Who is our economy for, anyway? In the United States, We, the People are supposedly in charge, and our country and economy are supposed to be managed for the public good. But that isn't how things have been working out, is it?
Let's take a quick look at America over the last few decades.
We used to have a social contract. We invested in top-notch infrastructure (like the interstate highway system) and education (the best universities and research), and then tax the resulting gains at very high rates, to recirculate those gains for the benefit of all of us.
Broken Social Contract
Then the contract was broken. Starting in the 1970s a cabal of wealthy businessmen and conservative ideologues organized and funded an attack on We, the People government, manipulating public opinion and our political system, gutting the regulations and trade rules that protected us and our way of life, privatizing -- selling off things We, the People own -- and killing the tax-and-invest cycle so they could keep the gains from all of that prior investment for themselves.
Blanket Of Propaganda
To provide cover for the operation these agents of the 1% spread a thick blanket of propaganda, using every technique in the modern marketing book. They divided us by race, religion, gender, sexual preference, even pitting people who like quiche and lattes against those who like beer and sausage. To cripple potential opposition they infiltrated and fractured key institutions, and turned the public against the news media. They developed a professional career-path system that rewards those who play along with the corruption and destruction and punishes those who do not. To cripple dissent they used ridicule, shame and intimidation.
Destructive Choices Come Home To Roost
Since then things have steadily fallen apart. The infrastructure is crumbling. Unemployment is extreme. The country has very high debt. The trade deficit is extreme. Half of us are poor or nearly poor. Inequality is at the highest levels.
Bailouts For The 1%, Sell-Outs For The 99%
When things hit the fan it became clear that our country is no longer run for the good of We, the People. When it came down to it, a few got special treatment, the rest of us got... uh, less-than-special-treatment. (And weren't even kissed.)
When the financial crisis occurred Congress was told they literally had only hours to come up with hundreds of billions to bail out the too-big-to-fail banks, and they did -- with almost no conditions. We know now that the Federal Reserve also stepped up, providing trillions to the big banks, even hundreds of millions to bankers' spouses! State and local governments, institutions and smaller businesses? The unemployed and millions facing foreclosure? Not so much.
Plutocracy Not Democracy
They provided assistance for the giant financial institutions of the 1%. Instead of providing assistance to the 99% -- We, the People -- our government cut the things We, the People do for each other. It was made clear that this country is now a plutocracy, not a democracy.
System Of Control Breaking Down
It is clear where we are. But it is also clear that the system of control is breaking down. The elections of 2006 and 2008 shook the foundations. Democracy tried to reassert control. The behind-the-scenes system of lobbyists writing legislation that passes under cover of "studies" from corporate-front think tanks, telling us this is for our own good, propelled by a flurry of corporate-funded op-eds, stopped working. After the bailouts for banks / sell out for the rest of us, people started figuring things out. In response the 5-4 Supreme Court handed down the Citizens United decision, flooding the system with corporate money.
Instead of stealth takeover masked by propaganda we now see blatant grabs of wealth and raw power poorly disguised. Now the control is in our faces every day. Even constant filibusters of acts that might help We, the People were no longer enough to keep a lid on. So now it is shutdowns, hostage-taking, refusal to follow laws, refusal to prosecute, threats to take down the government and/or the economy. Now more visible methods of suppression are in use -- batons, tasers and pepper spray.
Waking Up
Everyone has been frustrated, discouraged, betrayed, scared and angry but without a focus for action. Then came the Occupy movement, people actually showing up and showing how! It resonated. People responded, and the conversation of the country was pulled out of the propaganda fog, at least for a while.
Stephen Lerner, interviewed by Sarah Jaffe for AlterNet, discusses where we go from here, saying, "[I]t's an exciting feeling to see something a lot of people spent a lifetime hoping for --this kind of dramatic increase in activity that targets financial capital, those who really control the country." On Occupy Wall Street, Lerner says,
Everybody knows they're getting zapped by banks, and what's so good about Occupy is that it's put that front and center. The fact that they were in Wall Street, I think everybody forgets. It was not Occupy a park somewhere, it was the fact that it was in the middle of the financial district. And I think on an intuitive level, people all over the political spectrum understand that those guys are at the center of how the economy is organized in a way that doesn't work for most people.
On Wall Street's position in our economy,
I don't think people are mad at somebody who invented a product or founded a company. It's that people see that Wall Street is not productive. Their wealth and their riches, they do not come through any normal means -- they come through cheating and gambling and ripping us off, which I think troubles us in a different kind of way.
On today,
I don't think anybody should view a sort of holiday or winter lull in activity as a sign of anything. As people have said, movements ebb and flow, and whenever we look back, spring is the time that things take off again. It's really important that people not say "Oh, everything was front page news and now it's not." People instead should be stepping back, saying, "In three months we did more than anybody imagined we could do, now it's time to step back and figure out the next stage."
What Next?
Now comes the long slog of organizing people into focused action to take back our country from the 1%. Van Jones has been laying the groundwork, joining with MoveOn.org and other organizations to organize the Rebuild the Dream movement, and its Contract for the American Dream. Please visit and get involved.
Here is Van Jones at Netroots Nation, talking about the American Dream movement:
Organized labor is fighting, too, with new tactics and getting more people involved. They are focusing on labor's role in creating a middle class in America. The recent Take Back the Capitol demonstrations are a case in point. In conjunction with many local and national organizations SEIU brought unemployed people to the D.C. to occupy the offices of 99 legislators, asking for jobs programs and extensions of unemployment benefits. They also marched on "K Street" -- the symbolic center of lobbying activity.
Here is AFL-CIO President Rich Trumka, Take Back the American Dream conference in October, calling for "a massive, militant movement":
Trumka told the audience that the right wing is "banking on an upside-down America for its path to political power." Trumka said that now is the time for "a mighty movement for jobs and a just economy," adding, "We won't stop fighting, shoving and kicking until everyone is back at work."
Here is Steelworkers President Leo Gerard, talking about labor support for Occupy Wall street, and holding Wall Street accountable:
Here is Communication Workers of America President Larry Cohen discussing the fight for the middle class on The Ed Show.
See the pics in this post, showing labor's involvement at the November 2 Occupy Oakland actions:
![](https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-5a4S4ZWGIpw/TrKwEblyU2I/AAAAAAAAJqY/H-vo8CpzShk/s400/Occupy%252520Oakland%252520044.JPG")
Up To Us
What happens next is up to us. Don't be discouraged. "The people, united, will never be defeated."
THIS is what democracy looks like. Here are Wisconsin protesters chanting: "Tell me what democracy looks like. THIS is what democracy looks like!"
For those of us who can't get enough, here is 13 minutes of THIS is what democracy looks like!
This post originally appeared at Campaign for America's Future (CAF) at their Blog for OurFuture. I am a Fellow with CAF.
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Tax Wall Street!
The right would not be nearly as effective if the those "representing" the left actually stood as a viable alternative instead of taking the same corporate cash as the right.
One of Obama's huge corporate campaign donors in 2008 was Goldman Sachs. Not one Wall Street CEO is in jail right now for wrecking the economy. Coincidence, I think not. The administration has been pressing HARD for states to settle with the Big Banks and Wall Street in which they pay peanuts and admit no wrong doing. Why do that if Obama actually gave a flying fig about the poor, working and middle class.
Also please note Obama supporters:
According to Michael Moore (an Obama supporter) Obama in this election cycle has received more Wall Street campaign cash than all other Republican candidates COMBINED.
This should make you really uncomfortable if you claim to be Democrats. This also makes it clear who Obama will fight for if re-elected and clearly it won't be for the 99% of us.
Look- the end result is the same. The ballot boxes are not the answer- because corrupt leaders keep getting elected again and again. The American people are so much different from the rest of the world. It is a unique society- they do not complain much. But, when there is no food on the table- it's going to be a massive protest. Nothing will stop it! It will be worst than the French Revolution! If History is correct. . . .
The only thing we can depend on is an improved economy with balanced income distribution policies where the middle class is sustain.
And to keep sustaining a free Democracy, limiting Congress to term limits is a must. Two term limits for a Senator and four term limits for The House. If they agree to term limits, raise their salaries drastically to avoid corruption. The salary is way too low for Congress- inviting corruptions of all sorts and sizes.
Otherwise, the longer they stay, the more corrupted they are- forgetting that they serve the people and not corporations.
Almost NO ONE who will serve the people instead of the corporations can GET ELECTED in the current system.
You'll have to do a deeper analysis if you want to understand what's really going on and what needs to be done about it!
And the notion that "voting for Democrats" will fix the system is equally ludicrous...
not only in DC, but organized in ALL major US cities.
only a sustained and GROWING mass movement can shake up the politico;s enough to even pretend to care about anyone but the wealthy.
long term a set of political laws/changes to be enacted and voting for people willing to enact them
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Voting won't help. Corrupt officials get re-elected every year. Only term limits can solve corruption.
What does OWS plan to do to stop its violence?
http://indiatoday.intoday.in/story/shooting-christmas-day-in-texas-apartment/1/165962.html
I understand you are trying to discredit OWS as a violent movement but OWS is a peaceful movement. Those who choose to be violent are not part of OWS but just thugs blending in. . .
It is has already become a world wide movement.
Business as usual by our politicans.
Trillions of worthless credit default swaps held by Wall Street and banks around the world.
Trillions of overvalued securitized credit obligations reported as assets by banks, pension funds and businesses around the world.
Politicans pushing further severe austerity measures upon citizens that are suffering already further depressing their economies.
No prosecutions of those that cause the crisis and no real reforms by politicans to address the real problems that caused the crisis assuring another crisis will happen.
http://money.msn.com/investing/watch-out-1-percent-the-kids-will-be-back-marketwatch.aspx
1) There is an economic recovery occuring. Unemployment is falling significantly every month. Deny it all you want, but this is occurring. There are jobs available.
2) 2012 is an election year. Obama will win a second term. Sorry, I know you want Ron Paul, but it ain't gonna happen. The noise from the election process will dwarf the remains of Occupy.
3) We will have a military engagement with Iran during 2012. Occupiers will protest. As with all previous anti-war protests, nothing will change at all.
And the politicians have the nerve to decide that they know best how to spend that money?
Wars. Bail-outs.
We should be allowed to vote on how the money is going to be spent.
Our tax dollars are not a politicians/fat cats free-for-all.
http://socialbusiness.socialgo.com/magazine/read/occupy-chapel-hill-the-center-on-poverty-work-and-opportunity-_155.html
It's interesting to note that at the time he was aiming his comments at the debt crisis and the war in Iraq which had then just begun. One of the direct consequences of this fast in 2004 was the creation of a business with the primary objective of addressing poverty. The protester, my friend and colleague Terry Hallman died in August while challenging mafia over exploitation of children in Eastern Europe.
I would be intrigued if we could occupy soon to be foreclosed homes of victimized citizens. THAT WOULD BE POWER OF THE PEOPLE IN A MANNER THAT SHOWED THE BANKERS WHAT DEMOCRACY LOOKS LIKE!
This was the most-recenÂt set of OWS demands...
http://occupywallst.org/forum/detailed-list-of-demands-overview-of-tactics-for-d/
Forum Post: DETAILED LIST OF DEMANDS & OVERVIEW OF TACTICS FOR DC PROTEST...
The first demand is to reinstate Glass-SteaÂgall, which would violate the WTO Financial Services Agreement.
Washington D.C. is filled with the EMPLOYEES of the king-makers of the point one percent! They hire others to do their dirty work using YOUR money -- how funny is that!