It says something, too much really, that the spark of protest ignited in L.A. on Saturday with the Occupy Los Angeles movement that has taken over the lawns at City Hall has as its No. 1 chant: Occupy Wall Street.
I support what they are doing 100 percent even though I’m not at all clear who they are or what they want — and I wish they had an authentic L.A. issue on their lips instead of resonating New York’s angst.
“People before profits,” they chant, but sadly they aren’t talking about the nexus between big developers and wealthy interests in L.A. and the unions and the City Hall political machine. They only mean the investment bankers, brokerage houses and controllers of capital.
America is broken from top to bottom, engaged in a suicidal war with ourselves as if no compromise lines in the sand and gridlock can put what is broken back together and guide us through the profound economic, political and social changes that we must make as we transition from the economy of conspicuous consumption and endless growth to the economy of sustainable communities and enhanced quality of lives.
I came of age in the ferment of the 1960s when the outrageous denial of civil rights to blacks and the idiocy of the Vietnam War and the falling dominoes that were going to make us all slaves of Communism were the sources of our discontent.
We were idiots back then and good people thought they needed to bomb things in order to be heard.
Visit the website of Occupy Los Angeles and watch the live streaming video and the links to other protest sites. All the bells and whistles are operating in an amateurish but authentic manner.
Think about protesters in America emulating Tunisians and Egyptians and reflect on the new world order that is emerging.
We don’t need guns and bombs to change America and restore our democracy with respect for every segment of the community. We need an intensified public conversation that Occupy LA and the Tea Party, for that matter, are starting to generate.
Nothing else short of a calamity that hurts almost everybody will end the uncivil war that we are engaged in.
This is an uprising in search of meaning. That’s what makes it so interesting.
In the ’60s, the accusation was always: What do you want? We are hearing that again. But just like 50 years ago, the significance was in the energy that come from the younger generation.
Back then, we had futures that were filled with promise as the boom in America was still gaining momentum, creating opportunity for almost everyone.
Today, this younger generation is facing the expectations that they will have less opportunity than their parents, and that they face limited opportunities for the foreseeable future.
I don’t know where this goes, if it goes anywhere at all. But I’ll get down to City Hall this week and see for myself.
I only know one thing: This protest is a lot more important than the trial of Michael Jackson’s doctor that is going on around the corner and where all the TV cameras from around the world are lined up to get their two-minutes of footage that trivializes us all.
This protest is an ALORS of sort but the nexus is here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0dVcic7czQ8
Then nexus is all of the things you said because the big Elephant in the room is, as Councilman Rosendahl said, is pension losses.
Banks were bailed out and today Bank of America is ready to charge a $5 Debit Card Fee b/c they purchased “high risk assets” when the Govt., announced they would BAIL OUT the banks. As Brooksly Born said, this will be an ongoing issue in many different forms because the Black Market is over 500 Trillion.
We were promised a NEST EGG if we invested money, each paycheck, but NEVER did we expect another 1929 hit to our 401Ks’… and Not to mention LACERS and the CAPERS
3rd party lactches and attachments are illegal. People took money from Public Retirement Plans illegally.
Bank of America got the $$$$ from the taxpayers and a free hand in taking over Countrywide. Yet, how do they thank the taxpayers? Yep $5.00 a month to buy a Starbucks? I’m cutting up my debit card, and taking it to my local Bank of America and giving it back Baby! Citi sent me a letter this day telling me our “grandfathered” acccount needs a COMBINED $15,000 BALANCE OR A $20 A MONTH FEE FOR THE ACCOUNT!!!!! I closed everything today there and said if they want me back, then give me those $400 new customer rewards offer. They said NO, I say BUB FUCKING BY! Unlike the schmucks at City Hall who are wholly owned subsidiaries of AEG, DWP, and Clear Channel, YOU CAN REMEDY this BofA THIEVERY BY VOTING WITH YOUR FEET. Credit Unions you can join can get you higher interest on savings and fee free debit cards, both things a customer DESERVES ESPECIALLY IN THESE TOUGH TIMES!
I think what this might yield is higher taxes for the wealthy that do not get subsidies and already pay a higher tax rate. I doubt this will impact those few billionaires, banks and corporations that have government in their pockets.
Rather than lumping all wealthy in as the bad guy, it would be nice to see a list of those individuals and corporations (like AEG, unions, etc) that got away with robbing from the poor, the middle class and the wealthy.
I agree it would be great for Occupy LA to actually be protesting the issues in LA along with their bank issues. I wish I had the time to go downtown and talk to them and tell them move more inside City Hall. If you want to protest against the injustice of the rich vs the poor all they have to do is walk to city council chambers. They have given millions of our tax dollars to the rich including giving $1 million to Gensler the architect that is going to build AEG’s NFL stadium instead of that money going to skid row.
Occupy LA (and Occupy Wall Street) is the moment in American History when middle America will be awakened from its comatose state in front of a television…. maybe watching Dancing With the Stars and the Michael Jackson manslaughter case.
The monied interests (banks and real estate developers) have been robbing our public treasuries of money with their obscene campaign contributions and the elected politicians are merely the puppets of the wealthy. This system must be brought down, and in LA the symbol of wretched excess of the horrible Staples Center/LA Live complex owned by AEG. OccupyLA should take up residence to protest the unfair access of AEG to the Governor and Legislature to exempt itself from protective environmental laws.
We should start with OccupySupremeCourt in Washington DC. The Supreme Court’s incredibly stupid interpretation of the First Amendment that tries to claim that campaign contributions are just as precious as public square critics of government is killing this country. The ability of the rich corporations and billionaires to use campaign contributions to remove important financial system protections in place since the Depression show what a corrupting influence the failure to read campaign contributions out of the First Amendment.
Maybe we start with the Amendment of the US constitution to exclude campaign contributions from First Amendment “protection”. It may require civil disobedience in front of the US Supreme Court.
Nice to see LA brainwashed as usual. This OccupyLA is a pawn of some special interests bent on creating anarchy and civil disorder. We will know who is behind this sooner or later. Probably Soros or somebody like him betting on financial downfall. “People before profits” is stupid. How will companies hire people if they don’t have profits???
To Anonymous on October 4, 2011 7:12 AM -Thank you!!!!! I agree. Dang–I wish I wrote that.
i think it would be really helpful if people would actually take the time to understand some basic economic principals and stop throwing everything in one pot and calling it a certain color because it fits a special interest agenda. 401Ks are not a promised nest egg; they are simply a retirement account to which contributions have been made PERIOD. Bank of America is not looking to charge a $5.00 debit charge because they purchased Bad assets; the market demands certain quarterly returns and they simply want to make the same amount of money they did before Dodd-Frank passed. And, for those people who are complaining about their 401Ks, there is a very good possibility that Bank of America is in their stock holdings. So, the same people complaining about the $5.00 monthly charge also will complain if their stock portfolio does not deliver outside returns. Say what you will about Soros but he is a brilliant financial guy who is simply playing within the rules. It is fascinating that the same people screaming about Bank of America’s debit charge are the same people screaming that we need to get rid of regulations. I think it is high time to stop the silly angry, uneducated comments and actually learn something about how the system is set up to work and how it does. Reform is needed but stop vilifying Wall Street for doing what they are paid to do. It’s a pretty good guess that people who are attracted to Wall Street have a pretty well developed greed gene and expecting those people to put people before profits is like asking a lion to become a vegetarian.