Tag Archives: occupy

Business/Economics, International, U.S.

Occupy America! Police begin shutting down protests, arrests across the U.S.

“…handful of gigantic banks that have simply hijacked the economy and the populations of the world for their own interest.”-F. William Engdahl, economic researcher

Police in New York City have been busy arresting protestors today, the day before major international protests are to take place.  OWS personnel are planning a major march on Times Square.

Also, police in Denver, Colorado, have been dispersing protestors, who were camped out in front of the state’s capitol building.  In San Diego, California, police are busy arresting protestors there, as well as police arresting protestors in Austin, Texas.

October 13, police in Washington DC arrested at least six protesters, some of them elderly.  Many of the protestors in the country’s capitol are disgruntled elderly people, not just disgruntled youth.  According to the local NBC TV station, they were “…arrested for unlawful conduct – demonstrating.”

Economic analyst F. William Engdahl, says one answer is to nationalize the too big to fail banks: “…nationalize major banks and draw a fence around the problematic institutions until they can be sorted out.”

Engdahl says nationalization is not socialism, it is a way of admitting that a capitalist system has failed, and needs to be fixed!

 

Business/Economics, International, U.S.

Occupy the World! Italian Protestors attack Goldman Sachs office, international protests to hit Idaho

Italian students stormed the central Milan office of one of the world’s leading investment banks, Goldman Sachs.  Police chased them off.

Protesters also threw eggs at the headquarters of UniCredit, Italy’s biggest bank.

The attack on the Goldman Sachs office comes a day before planned international protests.  October 15 will see coordinated international demonstrations against the finance industry.

People living in eastern Idaho get ready to take part: Occupy Idaho Falls and Pocatello (as well as smaller communities) are planning to take part.

Watch Occupy Pocatello’s march, from Wednesday October 13.

 

 

Fukushima

Government & Corporate Incompetence: More radiation in Yokohama, this time school lunches!

Shiitake mushrooms used in school lunches have tested positive for 350 becquerels per kilogram of radioactive cesium.  That’s below the government limit of 500 becquerels, but Yokohama school officials are getting rid of them anyway.

Yokohama is about 250 kilometers (155 miles) from the damaged Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant.

At a Ibaraki Prefecture mushroom farm, 830 becquerels per kilogram of radioactive cesium were found on the mushrooms there.  The farm is about 170 km (106 miles) from the damaged Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant.

Earlier in the week mushrooms in Chiba Prefecture were found to be contaminated with cesium, higher then the government safe limits.  Clearly, after almost seven months, radiation is still spreading from the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant.

Business/Economics, U.S.

Occupy America! Wall Street protestors refuse to leave Zuccotti Park, clean park themselves

“Seems likely that this is their attempt to shut down OWS for good. We know where the real dirt is: on Wall Street … We won’t allow Bloomberg and the NYPD to foreclose our occupation. This is an occupation, not a permitted picnic…”-OWS statement

“The cleanup is a pretext to remove us from the camp. And we can return only if we abide by the rules of Brookfield Properties.”-Justin Wedes, protestor

As a challenge to Mayor Bloomberg’s threat to use police to clear the protestors, ostensibly to clean the park, the OWS participants have begun cleaning up the park themselves.

 

Business/Economics, U.S.

What Economic Recovery? Economists say U.S. income to stagnate for at least 10 more years, young generations to struggle more than their parents

“People know that there is no real out. The children of the current adults are looking and realizing they are not likely to have as good a life as their parents. And their parents are distressed because they realize it’s true!”-Jeff Gates, former counsel to the U.S. Senate Committee on Finance

In an interview with Iranian media, former adviser to the U.S. Senate Committee on Finance, Jeff Gates, said there is no short term hope for the U.S. economy.  Gates joins a growing number of experts who’re doubting that any recovery will happen soon.  They’re also justifying the anger of the Occupy protests spreading across the United States.

Gates says the Occupy Wall Street movement is justified because as much as two thirds of the money being made in the U.S. is by Wall Street (stock markets, finance markets), not by main street!

Also, in a Wall Street Journal survey of 50 economists, the majority say not only have most incomes dropped after 2000, but they will not go back up to pre-2000 levels for at least ten more years!

“Standards of living in the U.S. will continue to decline as we de-leverage and emerging markets take over as the growth engine of the global economy.”-Julia Coronado, BNP Paribas.

What Julia Coronado is saying is that the United States is no longer the world economic leader, not even a driving force. This is more proof that China does not need the U.S. for it’s economic growth.

Economists say the average U.S. income fell 7% after 2000, but will grow by only 5% by 2021.  The Wall Street Journal article also warns college graduates, and current college students: The only way you might make more money is to get at least a Masters degree, and work all the time (no free/family time)!  With the cost of college, it’s just another reason why college ain’t worth it anymore.

 

Business/Economics, International, U.S.

Occupy America! Protests to hit college campuses, janitors and security guards join Wall Street protest

October 13, there are protests planned for at least 90 college campuses across the United States today.

Also today, hundreds of janitors and security guards have joined the Wall Street protests in New York City.

Across the world, there have been anti-government, anti-corruption and anti-corporation protests in about 1,400 cities, so far.

The latest Reuters/Ipsos poll shows that 82% of U.S. citizens are aware of the Occupy movement, and 38% support it.  35% are unsure, with only 24% opposed.

 

Business/Economics, U.S.

Occupy America! New York City mayor orders Wall Street protestors out, so the park can be cleaned. War veterans arrested. JP Morgan buys off NYPD

October 13, Reports out of New York City say that the mayor has ordered protestors out, so that city workers can clean Zucotti park.

Protestors will hold a meeting soon, to decide how they will respond.

Several War on Terror veterans were arrested, one a former U.S. Army interrogator in Iraq.  At least eleven protestors in San Francisco, California, were arrested on Wednesday.  They had blocked access to the Wells Fargo headquarters.

On Tuesday, about 200 protestors were arrested in Boston, Massachusetts, and about 27 in Chicago, Illinois.

A former equities broker says James Dimon, CEO of JP Morgan Chase & Company, gave the New York City police millions of dollars to fight the protestors: “…$4.6 million to the New York Police Department to beef up police presence on the streets and to crack heads and to violently oppress protesters.”-Max Keiser, former equities broker

In the past Keiser called JP Morgan “…the biggest financial terrorist on Wall Street.”

 

 

Fukushima

Government & Corporate Incompetence: Radioactive Strontium found on Yokohama roof tops!

Yokohama City officials are testing their soil for strontium, after a private testing firm said they found high levels of strontium on some roof tops.

The company said they detected 195 becquerels of strontium per kilogram, more than six times the government safety limit.  Yokohama has already suffered cesium levels at 80 times the government limits.

Yokohama is about 250 kilometers (155 miles) from the damaged Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant.

 

International, U.S.

Occupy America! Some facts about Revolutions the leaderless Wall Street occupiers, and Tea Partiers, need to know

The following is a brief on research I did on how Revolutions actually work, because they don’t follow the predictions of Karl Marx; that revolutions are led by the lower classes.  Three authors were read: Crane Brinton, James C. Davies and Ted Gurr.

James C. Davies (creator of the J-curve theory of revolutions) compared the theories of Karl Marx and A. de Tocqueville, with the Dorr Rebellion,  1917 Russian Revolution and 1952 Egyptian Revolution.

Davies found that economically motivated revolutions come after a relatively long time of decline for the middle and upper classes (the poor are too destitute to do anything about their situation).  In other words, it’s like a frog in a boiling pot of water; it takes awhile before the middle and upper classes realize they’re being screwed over.

Davies also discovered that if economic times are bad enough no revolution will take place, because everyone is too busy fending for themselves.  In other words if the middle and upper classes wait too long, they won’t have the strength to fight the elites.

Ted Gurr (Why Men Rebel) found that civil strife is affected by many factors, including economic deprivation and how the society views its leaders/government.

Gurr found that societies with a history of recurring civil strife are most likely to continue with such problems in the future.  Here in the United States the main problem is that too many citizens put too much faith in their ‘authorities’; from organized religion, to Corporate America and their government (at all levels/local/state/federal).  The irony is that the United States was founded on rebellion against authority (something that has been forgotten by many U.S. citizens).

Gurr also found that the success, or failure, of a revolution depends on how much support (from the general population and from outside the country) it gets.

One way the government/Corporate America can snuff out domestic support is to control the media coverage of such revolutions.  In fact our government (along with the British) has also used the media to create false revolutions (false flag ops) in other countries: The 1953 coup in Iran is a prime example.

Another proof of support for revolutions comes from the 1776 U.S. Revolution. If it wasn’t for the occasional raids into the southern Colonies by the Spanish, and the blockade of the British navy by the French navy, there would be no United States.

Crane Brinton (The Anatomy of Revolution) applied the scientific method in studying the 1641 English Revolution, 1776 U.S. Revolution (American War of Independence), the 1789 French Revolution and the 1917 Russian Revolution.

Brinton found that those revolutions were actually started by middle and upper class leaders.  The poor had little to do with it. The motivation of the middle and upper classes were economic: They were living in circumstances that were threatening to take away the economic gains they, and their predecessors had made, for the benefit of the elites.

Some beginning signs of Revolution: Austerity acts; tax increases/cuts to social programs.  Tax revolts.  Mobilization of Revolutionaries.  Ineffectual government reforms/accommodations.  Government repression.

Revolutionaries tend to be better leaders, organizers and motivators, than the establishment, but Brinton has warnings for Revolutionaries: Usually what happens is moderates take control of government but end up running things the same as before.  Then extremists take over, and things can get nasty, like a “reign of terror”.  Extremists can take advantage of “mob mentality” resulting in social terror that is presented as being democratic. Eventually extremists turn on each other, leading to dictatorships.  (Also, read Orwell’s Animal Farm. There’s also a cartoon version, but it’s not really for the kids ’cause it follows the book closely.)

So, these three researchers discovered that it’s not the poor who lead revolutions, it is the middle and upper classes.  The middle and upper classes revolt because their economically unstable governments (and now unstable Corporate America as well) put pressure on the more stable public, which causes the public to feel threatened and creates, at the very least, the perception that their economic prosperity (or even the chance of ever achieving prosperity) is finished.

Occupy America: Steve Jobs’ secret to success; Live Life your way

Occupy America: Federal Reserve boss blames Wall Street

Business/Economics, International, U.S.

Global Class War: Occupy Los Angeles occupies City Hall, indefinitely. Protestors are leaderless, collectivley organized and highly educated

“I spent seven years at the University of Michigan getting a PHD in Medieval European History, and I realized that I wasn’t making a difference there, and I thought I can make more of a difference on the street organizing people, getting the 99% out to have a voice.”-Occupy LA protestor

October 3, protestors in Los Angeles, California, have occupied city hall and say they will stay there for as long as possible.

Volunteers from the National Lawyers Guild are educating protesters about their legal rights in case they are confronted by police.  But some protestors believe that eventually the police will join the protests: “…their pensions are under attack, their overtime is under attack, their benefits are under attack. So once they realize they’re actually part of this movement, I foresee no problems.”-Occupy LA protestor

The continued expansion of the “occupy” movement across the United States has even protestors amazed: “The leadershiplessness of this movement is incredible! The number of the people, the commitment of the people, the collective education of the people.  The moment is ripe!”-Occupy LA protestor