Occupy Dame Street apparently has a group set up for Irish trad music at their camp in Dublin. Has anyone been there? I figure it's probably much cooler than the drum circle in Zuccotti Park.
Why deduction dear Watson - if you're not the 1 percent, you must be part of the rest. Back when it was "the other half" it was probably harder to figure out
people only don't know what these protests are about because the corporate media is refusing to tell anyone.
1% of people own 99% of the planet's wealth. I guess the protestors are part of the other 99%!
I saw an interesting figure on the web the other day...estimated cost to "solve" world hunger £30 billion (ok I don't know how that figure was produced)......the world spends £30 billion on war/armaments EVERY 8 DAYS!
If you live in Ireland ... rich, decadent, privileged, Western European Ireland, the likelihood is that if you're not already in that 1%, you're pretty close to it. And every last one of you, even the beggars on Grafton Street, are in the top "half".
"1% of people own 99% of the planet's wealth." That's a wild exaggeration. Even rabidly anti-capitalist movements only claim that 2% of the world's population own about 50% of the world's wealth. Even if some left-wing statistician has rounded that 2% figure down instead of up, that still means that even they are only saying that 1% own *half* the planet's wealth, not 99% of it.
I just think you're getting your staistics confused there, bodatcha.
Meanwhile, seriously, what are they resisting? And, given that they perceive a problem (I'm not sure what it is that they're saying the problem is, but there ya go) what is their proposed solution?
Follow your logic, Ilig and you'd have to include all citizens of UK, EU, USA, Australia plus substantial parts of Asia. Don't try telling us that all these "rich, decadent, privileged, Western" peoples are the 1% - that's stretching it .. a bit!
Everything's relative in many ways and there's loads people struggling in Ireland these days to put meals on the table after paying all their bills and taxes. Actually ordinary Irish people are pretty p*ssed off as a people because it looks like the ordinary Sean or Sinead citizen is being screwed to pick up the tab not only for our own profligate politicians, bankers and business people but also the profligate politicians, bankers etc. in the wider EU.
The wider EU? Ha. Ireland is one of the larger beneficiaries of the EU and has been since it joined. Your "ordinary Sean or Sinead citizen" is plssed off not because they are poor, but because they are poorer than before. As you say, everything is relative
@twh: I expect that's why we saw them all out protesting a few years ago at the huge EU handouts that fuelled the "Celtic Tiger" economy. I expect everyone objected to the profligacy that that represented. And to the cheap loans at many times salary that were thrown at them ... And to the resultant housing boom. Because people would have realised, of course, that such profligacy would only lead to collapse eventually, woudn't they? And, that being the case, they'd have had no part in it. Of course.
Yeah, and I bet they don't even eat the goats after they skin them. Probably feed them to their pampered pet dogs. What do you think the good people of Mozambique would think of that?
The situation in Ireland is clear enough - in the ordinary course of events, we would have let our banks collapse and to hell with the various bond holders from the UK, French & German banks. 'You' were unwise to lend to our reckless banks in the same manner as they were reckless to lend to property speculators.
The only problem with that approach is that it would have had major repercussions for the French, German and UK economies and banks, so there is huge pressure on the Irish state and therefore citizen to prop up the wider capitalist system in the EU.
Yeh, the system is great as it is isn't it "Ethical Blend" and LLig?...so lets do f**k all about it and snipe at those who are trying (the "Occupy" movement...)....nice work fellas.
@twh: No, that's not the only problem. The main problem with doing that would have been the direct and immediate effect on Irish citizens. What would you have done about Irish pensioners left without a pension? And what would you have done about people's savings? And about people's hosues, where they had mortgages on them that would have been foreclosed?
That fact is that huge amounts of support have come *from* the EU, specifically to Ireland, to prop up the Irish system, which, in reality would have collapsed, leaving the majority in a far worse state than they are now. It doesn't take much thinking about to see the obvious truth of this.
I doubt the protesters can offer any solutions to the problems of corporate greed and power, but then again, neither can our elected politicians who say they will address the problem, and then don't.
Sorry EB, as an ordinary Irish taxpayer, I just don't accept your analysis. Capitalism is supposed to be about risk - investors getting high returns when they place their money well and taking losses when they don't. What we have here is a 'heads I win, tails you lose' situation whereby UK, French, German investors should have been given the boot but instead their risky investments were garaunteed.
As far as EU money and support flowing into Ireland goes, that was only right and proper. The EU project is about stabilising Europe and bringing some sort of common standard of living for all citizens. In Ireland's case we gave up substantial matters in return - fishing rights, a degree of political independence and now finally our economic sovereignty..
"A problem ....", if you like Ilig
Of course, a good many people in Ireland were greedy and reckless in the manner they borrowed & invested money. I've no problem with these individuals carrying the can, they need their come uppance. But I and many others object to supporting the risks taken by the agencies that lent money into the Irish economy - let them likewise carry the can and go to their own taxpayers whether that be in UK or wider Europe.
Don't get me wrong, twh, there's a bit of me that would have liked to have let the banks collapse, as you suggest. However, just stop for one second to think what that would actually mean for ordinary people.
We are at the start - not the end, not even the middle, but the *start* - of the worst financial crisis the world has ever seen. Try and imagine the Great Depression of the 1920s and 1930s magnified hundreds of times in scale. Then, if you're happy to accept that image, *then* you can tell me the banks should have been allowed to collapse. If you just want to brush aside the inevitable consequences, however, then I'm not going to give it much respect.
Oh, and Contentment is Wealth is a great tune, isn't it? And so true, too ...
I agree that it's better on balance to keep the 'banks' going, EB but I also believe that the cost of that should be shared more equally between all countries.
One thousand job losses announced here this morning from Aviva, the insurance company. Don't have great time for the insurance industry, leeches as far as I'm concerned, but here we have a large company outside Ireland coming in and buying up Hibernian Insurance, keeping it for a few years and then basically closing it and making Aviva here a branch of Aviva UK. Asset stripping. Same thing happened to my local printing company a while back, 50 jobs, bought out UK printing firm, took all work off them and closed them down.
Mind you, to look on the bright side for other readers here, emigration is rising steadily again in Ireland with many in their 20's and 30's leaving for better prospects abroad. A proportion of these are bound to include trad musicians so could be back to old cycle.
"The situation in Ireland is clear enough - in the ordinary course of events, we would have let our banks collapse and to hell with the various bond holders from the UK, French & German banks. [but] I agree that it's better on balance to keep the 'banks' going,"
No, it's called realism, Michael. Given free choice in the matter, we might well have underwritten the debts of the 'high street' banks who hold many ordinary people's savings and accounts. But the likes of Anglo Irish bank, which were primarily vehicles for property developers/ speculators - should have gone straight to the wall.
For good or ill, "many ordinary people" have money tied up in pension plans, small "socks and shares" ISAs(in UK), Insurance policies, and other plans etc. They were "advised" that this was better than putting all their money into ordinary savings or underneath the mattress.
So, while I've no sympathy for the men at the top and the "professional" capitalists and investors, unfortunately if they fall they take the rest of us with them.
I'm inclined to blame the banks and the financial services generally for pushing their offers, more than the ordinary Joes who took out loans as a result of this. Through the boom years I couldn't go and do the simplest things at a bank counter without being hustled about changing the nature of my account and told I could make a good deal more money thereby. I hate being in banks, it's just a ******* chore I want to get done as soon as poss so I can get back to something that matters to me more, so I'd just say "NAH! I've got enough money, just do what I've asked you to do so I can get on out of here!" I believe the clerks were compelled to come up with this sales patter the whole time so as (obviously) to procure transactions that would add to the bank's profits, and because commissions on these would either augment or be a substitute for their own proper wages. But pretty demeaning for all involved.
Meanwhile, yes, I too blame the banks. And also the complacent governments and watchdogs around the world who let them get away with it. However, from a practical point of view, letting any of them simply collapse will, wihout doubt, simply hurt the rest of us. Unless, that is, you don't and won't need any income when you retire, you don't have any savings and you don't have any borrowings. Oh, and you're completely
self-sufficient in terms both of food and clothing. And you're not fussed about having a job ... or getting any benefits ... (as you can tell, I could go on ...) ...
So, what gets me is my original question: what are they resisting? If I thought anybody had a *shred* of a plan it would at least be worth listening to.
I overheard these words being sung at one occupied park or another, to Lennon’s venerable “Give Peace a Chance” melody:
“All we are saying . . . is give subconscious resentment of paternal authority figures, hemp-fueled flying cars, and perplexingly self-congratulatory dependence a chance . . .”
Never mind all the politics. Since when have anti-capitalist protesters availed of Microsoft and co to broadcast themselves across the world via the Internet? It is a strange world we live in and it is not helped by banjos!
Up in those office towers, where the higher pay-grade folks are -- you know, the people who took the giant transfusions of corporate welfare from our government -- were there no high fives or any other outward signs of self congratulatory dependence?
Steve, You would think that the fact that harmonicas are expensive would indicate that they are in high demand, but that doesn't fit with the general lack of respect they seem to get. It is either a paradox, or a sign of price fixing!
Like Steve Jobs was so good at ... the best way is not to find and fill a market niche, but to create a market. Do you think anyone would ever think they needed a bodhran if there was no such thing?
That gives me an idea. I have in mind a new session percussion instrument that I'm sure I can create a market for. Like the bodhran, the beauty of it is that you can learn to play it perfectly within ten minutes! You won't know you needed one 'til you see it. Dragons' Den here I come...
Why is it suddenly such an issue that the majority of the world's population is living outside of the "wealth bubble"? Hasn't massive disparity between the richest and the rest always been an issue, even since the days of the ancient Greeks and Romans (and before)? What are we hoping to accomplish? "Hey rich people and profit-mongering conglomerates: give us some of your money"..."Or else?"..."Or else we'll continue to stage ineffective protests until you do"..."I think we'll just keep our money, thank you very much. Now, go clean my house"...
Occupy Wall Street and its offshoots cannot change human nature...just saying...
Them that's got shall get
Them that's not shall lose
So the Bible said and it still is news
Mama may have, Papa may have
But God bless the child that's got his own
That's got his own
Oh, the strong gets more
While the weak ones fade
Empty pockets don't ever make the grade
Mama may have, Papa may have
But God bless the child that's got his own
That's got his own
When you've got money, you've got lots of friends
Crowding round the door
But when its gone, and spending ends
They don't come no more
Rich relations give
Crust of bread and such
You can help yourself
But don't take too much
Mama may have, Papa may have
But God bless the child that's got his own
That's got his own
"99 percent is a very large percentage. For instance, easily 99 percent of people want a roof over their heads, food on their tables, and the occasional slice of cake for dessert. Surely an arrangement can be made with that niggling 1 percent who disagree."
That seems like a completely meaningless statement, there, airport. I've never read any Lemony Snicket, but those "Observations" made me feel slightly sick, they were so inane. Mind, I've looked him up in Wiki now, and maybe he meant them all to be meaningless, given his fictional character.
well I'm at least flattered you looked him up - I saw some grains of human truth in his observations, but I knew he was a children's author when I read them. Maybe you have to approach them like you would Lewis Carroll, or maybe The Wizard of Oz as a monetary reform parable?
Did you know that the Brown vs. Board of Education started over a school bus? Black kids in South Carolina were walking 8 or 9 miles to school (since they weren't allowed to go to the schools that were within a mile or two of their homes). Their parents just wanted a bus.
You suggested him, airport, so I looked him up. I guess it's down to personal taste. I couldn't make any sense out of any of those statements. Hence my query as to whether he'd done that deliberately. I suspect that approaching them as Lewis Carroll or, my suggestion, maybe Edward Lear (a personal favourite) might be better, as you say.
That Education row - now there's real protest for you. That meant something. And how.
That's all very well, cjprince, and I don't disagree with it. But what does anyone think should be done? And how will whatever that is change things? To me, the whole thing is completely aimless.
Occupy thesession.org
Occupy thesession.org
http://www.occupydamestreet.org/?page_id=134
Occupy Dame Street apparently has a group set up for Irish trad music at their camp in Dublin. Has anyone been there? I figure it's probably much cooler than the drum circle in Zuccotti Park.
Cheers, 99%'ers!
# Posted on October 19th 2011 by kennedy
Occupy thesession.org
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ohs2mWECK6M
Irish music session at the camp
# Posted on October 19th 2011 by Batgirl has left the GPL ;)
Re: Occupy thesession.org
Yes, much better than the drums at Zuccotti! I should have known to look on YouTube. Thanks. So glad to see all this happening.
# Posted on October 19th 2011 by kennedy
Occupy thesession.org
So sad to hear about Zuccotti Park. But I'm sure in Dublin they'll be learning, & playing, more jigs as time goes by. Get over there, now.
;)
# Posted on October 19th 2011 by Batgirl has left the GPL ;)
Re: Occupy thesession.org
Well, Zuccotti Park is great for other reasons. I just avoid the drum area.
# Posted on October 19th 2011 by kennedy
Re: Occupy thesession.org
All power to the proletariat!
# Posted on October 19th 2011 by AlBrown
Re: Occupy thesession.org
Um... I hate to say this, but what are they "resisting"?: And why do they think they are the 99%?
# Posted on October 19th 2011 by ethical blend
Re: Occupy thesession.org
Why deduction dear Watson - if you're not the 1 percent, you must be part of the rest. Back when it was "the other half" it was probably harder to figure out
# Posted on October 19th 2011 by airport
Re: Occupy thesession.org
"What are they resisting"?????? Check this out "ethical blend"
http://i158.photobucket.com/albums/t84/bodatcha/ScreenShot2011-10-19at084933.png
people only don't know what these protests are about because the corporate media is refusing to tell anyone.
1% of people own 99% of the planet's wealth. I guess the protestors are part of the other 99%!
I saw an interesting figure on the web the other day...estimated cost to "solve" world hunger £30 billion (ok I don't know how that figure was produced)......the world spends £30 billion on war/armaments EVERY 8 DAYS!
# Posted on October 19th 2011 by bodatcha
Re: Occupy thesession.org
Lovely film from Dublin by the way......
# Posted on October 19th 2011 by bodatcha
Re: Occupy thesession.org
If you live in Ireland ... rich, decadent, privileged, Western European Ireland, the likelihood is that if you're not already in that 1%, you're pretty close to it. And every last one of you, even the beggars on Grafton Street, are in the top "half".
# Posted on October 19th 2011 by ...
Re: Occupy thesession.org
bodatcha, the placards is that cartoon only seem to refer to part of the planet and world hunger does not get a mention.
# Posted on October 19th 2011 by David50
Re: Occupy thesession.org
"1% of people own 99% of the planet's wealth." That's a wild exaggeration. Even rabidly anti-capitalist movements only claim that 2% of the world's population own about 50% of the world's wealth. Even if some left-wing statistician has rounded that 2% figure down instead of up, that still means that even they are only saying that 1% own *half* the planet's wealth, not 99% of it.
I just think you're getting your staistics confused there, bodatcha.
Meanwhile, seriously, what are they resisting? And, given that they perceive a problem (I'm not sure what it is that they're saying the problem is, but there ya go) what is their proposed solution?
# Posted on October 19th 2011 by ethical blend
Re: Occupy thesession.org
... and it depends what you define as wealth
... Contentment?
# Posted on October 19th 2011 by ...
Re: Occupy thesession.org
There ya go, Michael, trying to spoil it all by bringing it back on topic.
# Posted on October 19th 2011 by ethical blend
Re: Occupy thesession.org
Follow your logic, Ilig and you'd have to include all citizens of UK, EU, USA, Australia plus substantial parts of Asia. Don't try telling us that all these "rich, decadent, privileged, Western" peoples are the 1% - that's stretching it .. a bit!
Everything's relative in many ways and there's loads people struggling in Ireland these days to put meals on the table after paying all their bills and taxes. Actually ordinary Irish people are pretty p*ssed off as a people because it looks like the ordinary Sean or Sinead citizen is being screwed to pick up the tab not only for our own profligate politicians, bankers and business people but also the profligate politicians, bankers etc. in the wider EU.
# Posted on October 19th 2011 by the wounded hussar
Re: Occupy thesession.org
You have to try to make Jeremy feel at least a little bit guilty for removing the thread
# Posted on October 19th 2011 by ...
Re: Occupy thesession.org
And just think about all those two-bodhran households in the west.
# Posted on October 19th 2011 by Steve Shaw
Re: Occupy thesession.org
The wider EU? Ha. Ireland is one of the larger beneficiaries of the EU and has been since it joined. Your "ordinary Sean or Sinead citizen" is plssed off not because they are poor, but because they are poorer than before. As you say, everything is relative
# Posted on October 19th 2011 by ...
Re: Occupy thesession.org
@twh: I expect that's why we saw them all out protesting a few years ago at the huge EU handouts that fuelled the "Celtic Tiger" economy. I expect everyone objected to the profligacy that that represented. And to the cheap loans at many times salary that were thrown at them ... And to the resultant housing boom. Because people would have realised, of course, that such profligacy would only lead to collapse eventually, woudn't they? And, that being the case, they'd have had no part in it. Of course.
# Posted on October 19th 2011 by ethical blend
Re: Occupy thesession.org
Yeah, and I bet they don't even eat the goats after they skin them. Probably feed them to their pampered pet dogs. What do you think the good people of Mozambique would think of that?
# Posted on October 19th 2011 by ...
Re: Occupy thesession.org
The situation in Ireland is clear enough - in the ordinary course of events, we would have let our banks collapse and to hell with the various bond holders from the UK, French & German banks. 'You' were unwise to lend to our reckless banks in the same manner as they were reckless to lend to property speculators.
The only problem with that approach is that it would have had major repercussions for the French, German and UK economies and banks, so there is huge pressure on the Irish state and therefore citizen to prop up the wider capitalist system in the EU.
# Posted on October 19th 2011 by the wounded hussar
Re: Occupy thesession.org
Yeh, the system is great as it is isn't it "Ethical Blend" and LLig?...so lets do f**k all about it and snipe at those who are trying (the "Occupy" movement...)....nice work fellas.
# Posted on October 19th 2011 by bodatcha
Re: Occupy thesession.org
Meanwhile, over in Basildon, this is going on...
http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/blog/2011/oct/19/dale-farm-evictions-live?fb=native
# Posted on October 19th 2011 by bodatcha
Re: Occupy thesession.org
@twh: No, that's not the only problem. The main problem with doing that would have been the direct and immediate effect on Irish citizens. What would you have done about Irish pensioners left without a pension? And what would you have done about people's savings? And about people's hosues, where they had mortgages on them that would have been foreclosed?
That fact is that huge amounts of support have come *from* the EU, specifically to Ireland, to prop up the Irish system, which, in reality would have collapsed, leaving the majority in a far worse state than they are now. It doesn't take much thinking about to see the obvious truth of this.
# Posted on October 19th 2011 by ethical blend
Re: Occupy thesession.org
I doubt the protesters can offer any solutions to the problems of corporate greed and power, but then again, neither can our elected politicians who say they will address the problem, and then don't.
Have you guys got a better plan?
# Posted on October 19th 2011 by DrSilverSpear
Re: Occupy thesession.org
Sorry EB, as an ordinary Irish taxpayer, I just don't accept your analysis. Capitalism is supposed to be about risk - investors getting high returns when they place their money well and taking losses when they don't. What we have here is a 'heads I win, tails you lose' situation whereby UK, French, German investors should have been given the boot but instead their risky investments were garaunteed.
As far as EU money and support flowing into Ireland goes, that was only right and proper. The EU project is about stabilising Europe and bringing some sort of common standard of living for all citizens. In Ireland's case we gave up substantial matters in return - fishing rights, a degree of political independence and now finally our economic sovereignty..
# Posted on October 19th 2011 by the wounded hussar
Re: Occupy thesession.org
"The ONLY problem with allowing the Irish banks to collapse is that it would have had major repercussions for the French, German and UK economies."
Such grasps on the complexity of economics is typical of the "protesting"classes.
# Posted on October 19th 2011 by ...
Re: Occupy thesession.org
WH,
Are you suggesting that there are(or were) no investors from Ireland itself with risky "investments" either at home or elsewhere?
# Posted on October 19th 2011 by Johnny Jay
Re: Occupy thesession.org
"A problem ....", if you like Ilig
Of course, a good many people in Ireland were greedy and reckless in the manner they borrowed & invested money. I've no problem with these individuals carrying the can, they need their come uppance. But I and many others object to supporting the risks taken by the agencies that lent money into the Irish economy - let them likewise carry the can and go to their own taxpayers whether that be in UK or wider Europe.
# Posted on October 19th 2011 by the wounded hussar
Re: Occupy thesession.org
Ah, protectionism it is now.
# Posted on October 19th 2011 by ...
Re: Occupy thesession.org
Don't get me wrong, twh, there's a bit of me that would have liked to have let the banks collapse, as you suggest. However, just stop for one second to think what that would actually mean for ordinary people.
We are at the start - not the end, not even the middle, but the *start* - of the worst financial crisis the world has ever seen. Try and imagine the Great Depression of the 1920s and 1930s magnified hundreds of times in scale. Then, if you're happy to accept that image, *then* you can tell me the banks should have been allowed to collapse. If you just want to brush aside the inevitable consequences, however, then I'm not going to give it much respect.
Oh, and Contentment is Wealth is a great tune, isn't it? And so true, too ...
# Posted on October 19th 2011 by ethical blend
Re: Occupy thesession.org
I agree that it's better on balance to keep the 'banks' going, EB but I also believe that the cost of that should be shared more equally between all countries.
One thousand job losses announced here this morning from Aviva, the insurance company. Don't have great time for the insurance industry, leeches as far as I'm concerned, but here we have a large company outside Ireland coming in and buying up Hibernian Insurance, keeping it for a few years and then basically closing it and making Aviva here a branch of Aviva UK. Asset stripping. Same thing happened to my local printing company a while back, 50 jobs, bought out UK printing firm, took all work off them and closed them down.
# Posted on October 19th 2011 by the wounded hussar
Re: Occupy thesession.org
'bought out' by UK printers who closed em, that is.
# Posted on October 19th 2011 by the wounded hussar
Re: Occupy thesession.org
Mind you, to look on the bright side for other readers here, emigration is rising steadily again in Ireland with many in their 20's and 30's leaving for better prospects abroad. A proportion of these are bound to include trad musicians so could be back to old cycle.
# Posted on October 19th 2011 by the wounded hussar
Re: Occupy thesession.org
"The situation in Ireland is clear enough - in the ordinary course of events, we would have let our banks collapse and to hell with the various bond holders from the UK, French & German banks. [but] I agree that it's better on balance to keep the 'banks' going,"
Is this called progress?
# Posted on October 19th 2011 by ...
Re: Occupy thesession.org
No, it's called realism, Michael. Given free choice in the matter, we might well have underwritten the debts of the 'high street' banks who hold many ordinary people's savings and accounts. But the likes of Anglo Irish bank, which were primarily vehicles for property developers/ speculators - should have gone straight to the wall.
# Posted on October 19th 2011 by the wounded hussar
Re: Occupy thesession.org
"many ordinary people's savings and accounts"
For good or ill, "many ordinary people" have money tied up in pension plans, small "socks and shares" ISAs(in UK), Insurance policies, and other plans etc. They were "advised" that this was better than putting all their money into ordinary savings or underneath the mattress.
So, while I've no sympathy for the men at the top and the "professional" capitalists and investors, unfortunately if they fall they take the rest of us with them.
# Posted on October 19th 2011 by Johnny Jay
Re: Occupy thesession.org
Yes, I've got money tied up in socks, too, John.
# Posted on October 19th 2011 by ethical blend
Re: Occupy thesession.org
Oops.
# Posted on October 19th 2011 by Johnny Jay
Re: Occupy thesession.org
Don't you mean "Darn it!" ?
# Posted on October 19th 2011 by ethical blend
Re: Occupy thesession.org
eb, do you imply the theory is full of holes?
# Posted on October 19th 2011 by full measure
Re: Occupy thesession.org
I'm inclined to blame the banks and the financial services generally for pushing their offers, more than the ordinary Joes who took out loans as a result of this. Through the boom years I couldn't go and do the simplest things at a bank counter without being hustled about changing the nature of my account and told I could make a good deal more money thereby. I hate being in banks, it's just a ******* chore I want to get done as soon as poss so I can get back to something that matters to me more, so I'd just say "NAH! I've got enough money, just do what I've asked you to do so I can get on out of here!" I believe the clerks were compelled to come up with this sales patter the whole time so as (obviously) to procure transactions that would add to the bank's profits, and because commissions on these would either augment or be a substitute for their own proper wages. But pretty demeaning for all involved.
# Posted on October 19th 2011 by nicholas
Re: Occupy thesession.org
"Yes, I've got money tied up in socks, too, John..."
It's all unravelling, innit.
# Posted on October 19th 2011 by nicholas
Re: Occupy thesession.org
Well, I didn't think the puns could get any worse, but I've been worsted.
# Posted on October 19th 2011 by ethical blend
Re: Occupy thesession.org
Meanwhile, yes, I too blame the banks. And also the complacent governments and watchdogs around the world who let them get away with it. However, from a practical point of view, letting any of them simply collapse will, wihout doubt, simply hurt the rest of us. Unless, that is, you don't and won't need any income when you retire, you don't have any savings and you don't have any borrowings. Oh, and you're completely
self-sufficient in terms both of food and clothing. And you're not fussed about having a job ... or getting any benefits ... (as you can tell, I could go on ...) ...
So, what gets me is my original question: what are they resisting? If I thought anybody had a *shred* of a plan it would at least be worth listening to.
# Posted on October 19th 2011 by ethical blend
Re: Occupy thesession.org
I overheard these words being sung at one occupied park or another, to Lennon’s venerable “Give Peace a Chance” melody:
“All we are saying . . . is give subconscious resentment of paternal authority figures, hemp-fueled flying cars, and perplexingly self-congratulatory dependence a chance . . .”
Sorry, my bad. That was the subtext.
# Posted on October 19th 2011 by NEW Pure Drop® Ear Canal Oil
Re: Occupy thesession.org
Never mind all the politics. Since when have anti-capitalist protesters availed of Microsoft and co to broadcast themselves across the world via the Internet? It is a strange world we live in and it is not helped by banjos!
# Posted on October 19th 2011 by No Cause For Alarm
Re: Occupy thesession.org
Up in those office towers, where the higher pay-grade folks are -- you know, the people who took the giant transfusions of corporate welfare from our government -- were there no high fives or any other outward signs of self congratulatory dependence?
# Posted on October 19th 2011 by Atahualpa Quigley
Re: Occupy thesession.org
It's amusing to me that people are protesting capitalism to begin with, as if capitalism were even being practiced by anyone.
# Posted on October 19th 2011 by Jimmy B
Re: Occupy thesession.org
If capitalism is so good, why are harmonicas so bloody expensive?
# Posted on October 20th 2011 by Steve Shaw
Re: Occupy thesession.org
Steve, You would think that the fact that harmonicas are expensive would indicate that they are in high demand, but that doesn't fit with the general lack of respect they seem to get. It is either a paradox, or a sign of price fixing!
# Posted on October 20th 2011 by AlBrown
Re: Occupy thesession.org
Like Steve Jobs was so good at ... the best way is not to find and fill a market niche, but to create a market. Do you think anyone would ever think they needed a bodhran if there was no such thing?
# Posted on October 20th 2011 by ...
Re: Occupy thesession.org
That gives me an idea. I have in mind a new session percussion instrument that I'm sure I can create a market for. Like the bodhran, the beauty of it is that you can learn to play it perfectly within ten minutes! You won't know you needed one 'til you see it. Dragons' Den here I come...
# Posted on October 20th 2011 by Steve Shaw
Re: Occupy thesession.org
If it were to make an appearance in Sandy Bell's, it would be a case of Llig saying "I'm out....."
# Posted on October 20th 2011 by Johnny Jay
Re: Occupy thesession.org
I was thinking that Sandy Bell's would be the ideal place to have its world premiere, actually. I'm endeavouring to have a constable standing by.
# Posted on October 20th 2011 by Steve Shaw
Re: Occupy thesession.org
Perhaps harmonicas are really fine art, and the peculiarities of their marketing should be understood in that light.
# Posted on October 20th 2011 by nicholas
Re: Occupy thesession.org
Why is it suddenly such an issue that the majority of the world's population is living outside of the "wealth bubble"? Hasn't massive disparity between the richest and the rest always been an issue, even since the days of the ancient Greeks and Romans (and before)? What are we hoping to accomplish? "Hey rich people and profit-mongering conglomerates: give us some of your money"..."Or else?"..."Or else we'll continue to stage ineffective protests until you do"..."I think we'll just keep our money, thank you very much. Now, go clean my house"...
Occupy Wall Street and its offshoots cannot change human nature...just saying...
# Posted on October 20th 2011 by Eirepublican
Re: Occupy thesession.org
quite right
# Posted on October 21st 2011 by ...
Re: Occupy thesession.org
Them that's got shall get
Them that's not shall lose
So the Bible said and it still is news
Mama may have, Papa may have
But God bless the child that's got his own
That's got his own
Oh, the strong gets more
While the weak ones fade
Empty pockets don't ever make the grade
Mama may have, Papa may have
But God bless the child that's got his own
That's got his own
When you've got money, you've got lots of friends
Crowding round the door
But when its gone, and spending ends
They don't come no more
Rich relations give
Crust of bread and such
You can help yourself
But don't take too much
Mama may have, Papa may have
But God bless the child that's got his own
That's got his own
# Posted on October 21st 2011 by AlBrown
Re: Occupy thesession.org
"99 percent is a very large percentage. For instance, easily 99 percent of people want a roof over their heads, food on their tables, and the occasional slice of cake for dessert. Surely an arrangement can be made with that niggling 1 percent who disagree."
http://occupywriters.com/works/by-lemony-snicket
# Posted on October 21st 2011 by airport
Re: Occupy thesession.org
That seems like a completely meaningless statement, there, airport. I've never read any Lemony Snicket, but those "Observations" made me feel slightly sick, they were so inane. Mind, I've looked him up in Wiki now, and maybe he meant them all to be meaningless, given his fictional character.
# Posted on October 21st 2011 by ethical blend
Re: Occupy thesession.org
well I'm at least flattered you looked him up - I saw some grains of human truth in his observations, but I knew he was a children's author when I read them. Maybe you have to approach them like you would Lewis Carroll, or maybe The Wizard of Oz as a monetary reform parable?
# Posted on October 21st 2011 by airport
Re: Occupy thesession.org
Did you know that the Brown vs. Board of Education started over a school bus? Black kids in South Carolina were walking 8 or 9 miles to school (since they weren't allowed to go to the schools that were within a mile or two of their homes). Their parents just wanted a bus.
# Posted on October 21st 2011 by airport
Re: Occupy thesession.org
You suggested him, airport, so I looked him up. I guess it's down to personal taste. I couldn't make any sense out of any of those statements. Hence my query as to whether he'd done that deliberately. I suspect that approaching them as Lewis Carroll or, my suggestion, maybe Edward Lear (a personal favourite) might be better, as you say.
That Education row - now there's real protest for you. That meant something. And how.
# Posted on October 21st 2011 by ethical blend
Re: Occupy thesession.org
A brief & succinct explanation for those of you who still don't get it.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RZgZeAOaq4U
# Posted on October 23rd 2011 by cjprince
Re: Occupy thesession.org
That's all very well, cjprince, and I don't disagree with it. But what does anyone think should be done? And how will whatever that is change things? To me, the whole thing is completely aimless.
# Posted on October 24th 2011 by ethical blend