Several times I wondered (on at least other blogs, if not this one) what the endgame for Occupy Wall Street might be. Perhaps today we found out, when Mayor Bloomberg had them evicted (at 1:00 am, to avoid a public disturbance). Apparently there were (entirely predictable) incidents of excessive force, including forcibly keeping the press away from Zucotti Park (some were arrested).
But many others have commented on that, so I won't address that. What I did want to say was to wonder if maybe this was the/a plan. Of course, having a plan implies there were people coordinating OWS. Human microphones, funny hand gestures and consensus needed for decisions? Kind of makes some sort of puppet masters seem less likely.
Regardless, perhaps the OWS protestors sort of lucked out, in the sense of having been handed (forcibly) an out. Mind you, as of this moment as I understand it, the OWS protestors do not have access to their own possessions (including soggy clothes, tents and expensive computers and generators). Also, many of them are unemployed and perhaps homeless because of it. But to some extent the movement may now be able to claim to have been victimized by the one percent (to which group Michael Bloomberg surely belongs) and the OWS protestors and now to some extent martyrs.
I have to say I hope that this incident does not come to dominate the discussion. The current huge income inequity in the US is a topic worth discussing. Reasonable discussion may yield answers acceptable to all (yeah, hoping for reasonable discussion between Republicans and Democrats may be a bit much) instead of more painful, poorly executed policies.
We'll see.
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2 comments:
What does "huge income inequity" mean?
There very VERY rich and very very poor and everyone else in between...and it has been like that for along time. But in the modern era the opportunity exists for upward economic mobility. Hard work, long hours, failure, retrench and move on. How much sacrifice and deferred gratification can you endure to achieve your goal?
WD, huge income inequity is when the top one percent (by income) have over a quarter of the wealth/income and when the top ten percent have over half of wealth/income in the country.
Yes, there has always been and will likely always be rich and poor and people in between. However, the bulges and slopes of that Bell curve change over time and right now the right end of that curve is extending very far out to the right.
Your comment about upward economic mobility is just insulting. Are you seriously suggesting that the rich work harder than the poor, or specifically that the poor don't work hard. I guess a lot of Tea Party people and the Republican base would agree with that, but I would rather deal with reality.
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