OWS

[glenn kangiser]

Occupy Wall Street

Guess we haven't said much about it.  Police have made a bad scene here but how about the other side.....

My cousin sent me this.  How about we look it over if interested and see what we think... since we have this cool new embedding thanks to Don.

http://youtu.be/OAOrT0OcHh0

[MountainDon]

First of all, I am very happy I made the embedding so easy.    I frequently just hate following links to someplace else to watch videos.  Sorry, I took so long....

Interesting video. Good thoughts.  I've done all those things at some point and for more than 3  1/2 days; still do some.

[glenn kangiser]

Look how lazy we are ... wanting our video to play on the page in our laptop, Ipad or Android........

Yes, Don.  It is great to have it right there - not leave the page ... not have to find our way back... not be tempted to stay away after we leave and go to YouTube.... it's all part of a conspiracy to keep our members here on the forum, eh?......

[bayview]

   He makes some good points . . .

   We are now living in the "Golden" age. . .    We have more comfort than our parents and grandparents.   But, I think we are in a decline.   Our children well not have it as well as us . . .

/.

[Windpower]

Oh yes we should LOVE the corporate "persons"  look at what they have given sold to us

http://youtu.be/n7Fzm1hEiDQ

I would postulate that he has the ratio very wrong -- people should live as he suggested 99% of the time -- and F*** the corporations

I'll just bet this lying 'whittle' shill is one of the 1 percenters or at least is selling his soul to get there

sorry -- not in a good mood this AM

[Windpower]

I think George Carlin, were he still alive, would blow this 'whittle s*t'' away in a discussion of current events

*language*  it is George Carlin after all

http://youtu.be/d2vclIqxwvE

[fishing_guy]

Personally, I've never bought into the whole Corporations are evil thing.  Without them we would be building cars (and engines) one off.  Same goes for that trusty laptop/desktop/(do I even say it...)smartphone which allows you to communicate via these electrons.
The real evil lies when people become slaves to them.  There is one segment of the population which thinks corporations owe them a job and are the only suppliers of said jobs.  The other segment knows that they can survive (yes and even thrive) outside of this culture.  These are the owners/entrepreneurs.
The only problem is as soon as they get one or more employees working for them then they are technically an evil corporation...
Just like people, there are good and bad companies...  and a lot of in-between.  But until you are ready to go WAY back in time, don't be so quick to sell them out.

[Windpower]

To be clear

Corporation are neither good or bad (Ok I can think of at least one corporation that is demonstrably evil)

they are completely amoral

just like a shark

they live to get bigger and stronger and eat whatever thay want

sharks are not evil they are amoral

[MountainDon]

Before we go off yet another corporations are evil rant first please tell me where I'm going to get my motor vehicle, refrigerator, computer and PV modules from, just to pick 4 things?

[Howie]

Before we go off yet another corporations are evil rant first please tell me where I'm going to get my motor vehicle, refrigerator, computer and PV modules from, just to pick 4 things?

CHINA

[glenn kangiser]

That is absolutely correct, Howie. 

I have lots of Chinese friends and see that as the only way we can live under our declining sold out system.  Though much of it is from our corporations dealing over there so that their 1% can live like they desire. 

I have no complaints with the hardworking Chinese people or any other foreign country our corporations and government have sold us out to.  They are not the problem.  They are us 50 years or more ago.

I agree with Windpower and Carlin.... and Don.

Too bad the way the system is, there is no middle ground though.

The fact that our corporations have sold us out for the most part is what allows me to buy from China or India or Taiwan etc. without my conscience bothering me to buy American.  They have screwed us down so badly for the 1% to take disproportional amounts of money for themselves that I don't worry about it.

Buy American... worry about the welfare and well being of your fellow Americans by only buying our US made products?  Tell that to the corporations when it comes to taking our jobs overseas.

Tell our American workers that it is not cool to hang bottles inside the doors of newly manufactured vehicles so that Japan decides to quit manufacturing here because our workers have little pride in their work for corporations.  They would rather pull chickensh-t little stunts to piss off future buyers because their union had a beef with the corporation.  This kind of stuff caused Toyota to pull out of Fremont, CA in a GM joint operation.

I could survive without the corporations but the work from them is necessary with the current system or we could never pay off our tax load.  "Down with the system" also would eliminate a lot of our life struggles.  We don't need their taxes so they can pay off the world bankers for endless wars around the world.

Stuff... how much of it could we live without if it came to it?  How much do we really need besides our skin and our brains?  Life would be different but I don't need big government or big business very bad.  Government with the interest of the people in mind will not return until ours is broke all of the way.  Corporations will not loosen their death grip around the throats of the system and ultimately the people until they are forced to.  Carlin is right.  Corporations own us, bought and paid for nearly all of our politicians and have us enslaved for the rest of our lives.

At the same time... not all of the slave owners in the old South treated their slaves badly.  Some were terrible.  There is good and bad in all systems.  The slaves knew where their next meal was going to come from and where they would sleep at night.  Same as us sometimes depending on how the system is treating us.  Where is true freedom?

[Squirl]

Corporations are just another method which people do business in.  Many of the largest most powerful businesses in the world are partnerships, sole proprietorships, trusts, or just really rich people.  Corporations allow for hidden control, pooling of resources (power), but are primarily for limiting responsibility.

Many of the most powerful professions are not allowed or have serious limitations on incorporation, such as medicine, accounting, and law.


Motor vehicle - Cerberus Capital Management, Limited Partnership - Chrysler
Refrigerator - Haier - State owned by the Chinese government
There are many more, I just don't care to research every industry.

[Squirl]

BTW, I think that guy is a pompous ass.  Many of the protesters are homeless, unemployed and have faced true hardships in life.  It is like the person who steps over the homeless person on the street and yells get a job.  Some are in that situation by choice, but there are also many who are not.  When people lump them all together and turn a blind eye and callousness to that whole segment of society they come across as a complete D-bag.

Yes, there are many who have not had as hard a life as some.  Many news commentators have come from privileged backgrounds. That doesn't mean they all have, and when the profession changes and they are without their cushy club memberships or giant houses, they just call up their friends who are in government and power and the system works for them.  They don't have to protest, they just get it.

There is a book Civilization and Its Discontents.  It has been a while since I read it, but in many of Freud's theories, he believed that society will forever be discontent.  As soon as we achieve a level of happiness, that becomes the new normal and we forever seek greater level of happiness.  I try and use this to keep perspective whenever I find myself getting upset of small things in my day.  My life is still better than what it used to be so I should be happy and not accept it as the norm.

But, after we had a level of society of a high level of employment with most our needs met, should we just accept a decline in our standard of living?  Or should we be upset as a society?

[archimedes]

BTW, I think that guy is a pompous ass.  Many of the protesters are homeless, unemployed and have faced true hardships in life.  It is like the person who steps over the homeless person on the street and yells get a job.  Some are in that situation by choice, but there are also many who are not.  When people lump them all together and turn a blind eye and callousness to that whole segment of society they come across as a complete D-bag.

Yes, there are many who have not had as hard a life as some.  Many news commentators have come from privileged backgrounds. That doesn't mean they all have, and when the profession changes and they are without their cushy club memberships or giant houses, they just call up their friends who are in government and power and the system works for them.  They don't have to protest, they just get it.

Well said.

However,  no one says it better than George Carlin.   

It's funny whenever anyone questions the actions of corporations,  and how those actions distort our political system,  some people can only view that as "corporation bashing" .   Apparently any criticism, of any kind,  is unacceptable. 

[ScottA]

My only comment is to say that a corporation is not a person. It can't vote and therefore has no right to influence the government or elections.The owners are free to do as they wish but not though the corporation. This is like putting on a mask to rob a bank. They are hiding behind it.

[OlJarhead]

While ACORN and the Marxists are paying people to protest I often wonder:  why is it that people that hate Corporations tend to Love Big Government?  Why is it that people who do not trust the people of Corporations always seem to trust the people of Government?

The problem is Government control and regulation.  We have lost our way and moved more towards socialism then ever. 

I'm sorry, but Carlin is off base, as he always was and the answer is in Freedom but people don't like Freedom and Liberty because it means they are free to fail.

[Windpower]

Corporations are not persons

http://youtu.be/FwtRg2WMm6A

[Windpower]

I would add maybe, not sending back anything with your name and address on it

Someone told me that if you send things back with double stick tape inside it can make a mess of the envelope opener machines

NEVER DO THIS !

http://youtu.be/2JlxbKtBkGM