Wall St protest gaining strengh?

[BK]

Re: Wall St protest - Marc Gopin Team was there for Egypt and Now there at Occupy WallStreet

Here is an article by the OccupyWall Street Mastermind - Marc Gopin - and his story of his work in Egypt.
http://english.aljazeera.net/indepth...639673649.html

[oddlots]

Re: Wall St protest gaining strengh?

Well said and agreed Aaron. In fact the best protest I can think of would be to picket upper-middle class dinner parties with a sign that reads:

"Could someone please explain to me how we can are all going to get rich in aggregate selling each other our houses?"

Regarding the health of the canadian economy, I think much of it is luck, like the timing on the debt-paydown, but I will say that I think the fact that the right has not been able to turn regulation and government into dirty words is a key reason that the banks are comparatively sound. It is not easy to get a mortgage in this country thankfully. And mortgages are full recourse which, while making us even more slaves of the banks, ironically also helps to stem contagion. I'm sure that the popping of the housing bubble will hurt a lot of people, but absent the fraud and malfeasance so evident in the US mortgage market (CDOs etc.), I don't think it will pose a systemic risk. If someone would like to disabuse me of this opinion I'm all ears.

Overall, I think we're really just talking relative levels of "suckness," but I do think that Canada benefits from a political culture that assumes government. We're basically a bunch of trappers spread out along the southern edge of boreal forest. We relied on government initiative to connect up our camps with rail, policing etc. Why would we hate government?

Regarding anti-americanism, I'm not sure that one sticks (if indeed you got a whiff of it in my post.) I'm selectively anti-American. For instance this kind of annoys:

http://www.ctv.ca/CTVNews/World/2011...inance-111005/

[dcarrigg]

Re: Wall St protest gaining strengh?

Well said and agreed Aaron. In fact the best protest I can think of would be to picket upper-middle class dinner parties with a sign that reads:

"Could someone please explain to me how we can are all going to get rich in aggregate selling each other our houses?"

Regarding the health of the canadian economy, I think much of it is luck, like the timing on the debt-paydown, but I will say that I think the fact that the right has not been able to turn regulation and government into dirty words is a key reason that the banks are comparatively sound. It is not easy to get a mortgage in this country thankfully. And mortgages are full recourse which, while making us even more slaves of the banks, ironically also helps to stem contagion. I'm sure that the popping of the housing bubble will hurt a lot of people, but absent the fraud and malfeasance so evident in the US mortgage market (CDOs etc.), I don't think it will pose a systemic risk. If someone would like to disabuse me of this opinion I'm all ears.

Overall, I think we're really just talking relative levels of "suckness," but I do think that Canada benefits from a political culture that assumes government. We're basically a bunch of trappers spread out along the southern edge of boreal forest. We relied on government initiative to connect up our camps with rail, policing etc. Why would we hate government?

Regarding anti-americanism, I'm not sure that one sticks (if indeed you got a whiff of it in my post.) I'm selectively anti-American. For instance this kind of annoys:

http://www.ctv.ca/CTVNews/World/2011...inance-111005/

As an American, I take offense. Just because you're anti-stupid, doesn't mean you have to be anit-American. I'm anti-stupid too.

[wayiwalk]

Re: Wall St protest gaining strengh?

I saw this in a comment on ZeroHedge - it's not dated, but it's right from JP Morgan's website. I googled it, and sure enough, it's very recent:

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2011/10/02/1022031/-JP-Morgan-buys-NYPD-for-$46-million



http://www.jpmorganchase.com/corpora...=580&width=850

Coincidence?

wow. If the link wasn't to JP morgans website, I'd think, no way.

Well, good to know the suits are feeling a bit of pressure.

[seanm123]

Re: Wall St protest gaining strengh?

Bloomberg says bow down (or else?)



New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg said on Friday that the Occupy Wall Street protesters were "trying to destroy the jobs of working people in this city," firing what the Village Voice called a "warning shot at the city unions who've backed the Occupied Wall Street protests" by referring to the dwindling city coffers that depend on Wall Street tax revenue. "We're not going to have money to pay our municipal employees," he said in his weekly radio appearance with John Gambling. The Voice's Harry Siegel adds that Bloomberg said:

"Everyone's got a thing they want to protest, some of which is not realistic," Bloomberg said. "And if you focus for example on driving the banks out of New York City, you know those are our jobs ... You can't have it both ways: If you want jobs you have to assist companies and give them confidence to go and hire people."

The language suggests a PR offensive on the part of City Hall to try to drive a wedge between the powerful unions such as Transport Workers Local 100 that have marched in solidarity with the Wall Street protesters. The mayor has expressed vague opposition to the protesters and their message. He said of the unions, "their salaries come from -- are paid by -- some of the people they're trying to vilify." Also on Friday, DNAinfo reported the protests had cost the New York Police Department $2 million in overtime.
Related: Wall Street Encampment Is Turning Into a Tiny Town

The mayor has signaled the protesters don't have an open-ended invitation to camp in Zuccotti Park, but the city doesn't directly have authority to kick them out of the privately owned open space. However, John Zuccotti, the park's namesake and the U.S. chairman of Brookfield Office Properties, which owns the park, has signaled the company would take its cue from the city, and Bloomberg's domestic partner, Diana Taylor, sits on Brookfield's board of directors.

[seanm123]

Re: Wall St protest gaining strengh?

Pictures of Debt

http://wearethe99percent.tumblr.com

[dcarrigg]

Re: Wall St protest gaining strengh?

Bloomberg says bow down (or else?)

Really? The richest man in the city whose name is synonymous with Wall Street doesn't like an anti Wall Street protest?

The imagery will be simply a billionaire ordering a violation of the first amendment. If they choose not to go willingly, he will look like a grinch.

[mmr]

Re: Wall St protest gaining strengh?

The dynamics in Canada are a little different than in the US, so if the crisis happens there, it might look more like the one in Europe. A few key facts:

- Most of the mortgages are sitting on the balance sheets of 6 banks and the CMHC, unlike in the US where they were securitized and resecuritized and spread all over the place.

- As a result, the Canadian banks have much more exposure to home mortgages and home equity loans relative to their size than US banks.

- The CMHC looks an awful lot like a Canadian version of Fannie Mae, where they own or guarantee more than half of the mortgage debt, including many of the mortgages on the banks' balance sheets.

- Canadian mortgage debt is up 30% since the end of 2007. I can't find the statistics, but I doubt that income is up by that much over the last four years. Mortgage debt in most other western economies is flat to down over the period.

- My understanding is that interest rates on Canadian mortgages are either floating or at least reset more often than US mortgages (no 30-year fixed rate mortgages) so any increase in rates will cause payments to rise to a greater extent than in the US.

Having the risk concentrated in a few banks works well normally, since everyone knows where it is, right up until someone has a reason to question the banks. At that point, investors quickly start looking to see who the ultimate guarantor is (i.e., the government) - while Canada is starting off from a low debt / GDP ratio, transferring the mortgage debt to the public account makes the numbers look much worse, and then you could see a sovereign crisis in a worst case.

A rise in interest rates in an increasingly levered market could be enough to start this process. Of course, unlike Europe, Canada has some levers like the commodities sector and a modest central bank printing press to fall back on.

[aaron]

Re: Wall St protest gaining strengh?

It costs very little to hire some thugs to stir up trouble. Then they will have their excuse. If a few kids and old ladies get hurt, that is just collateral damage.

[Kadriana]

Re: Wall St protest gaining strengh?

Pictures of Debt

http://wearethe99percent.tumblr.com

The interesting part about the signs is how many people say they feel like one of the lucky ones. There are a lot in there with health problems. I live a fairly simple life and the only reason why I feel the need to amass a large amount of wealth is concern over health care, espcially treatment of a major illness, and future college tuition for my children.

[dcarrigg]

Re: Wall St protest gaining strengh?

It costs very little to hire some thugs to stir up trouble. Then they will have their excuse. If a few kids and old ladies get hurt, that is just collateral damage.

Even I'd like to think Bloomberg is above that...of course someone might 'do it for him.'

Unrelated - Picture from Boston

[reggie]

Re: Wall St protest gaining strengh?

These protests are a great example of Soft Power's attempt to "build a narrative", as the "narrative" doesn't always appear to emanate from the "system"

See video on Soft Power posted in this forum.
http://www.itulip.com/forums/showthr...Power?p=211210

[Mn_Mark]

Re: Wall St protest gaining strengh?

Does anyone remember how the Million Man March was going to change things?

Did it?

How about the Million Mom March?

Nope.

How about all those SWPLs on the Washington Mall listening to Jon Stewart crack jokes? Did that change anything?

Nope.

How about all the angry chanters in the Wisconsin capitol this summer? Did they change anything?

Nope.

How can you folks keep get all excited about a bunch of what are basically 20something slackers and old terminal-1960s-hippies getting all worked up over a protest again? The whole protest march thing is completely worn out. It's a joke. In a few weeks it will be down to those hardcores who never seem to do much else except look for someplace they can go hang out at a protest scene and shout and stomp around.

And maybe take a dump right there in the streets: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/arti...OLICE-CAR.html

And make big demands about how everyone should get a wage whether they work or not, etc etc etc, the same old socialist bullshit.

And for those idiots suggesting that several hundred people should descend on a private citizen's house in the suburbs and terrorize them, like that would accomplish something: great idea. Then when that isn't exciting enough and isn't getting you instant results fast enough, you can go pound on the windows of the house and scare the children of the family, like they did at Karl Rove's house.

Then when that's not enough, you can bust in and drag them into the street and pour boiling tar on them and douse them in feathers. That ought to entertain the window-breaking crowd for a while anyway. Then you can graduate to just plain lynching them.

That's how those brownshirt tactics evolve.

Grow the hell up.

[dcarrigg]

Re: Wall St protest gaining strengh?

Does anyone remember how the Million Man March was going to change things?

Did it?

How about the Million Mom March?

Nope.

How about all those SWPLs on the Washington Mall listening to Jon Stewart crack jokes? Did that change anything?

Nope.

How about all the angry chanters in the Wisconsin capitol this summer? Did they change anything?

Nope.

How can you folks keep get all excited about a bunch of what are basically 20something slackers and old terminal-1960s-hippies getting all worked up over a protest again? The whole protest march thing is completely worn out. It's a joke. In a few weeks it will be down to those hardcores who never seem to do much else except look for someplace they can go hang out at a protest scene and shout and stomp around.

And maybe take a dump right there in the streets: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/arti...OLICE-CAR.html

And make big demands about how everyone should get a wage whether they work or not, etc etc etc, the same old socialist bullshit.

And for those idiots suggesting that several hundred people should descend on a private citizen's house in the suburbs and terrorize them, like that would accomplish something: great idea. Then when that isn't exciting enough and isn't getting you instant results fast enough, you can go pound on the windows of the house and scare the children of the family, like they did at Karl Rove's house.

Then when that's not enough, you can bust in and drag them into the street and pour boiling tar on them and douse them in feathers. That ought to entertain the window-breaking crowd for a while anyway. Then you can graduate to just plain lynching them.

That's how those brownshirt tactics evolve.

Grow the hell up.

Yeah, screw those communist nazis!!!!!!!!! [/sarcasm]

[seanm123]

Re: Wall St protest gaining strengh?

Old terminal-1960s-hippies?

Now you have gone too far! We don't want any of those protestors just more like these.