October 15, 2011
Participating with Occupy SF. This is our right guaranteed by the U.S. Constitution.
“Occupy Wall Street (OWS) is an ongoing series of demonstrations in New York City based in Zuccotti Park in the Wall Street financial district. The protests were initiated by the Canadian activist group Adbusters.[5] They are mainly protesting social and economic inequality, corporate greed, corruption and influence over government – particularly from the financial services sector – and lobbyists. The protesters’ slogan “We are the 99%,” refers to the difference in wealth between the wealthiest 1% and the rest of the population.
The original protest began on September 17, 2011, and by October 9, similar demonstrations were either ongoing or had been held in 70 major cities and over 600 communities in the U.S.. Internationally, other “Occupy” protests have modeled themselves after Occupy Wall Street, in over 900 cities worldwide.” (from Wikipedia.com)
My personal opinion:
The important thing to realize is, it’s not the protesters or Occupy that’s free-loading off your hard-earned $$…it’s the banks and the financial system and the big money machine with all their clout that’s free-loading off and soaking you in such a subtle way that you start believing you’re among them because you have “some” buying power…but the bottom line is that the hard working people making under $506,000 per year (the so-called 99%) are getting soaked through “profit-above-all” banking practices, purchased legislation and a skewed tax system. It’s all about the inequity of the existing system. I don’t mind paying taxes and I have paid taxes consistently every year for 40+ years and I’m not homeless or physically at the Occupy sites nor am I at the poverty line (can’t imagine how those people make it – forced into a social welfare system that the 99% pay for?), but I make quite a bit less than $506,000 per year. So why are the biggest money players paying significantly less taxes than me? Why are the banks issuing deceptive and marginal home loans to people who can least afford it? Why are their CEOs taking in such huge bonuses and compensation given a severe economic downturn and a huge Federal bailouts? I’ve been around long enough to see this ever-widening and gross inequity happening – it’s really there! Just ask Warren Buffet.
Signed,
AMS’ Dad