Friday, March 29, AD 2024 9:33am

Occupy America!!!

Certainly some of the issues raises by the ongoing protests at Wall Street and various cities across America are worthy of serious discussion and debate: the disparity between economic classes, the government bailouts to the financial industry and cushy severance packages to failed CEO’s vs the majority of those who can barely scrape by month-to-month, or might have lost their jobs (and homes, and savings) with no such financial safety net (a discussion of such here with Rod Dreher).

If you want serious analysis of the events, I recommend this excellent coverage by Robert David Graham (Errata Security), providing the quality coverage lacking in the mainstream media.

At the same time, it’s hard not to see the whole gamut of political-ideological factions — anarchist, marxist, libertarian, “tea party” (although the latter are branded as infiltrators wishing to “co-opt” the demonstration) — assemble to voice to their righteous indignation, and observe the moments of unintentional comedy and occasional irony that result . . . if not for which we might take their message just a little more seriously:

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Donald R. McClarey
Admin
Monday, October 10, AD 2011 4:49am

That citation from America is priceless Chris. It is hard to be a parody of a parody but Mr. Beaudoin manages that considerable feat. The first comment to his post however is a masterpiece!

“I completely agree; to the barricades!!

However, why stop at the the Church? Why aim so low when we can “Occupy Heaven”! Who is God to lord over us – the 99%! Who does he think he – the 1% – is up there above it all just lording over us!

Rebels unite! I know this has been tried before but I am sure that we have a good shot!”

T. Shaw
T. Shaw
Monday, October 10, AD 2011 6:29am

That anyone** takes seriously these imbeciles . . .

Anyway, add up all (in every city on which they descended) of them and they could not fill 99% of the seats the new Yankee Stadium.

In other words, there are about 310,000,000 Americans occupied with surviving until November 2012 when we stop Obama, Holder, Bill Ayres, et al from wrecking the most peaceful and prosperous nation in God’s Creation.

I saw a bumper sticker: “Anarchists Unite!” The bumper sticker is a joke. And, especially unwashed , trust fund hippies are farce.

Some of the right-wing (** left-wing radio is extinct but the obama-worshiping, lap dog main street BS-artists carry on!) talk radio hosts have extensively interviewed selected maroons: infallible ignorance . . . “We are the hope we have been waiting for!” BARF

Yes! Some genius with a PhD in Pre-Colombian, Meso-American Indigenous Lesbian Literature is equipped to reform the (once) greatest economy on Earth!

Art Deco
Monday, October 10, AD 2011 6:31am

the government bailouts to the financial industry and cushy severance packages to failed CEO’s

The ‘bailouts’ for most parties consisted of bridge loans (now mostly repaid), guarantees of commercial paper issue (arguably unavoidable) and bond issues (arguably unnecessary and imprudent). Making bridge loans (though not in the form of purchasing preferred stock) is integral to the Federal Reserve’s foundational raison d’etre. The companies truly ‘bailed out’ were the mortgage maws (and that would be K Street, not Wall Street) and one insurance company (whose headquarters are on Pine Street in lower Manhattan and whose business is largely in the Far East). Also getting a sweet deal was the United Auto Workers (headquartered in Detroit).

The principal-agent problem which leads to Brobdignagian executive compensation may be most extreme in the financial sector but is found just about everywhere and is far more severe in its manifestations than it was 30 years ago.

LarryD
Monday, October 10, AD 2011 9:16am

Darn it! America Mag stole my parody idea! And they were serious.

Patricia M.
Patricia M.
Monday, October 10, AD 2011 10:28pm

” … without prematurely forcing the movement to take on a specific agenda. And yes, in the form of consciousness-raising and of direct action.”

Right. Geniuses getting the me’s to babble about what the me’s want and to see what direct action happens. God pleasing? Understand the heart and mind of God through God’s Word? Oh, boy.
Chaos inspiring Truth? Babble away morals, virtues, beauty, education, art, economies, self-evident truths, America the beautiful, the rest of the world. Temper tantrums adult-style. Make a mess. Point fingers. Pout. Pass laws.
Then, what will you do when you have nothing good, are miserable, hungry spiritually and physically, and looking for someone to listen to the babble about direct action to clean up the mess? Or, if you see St. Michael, Archangel and Protector of the Church? Or not see?

Elaine Krewer
Admin
Tuesday, October 11, AD 2011 9:28pm

I was in downtown Chicago today for an important meeting. Afterward I happened to pass by the “Occupy” protest outside the Federal Reserve Bank. Looked like noisy but harmless street theater to me, nobody was being particularly disruptive, didn’t see any obvious police presence, and most people not taking part in the protest seemed to regard it as more a curiosity than anything else. Turnout was respectable but not huge, and they could have done without the constant drumming. Some people had signs saying “Honk if you are one of the 99 percent” or something similar; it appeared that most of the vehicles honking were taxis 🙂 Not quite as exciting as the nightly news would have one believe, but… your mileage may vary, depending on where you are.

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