What is your current assessment of OWS?

[Amelia]

Is the occupy movement on its last legs?

 

[WillowTree]

No, they still got s h i t to dew.

 

[Jackson]

From the beginning, the didn't have a unified message and looked like losers. Now they are occupying ports and taking wages away from union people, the 99%. They just continue to be losers.

 

[konradv]

Is the occupy movement on its last legs?

Now that they have Newt on their side, maybe they'll get some positive pub. Newt? Positive? I guess I need a nap!

 

[xotoxi]

I don't really think much about it. As long as they are not blocking the streets, who the fuck cares.

 

[Conservative]

<points to avatar>

'nuff said.

 

[Dragon]

Not even close.

One thing you need to recognize is that the visible part of Occupy, the part that appears in the mainstream media, is only the tip of the iceberg. Most of its activity happens online. Right now, the movement is reassessing things, considering what approach to take from here, how best to push the movement's goals and objectives. One thing that I'm pushing for within the online decision-making process, which I hope will attract enough support to make it happen, is a petition drive to get state legislatures to call for a constitutional convention. It would take 2/3 of the states, but once that happens we will have a convention to propose amendments to the Constitution to allow serious campaign finance reform, and hopefully to clarify that a corporation is not a person.

(Of course, I personally would like to see a new constitution along the lines of my pamphlet, linked in my signature, but I doubt that will happen real soon, realistically.)

There will be more demonstrations, intended to keep the pressure on now that we have put income inequality and the corruption of our politics front and center in the dialog. But at this point the movement is reassessing and deciding how best to push things. You're not going to see so much camping out on public land, but that tactic shouldn't be confused with the movement overall.

 

[Wry Catcher]

The OWS movement will be an issue in 2012, a losing issue for those who defend the status quo and/or fail to recognize the need to regulate and monitor the financial services industry. Those of the New Right hope to characterized those who protest as dirty serial polluters and neo-Marxists. No doubt the movement has attracted some left wing fringers, but the vast majority of those protesting simply expect government to level the playing field and control unscrupulous and preditory practices.

The near collapse of our economy in 2008 should be a wakeup call to all Americans, sadly the money controlled by the Banking and Insurance industries continues to influence members of Congress and others who seek to absolve the financial services industry of any complicity for our economic malaise.

 

[VaYank5150]

Not even close.

One thing you need to recognize is that the visible part of Occupy, the part that appears in the mainstream media, is only the tip of the iceberg. Most of its activity happens online. Right now, the movement is reassessing things, considering what approach to take from here, how best to push the movement's goals and objectives. One thing that I'm pushing for within the online decision-making process, which I hope will attract enough support to make it happen, is a petition drive to get state legislatures to call for a constitutional convention. It would take 2/3 of the states, but once that happens we will have a convention to propose amendments to the Constitution to allow serious campaign finance reform, and hopefully to clarify that a corporation is not a person.

(Of course, I personally would like to see a new constitution along the lines of my pamphlet, linked in my signature, but I doubt that will happen real soon, realistically.)

There will be more demonstrations, intended to keep the pressure on now that we have put income inequality and the corruption of our politics front and center in the dialog. But at this point the movement is reassessing and deciding how best to push things. You're not going to see so much camping out on public land, but that tactic shouldn't be confused with the movement overall.

Here's an idea for helping them to reasses. What the hell do they want? And why arent they busy looking for jobs rather than takingmy tax dollars in unemployment?

 

[Dragon]

Here's an idea for helping them to reasses. What the hell do they want?

It isn't necessary for us to reassess that. We've always known and always been clear. If you got your ideas of what we want from us instead of from right-wing talk radio, you'd know that.

Here it is again, just in case you're able to listen:

Money out of politics
Government policies that favor the 99% instead of the 1%

There, easy enough.

And why arent they busy looking for jobs

For the most part because we already have jobs. Again, if you stopped getting your "facts" from right-wing talk radio, you'd know that.

 

[Soggy in NOLA]

They were barely relevant 2 months ago, even less so today.

Dirty little bums, all of them.

 

[Rozman]

From the beginning, the didn't have a unified message and looked like losers. Now they are occupying ports and taking wages away from union people, the 99%. They just continue to be losers.

They crippled local business while they were in downtown Manhattan.
They were an eyesore,created all sorts of health issues while there.
They are getting in the way of one of our ports...
Did anyone outside of the protesters have an idea what the message was.
Did anyone inside the movement offer ways to make things better.
Seemed to me like a bunch of people who wanted to take this whole social network
thing into a different direction.

 

[Amelia]

Here's an idea for helping them to reasses. What the hell do they want?

It isn't necessary for us to reassess that. We've always known and always been clear. If you got your ideas of what we want from us instead of from right-wing talk radio, you'd know that.

Here it is again, just in case you're able to listen:

Money out of politics
Government policies that favor the 99% instead of the 1%

There, easy enough.

And why arent they busy looking for jobs

For the most part because we already have jobs. Again, if you stopped getting your "facts" from right-wing talk radio, you'd know that.

Such as?

 

[Claudette]

They never struck me as having a coherant message.

They were good at making outrageous demands but didn't seem to really know what they were about.

They made a mess of downtown NYC but when you get right down to it thats all they did.

 

[Dragon]

Amelia, how about:

1) Vigorous enforcement of the rights of labor, including the right to form a union.
2) Trade policy that is designed to benefit working people rather than the corporate bottom line, in terms of who we have free trade with.
3) Immigration policy that favors promotion from within over bringing people in from outside the country, even if the latter will work cheaper.
4) Tax policy that discourages concentration of income rather than encouraging it.
5) Regulation of the financial industry to prevent meltdowns such as the one of 2008.
6) More support for public education to give the children of the non-rich a way to prepare themselves for careers without going massively into debt.
7) A single-payer health-coverage system instead of the patchwork of Obamacare that amounts to a giveaway to the health-insurance industry.

But you see, although I understand that all of this would be necessary, it's counterproductive to go into the details like that, because they're secondary to the problem, which is that the government is CORRUPT. Our elected officials aren't ignorant idiots, and they know that policies like this, along with others, will help promote full employment and high wages and restore the middle class and the American dream. They don't do this, not because they don't know how, but because they don't want to -- or rather, the corporate donors who pull their strings don't want them to. They understand perfectly well that an economy with a strong, healthy middle class, in which everyone has hope and can pursue his or her own success, is NOT an economy in which the very richest people can hog an ever-increasing share of the national wealth, and the latter is what they want.

Get the money out of politics, and the rest follows. Seriously, that's Job One.