What are these people bitching about?

[FreakSheet]

People hate the fact that the billionars who are the reason of the current recession get to keep all their money while everyone else gets fucked.

The general idea I can get behind. The fact that the people who are the cause of the recession got to keep their billions and even profited on it while everyone else got fucked is pretty fucked up. Quite a few of the people protesting seem to be pricks though.

... is that Kari Byron from Mythbusters?

 

[remnant_phoenix]

They are hippies. Dirty, whiney, pathetic hippies who expect the rich to pay for them.
I have zero respect for any of them. So they are not part of the 1%, whose fucking fault is that? They had the same chances, they did not go for it so they have no right to whine.

Besides, they piss me off talking about how bad they have it while they have food, clean water, homes, medicines and many luxuries people in other countries could not possibly dream of.

But I guess that saying "We are the lower 99% of the top 25%[footnote]Rough estimate of living standards of everyone around the world.[/footnote] of the worlds population!" just does not have the same ring to it. But then whiney peoples complaints rarely do when you phrase it correctly.

Basically they are pissed off that the top 1% is much much richer than they are while ignoring that they are much much richer than 75% of the worlds population.

Actually, its more like 10%.

So yeah, saying "We are in the 99% of the not-super-rich of America" doesn't hold much water in light of the fact that if a person has a steady job, running water, a steady diet, stable shelter that protects from the elements, and ANY amount of money in the bank, they are in the top 10% of the wealthiest people in the world.

 

[Condor219]

Stuff in and around here [http://www.businessinsider.com/here-are-the-four-charts-that-explain-what-the-protesters-are-angry-about-2011-10] provide a good story.

 

[ccggenius12]

Currently enrolled in a business ethics course, so I'll leave these tidbits of knowledge for anyone who wants them.
1. Americans are far more likely to blame an individual's economic shortcomings on the individual, citing lack of skill/effort, poor work habits, etc. (71% of Americans, as opposed to 40% of Europeans)
2. Western Europeans are far more likely to blame the government for their economic shortcomings, citing a flawed system.
3. Because of the above, and because the majority believes that redistribution favors minorities, they support the current political system.
4. Because of this fact, an American is twice as likely to be poor than someone in Western Europe.
5. While there are in fact many jobs for those willing to work them, few provide a living wage, creating a situation where many full-time employees still cannot afford basic necessities.
6. Average salary for a Japanese CEO? 300k.
7. Contrary to beliefs about the comparative well-being of America's poor, 20 year-old US males rank 36th in the world for life expectancy. Women and infants rank 21st.

While all this is true, those protesters aren't exactly stepping up with solutions. Thus, it all comes across as an exercise in futility, as this is time that could be spent actually furthering their careers. Heck, if there truly are thousands of them, statistically, a few of them are bound to succeed.

For reference, my statistics were pulled from "Business Ethics: A Textbook with Cases (Seventh Edition)", by William H. Shaw.

 

[Aprilgold]

So I'm just wondering what exactly the people on Wall Street are bitching about, from what I've heard it's mostly people who don't have jobs who have nothing better to do or people who DO have jobs bitching about there being no jobs and that it's all just a waste of time. Could someone explain this whole mess to me?

That's pretty much the problem with it, there is no root cause they can all get behind and support.

The general gist of it is that people are angry over the incredibly ridiculous wealth distribution in the US, and the way it has basically destroyed the economy. They decided to get together with their friends and sit around on Wall Street getting run over by police motorcycles to protest it, for some reason that's still beyond my grasp.

Seems like a good cause, if we fixed it earlier, we would not be in this trouble.

People hate the fact that the billionars who are the reason of the current recession get to keep all their money while everyone else gets fucked.

Spoiler: Basically, things like this.

The general idea I can get behind. The fact that the people who are the cause of the recession got to keep their billions and even profited on it while everyone else got fucked is pretty fucked up. Quite a few of the people protesting seem to be pricks though.

And this, seriously, fuck you billionares, if you weren't playing loto with the economy, we would be A-OK and would avoid defaulting, ya' pricks.

 

[Jimothy Sterling]

Wow, there's a lot of people in this thread who don't know what the hell they're talking about.

I work hard. I have four jobs. I earn good money. I support Occupy Wall Street and I support all the local Occupations as well.

It's not just a bunch of "jobless hippies" and those that think so ought to educate themselves rather than listen to rhetoric found in the dregs of network news. There are very hardworking people in those demonstrations, as well as those who aren't finding work.

Most people don't want corporations to burn for being evil. They want corporations to put a bit more of their completely excessive wealth back into society. They aren't taxed at a rate comparable to the middle classes, while they accrue the vast sums of money we can't even fathom. Sure, let them have stupid amounts of money, that's fine. I don't want to be as rich as them because I can't imagine how boring my life would be. But I would like to know that if I got into an accident or contracted a terrible disease, I wouldn't be financially ruined. Y'know, just some basic benefits, like being able to stay alive. I work seven days a week, but if I lost my job for whatever reason, or if a major health disaster hit my family, it would all be for nothing. And I'm in one of the WEALTHIER brackets.

There are people who work even harder than I do, for a lot less money, and they are unhappy. They're unhappy to be fed a bunch of lies about working hard and going to college to earn degrees that can't get them jobs because everybody has a degree now because they were all sold the same lie.

When the folk at Wall Street were in a financial fix, our tax money bailed them out. Now that they're making more money than ever, they hike up their prices, they want to charge people simply for HAVING debit cards, and they refuse to contribute taxes to help out the people who helped them. No, people aren't just jealous of the rich. They simply want the same help we gave to them when they were on their knees, suffering from a financial crisis they helped cause.

 

[thestormsguardian]

I've been a little cut of from the news where i am but so far as i can tell it's like several people have mentioned. it's a combination of a stagnant or apparently stagnant economy (I'm not really sure at this point anymore)and bad financial decisions made by the government and corporations.

and in my personal opinion its also about the sense of entitlement we as a nation are developing. i cringe when ever i hear about the 'right' to health care or abortion or my personal favorite the 'right' to own a home which got us into this mess. while i'm slightly open to some healthcare reform universal health care is not the way to go. but many things people nowadays say they have a 'right' to is in fact a privileged that should be worked towards and that honestly not everyone will achieve.

and for the record i'm a college student making it through on student loans hard work and a shit load of prayer.

 

[THAC0]

really, at this point if you don't understand it, it is most likely because you don't want to understand it.

- most people in America are in a pretty bad spot, they are in danger of loosing jobs, houses, savings whatever.
- a few people in America are doing very very will and continue to do well.
- those few people have bought most of our political system so that these trends continue.
- the people who are not in this position of power have no other options. the game is rigged against them, there is no government system to help them since the government is owned by the same rich people who caused the problem in the first place.
-protest.

 

[Jimothy Sterling]

and in my personal opinion its also about the sense of entitlement we as a nation are developing. i cringe when ever i hear about the 'right' to health care or abortion or my personal favorite the 'right' to own a home which got us into this mess. while i'm slightly open to some healthcare reform universal health care is not the way to go. but many things people nowadays say they have a 'right' to is in fact a privileged that should be worked towards and that honestly not everyone will achieve.

What about a guy who works two jobs, let's say waiting tables and cleaning windows. If he's not waiting, he's cleaning. He does this for about ten hours a day, sometimes more. He doesn't earn great money but he's working his absolute ass off. He went to college, and he tried his hardest, but he just wasn't as academically gifted as others. Still, he's never been out of work and done what he can to keep a roof over his head.

Despite working as hard as anybody else, he can't afford health insurance. One day he goes to work, gets hit by a car, and boom!

I guess we better saw that leg off, right? Dude didn't face up to his responsibility and walk into that high paying office job they're handing out to absolutely everybody, right? Let him die, as they recently chanted in the GOP debates. Let him die.

 

[nklshaz]

I don't know the details, but I think the fact that people are leaving their jobs to protest is just stupid. I don't know how these people think that taking the gears out of a broken machine will make it start working again, but this protest needs to end soon.

 

[AD-Stu]

It's not just a bunch of "jobless hippies" and those that think so ought to educate themselves rather than listen to rhetoric found in the dregs of network news. There are very hardworking people in those demonstrations, as well as those who aren't finding work.

I'm not necessarily trying to come up with excuses for lazy journalism (I'm not American, so I'm not actually seeing the local coverage anyway), but would you not agree that the nature of the coverage on the news isn't exactly surprising given the lack of a coherent message coming from the protesters?

 

[THAC0]

and in my personal opinion its also about the sense of entitlement we as a nation are developing. i cringe when ever i hear about the 'right' to health care or abortion or my personal favorite the 'right' to own a home which got us into this mess. while i'm slightly open to some healthcare reform universal health care is not the way to go. but many things people nowadays say they have a 'right' to is in fact a privileged that should be worked towards and that honestly not everyone will achieve.

What about a guy who works two jobs, let's say waiting tables and cleaning windows. If he's not waiting, he's cleaning. He does this for about ten hours a day, sometimes more. He doesn't earn great money but he's working his absolute ass off. He went to college, and he tried his hardest, but he just wasn't as academically gifted as others. Still, he's never been out of work and done what he can to keep a roof over his head.

Despite working as hard as anybody else, he can't afford health insurance. One day he goes to work, gets hit by a car, and boom!

I guess we better saw that leg off, right? Dude didn't face up to his responsibility and walk into that high paying office job they're handing out to absolutely everybody, right? Let him die, as they recently chanted in the GOP debates. Let him die.

pretty much this.

American's are very full of themselves with their "hard work" or whatever they want to call it. the sad fact is that most of them are just afraid to demand what they actually deserve.

 

[THAC0]

It's not just a bunch of "jobless hippies" and those that think so ought to educate themselves rather than listen to rhetoric found in the dregs of network news. There are very hardworking people in those demonstrations, as well as those who aren't finding work.

I'm not necessarily trying to come up with excuses for lazy journalism (I'm not American, so I'm not actually seeing the local coverage anyway), but would you not agree that the nature of the coverage on the news isn't exactly surprising given the lack of a coherent message coming from the protesters?

the message has been pretty clear since day 1 of the first protest. they know exactly what they are demanding. the media is really doing its job on this one. If you assume that its job is to protect its business interests.

 

[Jimothy Sterling]

It's not just a bunch of "jobless hippies" and those that think so ought to educate themselves rather than listen to rhetoric found in the dregs of network news. There are very hardworking people in those demonstrations, as well as those who aren't finding work.

I'm not necessarily trying to come up with excuses for lazy journalism (I'm not American, so I'm not actually seeing the local coverage anyway), but would you not agree that the nature of the coverage on the news isn't exactly surprising given the lack of a coherent message coming from the protesters?

The message is pretty coherent to me. I'd say it's unsurprising given the lack of integrity in corporate-owned network news. They tried not reporting on OWS for the first few weeks, until it got too big to ignore, then they set hard at work painting them all as jobless, drug-taking hippies, which couldn't be further from the truth considering many people of different working backgrounds have joined together.

OWS is doing what Americans are supposed to be famous for -- not taking shit and letting people know when something's fucked up. They're being the kind of Americans I was led to believe inhabited this country, rather than the crawling, corporate suck-ups I've seen way too many of. To me, the message is simple -- people who caused this financial crises need to man up and pay money back into the society they benefited from, and people who worked hard and didn't do anything to cause the recession shouldn't pay for their mistakes.

I dig the shit outta that message.

 

[thestormsguardian]

no i don't wish to have that mans leg removed not do i wish to 'let him die' as it was eloquently put i'm simply saying that to

and in my personal opinion its also about the sense of entitlement we as a nation are developing. i cringe when ever i hear about the 'right' to health care or abortion or my personal favorite the 'right' to own a home which got us into this mess. while i'm slightly open to some healthcare reform universal health care is not the way to go. but many things people nowadays say they have a 'right' to is in fact a privileged that should be worked towards and that honestly not everyone will achieve.

What about a guy who works two jobs, let's say waiting tables and cleaning windows. If he's not waiting, he's cleaning. He does this for about ten hours a day, sometimes more. He doesn't earn great money but he's working his absolute ass off. He went to college, and he tried his hardest, but he just wasn't as academically gifted as others. Still, he's never been out of work and done what he can to keep a roof over his head.

Despite working as hard as anybody else, he can't afford health insurance. One day he goes to work, gets hit by a car, and boom!

I guess we better saw that leg off, right? Dude didn't face up to his responsibility and walk into that high paying office job they're handing out to absolutely everybody, right? Let him die, as they recently chanted in the GOP debates. Let him die.

no i don't wish for this man to die or have his leg removed, but health care is not something that should be provided to everyone by the government. and as i said it was my opinion and not necessarily right or wrong but mine. and as for the high paying office job, i never mentioned that though i find it interesting that was your assumption.

 

[jawakiller]

Brief version: They broke. End of story.
Extended: The bankers are making shitloads and the college students, hippies and "other" want it.
Russian: Dirty capitalist dog take all ze muney, I can't buy muy vodka and sonya keeps bitching.
Conspiracist: The bankers and the government are in on a huge deal that could destroy america as we know it.
Bankers: WTF guys? This is our fucking money!
KKK version: Blacks did it.
Neo-Nazis: It's the stinking jews.
Old people: What?
Gamers: Somebody say Skyrim? No? Well fuck.
Intellectual: You don't understand... Stupid day laborer.
French version:.... "Shut up france"- Everybody
Media:... (we're paid not to talk)... (sponsors)...
College Professor: Well it's really about them starting to... [everybody fell asleep]
Environmentalist: Stop ruining the envir-ah what? We're not rallying because of that? Aww man.
Obama: Not my fault.
Bush: Not mine either.
Jews: Why are we being blamed? Hey, fuck you Neo-Nazis!
Neo-Nazis: No, fuck you guys.
Theodore Roosevelt: [no fucks given]
Black People: You put the kkk's comment up here?
Me: Uh, yeah?
Black people: Not cool.
Scottish: Pass me a pint laddie.
Bartender: Well I think it's congresses fault.
Random Hippie: Peeeeace.
The sci-fi conspiracist: Aliens.
Second Hippie: Legalize weed, man! Wha?
Congress: STFU hippies. Aren't you guys extinct or something?
Chuck Norris: [could not be reached for comment]
Scot, again: Laddie, where be muy bloody pint!
Canadians:... Oh, it's our turn to talk?
Deaf guy: ...
Mexicans: [nobody cared to interview them]
Venezuela: So, are you going after our highest paying customers? Dude, fuck. We like the bankers.
Cocaine dealer: yeah. What they said.


Me: I hope I offended everyone in existence who matters (and even a few who don't). If you have any more questions, I recommend you do some research or, if you really have nothing better to do (like stab yourself with a rusty spork), you could go to the protest and see for yourself.
Scot: So do I get muy pint now?
Me: I don't have any money on me.
Scot: Ye fuckin idiot!

 

[Burningsok]

Brief version: They broke. End of story.
Extended: The bankers are making shitloads and the college students, hippies and "other" want it.
Russian: Dirty capitalist dog take all ze muney, I can't buy muy vodka and sonya keeps bitching.
Conspiracist: The bankers and the government are in on a huge deal that could destroy america as we know it.
Bankers: WTF guys? This is our fucking money!
KKK version: Blacks did it.
Neo-Nazis: It's the stinking jews.
Old people: What?
Gamers: Somebody say Skyrim? No? Well fuck.
Intellectual: You don't understand... Stupid day laborer.
French version:.... "Shut up france"- Everybody
Media:... (we're paid not to talk)... (sponsors)...
College Professor: Well it's really about them starting to... [everybody fell asleep]
Environmentalist: Stop ruining the envir-ah what? We're not rallying because of that? Aww man.
Obama: Not my fault.
Bush: Not mine either.
Jews: Why are we being blamed? Hey, fuck you Neo-Nazis!
Neo-Nazis: No, fuck you guys.
Theodore Roosevelt: [no fucks given]
Black People: You put the kkk's comment up here?
Me: Uh, yeah?
Black people: Not cool.
Scottish: Pass me a pint laddie.
Bartender: Well I think it's congresses fault.
Random Hippie: Peeeeace.
The sci-fi conspiracist: Aliens.
Second Hippie: Legalize weed, man! Wha?
Congress: STFU hippies. Aren't you guys extinct or something?
Chuck Norris: [could not be reached for comment]
Scot, again: Laddie, where be muy bloody pint!
Canadians:... Oh, it's our turn to talk?
Deaf guy: ...
Mexicans: [nobody cared to interview them]
Venezuela: So, are you going after our highest paying customers? Dude, fuck. Just fuck We like the bankers.
Cocaine dealer: yeah. What they said.


Me: I hope I offended everyone in existence who matters (and even a few who don't). If you have any more questions, I recommend you do some research or, if you really have nothing better to do (like stab yourself with a rusty spork), you could go to the protest and see for yourself.
Scot: So do I get muy pint now?
Me: I don't have any money on me.
Scot: Ye fuckin idiot!

You have won the thread...

 

[MrHero17]

So I'm just wondering what exactly the people on Wall Street are bitching about, from what I've heard it's mostly people who don't have jobs who have nothing better to do or people who DO have jobs bitching about there being no jobs and that it's all just a waste of time. Could someone explain this whole mess to me?

I always looked at it as the Hipster movement of 2011.

I want to punch every single one in the face.

Smug fucks.

You want to hit him, go ahead.

Maybe you can track this guy down too and kick his ass.

[youtube.com/watch?v=N9HvJhilJzo]
In case my emmbed sucks http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N9HvJhilJzo

Fun with polls time

Just as a parting comment, what has been gained by the increase in income inequality over the last few decades?

 

[Inner Pickle]

Seriously, the ignorance on these threads recently is astounding. I'm ashamed of our species.