From Al Gore’s blog, a clear signal that he’s lost it. Like McKibben, he’s like a moth attracted to a flame, looking for it to jumpstart his own failed movement.
Thoughts on Occupy Wall Street October 12, 2011 : 5:07 PM
For the past several weeks I have watched and read news about the Occupy Wall Street protests with both interest and admiration. I thought The New York Times hit the nail on the head in an editorial Sunday:
“The message — and the solutions — should be obvious to anyone who has been paying attention since the economy went into a recession that continues to sock the middle class while the rich have recovered and prospered. The problem is that no one in Washington has been listening.”
“At this point, protest is the message: income inequality is grinding down that middle class, increasing the ranks of the poor, and threatening to create a permanent underclass of able, willing but jobless people. On one level, the protesters, most of them young, are giving voice to a generation of lost opportunity.”
From the economy to the climate crisis our leaders have pursued solutions that are not solving our problems, instead they propose policies that accomplish little. With democracy in crisis a true grassroots movement pointing out the flaws in our system is the first step in the right direction. Count me among those supporting and cheering on the Occupy Wall Street movement.
You can support the protests by clicking here.
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I don’t see how Al Gore has lost it on this one. All he writes is sound. You could claim he’s hypocritical, but that’s it.
Ever since Glass-Steagal was repealed (which was originally enacted to prevent another Great Depression on the heels of the first, in 1932), our economy has been on the titter, and then fallen; and this has rippled across the world. Our tax dollars have gone in to prop up commercial banks who are now doing what was illegal prior to 1999, and investing -our- money in risky and debt trading schemes. Putting a value on debt and selling it around? And what happens if it doesn’t end up being paid back? All the money they used, our money, to make a profit is vanished into thin air, and the government has to step in with our money again to make sure if you do a withdrawal from the bank, you actually get the funds you put in there back out.
This isn’t the full story or the only factor bogging things down (the real “job creators” are the inventors/researchers and venture capitalists, the ones who make product to be sold, and they are the ones being driven out of our country by bad policies), but it’s a prime problem behind it all that still remains unaddressed, and thus things still remain unfixed, unsurprisingly.
Occupy is a reaction to real duress, and didn’t spring up overnight; people have sat for years watching the stupidity.
@mkelly,
Occupy, from what I’ve seen of it, is -not- a protest by the “left”, nor the “right”. That’s what pundits don’t get: this is a movement devoid of “left” or “right”. It isn’t against capitalism, it’s against abuse and fraud, and many other grievances from high taxes to wasted taxes like Obamacare, and more; some cares legitimate some not.
Pay attention to what this is actually about. Capitalism isn’t being allowed to work like it should, and that seems to be one of the main issues Occupy is about. Lobbiests have corrupted government (“left” and “right”), and government has shackled the market so it barely moves these past years for anyone but those using our money to trade around debt and gobble up tax dollars from the government.
Does any of that seem right or reasonable to you?
@John from CA
From the desk of the Alliance for Global Justice
Occupy Wall Street Donations Release In Process of Resolution Stop Making Calls to E-Onlinedata
on October 7th, 2011 at 12:09 pm
Earlier today, we asked supporters to call E-Onlinedata to demand release of tens of thousands of dollars donated for Occupy Wall Street, a fiscal project of AfGJ.
Following extensive conversations with the company today, we are confident that the situation is on its way to a rapid resolution. Please stop making calls to E-Onlinedata and please forward this alert to any listserves to which you may have forwarded our original alert.
E-Onlinedata strongly assured us that there was no political motive in freezing our account and holding the funds. The company stated that, in fact, the fault lies with AfGJ for a number of reasons but particularly because donations for our Occupy Wall Street project reached a volume that was orders of magnitude greater than any activity on our account in previous years, exposing E-Onlinedata to a level of liability not covered in our merchant contract with them.
We believe that this is a reasonable explanation and we have no evidence that E-Onlinedata is anything other than a reputable company servicing merchants and the banking industry. While we are strongly critical of the policies and practices of the banking industry as a whole, E-Onlinedata does not deserve to be held responsible for the sins of the entire industry. We apologize to E-Onlinedata for any actions on our part that may have been construed as reflecting negatively on their company.
We thank our supporters for their quick response to our alert earlier today. Your actions helped bring this situation to a satisfactory conclusion. We urge you to continue to speak out in support of issues that are important to us all and the future of our country and our world.
In Solidarity,
Chuck Kaufman
———————————————-
I was going to say that anyone dumb enough to donate is really getting some “global justice” as a fool and their money are soon parted, but it seems E-Onlinedata has frozen their account.
The is no rational way to deal with this mob.
Who is pushing this? In my home town it is the usual suspects… the eco-priests, the communists, the race-bating activists, the homeless advocates, …. you know… the usual suspects. Now the local news rag is conducting organization activities, explaining when and where the “planning” events are to be held. Seriously, the local newspaper is handling all the PR for the occupy mob.
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The jobless underclass has been created by dumb politicians who have decreed that American (and European) workers must compete with Chinese workers on $1 a day.
The result was predictable enough – factories relocate overseas, and good that rich people like Al Gore buy are suddenly much cheaper. Thus the rich do gain, and the poor do lose, but this has as much to do with foreign policy as economics.
If Al Gore wants poor people to have jobs, he should be campaigning for import duties and controls.
.
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Oh, and I should have added that relocating factories from the West to China has actually INCREASED emission – especially of CO2 (check out the Chinese power industry).
Thus Al Gore’s Green taxes, have and will continue to, INCREASE worldwide emissions of pollutants.
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Income inequality is just a code work for socialism. Income *mobility* should be the goal for free market economies. We want an economy where people who start at the bottom can increase their earning power as they gain experience and contribute more. We don’t want an economy where people are constrained to live in specific casts with little opportunity to improve their lot in life.
If the opinions stated by that NYT article were accurate, I think I may support the ‘movement’ as well. If it had been my government bailing the banks out, I would be rather cheesed off. Then when the CEO who bankrupted the bank gets $3mil.+ bonus, I would be really mad… But my government never enacted ‘equality’ rules that forced banks to give mortgages to people they know couldn’t pay them back. My government didn’t allow some of those crazy lending rules you had (introductory sub-prime, interest only etc). So my government didn’t have to bail out our banks. Go figure…
no we have Al Gore, Soros, his new outlet, the New York Times, protesting against themselves. When will Goldman Sachs join and will the Tea Party claim copyrights ?
Curiousgeorge says:
October 13, 2011 at 11:25 am
It is private property, so they would have a perfect right to close it down.
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The park is owned by a corp. who donated it to the people of NYC with the stipulation it stay open 24 hours a day. It was donated so they could build a corp. building higher than stated standards.
They can’t throw them out of the park but could if they we in other NYC parks which have a curfew.
The protests are actually refreshing and there isn’t anything wrong with the Right to Assemble and Free Speech. Unfortunately, the MSM has not spent any time backgrounding the preplanning and keeps putting words in the mouths of the protesters.
Pretty odd, the AdBusters marketing stunt launched a leaderless movement who actually have a “General Assembly”, a website, accepts donations, ground rules, etc.
It will be interesting when the true story comes out — assuming it ever gets printed.
The original cause was correct about that the big money manipulates Washington in the direction they want them to go. However the problem is the self serving politicians we have elect into our government who do not have the integrity to stand up to the pressure from the lobbying and special interest to do what they were elected to do. If we don’t have a strong leader with integrity and courage that can cut through all the noise and set a clear direction that will benefit our true American values the big money will always win.
We have adapted a democratic system where we can make our voice heard and elect the right people with integrity that stands up for our cause. However this means that we cannot blame anybody else but blame ourselves if we don’t take our responsibility to guard the integrity in our society for our basic American values and kick out the ones that are not performing at the next election.
The original cause for the Wall Street protests was correct, but in the wrong place, and immediately when it started to get publicity it was high jacked by the extreme leftists and other misguided special interests jockeying for attention.
What we are seeing now is the mentality of the radical left guiding the entitlement generation by their nose to chant their philosophy of that it is somebody else’s fault that they have not been as successful as the ones that are making it on their own by hard work, firm goals, taking calculated financial risks, constructive participation in the society, and value adding choices in life.
We have a huge part of our society with cognitive blindness for what constructive contribution and responsibility for oneself and others are all about.
Occupy Wall Street was the idea of a Canadian on-line magazine called “Adbusters” according to its owners. This from a report claiming Soros money is behind the project [unlikely].
“It came out of these brainstorming sessions we have at Adbusters,” Lasn told Reuters, adding they began promoting it online on July 13. “We were inspired by what happened in Tunisia and Egypt and we had this feeling that America was ripe for a Tahrir moment.”
Makes me wonder how Global Justice can cash-in morally on someone else’s project. I thought it wasn’t about money. Oh, I get it. Forget it.
Ged says:
October 13, 2011 at 11:44 am
@mkelly,
Does any of that seem right or reasonable to you?
I have seen no signs from the “occupy” folks demanding repeal of Obamacare, lower taxes, less government, etc. What “occupy” seems to be about is a desire to have more government taking more control and that is not reasonable.
By the way Gore was on the board of Apple and he could have helped by demanding all Apple products be made in America, but he did not so why is he now supporting them?
Poor old algore. Any port in a storm, I guess. The kids on Wall Street as well as the Union Thugs should be in DC, as that is where this financial debacle was born. Lending money to folks who cannot afford it was a Democrat idea from day one. The banks simply jumped on board with both feet when the government agencies created by the government started buying the bad loans from banks allowing them to increase their profits with fees and then relend the money over and over. It became much more complex with all kinds of people, not just minorities, borrowing money for houses they could not afford, lower and lower down payments, less and less (or no) equity and then the securitization of those bad loans, etc. and the banks definitely exacerbated the problem.
As far as Wall Street, the playing field does need to be leveled for us stock holders to prevent executive management from paying themselves ridiculous salaries and bonuses without a vote of the non-executive stockholders and sitting on one and others’ boards and approving said pay plans. These issues could be easily fixed without the government taxing anyone or redistributing income. I am not so happy about bonuses at Bank America as I am a stockholder and actually believe quite a few of those folks should be prosecuted along with people like Barney Frank, Chris Dodd and Maxine Waters who defended the poor banking practices to the end while receiving huge campaign contributions from those involved.
The left has always created problems and then used those problems to promote its own agenda. This is all nothing new.
Just wondering, how many times does Al have to yell ” BULL**** ” before they take his Nobel back?
Should there not be some type of ethics code? Like not lying, not cussing, not being a politician…
Steve from Rockwood says:
October 13, 2011 at 11:45 am
@John from CA
From the desk of the Alliance for Global Justice
Occupy Wall Street Donations Release In Process of Resolution Stop Making Calls to E-Onlinedata
on October 7th, 2011 at 12:09 pm
Earlier today, we asked supporters to call E-Onlinedata to demand release of tens of thousands of dollars donated for Occupy Wall Street, a fiscal project of AfGJ.
===========
Thanks Steve,
That clears up a few details.
If you do a google search for Alliance for Global Justice, you’ll run into a mission statement, their past projects, and the framework for the leaderless movement idea. I just couldn’t connect the dots with any facts. “a fiscal project of Alliance for Global Justice” connects them nicely.
Unfortunately, Alliance for Global Justice gets terrible marks as a charity:
Alliance for Global Justice
We envision societies which explore and implement alternatives to the unjust domination of governments, global financial institutions and multinational corporations which denigrate the world’s peoples and devastate ecosystems. We envision the development of a unified domestic and international movement of transformational grassroots organizations that promote a socially, ecologically and economically just world.
The Nicaragua Network, Campaign for Labor Rights, and Venezuela Solidarity Network are the three core projects of the Alliance.
Overall: 0 stars
Financial: 1 star
Accountability & Transparency: 0 stars
Board Chair: Donna Leist
President: Katherine Hoyt
(Hoyt is a graduate of Vassar College and has a Ph.D. in political science from Rutgers University.)
source: http://www.charitynavigator.org/index.cfm?bay=search.summary&orgid=6247
I will give 800 billion good reasons to support the Ocupation of Wall Street and lock up those theives, but Al Gore and his AGW junkies are not one of them…
@Ged.
This movement is being high-jacked by the left. It started out of the thought that Americans needed their own Arab Spring – a revolution to protest the corruption of government – and it was hatched in Canada. In many ways the Tea Party was such a movement but of the right. However this movement started, the left is moving in for better or worse (for the movement and for the left).
When you listen to many of the protesters, they are generally there out of frustration. Many are no longer employed. Many are students with student loans. They were trying to get free tuition when I was in university and unemployment back then was pretty high too.
So now Al Gore weighs in. Look at the lead photo. Al Gore: Ultimate Trader! Does that look like the leader of the green movement? A fat guy sitting in front of three flat screens? What ever happened to Tammy Fay Baker? Gore needs a good side-kick.
Doug says:
October 13, 2011 at 11:20 am
” The average S&P CEO does not need 11 million a year to do their job. ”
And who are you to tell someone else what they should be paid? If you don’t like the company you have invested in, take your investments someplace else.
You say you are “retired, with a portfolio of investments in the seven figures.” Perhaps the government should intervene because no one needs a seven figure portfolio. Perhaps the government should confiscate most of your “excess” and give it to those who have less. How’s them apples taste?
A Powerpoint that made us lose the faith in humanity (and the Nobel Prize committee)
http://www.amazfacts.com/2011/10/everyone-should-know-about-this-woman.html
Fred Allen says:
October 13, 2011 at 11:12 am
I don’t think Occupy Wall Street will lead to another Nobel Prize. But I could be wrong.
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No way to know that since they give them out preemptively these days.
How many carbon credits has Al earned by sequesting all that carbon piled up on his desk?
It’s not so sure that they are protesting capitalism, per se. Listen to one of the actual organizers of Oct 11, Kevin Zeese, who has made every effort to keep this non-partisan and broadly based. Here: http://rt.com/programs/crosstalk/99-wall-street-protest/
Steve from Rockwood says:
October 13, 2011 at 12:10 pm
Occupy Wall Street was the idea of a Canadian on-line magazine called “Adbusters” according to its owners. This from a report claiming Soros money is behind the project [unlikely].
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Mother Jones printed a story about the person who, several years ago, came up with Occupy Wall Street idea. Ironically, the New Yorker didn’t want to be identified because he now, wait for it, works for a financial services firm.
It would be interesting to discover how the concept ended up being released by AdBusters.
“But Soros’ support for the protesters goes far beyond his tepid public statements. In fact, the original call to “Occupy Wall Street” came from the magazine AdBusters, an “anti-consumerist” publication financed by, among other sources, the Soros-funded Tides Foundation.”
source: http://www.thenewamerican.com/usnews/politics/9269-big-soros-money-
Remember when he hired a feminist as a consultant to help him appear more masculine? (Naomi Wolff).