner 'Never worked on Wall Street' (because, you know, Wall Street is eeeeevil).
Perry fought to keep Confederate symbols displayed on government buildings.
Sen. DICK Durban calls for a run on the BoA: "Bank of America customers, vote with your feet, get the heck out of that bank," Durbin said on the Senate floor. "Find yourself a bank or credit union that won’t gouge you for $5 a month and still will give you a debit card that you can use every single day. What Bank of America has done is an outrage."
Here you go, those that wanted to know about the organization of the 99%ers.
ReplyDeleteWelcome to 99ers.net
I am not sure what you mean, Q.
ReplyDeleteI do see that the Federal Reserve is a target of both the "Left" and the "Right".
I do see that Mr Obama can exploit that reality.
ReplyDeleteWashington Post -
NEW DELHI - India signed a significant partnership pact with Afghanistan on Tuesday, agreeing to step up cooperation in counterterrorism operations, training of security forces and trade in a move that has the potential to antagonize ...
ReplyDelete(Reuters) - A US bill to pressure China into letting its currency rise in value, which has drawn warnings from Beijing of a possible trade war, ran into opposition from the top Republican in Congress ...
I dunno rat, I've seen, for the most part, very little criticism of the Fed in particular but rather folks railing at the Treasury (TARP ect.) and the corruptocrats in general. Ron Paul has harped on about the Fed for years but he's generally considered a radical dingbat.
ReplyDelete.
ReplyDeleteI am not sure what you mean, Q.
And I'm not sure what your point is. We were talking about two different things.
First, the FED and it's value or lack thereof
and
Two, how 999 and the 99ers represented the same thing or not.
I think I was clear on my view of both subjects.
I also agree with Ash. The Occupywallstreet crowd only started getting on the FED in the last few days. I don't see how you can insinuate that was the prime motivation in getting them in to the streets other than it fits with your anti-FED meme.
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Quirk said...
ReplyDelete"Tell us guru, how would you solve the current problems, jobs, housing, the debt, a stalling econonomy, et al?
Cynicism while cathardic is not especially helpful.
"
I told you at the time:
"Take half the number of Trillions they have paid off their cronies in Wall Street, Education, Public and Private Unions, etc etc...
...and "Spend" it on tax rebates to the people"
Those funds would have been much more fairly and equitably distributed throughout the economy than they were flushed down the crony toilets.
Correction:
ReplyDeleteI half nothing to DO with your half.
Correction:
ReplyDeleteCatharTic
"They are going to take the same risks. There has to be a monitoring/regulating entity overseeing them, i.e. the central bank"
ReplyDeleteThe Banks were bullied into taking risks they would not have taken by the "regulators"
Backed up by the Dept of "Justice"
.
ReplyDeleteWoulda, shoulda, coulda, Dougo.
I didn't ask you what went wrong or what should have been done. I asked you what we should do now.
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Rufus said...
ReplyDelete"Most of them probably just want to get laid. :)
"
Those that aren't there for that purpose are the most seriously deranged.
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ReplyDeleteThe Banks were bullied into taking risks they would not have taken by the "regulators"
Nonsense.
Go back to bed Doug.
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Quirk said...
ReplyDelete.
Woulda, shoulda, coulda, Dougo.
I didn't ask you what went wrong or what should have been done. I asked you what we should do now.
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No credit for me being right,
no debit for you being wrong.
Every day a clean slate:
Winners and losers reset to start, ad infinitum.
Even in debate.
Correction.
ReplyDeleteYOU get credit for being "flexible"
Nonsense.
ReplyDelete"
Go back to bed Doug.
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ya got me,
proved me wrong,
you did.
Moron
ReplyDelete.
ReplyDeleteHere is one of the things that is getting OccupyWallStreet into the streets.
The Lake Wobegone Effect, where every execs compensation is above average.
It's the reason all those Bank Execs get paid millions for being browbeat by those really tough regulators. Its why they get paid millions though their stockholders lose billions. Its why they get paid millions even though they run their companies into the ground.
Of course, we have to give them some slack, after all, they were forced to take the risks they took. It had nothing to do with their bonuses tied to short term performance.
THOUSAND OAKS, Calif. — As the board of Amgen convened at the company’s headquarters in March, chief executive Kevin W. Sharer seemed an unlikely candidate for a raise.
Shareholders at the company, one of the nation’s largest biotech firms, had lost 3 percent on their investment in 2010 and 7 percent over the past five years. The company had been forced to close or shrink plants, trimming the workforce from 20,100 to 17,400. And Sharer, a 63-year-old former Navy engineer, was already earning lots of money — about $15 million in the previous year, plus such perks as two corporate jets.
The board decided to give Sharer more. It boosted his compensation to $21 million annually, a 37 percent increase, according to the company reports.
Why?
The company board agreed to pay Sharer more than most chief executives in the industry — with a compensation “value closer to the 75th percentile of the peer group,” according to a 2011 regulatory filing.
This is how it’s done in corporate America. At Amgen and at the vast majority of large U.S. companies, boards aim to pay their executives at levels equal to or above the median for executives at similar companies..."
The No-Lose Jobs.
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ReplyDeleteNo credit for me being right,
no debit for you being wrong.
Can't let this one slide.
If you want a debate let's get specific. Where exactly were you right and were exactly was I wrong?
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Every time Meechelle takes off in one of those AF jets it costs us about $40-50K an hour to keep her in the air. But she's one of us! She shops at Target!
ReplyDeleteNonsense.
ReplyDelete"
Go back to bed Doug.
"
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ya got me,
proved me wrong,
you did.
Nonsense is a perfectly reasonable response to a perfectly silly statement.
As for "Go back to bed", I was merely looking out for your welfare. You are obviously stressed.
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ReplyDelete‘All the other kids have one’
The gap between what workers and top executives make helps explain why income inequality in the United States is reaching levels unseen since the Great Depression.
Since the 1970s, median pay for executives at the nation’s largest companies has more than quadrupled, even after adjusting for inflation, according to researchers. Over the same period, pay for a typical non-supervisory worker has dropped more than 10 percent, according to Bureau of Labor statistics...
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Blogger Doug said...
ReplyDelete"They are going to take the same risks. There has to be a monitoring/regulating entity overseeing them, i.e. the central bank"
The Banks were bullied into taking risks they would not have taken by the "regulators"
Backed up by the Dept of "Justice"
Doug, that is just plain wrong, as in 'it didn't happen like that'.
Americans United for Separation of Church and State (AC) is calling on the Internal Revenue Service to look into allegations that Bellevue Baptist Church in Cordova, Tenn., is violating restrictions for posting a link to a pro-family organization on its website. Remember that the 1st Amendment prohibition of establishing religion is directed at Congress, not churches.
ReplyDelete.
ReplyDeleteThe practice has persisted because corporate board members, many of whom have personal or business relationships with the chief executive, have been unwilling to abandon the practice.
At Amgen, for example, four of the six members of the board compensation committee had personal or business connections to Sharer before joining the board. In fact, he nominated at least two of the six to the board, according to a company source and reports...
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ReplyDeleteThe Old Boys Network
...These kinds of ties — between chief executives and the boards that oversee them — permeate corporate America. On a typical board, the chief executive considers about about 33 percent of the board of directors as “friends” rather than as mere “acquaintances,”according to a survey of chief executives at about 350 S&P 1500 corporations conducted over 15 years by University of Michigan business professor James Westphal.
More tellingly, the chief executive is likely to find even more friends on the compensation committees of corporate boards — almost 50 percent...
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ReplyDeleteAt Countrywide Financial, then-chief executive Angelo Mozilo earned more than $180 million as he led the company to the brink of ruin during the five years before the housing bust. At times, his pay had been set at the 90th percentile of peers.
Mozilo blamed “the left-wing anti-business press and the envious leaders of unions” for putting pressure on corporate boards to restrain executive pay.
Doug would have us believe the regulators made him do it.
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ReplyDeleteMore Bachmanisms:
(I would say the girl is losing it but in fact she never had it.)
“And don’t forget I sit on the Intelligence Committee. We deal with the nation’s classified secrets. This is an open-source document. I’m not sharing something I shouldn’t, but China has blinded United States satellites with their lasers.”
— Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.), Sept. 30
Washington Post Factchecker Score:
Three Pinocchios
Damn Chicoms
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The Occupy movement is two weeks old.
ReplyDeleteLet's say it was spontaneous.
Within two weeks the Alinsky method is seen, the Unions moving into the movement and in Chi-town, the Federal Reserve targeted.
Connect the dots.
A leaderless movement, manipulated.
Not all that difficult, for folks that captured DC.
That's if it originated as a spontaneous blossom.
ReplyDeleteIf it was hatched, an actual organized plan, all the more reason to look at their deployment schedule and target selection.
Connect the dots.
Dismiss it at peril.
Even if nothing is there, because if I can see it, so can anyone else that looks. There it is, ready to be plucked.
You look for motive, and connections between the actors, Q.
ReplyDeleteThere may not be any there,
Each motivated by their own self-interest. Guided by that ever infamous "Hidden Hand".
How those disparate players are combined in common cause, the essence of community organizing.
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ReplyDeleteWithin two weeks the Alinsky method is seen, the Unions moving into the movement and in Chi-town, the Federal Reserve targeted.
Connect the dots.
Rat, your thinking process is like that of another here. You see only what you want to see.
Nature abhors a vacuum. If there is a movement that might prove useful, anyone who thinks they can use it will try to use it. I've seen articles already from proponents of the Tea Party suggesting that Occupywallstreet needs to hook up with the Tea Party. I wouldn't be surprised to see Soros trying to hook up with these guys if the movement grows. The Dems, natural for them to try to use them as an offset to the GOP. Don't be surprised to see Wall Street try and co-opt the movement if they can figure a way to do it.
When there is no agenda other than discontent with the current situation, someone will step in and try to form the agenda.
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The time has come for all Americans to understand just how much the Banking System controls this country and the leaders in it. We need to reinstitute State Banks similar to that which existed in the seventies. If we continue to allow both the Banks and Large Corporations along with the Politicians they Own to take us down the Paths to Socialism we’re all going to find out before long that we’ve turned into a country of Serfs.
ReplyDeleteJoin others in Closing the Fed once and for all and while we’re at it take back both our Financial System and the Federal Government.
Every American should have, and read, a copy of the US Constitution. The Federal Reserve is clearly unconstitutional, as the powers of the FED are given to the US Congress by the Constitution. One must ask WHY the FED has been in exixtence since 1913. The answer is that, for almost 100 years, the Congress is just a gathering of cowards and fools.
The Federal Reserve is not a true Federal Agency. We know exactly what it is. It is a privately owned banking corporation. We have watched it destroy the United States of America from within since 1913 and have watched it completely fail the American People, despite the charter which it had been given. It has been responsible for 100% of the economic troubles which have befallen this nation since before the Great Depression, all the while blaming it on the people and their actions, while not taking responsibility for it’s own misdeeds, and criminal acts of fraud.
ReplyDelete.
ReplyDeleteHave you bothered to read the comments by the people involved in Occupuwallstreet (OWS) or the 99ers?
Losing their houses, no jobs, can't attend college, no medical coverage. Do you think those people are really going to coelesce into a nationwide movement with their chief goal being taking down the FED?
People aren't interested in libertarian views of constitutional originalism. They are interested in where their next meal will come from.
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ReplyDeleteIf the FED is unconstitutional why attack it? Take it to Scotus. Afterall that is the constitutional recourse for getting something declared unconstitutional.
In truth, many of the 'constitutional originalists' have no problem bending the constitution to their ends when it suits their purpose.
It's merely a matter of whose ox is being gored.
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ReplyDeleteTwo hundred years later and yet we still pick and choose which of the 'founding fathers' were worth listening to.
Usually, comes down to which one agrees with me.
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American labor and wages have been "debased" by the Neoconservatives, Republicans, and a few stupid Democrats. Administrations for years changed existing laws, legislated tax breaks for corporations and the Elitist top 1% of Americans at the expense of the other 99%.
ReplyDeleteCouple this with a catalyst such as the collapse of the mortgage banking industry & housing prices, a liquidity crisis and pending credit card catastrophe. Then add in years of Republican deregulation, Union busting, GAAT (Uruguay Round - 1986-1993), NAFTA, CAFTA, Vietnamese, Central America and other Trade agreements, hundreds of thousands of H1-B, L-1 & EB-5 work visas, years of outsourcing jobs to 3rd world countries and open borders all which help eliminate the higher paying jobs, pensions and benefits for a majority of Americans. This was the foundation our economy was built on and now it's gone.
The huge amount of spendable income/benefits these high paying jobs formerly supplied America and the World Economy has disappeared... gone forever. Resulting in a gigantic transfer of wealth from average Americans to the World’s Elitist top 1% and coffers of Corporate America.
America and many of the World economies are now headed towards a depression. Many European countries will exit the depression years before America do to economies based upon higher paying manufacturing jobs providing pensions, social programs and other benefits for their citizens. Unfortunately the Neoconservatives, Republicans, Elitist top 1% and Wall Street outsourced American Industry to 3rd world countries. Therefore, American will spend years rebuilding its "former" self. Its industrial based economy that for sixty plus years provided most Americans with Union jobs, a high standard of living, benefits and plenty of excess cash to spend “buying 30% of the worlds manufactured products.”
The Neoconservative Bush Administration for years cooked the books concerning GDP, employment, inflation and other numbers released monthly by the US Bureau of Labor Statistics and now Obama carries forward the same practice. So America’s real inflation has been double digit for several years, unemployment 6.5% higher than it actually is and the GDP has been minus for 3 or 4 years.
Wake up people the Elitist run World Banks, Investment Banking, Federal Reserve, Neoconservatives and Republicans make the mafia look like a bunch of boy scouts.
The FBI is investigating threats purportedly from the hacking collective that calls itself Anonymous to bring down the New York Stock Exchange on Monday by hacking into its computer system.
ReplyDelete...
“Smells like a trap! Don't participate,” said one tweet with the hashtag #invadewallstreet.
“HOAX: #invadewallstreet is not a valid OP. Beware of provocateurs!!!” said another posting.
I failed a Health and Safety course at work today.
ReplyDeleteOne of the questions was:
"In the event of a fire, what steps would you take?"
"Fucking large ones" was apparently the wrong answer.
"There are still 90% of the people out there that have jobs albeit in a lot of cases not very good jobs."
ReplyDeletebut...but...but...just yesterday, there were five applicants for every job...and...well...no organ of government could be trusted...
:-)
An important disconnect over the discussion of the future of the European Union exists, one that divides into three parts. First, there is the question of whether the various plans put forward in Europe plausibly could result in success given the premises they are based on. Second, there is the question of whether the premises are realistic. And third, assuming they are realistic and the plans are in fact implemented, there is the question of whether they can save the European Union as it currently exists.
ReplyDelete...
Part of that tale is about two dubious assumptions at the foundation of the crisis. The first is the assumption that interested parties are genuinely aware of the size of the financial problems, and to the extent they are aware of it, that they are being honest about it.
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An alternative explanation is, of course, willful ignorance. This translates as the leaders being fully aware of the magnitude of the problem but understating it to buy time or to position themselves personally for better outcomes.
Imprecise Reality
T said...
ReplyDeleteA returning Libyan Jew says he's been threatened over plans to restore Tripoli's synagogue.
Well, yeah! The right of return only runs in one direction. On top of that, the dirty creature probably sold the 10,000 missing Libyan missiles to the Chinese...Yes, I know they already have them, but one cannot say too much about vermin.
all this bluster from a dude who didn't even know his airspace was being penetrated when the Kikes took out his nuclear facility
ReplyDeleteBoth Romney and Perry intend to do more on that front over the fall, as they seek to flesh out their policy positions. Romney has waited until now to do so, in part because his advisers believe voters will be paying more attention.
ReplyDelete...
Whether any of the candidates will rise to meet the expectations of those who have been looking for the perfect nominee is doubtful. But the Republican race is now more grounded in reality, with the likelihood of a late entry significantly diminished.
That gives the major candidates all the more incentive to demonstrate why they should lead the party against Obama.
The adventures of Super Jew
ReplyDeleteRat, your thinking process is like that of another here. You see only what you want to see.
ReplyDeleteJust can't stand "peace and quiet," can you?
9 9 9 Herman Cain has moved into a tie with Mitt Romney atop the field of Republican presidential candidates, according to a new CBS News poll, while Rick Perry has fallen 11 percentage points in just two weeks.
ReplyDeleteI guess Sarah Palin will sit out one more debate. Give'm a little time to work on "Herb."
ReplyDeleteEvidently, that 999 is just the first step in a process that's supposed to end up in a "Fair Tax."
ReplyDeleteThat would be abolishing all other taxes (income, corporate, cap gains, dividend, etc) and having only a 27% ish Federal Sales Tax.
Cain's just as nutty as Bachmann, I'm afraid.
That 8:04 is a quote from Q's earlier comment.
ReplyDeleteBachmann, who in August was widely seen as the conservative choice, has struggled mightily since Perry’s entrance into the race; news broke in recent days that two of her top campaign advisers were departing.
ReplyDeleteSome conservatives still hold out hope that former Alaska governor Sarah Palin will run but it is an increasingly small group. In the new Post-ABC poll just more than three in ten Republicans and Republican leaning independents said they wanted her to pursue the presidency.
Palin has pushed back her deadline for a decision until November.
Nah, she will announce within the next two weeks, I think. Some of the filing deadlines in the early states have been moved up due to the rejiggering of the Primary schedule.
ReplyDeleteA story broke a couple of hours ago, that SarahPac's lawyer has been calling around to the early states getting info on any changes in the filing deadlines.
ReplyDeleteRepublican 2012 presidential hopeful Newt Gingrich admitted that he and his wife Callista have watched "The Hangover" seven times.
ReplyDelete"All efforts have been made to put together a unanimous response," said France's UN ambassador Gerard Araud of efforts to reach a compromise.
ReplyDelete...
Araud said the veto showed "disdain for the legitimate interests that have been fought for in Syria" since protests against President Bashar al Assad erupted in mid-March.
It is the first Russian-China veto since the pair blocked UN sanctions against Zimbabwe's President Robert Mugabe in July 2008.
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ReplyDeleteDetroit's Booty Bus to be Shut Down
A week ago I posted a story about the Booty Bus that was parked in the tailgate area prior to Detroit Lions Games.
While going through Xfinity's NFL Power Rankings, I came across an AP article that had the following in it.
Bad news, though. Detroit police chief Ralph Godbee told the Detroit News the bus appears to be illegal.
Which is disappointing, because I think -- and I don’t believe I’m alone here -- that if we start banning illegal mobile strip club buses from giving out pregame lap dances at NFL games, it means the terrorists truly have won.
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ReplyDeleteJust can't stand "peace and quiet," can you?
My bad, Ruf. I really should have phrased it differently.
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As Obama and Republicans spar over how the supercommittee should cut the deficit, more than six in 10 adults in the poll support a combination of spending cuts and taxes, while about three in 10 prefer spending cuts alone.
ReplyDeleteObama’s proposal to raise taxes on millionaires to help close the deficit enjoys wide public support — three-quarters of adults, including majorities of independents, moderates, conservatives and Republicans, back it.
Among the few groups that don’t favor such tax increases are Republicans who strongly support the tea party movement; they oppose the proposal by more than two to one.
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ReplyDelete.
"There are still 90% of the people out there that have jobs albeit in a lot of cases not very good jobs."
but...but...but...just yesterday, there were five applicants for every job...and...well...no organ of government could be trusted...
:-)
Well, well, Allen is back and calling out the Quirkster. To what do we owe this pleasure?
What's wrong did the BC get tired of hearing that the 99%ers and the OccupyWallStreet movement were just another anti-semitic plot. (As was the EB, the Girl Scouts, the Atlanta Braves, and the Muscular Dystrophy Association among others.)
Or are you just over here making sure no one was talking about you behind your back?
On the last point, let me assure you we leave that kind of thing to you and your ilk. None here gives a shit when you're not around. Many of us actually enjoy it.
:)
But back to your post.
The first quote was from this stream; however, going back a day I wasn't able to locate the second one. However, I suspect that your paraphrase was incorrect. To the first part I probably said "there are five applicants for each job that becomes available" an important difference although one easily missed by someone looking to score points. I assume you made up the "no organ of government could be trusted" part since it is unlikely I would say something like that. Similar to the way you insisted I said "Bob, you are dead to me." Again, not my kind of turn of phrase.
But back to the point of your post (if there actually was one).
You seem to imply that my two quotes were mutually exclusive. Yet all this really proves is that you lack the ability to discern context. You pulled the quotes out of context, yet both were appropriate within their original contexts.
Once again you prove a point I have made here before. Namely, that you are ill equipped to be arguing with the big boys.
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Ash and Quirk:
ReplyDeleteAfter 2 minutes of Cuomo's bluster in this video, the recitation begins:
Carter, Clinton, Obama, Acorn, Fannie, Freddie, and Sub Prime Loans
Many more crooks in Government were involved, you can remain in denial if you wish.
The record stands.
After these practices became institutionalized, Shysters of all creeds and colors developed ever more elaborate ways to game the system, ultimately leading to the massive real estate bubble built on phoney credit.
The rest is history.
Follow the Money
ReplyDeleteFannie and Freddie Buy off the regulators, Raines Pockets 50 million, Gorelick 26 million, Jim Johnson 3rd with mere millions.
After only 4 years in the Senate, Obama was number 2 money winner, behind Chris Dodd.
That you skip the President that was in office, as the crisis came to a head, doug, but include the others that bracket his term.
ReplyDeleteThat you bracket both Bush's but decline to include them the cadre of kleptomaniacs, telling as to denial
Regardless, what do you advise, as a way forward?
ReplyDeleteOct. 5 (Bloomberg) -- Saudi Arabia vowed to use “an iron fist” after 11 members of the security forces were injured by attackers during unrest in a Shiite Muslim town in the east, the official Saudi Press Agency said.
The government accused an unidentified “foreign country” of seeking to undermine the stability of the kingdom as a result of the violence in Awwamiya, in which the assailants, some on motorcycles, used machine guns and Molotov cocktails, the Riyadh-based news service reported late yesterday. A man and two women were also injured, it said.
Those Saudi, whining like Mr Assad, about "foreign influences".
ReplyDeleteAbracadabra makes those noises, too.
As does Bibi.
Goes with the neighborhood, it seems.