Despite the best efforts of the Mainstream Media to fill its 24/7 cycle with such pressing stories such as a New Jersey governor who’s still not running for President and Nancy Grace having a nipple slip on Dancing With The Stars, the news of an ongoing student-powered occupation and protest against Wall Street has trickled into their coverage.

The Occupy Wall Street protest has been going on since September 17th and the only angle of coverage from the MSM has been righteously defending their lack of coverage of it by dissing the youth and idealism of the participants.

Throughout last week, a growing protest movement took hold. No, no, not the Occupy Wall Street protests themselves, but the complaints of Occupy Wall Street protesters that the mainstream media was ignoring their cause.

Last Wednesday, five days into the protest, Keith Olbermann asked on his cable news show, “Why isn’t any major news outlet covering this? If that’s a Tea Party protest in front of Wall Street about Ben Bernanke putting stimulus funds into it, it’s the lead story on every network newscast.”

This, of course, gave journalists at several “major news outlets” a great opening to go ahead and cover the Occupy Wall Street protests using their favorite self-reflexive method: covering the (non) coverage.

And their verdict? No foul. Columnists at well-regarded news outlets who chose to respond concluded that there were plenty of great reasons not to cover Occupy Wall Street. In delineating those reasons throughout this week, they got to write at length about the protestors’ quirks and shortcomings, making their defense of non-coverage of a protest read a lot like colorful coverage of a protest.

http://www.theatlanticwire.com/national/2011/09/media-non-coverage-occupy-wall-street-gets-lots-media-coverage/43013/

As pointed out in this Atlantic article, when a handful of lunatics with teabags hanging from their hats show up in a park with misspelled signs, it’s wall to wall coverage across the MSM but hundreds of young people occupying Wall Street? That’s not news.

At least, it’s not news that benefits the media’s corporate ownership and shareholders as the “agenda” of the tea bag decorated wacko crowd does. So…it’s not news that’s fit to print.

The problem for the media is that the story isn’t cooperating and going away. So, going by the playbook, the same MSM that helped promote and elevate a tiny minority of ignorant people financed by corporate interests into controlling the US House of Representatives, has tried to discount the Wall Street protest by attacking and ridiculing those protesting.

Whether this is reflective of corporate loyalty on the parts of some in the media or the ignorance that being in a bubble and removed from the lives of real people nurtures, there may be a far bigger story behind what is going on and what will follow.

To a less biased observer than the American Media in general (fortunately, there still are some insightful and professional journalists out there), the pattern of Americans giving up on their democracy to solve their problems would be pretty apparent.

There are more “independents” today and smaller percentages of self-identified Democrats and Republicans than ever before. Disapproval ratings of Congress are at record lows, around 87%. The astroturf Tea Party did attract many disaffected people. The “government is bad” drumbeat by the GOP is resonating louder. People are participating in more protests as their government aids or merely observes attacks on the working class, public employees and unions. The Citizens United ruling and the faceless Superpacs pouring millions into even state elections has engendered even greater futility about elections in the minds of the public.

The goal of the corporate interests, in cutting government’s hamstring to cripple it or simply buying it out in a hostile takeover has become terribly transparent to many Americans.

In the 1980’s, when the US government financed the Mujaheddin in Afghanistan against the Soviet Union, as brilliant as many in the military and government were, they were wholly blind to the blowback that would result, in the form of having funded and trained Osama Bin Laden and essentially helped create Al Qaeda. In the long run, the US may have been far better off to allow events to unfold in Afghanistan without our involvement, the Soviet Union would likely have faced the same results they did (and which we are now suffering…without a superpower backing our adversaries) and Al Qaeda may have never been brought into existence. How different might today be if that was the path chosen?

Blowback is the most troubling, haunting and dangerous aspect of any battle. The term refers to the unintended consequences that result later down the line from an action. Blowback can sometimes be completely unexpected, very hard to predict even for those keen on doing so, let alone in cases when those in power are so focused on obtaining their goals, they’ll believe only what validates what they want.

The Iraq War is another sad but prime example. Neocons collaborated and planned during the Clinton Administration how they would “liberate” Iraq when they could re-take power and all nature of rosy scenarios were envisioned. Blowback often occurs because of self-delusion and the ignorance that comes from projecting one’s own sensibility on those one attacks instead of having the ability to genuinely empathize with them.

The corporate war on Americans for control of our economy and government is like any other war. One force is advancing and putting a population under siege, fighting battle after battle to take the ground that used to belong to the people they attack. They invest their formidable resources on becoming victorious and claiming the spoils and give little thought to the one issue that can undermine any victory in the long run.

Blowback.

What the wealthy and corporate executives are incapable of, both intellectually and emotionally, is truly understanding those who they attack and what their attacks are generating in those people.

As the reverse is true for many in the majority of Americans, it is hard for many to fully comprehend and  understand how the wealthy can be so destructive and mercenary in their greed. One can only guess that like their fellow millionaire conservatives in the Bush Admin, they just believe that their war on Americans will end up paying for itself and once they have won the war, they will be greeted with flowers and candy.

What they may be failing to recognize, what the blowback may be from their war on Americans, might be similar to what is happening in a number of other countries around the world right now. Once a population begins accepting that their power in their society has been usurped, once they recognize that their democracy can no longer function to serve them and solve their problems, they don’t just shrug their shoulders and call it a day, as the wealthy seem to think.

They stop looking to elections and politicians to solve their problems and come together with other citizens to take their destiny in their own hands.

This is not to say it leads to violent revolution but as we’ve seen in The Arab Spring, oppression of the majority by an elite minority and blocking their ability to use their collective will through the system to change things, can lead to popular uprisings that take back a nation and society from the elite.

“Really?” you may be asking. In America where people usually respond to periods of collapse in our society by just building a more comfortable surround-sound system in their home in which to escape?

Yes. It’s already happening on Wall Street, in Wisconsin, in Ohio and in many parts of this nation…even though the MSM isn’t exactly predisposed to show that to the American public and put the pieces together.

As economic insecurity and inequity touch more and more Americans, as the expectation that their children’s lives will be better than theirs fades, as faith in our democratic system dries up…when the pain and oppression becomes too much and there is no legitimate system or hope for changing the way things are…people will indeed eventually take to the streets, even in America.

The wealthy think that fully owning our government will give them total power. They don’t understand that locking off democracy as a relief valve for a population will instead build up a powerful pressure that will eventually explode against them and their society which they’ve carved in their image.

And this is not a situation unique to the US, here are some excerpts from an interesting article about this as a global phenomena, from yesterday’s New York Times:

As Scorn for Vote Grows, Protests Surge Around Globe

Hundreds of thousands of disillusioned Indians cheer a rural activist on a hunger strike. Israel reels before the largest street demonstrations in its history. Enraged young people in Spain and Greece take over public squares across their countries.

Their complaints range from corruption to lack of affordable housing and joblessness, common grievances the world over. But from South Asia to the heartland of Europe and now even to Wall Street, these protesters share something else: wariness, even contempt, toward traditional politicians and the democratic political process they preside over.

They are taking to the streets, in part, because they have little faith in the ballot box.

Economics have been one driving force, with growing income inequality, high unemployment and recession-driven cuts in social spending breeding widespread malaise. Alienation runs especially deep in Europe, with boycotts and strikes that, in London and Athens, erupted into violence.

But even in India and Israel, where growth remains robust, protesters say they so distrust their country’s political class and its pandering to established interest groups that they feel only an assault on the system itself can bring about real change.

The rising disillusionment comes 20 years after what was celebrated as democratic capitalism’s final victory over communism and dictatorship.

In the wake of the Soviet Union’s collapse in 1991, a consensus emerged that liberal economics combined with democratic institutions represented the only path forward. That consensus, championed by scholars like Francis Fukuyama in his book “The End of History and the Last Man,” has been shaken if not broken by a seemingly endless succession of crises — the Asian financial collapse of 1997, the Internet bubble that burst in 2000, the subprime crisis of 2007-8 and the continuing European and American debt crisis — and the seeming inability of policy makers to deal with them or cushion their people from the shocks.

Frustrated voters are not agitating for a dictator to take over. But they say they do not know where to turn at a time when political choices of the cold war era seem hollow. “Even when capitalism fell into its worst crisis since the 1920s there was no viable alternative vision,” said the British left-wing author Owen Jones.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/09/28/world/as-scorn-for-vote-grows-protests-surge-around-globe.html

(apologies to journalist Nicholas Kulish and the NYT for such a long excerpt, I had to restrain myself from posting this brilliant article in full. Please click on the link above and read the whole intriguing article…after you’ve finished this one of course!)

What we may be on the brink of is the blowback from the corrupt system that capitalism has evolved into. As the old saying goes, power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely. With no real rival anymore, capitalism has become an absolute power and is absolutely corrupted.

It is as bad if not worse in this nation to say “Capitalism is bad” than to say “America is bad”. Capitalism has become a political party, a life philosophy and even a religion (check out The Family). It has usurped and corrupted many of the most important social values of America in one way or another.

Corporations now are actually openly called “people” and afforded the same rights as human beings…yet can evade taxes, steal the life savings of Americans, strip workers of pensions and jobs, financially destroy communities, poison actual people, even try to take away the few safety nets that protect those they have left jobless, ill and destitute…and be legally entitled to do so as long as it is profitable for them.

Perhaps the real outrage isn’t so much that corporations have become people but that people have become corporations. The people who run these corporations exhibit no more conscience or empathy than the inhuman entity that they operate.

It would behoove corporations to have a limit to their greed and need to corrupt democracy, settling for owning 60% of America’s wealth instead of 100%. However, corporate greed is insatiable. As a person (as the fantastic documentary, “The Corporation” presented), corporations are sociopaths. They have no sympathy for the lives of any others, just focused like a laser on their own gratification.

A news story from yesterday enlightens on this:

New Study, Old News: Stock Traders Are Psychopaths

The hubbub is just starting to pick up after NZZ Online’s report yesterday on a University of St. Gallen study that shows stock market traders display similarities to certified psychopaths. The study, authored by MBA students Pascal Scherrer and Thomas Noll, compares decisions made by 27 equity, derivative and forex traders in a computer simulation against an existing study of 24 psychopaths in high-security hospitals in Germany. Not only do the traders match their counterparts, but, as Der Speigel succinctly puts it, the “stockbrokers’ behavior is more reckless and manipulative than that of psychopaths.”

The traders, according to Noll, were fixated on gaining more than their competitors in the computer simulation – to the extent that they “spent a lot of energy trying to damage their opponents.” He compared the behavior to bashing a neighbor’s fancy car with a baseball bat in order to make your own car the nicest in the neighborhood.

http://www.forbes.com/sites/chrisbarth/2011/09/26/new-study-old-news-stock-traders-are-psychopaths/

Sound like any Republican members of The House to you?

Actions have consequences and not always those that are anticipated. As the wealthy’s Class Warfare savagely continues against the majority of Americans to take from them the equity they have and the democracy they were given, history indicates that there will eventually be a powerful pushback if not an uprising, politically or literally.

Though the prospect of the wealthy being run out of the country on a rail…without their wealth is attractive, it is late but not too late to use our democracy to effect change.

There’s still time to repair and protect our society and democracy. Voting out the corporate and sociopathic members of Congress and keeping corporate control out of the White House could help turn things around in 2012.

It will be a massive war though, with millions, possibly over a billion in corporate spending to fool voters into handing our democracy over to them. We must fight this in a peaceful and democratic way while at the same time, supporting and participating alongside our fellow citizens such as those occupying Wall Street, those fighting the anti-union assaults in WI and OH and other states and all others who have had enough of being attacked and are getting out there in the streets to make a real difference (tweeting and blogging is helpful but nothing beats meeting up with other concerned people and coming together as human beings to protest for the rights we share).

As for the wealthy, I have this wisdom to share…be careful what you wish for, you just might get it.

And the blowback along with it.

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Chernynkaya
Member

Fuck you very much Rahm Emanuel, you Blue Ball Dem:

Chicago cops arrest 130 Occupy Chicago protesters in Grant Park
http://markcrispinmiller.com/2011/10/chicago-cops-arrest-130-occupy-chicago-protesters-in-grant-park/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+NewsFromUnderground+%28News+From+Underground%29

CHICAGO — Anti-Wall Street demonstrators of the Occupy Chicago movement stood their ground in a downtown park in noisy but peaceful defiance of police orders to clear out, prompting 130 arrests early Sunday, authorities said.

Occupy Chicago spokesman Joshua Kaunert vowed after the arrests that protests would continue in the Midwest city.

“We’re not going anywhere. There are still plenty of us,” Kaunert told The Associated Press after the arrests, which took police more than an hour to complete.

Carolina919
Member
Carolina919

I think corporate America does understand blowback….it’s why the Supeme Court contorted itself to “reach down” and bring forward the Citizens United case out of line. It’s also why they crafted particular, partisan and insupportable ruling. It takes a lot of money to keep people down … especially when they’re beginning to see the light. That ought to encourage the most of us. Money’s been defeated before. It won’t be easy and it won’t be quick but it can be done.

jjgravitas
Member
jjgravitas

Goverment is bad, n’kay.

bito
Member

Breaking:
Did Ben Bernanke just join the Occupy cause?

KillgoreTrout
Member

Bernie Sanders is the Man! A genuine representative of the people. Bernake? Not so much.

bito
Member

#occupywallstreet hits the front page!

[img]http://static8.businessinsider.com/image/4e887ea4ecad04ad6800001a-512-554/nypost-wall-st-cover.jpg[/img]

KillgoreTrout
Member

Fucking A+! Semper Fi! Thanks for posting this Khirad!

Khirad
Member
Questinia
Member

Too bad they’re no longer on active duty.

KillgoreTrout
Member

They wouldn’t be permitted to do this while active. But I think this just great. Like they said, they fought for America, not for Wall St.! Now these guys are true patriots.

Emerald1943
Member

Good morning/evening Kalima! Thanks for your round-up. I am posting this under the news about Wall Street for obvious reasons. David Graeber has written several articles that are most pertinent, including this one, and I wanted everyone to see it. From the “Guardian” in the UK:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/cifamerica/2011/sep/25/occupy-wall-street-protest?INTCMP=ILCNETTXT3487

“We might do well to consider the collapse of the European colonial empires. It certainly did not lead to the rich successfully grabbing all the cookies, but to the creation of the modern welfare state. We don’t know precisely what will come out of this round. But if the occupiers finally manage to break the 30-year stranglehold that has been placed on the human imagination, as in those first weeks after September 2008, everything will once again be on the table – and the occupiers of Wall Street and other cities around the US will have done us the greatest favour anyone possibly can.”

David Graeber seems to have his finger on the pulse of the Wall Street protesters. I look forward to more of his analysis.

Emerald1943
Member

If anyone has missed it, here is the link to “We Are the 99%”. The stories told there are worth reading, most of them just a few lines. Jobless, homeless, hungry and hurting people telling their stories. I highly recommend it.

http://wearethe99percent.tumblr.com/

Scroll down and read them. It will be a real eye-opener, I promise!

Questinia
Member

Amazing stories.

Not having a job gives the time to protest. The best way to keep the people in line is to suffocate their free time by giving them JOBS!

Emerald1943
Member

No doubt, Questinia! There are going to be some hungry anarchists in the streets!

kesmarn
Admin

Let me have men about me that are fat,
Sleek-headed men and such as sleep a-nights.
Yond Cassius has a lean and hungry look,
He thinks too much; such men are dangerous.

So good to see you here, Q!

Questinia
Member

HI kes! Perfect quote.

Questinia
Member

OCCUPY WALLSTREET

“It’s heartening to see anarchy being rediscovered, but it’s disheartening to see it being reinvented.

Anarchism:
The name given to a principle or theory of life and conduct under which society is conceived without government- harmony in such a society being obtained, not by submission to law, or by obedience to any authority, but by free agreements concluded between the various groups, territorial and professional, freely constituted for the sake of production and consumption, also for the satisfaction of the infinite variety of needs and aspirations of a civilized being.
Peter Kropotkin (Encyclopedia Brittanica)

There are times when the stupidest thing one can do is raise the red or black flag and issue defiant declarations. Sometimes the sensible thing to do is just to pretend nothing has changed, allow state representatives to keep their dignity, even show up at their office and fill out a form now and then, but otherwise, ignore them.”

~ David Graeber, Fragments of an Anarchist Anthropology (recommended reading)

KillgoreTrout
Member

These people, the wealthiest and those who want to take us back in time and severely limit the freedoms of “we the people,” can no longer be ignored. I don’t think anyone is really advocating anarchy, but things MUST change. The problem is, how to bring about such change without violence.

The people have a right to free assembly, as stated in our Constitution. This is not anarchy.

Questinia
Member

Anarchy isn’t necessarily violence. It is the institutions that become violent against anarchists. Anarchy means “without a ruler”. Anarchist philosophy is based on the role of freedom and equality as necessary factors for facilitating human progress.

The United States Of Anarchy

KillgoreTrout
Member

Q, I didn’t mean to imply that anarchy only entails violence. I understand the idea. My point was how do you get people in power to listen? How do you get them to make changes when they refuse to listen? Is violence the only way, like in the 60s? Was Che Queverra right when he said violent revolution is sometimes necessary? This is what I was getting at.

Questinia
Member

I think one gets people in power to listen by not listening to THEM !

Ignore them as much as possible! Every now and then give them something to do… like sign a document or something. It’ll make them feel valued.

KillgoreTrout
Member

Q, maybe listening is the wrong word for keeping abreast of the republicans. Keeping an eye (and ear) on their actions and proposals is absolutely necessary. We have to know what the opposition is up to. Ignoring them would be dangerous and irresponsible.
I’m not sure what you mean by saying “ignore them as much as possible.” Do you mean, give them no publicity? If so, I would agree, but they own the largest part of our media. They control the message, to a very large extent. That’s hard to overcome, maybe immpossible.

Emerald1943
Member

Questinia, that’s the way I understand it. But anarchists are always portrayed as violent. I guess there are many who think that a government is necessary to prevent violence. This movement across the country would prove otherwise! All I have seen is violence BY the government (police)!

Questinia
Member

The status quo has to go.

When personal consciousness evolves between the individual and the group, mutuality and compassion develops.

There is a tendency toward equilibrium in nature. Generally it does not include violence!

Emerald1943
Member

Hi Questinia! Nice to see you here!

I found an article by David Graeber a few days ago that came out on AlterNet. I have included it in a piece here at PlanetPOV that is still pending. I hope it will publish soon. Graeber basically outlined the reasons for the occupation of Wall Street. I like the way this man thinks and writes.

Thanks for posting! 🙂

Questinia
Member

Hi Em.

I can’t wait to read it!

bito
Member

Q’, I am not going to reply to that but just say it’s so very nice to see you! I have missed you Ms. Q’.

Questinia
Member

Likewise bito’

MurphTheSurf3
Editor

As a child of the 60’s who spent a lot of time in demonstrations, in organizing for change, in railing against the machinery that churned out societal evil, we grew up….Today feels so much like those days.

The Tea Party was and is sham. A front for corporate interests. The Occupy movement seems to be significantly different. We Shall Overcome…I hope.

funksands
Member

Murph, couldn’t agree more. Good to see you here. Hope to see more of you.

MurphTheSurf3
Editor

Hey there funky….it will take a while to figure out to navigate this site.

But I am giving it a try.

How do you get your avatar image to show?

bito
Member

Hello Murph and welcome to the Planet!
These are found on the header of all pages so check them out:
http://planetpov.com/faq/
http://planetpov.com/faq/terms-of-use/

How do I set up an image (an Avatar) to appear with my username?
This site uses Gravatars, which are avatarsimages you assign through Gravatar’s website to your email address. All websites that support Gravatars will display the same image for you.

To select an image for yourself, go to http://en.gravatar.com/site/signup and register the same email address you used here when you signed up. After responding to a confirmation email from Gravatar, you can select an image from your computer or the internet to assign to your email address and that image will appear here with your user name (and on any other Gravatar-friendly sites you visit).

MurphTheSurf3
Editor

Yawp. I did that and nothing so far. I already had my avatar at my e mail address so???? Thought there was a trick.

I want to use the same avatar here as I use as HP (the same with my name

I will keep working on it.

bito
Member

Murph it is showing up in the RC’s (recent comments.) It can take awhile to show up sometimes.
Another tip is that it’s best too post your questions in the “Help” area.
Click the square marked help on the right hand side and bingo.
You will also find Morning Blog there for Kalima’s “Bit’s and Bobs from around the world every morning.

MurphTheSurf3
Editor

Ok….my candle avatar is showing up at a few places here (scroll up and look to the right at the comment summary strip) BUT not showing up in the comments.

Is there something I need to turn on or set? I also have a phrase associated with my avatar (Proud to be an Independent Progressive).

Any help would be appreciated.

bito
Member

The list of cites is rapidly growing and the whole #occupy movement is getting “organized” and spreading a ton of info via the interTubes.

This site has a bunch of information and they are getting overwhelmed by it the with all that they have been receiving.

OCCUPY TOGETHER

http://www.occupytogether.org/

Ton of news and information and some very kewel posters that are downloadable.

http://www.occupytogether.org/downloadable-posters/

[img]http://www.occupytogether.org/posters/posterThumb9.jpg[/img]

[img]http://www.occupytogether.org/posters/posterThumb7.jpg[/img]

Emerald1943
Member

Bito, this is a great site! Thanks for posting! I found out that there are two Occupy demonstrations within two hours of me here in North Carolina! There is a long list of sites, set up by regions of the country. It is amazing how many there are now with many more in the planning stages.

Emerald1943
Member

Hi Murph! I was right there in the 60’s with you, in college and bucking the system! I’ve never really quit! 🙂

I have often wondered why the college campuses in this country were not up in flames (figuratively, of course) because of the wars. But then I realized that there is no draft…a HUGE difference. This movement does feel like it did then. We are seeing just the beginning! At the risk of sounding like the teabaggers, we MUST take our country back!

We are the 99%!

bito
Member

WOO-HOO!
AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka Backs ‘Occupy Wall Street,’ Says Going To The Streets May Be ‘Only Recourse’ We Have

During an appearance at the Brookings Institution yesterday, AFL-CIO president Richard Trumka was asked about the ongoing occupation of Wall Street by demonstrators outraged at the financial industry’s behavior. Trumka told the questioner that he “happens to agree” with the protesters and that “being in the streets and calling attention to issues is sometime the only recourse you have.”

http://thinkprogress.org/economy/2011/09/30/333362/trumka-backs-occupy-wall-street/

Watch the entire program here: http://www.c-spanvideo.org/program/Trumkao

bito
Member

Mayor Bloomberg Claims ‘Occupy Wall Street’ Protesters Are Targeting Bankers Who ‘Are Struggling To Make Ends Meet’

GAMBLING: Mr. Mayor, let’s talk about Zuccoti Park and the protesters. How do you end that thing?

BLOOMBERG: The protesters are protesting against people who make $40-50,000 a year and are struggling to make ends meet. That’s the bottom line. Those are the people that work on Wall Street or on the finance sector. […] People in this day and age need support for their employers. We need the banks, if the banks don’t go out and make loans we will not come out of our economy problems, we will not have jobs. And so anything we can do to responsibly help the banks do that, encourage them to do that is waht we need. I think we spend much too much time worrying about how we got into problems as to how we go forward. […] Also we always tend to blame the wrong people. We blame the banks. They were part of it, but so were Frddie Mac and Frannie Mae and Congress.

http://thinkprogress.org/economy/2011/09/30/333038/mayor-bloomberg-wall-street-make-ends-meet/

Huh, Mr. Mayor, the protests aren’t aimed at the rank and file bank workers making middle class wages and don’t set policy, it’s the boys upstairs in the boardrooms making millions, setting policy and speculating on junk and commodities.

AlphaBitch
Member
AlphaBitch

No chit Cherlock! I don’t think the anger is directed to the secretaries, the file clerks, the mail clerks, the receptionist. At least that’s not why I’M mad.

bito
Member

Really AB, it was all those nasty tellers that invested your money in junk while the big boys tried to stop them. The mayor was way off on this, the people are blaming his buddies not clerk ‘Nancy’ cashing your paycheck.

KillgoreTrout
Member

I once saw some subway graffiti in Boston that said “There is more crime in the suites than there is in the streets!” A truer statement would be hard to find.

Emerald1943
Member

“We are the 99%” is growing. This page from their website shows a woman and a brief summary of her troubles:

http://wearethe99percent.tumblr.com/

=============================

“My salary was cut in 1/2 a year ago.

My husband is under-employed and has been laid off twice in the last two years.

My stepson just went to jail for 10 years. We he couldn’t find a job, he sold drugs to feed his kids and keep a roof over their heads.

My 19 yr old still lives at home. We can’t afford college, and make what someones deems to be “too much” for any assistance. He busts his ass working construction in the Florida son and considers himself lucky.

My father in law lives with us too, who can afford Senior Care? He sits in a chair all day, alone, while we work.

Life is a stressful struggle daily. We want opportunity, not handouts. We need jobs.

We are the other 99%”

==================================

Very poignant and telling! The corporate fat cats had best not drink champagne on their balconies anymore…