Occupy "Your City"

[Doc]

Okay, these people are occupying cities. I get that. They're protesting. I get that. Exactly WHAT THE @#$! ARE THEY PROTESTING? I don't get that? Perhaps I'm the brain dead carp that I'm accused of being? These people in tents? WHY?

[North Shore]

Well, the original ones in New York are protesting the boot-f@#king that some Wall Street companies gave to the US economy and taxpayers over the last few years, and all of the rest are out in solidarity.

IS there an occupy K-town?

[Doc]

IS there an occupy K-town?

Maybe if it were July! LOL!

[Sheila]

I don't get to see the protests but I understand they want to stop the carrying on with business as usual by business people and when the business people didn't lose nothing except their souls! The institutions did fraud, actually.
It's not only wall street protesters. Today I saw on the tv, students were protesting at San Diego or somewhere around there because of tuition hikes. I think I would protest too because I'm bothered by things like why Chrysler Daimler company couldn't survive, that was an amazing company I thought, how come they didn't make it?
Now, I don't trust the actions to get rid of the wheat board here like the farmers will make it on their own in the free market, does that sound true to you guys?

[Siddley Hawker]

They are selective with their occupations.

http://fullcomment.nationalpost.com/201 ... hollywood/

[Rockie]

Exactly WHAT THE @#$! ARE THEY PROTESTING?

They want something for the trillion or so they bailed out the genius financiers with. They want government to work for them like it's supposed to increasing their standard of living and protecting their money. They want change so that they don't have to bail out banks ever again, and they want the people who created the financial mess to begin with gone.

Pretty reasonable if you ask me, but probably futile since nothing will change.

[azimuthaviation]

They are selective with their occupations.

http://fullcomment.nationalpost.com/201 ... hollywood/

Cause Kim Kardashian and Lady Gaga werent he subjects of tax payer funded bailouts and no one lost their home to Fiddy cents business practices. Yet.

[cdnpilot77]

Okay, these people are occupying cities. I get that. They're protesting. I get that. Exactly WHAT THE @#$! ARE THEY PROTESTING? I don't get that? Perhaps I'm the brain dead carp that I'm accused of being? These people in tents? WHY?

In many cases they dont even know besides it having something to do with the banks...its just the trendy thing to do.

As for the tents, I heard a guy say the other day that only the people with tents are getting laid...what to take from that?

[robertsailor1]

I find it refreshing, its been a long time since we've seen some good protests. If there was ever a time and some good reasons it certainly is now.

[. ._]

My take is that they're saying they don't like corrupt corporate practices and everything that goes along with that- buying government officials, environmental destruction with the liabilities put on the public, the ability to create money out of thin air, genetically modifying crops to infect other crops so they end up owning a whole species, etc.

The media should be covering this better. I've had to make my opinion from digging for hours into "alternative" media sources.

Hope that clears things up a bit for ya, Doc.

[flyinggreasemonkey]

They're too lazy to go out and make money so they're trying to force change so they get it for free, if not a lot easier.

[Siddley Hawker]

Cause Kim Kardashian and Lady Gaga werent he subjects of tax payer funded bailouts and no one lost their home to Fiddy cents business practices.

Good point, and one to remember the next time the occupiers raise the subject of income inequality.

[FighterPilot]

I can't see Occupy Sioux Lookout happening any time soon. However there are some locals camped out sometime on main street, so that's about as close as it's going to get.

[Mig29]

They're too lazy to go out and make money so they're trying to force change so they get it for free, if not a lot easier.

Far from it....but if you look at it, you are already (almost working for free) when Gov't hits you with up to 50% of taxes, you end up working for a lot less then some poorer countries in Europe or S.America. But because any Jo can get a credit card or a loan, it doesn't seem like that.

I agree, the protests are pretty futile until a mass majority of people join in and boycott their Gov't, their MPs, mass wide strikes like in Europe and then maybe, just maybe we'll get somewhere.

Winter is coming, and we all know how well people protest outdoors in -25C ...

[Cap'n P8]

I was just in NYC last weekend with the family and we walked past Zucotti on the way to the WTC memorial site. I was expecting to see and hear a lot going on, but there didn't seem to be any action at all, not one single bongo or anything. I guess they were tired.

[Expat]

I guess some people just got tired of paying for occupying Iraq, Afghanistan, Libya,...and decided it would be cheaper to occupy closer to home. Or just may be that movement was started by immigrants of occupied countries, who decided that they could also occupy some prime real estate.

[Wilbur]

It's primarily the usual crowd of professional protesters. Bums with an unlimited capacity for rationalizing that protesting is a legitimate career option with their salaries paid by welfare or EI. True social justice would be cutting them all off since they aren't looking for work. As a tax payer, I'm rather tired of working to pay some clown hair farmer with a face festooned with jewellery to laze about complaining all day. See a barber and harvest the crop, get the rings our your face, and most imporatantly, get a job.

[North Shore]

They're too lazy to go out and make money so they're trying to force change so they get it for free, if not a lot easier.

It's primarily the usual crowd of professional protesters. Bums with an unlimited capacity for rationalizing that protesting is a legitimate career option with their salaries paid by welfare or EI. True social justice would be cutting them all off since they aren't looking for work. As a tax payer, I'm rather tired of working to pay some clown hair farmer with a face festooned with jewellery to laze about complaining all day. See a barber and harvest the crop, get the rings our your face, and most imporatantly, get a job.

Didn't take long for the right-wing knee jerkers to come out from under their rocks. Kudos to FGM for getting out of bed at 0700 to post; Wilbur's a little late to the party, rising at noon.

So with the unemployment rate hovering at around 7% in Canada, and 9% in the USA, any bright ideas as to where those jobs are that these people should get, boys?

Also, consider the fact that your standard of living is helped by those unemployed - cos if they all had a job, then the guy flipping burgers at McDonalds, could ask for a large pay raise and get it, because, there'd be no-one on the street to replace him, and then the price of everything goes up...

Lastly, there but for the grace of God go I (and you): http://www.thestar.com/business/article ... finds?bn=1 6 out of 10 of us are about 2 paycheques away from UI, and then welfare...I'd imagine that probably includes one of you...

[Shiny Side Up]

So with the unemployment rate hovering at around 7% in Canada, and 9% in the USA, any bright ideas as to where those jobs are that these people should get, boys?

Also, consider the fact that your standard of living is helped by those unemployed - cos if they all had a job, then the guy flipping burgers at McDonalds, could ask for a large pay raise and get it, because, there'd be no-one on the street to replace him, and then the price of everything goes up...

The above it really what's at the heart of the issue, though sometimes the people doing the protesting don't articulate it. These aren't people demanding free money, they just are tired of working for nothing. Their tax dollars also aren't going towards helping their situation either. There are indeed lots of jobs available out there, but no living wage type of jobs. Wal Marts and McDonalds really hire three type of workers and take advantage of the fact that there will be a steady supply of them: Young people, retired people and temporary extra staff. The last group are people who have other jobs and are working extra shifts for a few extra bucks to get by - especially when it comes to the holiday season.

One of the ideas people have to get around is that the Government is very limited in terms of its ability to create jobs, and really only has two ways to do it: Public works - construction which really is limited term, and by increasing the size of the government - long term, but generally undesireable in most cases since the only way to pay government workers is by increasing taxes. Jobs are strictly supply and demand. You can't magically create them out of thin air, the government can't, neither can corporations or any individual. As such, giving money to an entity is not a direct lineage to job creation. What's happening that creates the discontent of the people is that all of that so called job creation tax dollars aren't creating jobs - if anything they're doing the opposite. The money is going to prop up failing industry rather than open new markets which will in turn create new jobs.

If the government wants to take a hand in putting people to work it has the ability to do two things. First is fund education, but fund it where its needed. We don't need any more personal fitness majors and political science degree holders. We need doctors, nurses, engineers, and skilled trades people. This is one thing where people themselves are at fault, many of the protesters want jobs, but like they say not everyone gets to be an astronaut. That being said,it would be a help if public education would have prepared these people better in the first place. The second place the government can work through is by helping people move to where there are jobs to put them to work. Munincipal governments are really to fault for this one - anyone who lives in the City of Calgary can tell you that there just isn't anywhere affordable to live primarily due to poor planning, poor transit and absurd run away development sprawl. In my hometown I completely understand where the "occupy" protesters are comming from. The Provincial and municipal governments (who in turn are getting federal tax dollars) are tripping head over heels to let corporations run amok to turn short term profits and put long term problems on the populace when the guys with the money cut and run.

[reality check]

It's primarily the usual crowd of professional protesters. Bums with an unlimited capacity for rationalizing that protesting is a legitimate career option with their salaries paid by welfare or EI. True social justice would be cutting them all off since they aren't looking for work. As a tax payer, I'm rather tired of working to pay some clown hair farmer with a face festooned with jewellery to laze about complaining all day. See a barber and harvest the crop, get the rings our your face, and most imporatantly, get a job.

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[bmc]

What has to specifically happen, in the short term, for these protesters to feel they have succeeded?

Does the governmnet have to enact legislation for this to be considered a successful effort?

How will they know they have succeeded?

If you don't know where you are going, how will you know when you get there?

[Siddley Hawker]

Geez bmc, quit trying to inject logic into this thread.

[Wilbur]

Well, if they really want jobs they should look at the Province of BC website once in a while for starters. I just had to repost a competition and run a bunch of newspaper ads because I didn't get enough applicants the first time round to fill even half the vacancies I have. $20/hr to start, fully paid training program, rising to $30 after 5 years, a full benefit package, defined benefit pension plan and some tuition subsidy funding for post secondary studies. I'll be posting again in Apr to hire another group; Hopefully I'll find enough people. Problem for us is our city has an unemployement rate of only about 5.75% and the newspaper is full of job adds.

3-4% unemployement is generally considered full employment because there will always be some people between jobs and some that are looking for work but are, in reality, unemployable. So 7% is not that bad, and would likely be lower if some were willing to leave the big cities.

[iflyforpie]

How can you live in BC on $20/hr?

See, that's the thing that pisses me off. I make just enough money that I don't qualify for all the 'free stuff' that the government gives away like child care subsidy, MSP, and student loans (which aren't a giveaway really) so I could go back to school; and most of the extra money I do make is up in higher brackets where I get raped by the government. 'Oh, you're supposed to put that away in RRSPs and live off the $41,544 taxed at the lower rate..' Yeah...... right!

And then go and watch the government piss it all away on runaway social programs that make people worse off than when they started, corporate welfare for mismanaged companies, and a burgeoning bureaucracy of elitist schmucks who's net contribution to society is zero.

I am pretty sure more of these 'protesters' know more about hard work than the people who they are protesting against.

[Wilbur]

Are you really suggesting that being paid $40k to start training, and $60k at five years, plus benefits, plus a defined benefit pension plan isn't good enough for someone with nothing more than a grade 12 education?

You do realize that in much of BC, $225 to 250k will buy you a decent BC box home?

Sorry, but when I look at these deadbeats camped out at the Vancouver Art Gallery I know why they can't find decent jobs. Scraggly long greasy hair, Jack Sparrow style pirate beards, excessive facial jewellery, bizarre tattoo's, and standing there smoking dope with an overwhelming sense of entitlement and self-importance. Just the kind of people the best employers are looking for.

I doubt any of them have ever been at an income level requiring them to pay income tax, therefore their claims of being subject to an unfair tax system are mute unless they are advocating they should start paying some.