So let's say one out of every three people in the country showed up to protest Wall Street?

[dkf]

Yeah I know that is pretty impossible but let's say for arguments sake that it happens and it's really impressive in size.

Then what? Are we expecting Wall Street execs to do anything? Or are we expecting congress to do something?

What would be the desired successful outcome and how feasible is it that the protests can accomplish that outcome?

[gateley]

1. Good questions. I have no answers. nt

[TheWraith]

22. Nor does anyone else seem to. Therein lies the problem, as I see it.

Nobody has an explanation of how it's supposed to actually do anything, since we already know no major new reforms will make it through Congress, and Wall Street has no reason to do anything but wait. But if you point that out, you get slapped for supposedly attacking the greatest grassroots movement in the world, and probably a few vague, nonsensical analogies to Tahrir Square.

[catabryna]

2. I guess we need to let it all play out, eh? nt

[Luminous Animal]

8. How's that La-Z-Boy.

[catabryna]

11. Oh... how I'd love to relive some memories on a La-Z-Boy...

And, this isn't directed at you... :)

eta: But, you might just wish it was!

[trueblue2007]

27. GUILLOTINE!!! Guillotine!!! put them all in pillory and throw rotten tomatoes......

and THEN we take away their money!!!

[TheKentuckian]

3. Well, a hundred million is a hell of a show of force.

If Wall Street and Congress can't modify based off that level of presence alone then they'd well deserve what they got when the 100 million strong showed up less peaceable the next time.

A protest of that magnitude is a revolution.

[Luminous Animal]

15. Occupy Together is happening all across the U.S. now

www.Occupytogether.org.

[Le Taz Hot]

30. Here's hoping they are able to expand

the rally locations. There are 200-400 mile stretches of California unrepresented and not everyone has the duckets or means to travel 400 miles. If this is truly a representation of We the People they need to make these things more accessible to We the People and quit excluding rural areas.

[Luminous Animal]

37. It is the people who live in their own communities who are organizing.

This is not a top down organization funded by well-heeled operatives. If people in rural areas want to join the movement, the need to take the initiative.

[Le Taz Hot]

38. OK, fine!

:blush:
(I was missing my weekly DU ass-kicking -- thanks for fillin' in. ;-))

[Luminous Animal]

41. You're welcome! :) (n/t)

[elleng]

4. Michael Moore had no answer Wed. p.m.,

as the people participating are not organized.

[Luminous Animal]

7. Horrors. They don't need to be organized. They are organizing.

[Warren Stupidity]

33. OMFG they aren't organized! Fuck!

Get some official protest organizations down there RIGHT FUCKING NOW!

[Angry Dragon]

5. It would be more impressive if that 103,666,666

walked onto Washington, DC
then you would see a lot of Congress people get really scared
they might even be scared enough to do the right and correct thing

I would imagine there would be a lot of them pissing in their pants and have to go home and change

[Amonester]

9. Occupy DC begins Oct. 1...

Occupy Freedom Plaza begins Oct. 6.
Iraq Veterans Against the War protests begin Oct. 7.

Who's next? We The People!! :bounce:

[Luminous Animal]

6. Waaa! Please give me answers! Please do it for me!

[AndyTiedye]

10. I Don't Think You Could Fit That Many People into Manhattan

If you could, there would be no way to get food and water to all of them.

[Luminous Animal]

13. People in 50+ cities in the U.S. have started sister orgs.

Several cities have been occupying public square for a couple of weeks now.

You can support your local here:

Occupytogether.org.

[dkf]

16. Yeah that pizza money wouldn't get very far huh? Lol.

[leftstreet]

12. Successful outcome? The next time 2 out of 3 show up. Then the next time....n/t

[pa28]

14. History shows that public demonstrations and occupations have influence.

Masses in the street can effect behavior and law.

[dkf]

17. Does it alter corporate behavior? Or is it effective to create laws?

[pa28]

18. In my opinion it can do both.

I think we suffer under the idea that corporations and elected representatives are insulated from public backlash.

I've recently been looking back at the political climate of the 60's and early 70's and it looks like a mirror image of what we have now. Business interests and political figures were scared to death of making any move that looked "anti-consumer" or "pro-business".

As we all know the pendulum swung to the right in the following years. I believe we're witnessing a swing back in our direction and I want our party to embrace that feeling and run with it because the right does not have a monopoly on populist movements.

[Luminous Animal]

26. Nope. The labor movement was a charade. Thank god that we still can be forced

to work 12-14 hours a day and our children are fair game, as well.

Indentured servitude and slavery is on the horizon... Yeehaw!

[Common Sense Party]

19. I asked that in another thread and was basically told that they're

still figuring out what they accomplish, and that I'm a horrible person for even daring to ask what their goals are.

If the goal is to get arrested, they're doing a bang-up job.

[JDPriestly]

20. The desired result is that those who are demonstrating on Wall Street

and we who sympathize with them remember who we are and what we stand for and stand together.

It doesn't make any difference whether four people are demonstrating (peacefully) on Wall Street or 4 million.

What is important right now is that we know we are not alone.

We just don't need more certainty than that.

[Davis_X_Machina]

28. Stand together and do what, exactly?

Storm the Winter Palace/Bastille/Tuilleries?
Throw the bums out?

[JDPriestly]

36. Let the 1% know that they have to start thinking about sharing

the misery of others and taking responsibility for the effects their greed and mismanagement of our economy are having on the rest of us. Let the 1% know that we know that they are destroying our country and need to stop.

Only if the 1% becomes part of the solution, can we solve the problems of the country.

It appears to me that the movement on Wall Street is not really about making demands on specific issues but about demanding that we become one nation -- and not divided by wealth and poverty. The 1% thinks it has different interests than ours. It wants low taxes. It wants the poor to pay for their own health care and education and housing while it, the 1%, saunters off to vacation in the Bahamas and rule the world.

These demonstrations are a plea for justice and for sharing -- of wealth, of misery, of wisdom. The extremely wealthy, the Koch Brothers exemplifying them, are focused on buying control for themselves.

These demonstrators are saying -- No more. Your leadership has ruined our lives. We don't want your control or leadership. We don't want to become dictators in your places. We don't want to ruin your lives as you have ruined ours. We want you to respond and work with us to improve life in America for everyone.

The Occupy Wall Street movement is gentle -- peaceful. The folks on Wall Street are supposed to be smart. They know how they should respond. They just have to do it.

If they feel a little confused, they can just open the New Testament and read Jesus' advice to the rich: Give all you have to the poor and you shall enter the Kingdom of Heaven.

Somehow the press seems to think that the poor -- the 99% -- are only interesting when they are violent. No wonder they think terrorism is such an exciting story. What a bunch of idiots (the press). Or are they just pretending that they don't understand?

[sabrina 1]

21. You think this is about how many people show up on the street

and that's it?

That's PART of it, but why would you think that this alone would accomplish anything?

Of course it wouldn't. But it is all the other things they are doing that have a really good chance of changing things.

I can see, eg, with awareness spreading of what they are doing and what they want, one thing this could definitely do is to have the PEOPLE take money out of politics, one politician at a time.

[DrunkenBoat]

23. the usual suspect

[Rex]

24. Why do you think people are protesting?

What do they want to happen?

[Luminous Animal]

25. dkf wants everyone to get off his lawn.

[TBF]

35. And out of his stock portfolio ... nt

[Le Taz Hot]

29. I know, huh?

Civil Disobedience never accomplished anything. Well, except for the British being thrown out of India. And the U.S. Civil Rights Movement. And the elimination of the Draft. But other than that . . . complete waste of time!

[Warren Stupidity]

31. 110 Million People?

Far smaller protests have toppled governments.

[mmonk]

32. You seem to have no clue as to how social justice comes about.

It never comes through acceptance of injustice.

[HughBeaumont]

34. Well, the goal is to eventually get tired and give up.

They should all just go home now.

They should just accept this zero-sum life for what it is: The rich will get exponentially richer because THEY are the productive class while the poor get ever poorer, all because the poor want something for nothing and because they refuse to work ridiculously harder than they already are for something better.

They should just accept that capitalism is the greatest, most benevolent, most equally distributive and fairest economic system America could ever have and we should never even think about toying with anything different.

They need to just all wake up and accept that in this modern era, protests don't do an OUNCE of good. They're futile, a complete waste of time that can otherwise be spent doing something corporately productive and quantifiable. They should just kill this movement bfore it even starts, go home and watch Jersey Shore . . . because unless it's an executive gorewash with public burnings, ain't no one going to listen. Go full-on or don't go at all.

Really, what are people protesting FOR anyway? This is a mere burp we're all experiencing, part of a normal economic cycle; doesn't even warrant the overblown hyperbole of "economic catastrophe". Does everything have to require a bunch of unwashed know-nothing college kids gather up and be MAD?

I noticed they're all wearing corporate products made overseas and consuming corporate foodstuffs. So doesn't that make them kind of hypocritical that they didn't weave/knit their own clothes or farm their own food? Walk the walk, don't talk the talk.

America's poor really don't know how good they have it anyway. They have TVs. They have a car, sometimes even two. They still eat. Even the homeless of Cleveland get to sleep under the piss-encrusted lobbies of abandoned buildings . . . I mean, THAT'S a roof. The occasional passerby will give them money and/or leftover food. THAT'S sustainance. I see them all the time wearing stuff. THAT'S clothing. Africa's poor live in mud huts and don't even EAT. How can these food-chillin m'er f'ers insist that they have it bad?

Let's call this for what it is: a bunch of directionless, sad, financially-lull and ill-informed slackers spouting sour grapes for losing at the economic game of life, venting with a losing cause towards an unstoppable capitalist machine run by the successful winners. If they really want to impress me, they should do a March on Washington Part II or storm executive boardrooms and not leave. Oh, it would result in a lot of people getting shot dead, but WALK THE WALK, I SAY!!!!




So, yeah, did I cover everything? :eyes:

[Lucian]

39. If that's the case, might as well start a revolution.

[JVS]

40. 1/3rd of the country showing up would be the greatest migration of humans ever...

and the dislocation caused by everyone leaving work and traveling alone would probably cause the government to collapse even without directed action.

[ChiciB1]

42. For Me It's Really Simple. I Don't Know WHAT Will Come Of It, HOWEVER

I do know that "feeling" I'm doing something is better than sitting here at my PC wondering WHAT to do!

I live down here in Florida and found out that there will be a rally in Tampa a couple of days ago. I rounded up about 10 people and we are going to drive there to participate. I WANTED to be in D.C. but couldn't swing it. But having seen what is going on in NYC made me feel I have an OBLIGATION to DO SOMETHING!

I'm so sick of signing petitions, making phone calls and all the other usual stuff and want to see ACTION! I have no idea what will come of it, but I do feel that those on the other side "might" just see that WE mean business too! Just take a look at the 2010 election results and perhaps that's a clue. PERHAPS we can change some minds and THROW THEM out again!

I'm headed for Tampa on the 6th, JUST BECAUSE! Everyone who can join ANY rally should try to make one SOMEWHERE! It's called ACTIVISM!

JMHO!