#9 Occupy Wall Street is angry that the United States has “perpetuated colonialism at home and abroad.”

Oh really?

Under Barack Obama, the U.S. military has been used as the “police of the world” even more than it was under George W. Bush.

Under Obama, the war in Afghanistan was greatly expanded and the U.S. military began bombing the living daylights out of Libya. In addition, under Obama the U.S. military has been conducting air strikes in Pakistan, Yemen and Somalia.

Today, there is a U.S. military base in over half of the countries on the planet and U.S. military spending is more than 7 times larger than the military spending of any other nation on earth.

So if “the left” was angry at George W. Bush for what he did, then why aren’t they filled with rage at Barack Obama for his policies?

#10 Occupy Wall Street is angry that the U.S. has “participated in the torture and murder of innocent civilians overseas.”

Well, Barack Obama did not shut down Guantanamo Bay as he promised to do.

So where is the accountability?

Under George W. Bush, millions of “evangelical Christians” were cheering for torture.

Today, millions of “liberals” are cheering while the Obama administration conducts “enhanced interrogations” of prisoners and performs “extraordinary renditions” in foreign countries.

If liberals want to complain about “torture and murder of innocent civilians overseas”, it isn’t the Republicans they should be angry at.

Barack Obama is running our foreign policy, and he should be held accountable for what is going on.

#11 Occupy Wall Street is angry because the wealthy are not paying their “fair share” of taxes.

Well, it is undeniable that many big corporations (such as Obama’s good friends over at GE) quite often get away with paying no taxes at all.

But Barack Obama and the Democrats controlled the White House and all of Congress for two whole years.

So why didn’t they “fix” the tax code while they had the chance?

Could it be that they actually like the current system?

The truth is that our current tax system is so flawed, so complex and so full of holes that it needs to be thrown out entirely.

Many big corporations get away with bloody murder under the current tax system, yet nearly all establishment Democrats and nearly all establishment Republicans want to keep the current system of taxation.

In a previous article, I noted some of the big corporations that make a ton of money and yet have paid less than zero in taxes in recent years….

What U.S. corporations are able to get away with is absolutely amazing.

The following figures come directly out of a report by Citizens for Tax Justice. These are combined figures for the tax years 2008, 2009 and 2010.

During those three years, all of the corporations below made a lot of money. Yet all of them paid net taxes that were below zero for those three years combined.

How is that possible? Well, it turns out that instead of paying in taxes to the federal government, they were actually getting money back.

So for these corporations, their rate of taxation was actually below zero.

If you have not seen these before, you are going to have a hard time believing some of these statistics…..

*Honeywell*

Profits: $4.9 billion

Taxes: -$34 million

*Fed Ex*

Profits: $3 billion

Taxes: -$23 million

*Wells Fargo*

Profits: $49.37 billion

Taxes: -$681 million

*Boeing*

Profits: $9.7 billion

Taxes: -$178 million

*Verizon*

Profits: $32.5 billion

Taxes: -$951 million

*Dupont*

Profits: $2.1 billion

Taxes -$72 million

*American Electric Power*

Profits: $5.89 billion

Taxes -$545 million

*General Electric*

Profits: $7.7 billion

Taxes: -$4.7 billion

Are you starting to get the picture?

The amazing thing is that GE can get away with all this and still ship thousands upon thousands of good American jobs out of the country.

There is no way that our current tax code can be fixed with a few “tweaks” here and there. Our current tax code is an abomination that should be immediately repealed and flushed down the toilet.

But the Democrats and most Republicans seem to want to keep it around. They like to play their little social engineering games with the tax code, and the current tax code enables their wealthy donors to do quite nicely.

Occupy Wall Street is right to argue that our tax code is fundamentally unjust, and the number one person that they need to point the finger at is Barack Obama.

So can any “liberal” out there actually defend Barack Obama after reading all of this?

Can anyone out there put forth an intellectual argument for why Occupy Wall Street protesters should be supporting Obama?

The truth is that most of the Occupy Wall Street protesters are intellectual hypocrites.

Most of them are so scared that a Republican might win in 2012 that they won’t say anything bad about Obama.

It is the same trap that many Republicans fell into with George W. Bush.

Look, George W. Bush was a nightmare for this country.

Barack Obama is even worse.

If we are not going to be intellectually honest with ourselves, then we might as well tattoo the word “sheeple” on to our foreheads.

If Occupy Wall Street really believes the stuff that they are saying, then they need to call for Barack Obama to resign.

Does anyone disagree?

What is this movement about? Dunno. Seems they are unhappy that evil corporate empires like Verizon supply them with cell phones and Apple with laptops.

This is just a loophole -
#7 Occupy Wall Street says that they are angry because the big banks “have taken our houses through an illegal foreclosure process, despite not having the original mortgage.”

While yes it is true, with the selling and reselling of the mortage in bundled deals and so on.

The fact is still there, that You do Have a Mortage, and you Quit paying it. Someone is going to come take your house.

The people that quit paying are deflecting on who can prove who currently owns the loan..

What the spot light should be on is why did these people loose jobs and have to quit paying.

Sperbonzo, those people in the street protesting are against the policies which Obama obviously endorses, which is why they are in the streets right now.

This is all happening on Obama's watch.

I am sure many of them are aware of the corporate tax scams which have been perpetuated for how long now? These laws and loopholes have been slowly beating the hell out of the U.S. economy to the huge benefit of very few.

None of these politicians are going to touch the tax laws with a ten foot pole, because its the very same people who are putting them into office. All of them.

And when you talk about the bailout I think you would actually have to say that Bush and Obama should be called "King and Queen Bailout" respectively;)

Just calling for Obama's resignation isn't going to solve much.

But the elections are coming up, and thats where the new focus needs to be, and right now.
End corporate donors, put drastic celiing on campaign expenditures.
Make it impossible for a candidate to be bought, and we might have a real candidate this time around.

I think its too late to change things with the current administration.

Reminds me of the Tea Party's rally against the Wall Street bailout.

Oh, wait a minute... that never happened.

I don't know about the rest of the country, but we were protesting it in front of the Federal building in downtown fort lauderdale....



.:2 cents:

Over time, the Occupy Wall Street movement will consist of a whole bunch of this guy, and then it will be unstoppable...



https://youtube.com/watch?v=KJKbDz4EZio

and the more people find themselves unemployed and foreclosed upon, the more of this guy will be in the street, fighting the machine.

It's gonna get ugly!...



https://youtube.com/watch?v=KtI85Zc6Oik&sns=fb

It really amazes me how often history repeats itself, yet we never seem to learn from it.

President Franklin D. Roosevelt's speech at Madison Square Garden(October 31, 1936):




If only President Obama had some balls like Roosevelt.....



Here's another excerpt from the speech that addresses so perfectly what's going on today it's eery:


Here's the rest of the speech for those interested: http://millercenter.org/scripps/arch...es/detail/3307

Nice find! :thumbsup

The subtitles add clarity to all of this, big time!



https://youtube.com/watch?v=3xJWxPE8G2c

It's amazing how accurate these words are today.

even during this populist stooge's remarks pandering to the bottom you didn't hear him single out the productive class for higher taxes.

decent analysis from rushkoff.

http://www.cnn.com/2011/10/05/opinio...eet/index.html

It is difficult to comprehend a 21st century movement from the perspective of the 20th century politics, media, and economics in which we are still steeped.

Occupy protests spread across U.S. Unions join 'Occupy Wall Street'
In fact, we are witnessing America's first true Internet-era movement, which -- unlike civil rights protests, labor marches, or even the Obama campaign -- does not take its cue from a charismatic leader, express itself in bumper-sticker-length goals and understand itself as having a particular endpoint.

That's because, unlike a political campaign designed to get some person in office and then close up shop (as in the election of Obama), this is not a movement with a traditional narrative arc. As the product of the decentralized networked-era culture, it is less about victory than sustainability. It is not about one-pointedness, but inclusion and groping toward consensus. It is not like a book; it is like the Internet.

This is one of the critical differences between this movement and other recent ones in the US. Occupy Wall Street was born from the same parts of the internet that brought you Anonymous and co.

http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-m6NaTh8PGR...reetposter.jpg

http://drleonardcoldwell.com/wp-cont...11/10/bull.jpg

http://farectification.files.wordpre...psed-slide.jpg

Be interesting to see how this all gets sorted out... :)

ADG

Funny you say that.... here's a quote from FDR

"Taxes shall be levied according to ability to pay. That is the only American principle."

Btw, the top tax rate in 1936 was 78%.

Pretty much every President in history, thought if you made more, you should be taxed more, even modern day Presidents.

Looks like there will be more people joining.
http://money.cnn.com/2011/10/11/news....htm?hpt=hp_t2

10,000 finance jobs to vanish from Wall Street

none of that is in question as we pay more than you do now.
The question is about singling out the top for additional taxes to pander to the bottom.
Envy is not good tax policy.

I am surprised no one stated the obvious, OWS is a democratic party funded campaign strategy designed to shift focus away from the fact that all the current admistration policy has done is continually make the economy worse.

The point was to show you incorrectly understood him.

I never saw a question... and yeah, all your taxes go straight into the pocket of the poor, that's exactly how it works.

You can think he is envious if you like.

BTW, that tax rate was for people making over $80,000,000 a year in 1936 dollars.

taxes paid by people making $64,000 in 1936 (the equivalent of $1mil in today's dollars paid 8% income tax)

you have no argument.

no wonder you're winning the "lowest IQ poll" in the other thread.
If you had bothered to watch the video, you'll see he never mentions the quote you dug up.
As usual, I understood it completely, you ran out and found your usual bullshit to muddy the waters to seem right again.

You didn't really help your argument here...

If we're adjusting for inflation then you're just part of the bottom rung folks that should be bitching that those above you pay more, because as the President said, "Taxes shall be levied according to ability to pay. That is the only American principle."

Which I've said to you before... you should start bitching up the chain, and not down... you're part of the 99%, best start dealing with it.

Yes, I have much troll love... it's rather cool.

:1orglaugh Yeah chump, nobody said it was in the video, but grats on the lame twist. Sorry to confuse with facts man, I'll stick to a more fox new style next time.

no, you just don't understand the argument.

the 78% rate that you want to tout (misguidedly) was for people who earned over $1bil in today's dollars.

you see, this is what happens to your kind when they parrot what they think supports their position.
You know nothing. If you did, you'd understand that you can't win your argument using historical tax rates.

considering the video is what we're talking about, its only normal for you to talk about something else. its what idiots do.

however, he imposed an 8% tax rate on people earning the equivalent of $1m in todays money. obama wants to impose a 39% rate on those same people.
being at the bottom, you could care less and understand it not at all but for the rest of us, we understand that there's something wildly wrong with that.

but prattle on. it seems board whoring is all you've got left

Oh I get it... it was for people, that they called; higher class - ie: not you.

Including inflation makes no difference, we can simply look at different years in history... at that, that's the same year we got a ton of other taxes, like inheritance, social taxes, a progressive corp tax system, and many others.

If you understood history, you would know that the truly wealthy, of the time and shown by you through inflation.... (again not you) paid a shit ton more taxes, and again - as I've said to you before, you should bitching up the chain rather than looking down it....

Sorry me saying here's a quote for you, confused you that it was in the video.... only you would be lost in that fact that a President might have said it at some other time.

It's not my fault that you're not smart enough to learn how to avoid personal income tax so your burden is lowered... seems like "your betters" have it down perfectly.

Maybe if you stopped whoring it up with the bottom folk around here you could be off making yourself truly wealthy and part of the elite class... rather than bitching at poor, broke, bottom feeders. I mean, I don't see Bill Gates on forums ranting at those under him.... I wonder why?

dude, type away all day.
at the end of the day, your intelligence has gotten you exactly what you deserve.
pretend all day.
no one of any intelligence is thinking you're right.
when someone like you posts like this, why the bottom are the bottom becomes crystal clear.

"Taxes shall be levied according to ability to pay. That is the only American principle." ~ Franklin D. (Bottom Rung) Roosevelt

lucky for you your ability is so limited. eh?

Yeah... lucky for me that I can divert money into less taxable income sources. :1orglaugh

It must piss you off to know that several in the top .1% pay less percentage of tax than you do.... but they're limited ones, right? :1orglaugh

I read a post on a mainstream board where a women claimed she was one of the "99%". She said she worked for "Tyson" for the past fifteen years as a "quality insurance inspector". She told the board that she works 12 hours a day, but only makes $11/hour.

I ripped her to shreds. She's not one of the 99%; She's part of the "bottom five percent". Meaning, in the past fifteen years she failed to rise above her entry level position and barely makes enough money to live above the poverty level.

Fuck her and fuck these people.

When I was seventeen, I had been a homeless runaway drug addict for the past two years. I joined the Marines, spent five years trying to climb up the corporate ladder at the local phone company where I made it to management (while watching hundreds of people twice my age never rise above a entry level position). Being as a job at the phone company making $70k a year wasn't enough, THEN I went to college.... And THEN I started all over again from the bottom when I was thirty (which paid off rather well really).

I understand people are hurting. I'm sorry. But that doesn't mean you should get to take away my shiny new Jaguar.

That's sad you think that way... in perspective you've always only been an employee and failed to rise above everyone else that opened companies. And those same owners failed to rise up to be bankers, and so on... stop applying a scale to it.

Just because a person makes low wages doesn't mean they didn't work extremely hard, do a damn good job, and not everyone is actually smart enough to do what you said either.... it takes every scale, level, size, smartness, money, etc to build an functional economy, it takes fairness too - or it falls, just like today.

The question is not what should be the minimum wage but what should the maximum wage be in a society.

The rich are only rich because society creates the conditions for them to make money, trains a workforce, keeps wages low, attacks trade unions, has courts to enforce contracts, builds infrastructure, finances research then privatizes the profit

Should one human being earn in one year what a thousand or a hundred thousand other human being have to work ten years to produce.

We forget money being abstract, that it represents wealth that working people have to produce.

Hell no.

I saw this at the phone company. I worked for Pac Bell for five years. I had a GED and four years in the Marines, and I accepted an entry level position at the phone company - Operator Services (I was a 411 operator). A year later I was a supervisor. After two years, I was training new telephone operators. By the third year I was a manager. By the fourth year I was in charge of the entire facility at night - I was in charge of 250 employees. Most of them were older than me, and making less than me.

Why is that?

They did the basic minimum to keep their job (and most likely bitched about it the entire time).

If you worked the same job for fifteen years, and your still working what is really an entry level position... You've failed. There's no two ways to look at it. It's not my fault she didn't work full time and put herself through four years of college at the same time.

it's a rally where people who post here can get free hot dogs

Not everyone can be a Marine, not everyone has the drive, and not everyones passion is the same once they are a Marine. It's the same in business.

Or for employees, some people are hired to do "a" job - a low skilled - low paid, job, that's it... they aren't smart enough to do much more - they aren't smart enough to grow education, or maybe they don't care to do much more. But, sometimes they rock it and are motivated at doing the best job they can - on the exact job they were hired to do, and not anything else, they're the masters of 'that job' - and the owners, know it.

Employees are worth different pay because of skills or education, etc... but that doesn't mean they are worth less or more to the economic process. And that's key.. in the economic process they make the smallest percentage of income - screw the amount, the percentage to 'live' on, is vastly smaller - yet they are part of the economic process - even the shitty employees.

Something has to give.... we can't all be educated, we can't all be owners.. and we can't neglect those that help people like us for much longer or they're going to rise up and take shit from us...... again.