Editor’s Note: Dr. Maha Hosain Aziz is a Professor of Politics (adjunct) in the Master’s Program at New York University, a Senior Analyst at geopolitical consultancy Wikistrat and an Asia Insight Columnist for Bloomberg Businessweek.
By Maha Hosain Aziz – Special to CNN
Occupy Wall Street has been about more than just corporate greed and income inequality. Occupy protesters around the globe may not realize it but, at various points in the past six months, many have been fighting for the same cause as the peasant communities of rural Vietnam during the 1930s - the moral economy.
Theorists have typically used moral economy rhetoric to explain rural movements where protesters felt their basic right to subsistence was being threatened. In the case of Vietnam, the onset of colonial capitalism in the Great Depression contributed to a food crisis for peasant farmers, prompting significant protests. In effect, an informal contract had been broken between the governing power and the governed involving the individual’s basic right to feed himself.
Today, a similar “contract” has been broken between governing powers and the governed.
Since its global launch in October 2011, the Occupy movement has effectively evolved to challenge governments for depriving citizens of their basic right to subsistence in the Great Recession (or its aftermath) - to work, afford basic goods, or in some cases keep their homes.
Gradually, with the disbanding of many encampments, some Occupy members are moving beyond the broad focus of corporate greed and income inequality. Instead, using different strategies, they have narrowed in on specific national policies that have hindered their basic right to subsistence, which has been defined by different groups in different ways in their conception of the moral economy.
In the Philippines, for instance, Occupy Mendiola highlighted their subsistence demands in terms of unemployment and rising prices that they felt the Aquino administration failed to tackle with its policies. In early December 2011, student and labor union groups clashed with police officers’ batons and water cannons as they marched towards the Presidential Palace in protest. An Occupy offshoot has since strengthened - Kilusang 99% - led by a local Catholic bishop and comprising labour groups, farmers, fishermen and the urban poor. Their emphasis continues to be welfare, particularly in terms of job programs and fair wage policies.
In the U.S., employment emerged as a key subsistence demand in early December. American Occupy protesters took the necessary step to talk to political leaders directly: thousands of unemployed Occupy members demanded meetings with Congress in Washington DC about the jobs bill and unemployment benefits. In early January, hundreds held protests during the Iowa caucuses, challenging both Republican and Democrat parties and presidential candidates on specific employment policies.
Another U.S. subsistence demand surfaced in early December: housing. Occupy Your Home members in over 25 cities rallied to raise awareness about the government’s role in the ongoing housing crisis. One estimate suggests that banks have taken over four million homes since 2006. The movement has since bypassed local and national government officials, successfully moving homeless families back into foreclosed houses for short-term relief in various cities, including Los Angeles, Cincinnati and Atlanta. Last week in Miami, an 83-year old woman who defaulted on her refinanced loan was saved from eviction with the help of Occupy members.
In Nigeria, the Occupy members have focused their struggle on the rising cost of basic necessities like food and utilities - triggered in part by the government’s decision to remove billions of dollars in fuel subsidies in early January. This caused a dramatic hike in fuel prices overnight from $1.70 to $3.50 per gallon, leading to demonstrations and protests around the country.
Two weeks later, in cities like Lagos, Kano and Abuja, the situation became violent as thousands of protesters sparred with police armed with batons and tear gas. A week later, President Goodluck Jonathan announced an immediate 30% drop in gas prices, which appeared to appease protesters. Last month, however, Occupy Nigeria resurfaced with a public statement to the president about the economic plight of its members.
As the Occupy movement’s strategy continues to evolve worldwide, its significant message of a subsistence crisis faced by the average citizen in the Great Recession has crystallized. Short of a dramatic shift in tactic by policymakers, this movement for a moral economy will keep resurfacing around the world.
The views expressed in this article are solely those of Maha Hosain Aziz.
© 2012 Cable News Network. Turner Broadcasting System, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
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Dr. Aziz,
Thank you for this thoughtful piece and your insights. One correction: the Occupy movement began on September 17, not in October.
It began when Adbusters started planning it, months before the first march, and it remains irrelevant. The Occupy movement is little more than a massive yellow ribbon sticker or livestrong bracelet. It is a trendy cliche that has accomplished absolutely nothing except to convince a handful of naive idealists that they are brave revolutionaries. The gaggle of Cliche Guevara's sipping $5 coffee in the park with no focus, ambition, or message do absolutely nothing to address the issues at hand. In fact much of the rhetoric encourages even greater dependency on government, which will inevitably lead to greater disappointment in them. As long as Occupy holds the hand of big labor and asks for even bigger government, they aren't fighting for anything worthwhile. From where I stand they aren't fighting at all, they're rolling over like good little doggies, begging for a treat.
Most articulate entry I think I've ever read in the comments section of cnn.com.
Well said.
Well...yeah, but corporate greed....and higher taxes...and militarism and no war for nazi war criminal oil, also!
The world's transition towards a moral economy will be difficult, but necessary. Cognitive dissonance increases the more awareness grows.
Please keep your morals off my wallet and off my economy.
Oh, wait. Does that argument only work for abortion?
Silly me.
Please use your rationale to determine the validity of this statement:
If millions of us begin to starve and die due to lack of healthcare and food your statement of "Keep your hands off my wallet and economy" means absolutely nothing!
YOU personally cannot afford for lower class America to be subjected to a sentence of death. How secure are YOU and your FAMILY if this happens?
Republican hard core policies will ensure YOU and your FAMILY will face whatever manifests from their actions. NOTHING is more important for YOU than that!!!!!! That is if you want to use your head and even keep the pants that hold your wallet.
Use common sense! Ask yourself "Am I supporting policies and beliefs that will eventually result in Myself and Family being surrounded by 8 Families that have to choose between taking what we have or dying?"
The point being that proper morals can keep you from this scenario. People are like animals when it comes to survival instinct. It is NOT about what you view as right or wrong etc........The Lions in Africa never think about the fact it might be wrong to kill a gazell for food in order to survive.
Yet the current Republican and supporter are insistent upon this evolvement. Now truthfully...What is financial wealth worth to anyone in this scenario???
So..we have to agree to go along with what you like or you'll find a way to justify murdering someone to take his stuff? Which moral economy is that a part of?
Yeah so you lazy morons who want a suppoedly "moral" society and economy only want it to morally and economically benefit YOU, huh? Sorrry, bozos, that is NOT how the USA works. You and everyone else have the FREEDOM to do and have, by hard work, whatever you want to have. It just takes work and persistence, people, two things that are sadly lacking with the occupy-idiots. These whiners, like the whiney protestor of the 60's, want things handed to them for not working. It IS NOT going to happen, fools!! Look at the EU!! Socialist crap like Bozobama's does not work. Get that through your thick, non-working skulls!
What the hell Greg. Millions of you starving and dying! You have not yet starved or died. Get a job, damnit! Support you and yours like the rest of us. Life is not a freebee. I already give enough to the un-working people. Sick of it.
'cognitive dissonance' Ain't we smart!
richard nixon was having a conversation with henry kissinger about gun control. nixon said that government cannot control nation whose people are armed to the teeth. kissinger asked how government would take thoses arms away. nixon answered, "THEY WILL TRADE THEM FOR FOOD"!
"moral economy" What the phuck does that even mean?
Wow, that is so sad.
Get thee to church.
(Avoid the ones who preach Fox along with the Bible, tho, or you will never figure this out.)
Dear Occupy squatters,
No one cares about your opinion and you don't deserve the same amenities as the men and women who get up and go to work every day. Also, you certainly don't have a right to destroy public/private property out of your anger for thinking that you are owed something you never once in your life earned. Take a shower, put on some clean clothes, and get back to making my morning coffee.
Come on W, cut the right-wing drivel, will you? If these people could go to work, they would. What they need to do is to try to find a way to break the stranglehold that the M.I.C.(military-industrial-complex) has on the national economy as the rich get richer while the poor get ever poorer!!!
"If these people could go to work, they would." I am unaware of any evidence of that what so ever. Yet you state it as fact. How about sharing your data, please?
Sure, sure, every one who call those pathetic losers what they are is automatically a right-winger. Well, you are the typical representative of occupiers: not quite capable of intelligent discourse. Now go out, lie on a street and protest against whatever.
so who are these people occupying it against Barak Obama and his cronies from wall street ? every single one in the administration is from wall street. am i missing something here.
George, please can the 60's rhetoric and get a life, will you? You fall or fail here, you pick yourself up and TRY AGAIN, you don't sit there and whine and cry like the occupy whiners. Get back to trying something, you wimps, maybe something new you haven't yet, and let's not be afraid to maybe get our little hands dirty!! OCCUPY a job, fools!!
Actually one of them was offered a job (in Calgary, Canada). The potential employer showed up at the protest next day to drive him to job. The protester was a no-show. Now this doesn't mean this necessarily applies to all protesters but it does mean that all protesters will work if given a chance.
W, FYI: Meek-Showing patience and humility; gentle. I am sorry I can't draw you a picture in the text box. lol
Well, well,let us see what you have to say when you get laid off in year 22 of your 30 year career and your pension is 50% less than expected and your kids jobs are in China or flipping burgers.My guess is you still will not get what the occupy movement is trying to do for YOU.
I certainly know what I would say. "DANG! I should have paid more attention to who I was voting for. I should have dug beyond what is thrown in my face by mass media to get REAL FACTS! Now I'm in deep poo because I was an idiot!"
How is that?
30 year career? Is that all the longer you intend to work, 30 years? Let's assume that you attend college and graduate at age 22. a 30 year career puts you planning on retirement at age 52. Wow!! You must be one of the 1% if you can manage that!
Markodavid: Yes, bad things happen in life. But is it the responsibility of the U.S. government to protect each citizen from every adverse event that might happen in his or her life?
Then why don't you protest on the very steps of America's first black racist, race-baiting dictator. He made the mess worse, and has yet to acknowledge his pathetic policies. Oh now I get it, you like his skin color.
Please don't speak for those of us who are NOT right wing morons.
Are you for real? How do you know the majority of these people are not employed? Typical stereo typing with no evidence to support it.
Oh u r just so wrong about that and will find that out soon thanks to America being a democracy.
ive been to many occupys, and at every single one i went to, not a single person didn't have a job.
your myths are boring. glenn beck lies.
DrGonzo.... YOU have no idea what you are talking about. It's comical to see so many of you blindly support a movement you know very little about. First off they do ask for donations. In fact they depend on them...(money, tents, blankets, food- that was barred from being served to homeless) perhaps you remember that many of the "Fund" managers were caught staying in posh NY hotels with the money people were donating. Other reports on CNN noted that donations were down and several leaders claimed this was due to lull in police attacks needed to expand news coverage. all of these facts are available on CNN articles, just use the search bar up top or ask the guy in the tent next to you if he knows how.
Second, my post you were replying to was about the "protesters wanting money they did not earn" This comes in the form of loan forgiveness on loans that many of you feel you shouldn't have to pay back even after you AGREED to the terms. Again look over your declaration of OWS for details. That cost gets passed on to the guys working multiple jobs to make payments for college and homeownership. Regardless of what hippie joe tells you, nothing is free. I know it's hard for you to comprehend but your mommy lied, you are not special, life is tough and that is a good thing. You can not be ANYTHING you want if you plan on making a living. If you had known your father he would have taught you some integrity. Tell you it's time to put your big boy pants on. Think of this as Economic Darwinism and the folks at the OWS movement as the dodo bird.
Drivel CT....Pure drivel...
What are you basing this 'drivel' comment on? Because it offends your view of the world. The protesters in my city were in fact depending upon handouts – they claimed that their 'rights' were being deprived because the city wouldn't install (and presumably pay the electrical bills for) outlets so they could charge up their phones and computer tablets. They claimed that this was 'the cost of democracy'.
W: The only clues you have are the ones FOX gives you!
Hi W! I am an Occupy Small Business Owner, I go to work every day. You're small minded comment is way off the mark, and you don't have a clue who Occupy really is, or who is supporting it. People like you are driving this nation towards corporate totalitarianism, you and your ilk are rigid, constipated fools, unable to entertain any ideas other than the crap pushed out by gasbags like the Great Fat One, Limbaugh. Rush is Reich, and so are you.
W: Your comment just proves the point of the protests. We should not be forced to take advantage of people in order to survive. A good portion of America would rather drive somebody else into the mud rather than earn a wage doing some good. More and more laws are being passed that are forcing us to have one of those jobs instead of doing work that would benefit the world.
Goodbye Capitalism, welcome Communism!
History repeats itself, first as tragedy, second as farce. Karl Marx.
With Liberalism already deeply entrenched in peoples' minds in the West, that moral economy crap was the final link missing!
Why are you quoting Karl Marx to make an anti-socialist point? You know he was a socialist don't you?
I'm not sure you understand what liberalism means. Liberalism, which is really right-wing neoliberalism today in the US, even at its most radical is just dead center. As a socialist, I'd say I'm closer to conservatism - enlightenment values, Adam Smith, that sort of thing. Conservatism however, today just means "extreme right wing nutcase religiously devoted to neoliberalism."
That would be great, if true, Andrey. The way this country's being run nowadays by the M.I.C. in Washington D.C., we may well need a Communist Revolution as the ignorant voters keep electing people like Obama and Romney!
Still afraid of the commies are you?Gawd,get a life and stop worrying about everything.When you get old you will have a life of fear and regrets to remember.Surely you can do better
Not afraid, it is all over for these guys. The people I really do not like are all kind of rotten liberals and knowitall fullofthemseves guys like you. So I do not think I gonna regret that: they never get anywhere in their lives anyway. Should not really spend my time talking to you, really. Have a nice day! Go occupy something else!
Moral economy is only possible within a moral society. It's the task for both the government and individuals to tackle social inequalities together – equal opportunities and the rule of law for all.
The problem is j.von hettlingen, is that the vast majority in Congress today along with Pres. Obama are immoral as they all work for the M.I.C. and the Pentagon in order to do their bidding. The only thing that concerns the majority in Congress is getting reelected time and again! Forget about morality!!!
The meek shall inherit the earth. Sorry hot heads...
oops. I meant to put that one the main feed.
The OWS protest started out as somewhat of a mixed bag, and evolved into more or less just a different mixed bag. The undeniable FACT is that SOMETHING IS DEFINITELY WRONG, and it seems everyone one of us can can put a finger on something, whether we agree with the OWS or not. The sad truth is that our governments just don't work anymore, certainly not well enough. Time to tear it down, learn from our lessons, and build a new and better one. Or, we can just all sit back and just wait and watch it collapse.
Use your ballot to do it, that is the civilized way.
What a novel concept. Can I still vote for Sarah Palin ?
If the tea party had been civilized OWS would never have happened. I'd be the first one to advocate a return to civility and rational discussion but the return to civility has to happen on both sides. If the conservatives aren't willing to be civil then we will see a lot more OWS type events.
All they want is a fair middle class safety net.
OWS will have to take that issue up with China and India. Good luck with that.
Nobody really knows what the "Occupy Wall Street" crowd was saying in the beginning or where it is going! I have yet to see any of them protest Obama, who has taken more Wall street money than any other president in U.S. history and who inccidenentally has a bunch of these cronies working for him on the white house staff! They appear to more lost than the Democrats that in reality started the housing bubble under Clinton back in 1994 at Fanni & Freddi and are looking the other way where the wall streeters are concerned who cashed in on this government implemented fiasco! ...it appears as if this entire movement was just another excuse to party! ...LOL
Your information is innacurate. Did you get it from Glenn Beck by chance?
Ms Maha Hosain Aziz has described the developments very well.The success of the OCCUPY Movement is entirely dependent on us as individuals by our collective actions,we can make the governments work for the poor and middle class who are being left to fend for oneself in the face of corporate greed encouraged by the march of unbridled capitalism and the dominance by the corporate class and a weakened government.Its time to appreciate the ideas of Marx and usher in some kind of social revolution on our respective societies.
I can't speak for the situation of other countries across the globe, but for the US, the Occupy protests are a national disgrace. For a country as wealthy and affluent as the US to have its citizens demand that its government literally pay for everything for them from cell phones to internet to college to their homes, etc,etc...it is utterly and completely shameful. I hang my head because I am an American everytime I see something like this on the news. And you know what's even more awesome? The fact that articles like this try to justify those demands as being "moral". What morality? Since when is morality even allowed in how our political system functions? I thought any attempt to apply a moral code to political posturing was a violation of "church and state"? Help me understand how all of a sudden its ok to justify Occupy's ridiculous demands as being immoral when America for the most part categorically rejects any kind of moral influence upon its political systems. Don't get me wrong, I think a uniform moral code is needed in our country, I just think its illogical and ridiculous that we demand moral behavior from our politicians, but won't allow for an objective moral code to be applied anywhere else in our political system. It's a fallacy.
Motz, no disrespect, but you're thinking too hard. No where did OWS demand internet and cell phones being paid for. They want certain inevitable rights that government should provide for all people, which is in line with what our founding fathers put forth. They are protesting a plutocracy that we have instead of a government for the people by the people. That's the moral part.
What "rights" are those exactly? It seems to me that a lot of people believe that subsistence means a right to an HDTV, laptop, smartphone, and broadband internet. If you point out that these aren't strictly necessities, you get called a fascist.
What Occupiers fail to understand is that if you create a new "right" to subsistence, those goods and services to be given to those who for whatever reason cannot do for themselves will inevitably have to come from somewhere. SOMEONE will have to pay for them. The people who will have to pay for them are by and large those who will not use them and will also have to pay for their own subsistence. In what reality could that be considered fair? At the end of the day, taking the fruits of someone else's labor by force or coercion is slavery. It does not cease to be slavery because it is imposed upon those who make a certain income.
Gee-whiz, is this not why we live in communities and form societies and governments? All of these years I thought it was to share resources and to take care of the weak and the poor. Yall showed me that I had it wrong all this time. Tomorrow I get me some guns and start shooting off some excess citizens. This way me keep my taxes and them that survive can go live in Canada. That was the way it was in the stone age and it is best for us right now. Yall get your iced tea and cool off before putting the hoods on.
Socialism is good until your run out of money (Margret Thacher).
Capitalism is good until you steal all the money. (A wiser person that MT, I)
Motz I think you have been misinformed about OWS. I never heard anyone in OWS demand that the government pay for everything. No one except Fox News commentators that is.
Good article. What they are fighting for is social justice ( it says so right in the picture ). In the U.S. most jobs went to Communist China. Overall ,the Globalist Agenda will impoverish people so much that I forsee clashes turning bloodshed. Greece is close to bloodshed and will probably be first to try their politicians for treason and will default-just a matter of time , fairly soon.
Yes, rightospeak, that is certainly part of it. In fact, you are echoing some of the same sentiments that have been expressed over and over again by Dr. Paul Craig Roberts who literally predicted such a movement well before it started. The government has sold out our future for corporate gain and profit. The intriguing aspect of all this is that it appears to have been done by design, rather than the result of some error. And whether it is right or wrong is debatable, but either way, it appears to be so far out of control that even the President of the United States is powerless to stop it.
I kissed my way up to VP at a health insurance company. Now I take over $500,000 of your health care dollars for NO VALUE ADDED to your health care. And that’s just me. Now think about how many other VPs, Directors, Managers, etc. are at my company alone. Now multiply that by thousands of others at hundreds of other health insurance companies. From 10 to 25% of your health care dollars go towards administration that adds NO VALUE to your health care. But my company’s PAC dollars will continue to fool you little people into thinking that a single payer system will be bad. Little people like you are so easy to fool. Little people also don’t realize that a single payer system is the ONLY system that would allow little people (as an entire country) to negotiate better health care prices. Little people don’t realize that the Medical Cartels already know that. And that is the reason why the Medical Cartels spend so much PAC money from the hospitals and doctors lobbying against a single payer system. Some little people say that a single payer system would cost you little people more. But if that were true, then wouldn’t the hospitals and doctors WANT that extra money? Yes they would. So why do the Medical Cartels lobby against a single payer system? It’s because the Medical Cartels know it would allow little people to negotiate better health care prices. And that’s what the Medical Cartels are afraid of. Period.
But us big wigs at insurance companies, hospitals, and pharmacy companies don’t ever need to worry about health care no matter what it costs. We get our health care paid for one way or another by you little people. And we get the little people that work at our companies to contribute to our PACs. And us big wigs say it’s to protect the little peoples’ jobs. But in reality it would be in the little peoples’ best interest to NOT contribute to the PAC. Again, little people are so easy to be fooled. I won’t ever have to worry about losing my job with so many little people being brain washed by the Medical Cartels’ PAC money. Not only that, the Medical Cartels’ PAC money is used to elect so many republicans that will never allow a single payer system. Republicans have always fought against any meaningful health care reform. But that’s what our Medical Cartels’ PACs pay them for. Politicians can be bought so easily.
Pretty soon the only people that will be able to afford health care is us big wigs. And that’s the way it should be. We don’t want you little people using up the resources when we need them. And once again, I thank you little people for capping my SS tax at the $106,800 level. Now I only pay 1.3% SS tax and you little people pay 6.2%. Also, thank you for extending my tax breaks. I’m using the extra money on my vacation houses.
Well, I thought you would have more respect for yourself and for what you have achieved in your life. That's a shame really!
Ha! Only a chump would respond with this. We are talking about peoples ability to actuallySURVIVE, chump
Judging by the size of your post and time on hand, I would probably say you work at McDonalds part time
lol I know VPs... and you sir are no VP. That would require intelligence. Not for future reference. Be more concise. Make your point in fewer words, there are stupid people that read the comments in occupy articles...
Suckle, you suck. You're not fool'n anyone.
Pretending to be someone you are not and placing blame without factual justification only makes what you are trying to say appear as what it is. Nonsense.
No offense Timmy but you are a Troll. There is no way I believe you make $500K from health care and then come on here and rail against that kind of thing from happening. If you want to make people believe you you need to create a credible back story.
Capitalists-fascists have killed more Americans by inciting unnecessary conflicts around the world and at home.
How is the majority taking cash from the minority from under the barrel of a gun a moral economy?
lol, when i first saw the headline, i thought they were talking about afghanistan
Occupy is long over. Do they really need to keep writing about a few bums who sit in the park?
What are Occu-Poopers "fighting" for???
FREE STUFF – OBAMA BUCKS
Paid for by working tax payers....
gain Lame Stream Corporate owned media pretend to not know what the movement is about. Here's a hint idiots, OCCUPY WALL STREET.
*again*
The reason there is a subsistence crisis is that there are too many people in the world and the earth has exceeded its carrying capacity. Maybe it's time to cull the herd.
You can expect resistance mister.
Indeed, some in OWS require 1/2 of the gold in Fort Knox to be distributed per capita to those injured by the so called Great Recession. The other 1/2 to be held in trust in case of a so called "double dip."
This article is well written... that is all that is good about it. The occupiers would not take a job if it were given to them. They would much rather talk about the problem. They are complainers, not fixers. Stop giving credit where no credit is due!
A job is doing someone else's chores for them. When wages skyrocket.
Hey Tex, putting the OWS kids aside, and just as a plain straight forward question, how would you rate your overall satisfaction with Washington and how the country has been run in general ?
To the extent that the protesters want a handout, I say to heck with them. But to the extent that they want a set of policies that promote and keep jobs in America (without federal spending), then this is all good.
Churchill had it right when he said "Socialism is a philosophy of failure, the creed of ignorance, and the gospel of envy, its inherent virtue is the equal sharing of misery." It's interesting that these occupiers also seem to love electronic gadjets manfactured by the evil corporations that they loathe. Perhaps if they had majored in something useful in college such as engineering or computer science instead of social work, art, philosophy, etc., they would be able to find jobs.
I wonder how many of those occupy wall street people are collecting unemployment? If they put as much effort into bettering themselves as they do occupying places they would be much better off. I think they should go get a job.
A small body of determined spirits fired by an unquenchable faith in their mission can alter the course of history.
Hopefully the Republicans win Congress and the White House to serve America better than the Democrats have.
In a free capitalistic society some will succeed and some will fail miserably. But most will be somewhere in between, which is fine.
Deal with it and work hard.
So lets have a regulated market system.
Lawlessness is not real capitalism
Lack of enforcement is tyrany and theft
You'll have better chance of succeeding with hard work than relying on the govt.
Don't let the gov't dictate what you do. You'll never be nothing more than a body.
wwwwaaaahhhhhhhh (all i hear from those hippies)
40% levy against Saudi Oil Revenues now!!!
Defend the families affected by the 9-11 attacks
15 of the 19 hijackers were from Arabia.
You don't need to have a GA to know what needs to be done.
If only the Armed Forces were listening to this.
Loyalty is something embodied within the military personnel.
The families of the fallen will be defended.
Occupy should get on-board and serve this idea with all their hearts and souls.
They are the 99.9%
I don't get people like you. Sure let's put hefty levy's against an oil machine, tax the heck out of Big Oil's profits... Really? Do you think that they just won't pass it on to the little guy? They are out to make a profit, unfortunately at times it is at the little guys expense, but take away their profits, what do you expect them to do? Sit down and take it in the backside? What if I took more taxes out of your income to help out those less fortunate? Same thing, not in total take, but in concept.
40% levy would result in millions of additional unemployed in America.
Again I have to say. Occupiers are activists so most r middle class and could easily get a job. But they r a mix of idealistic students, empassioned dropouts, genuine heroes, charged politicos and a few petty criminals. And we need them BADLY. They r countering a disgusting right wing turn that needs to be countered, they are truly changing things and they are the only ones with the time and feedom to be activists. Why? Because the 99% are kept on a leash trying to survive and cant afford to be in any movement!
While im on the subject, u notice how a LOT of unions are on Occupy side? So what? Is all y'alls' venom well-found? Or is it just more right wing rubbish against just anyone who daresvto complain?
Ok,check out this scenario – January 2013 – republican majority in congress and senate – republican president .
All tax cuts for the rich corporations still in place + no tax increases on wealthy , unions impotent due to "right to work" legislation across the nation, gas prices through the roof and unemployment at record highs because companys have used government tax break windfalls to move more jobs out of U>S and taxes on profits from overseas investment are paid to foreign countrys.. Hospitals having financial breakdown because unemployed have no insurance but, still need health care ..an end to medicare and people sick and homeless in the streets Also, U>S refineries making record profits from selling gas and crude bi-products to foreigh nations and investing it elsewhere – and the majority of U>S citizens below the poverty level.
Can you honestly beleive that 60% of the population that could be affected are lazy and don't deserve better as the wealthy claim ?! The American dream – but just for the ones who can take and take and still be able to sleep at night – You might be interested in re-reading the classic poem Richard Cory
Oh my Floyd, you just made my day! I can hardly wait for Republican control in 2013. Maybe then we will actually have a budget and start digging our way out the debt hole we have created!
I have lived and worked in "right to work" states and the unions were just as numerous, powerful, and manipulative as anywhere else in America.
Communism, Socialism, or Anarchy? Not sure which one, but I know it's one of the three. I can't stand these losers! Get out of your parents basements and get a job! People are hiring.
People are hiring:?! Go Obama! He is fixing the economy.
Corporate America is saving the economy. It is much easier for them if Obama and the federal government stays out of their way.
Obama has done more to get in the way of job creation than to assist it. It is the private sector that is creating jobs.
i want some of your money. wwwhhhhaaaaaa. wonder how many of these rebels without a clue actually have 401s. my money is more than you might think.
How about the morality of the 6 deaths that occurred in the OWS encampments.
3 natural causes, 2 overdoses and 1 probable case of deoxycorticosterone hypertension.
Now explain the millions of dollars in property damage.
What are the occupiers fighting for? Most of them can't tell you when asked.
What are they REALLY fighting for? A system that will allow them to live a life of luxury without them having to lift a finger.
The Hebrew Bible Prophets, and Jesus in the Gospels would indicate that a moral economy along with a moral society based on peace, (not war) inclusiveness, and reaching out as a nation to the voiceless in our society is the only way we can live as the children of our Creator. Out on the limb I will say that we are at the beginning of chaos around the world because of our self centeredness. We can change it. When the people demand change oriented toward justice and peace, the leaders will follow. Thank you to those who stick their neck out to bring compassion, comfort and justice to the world. I know that they sacrifice some or all of their toys for the sake of humanity and the planet on which we live.
'What are Occupiers really fighting for?' Attention! Attention!
The idea to think that tomorrow will be a better day without accepting the moral necessities for making it so will always remain as nothing but an illusion.
Occupiers want the good life but don't want to work or compete for it. Too bad, that's the way you get ahead in this world.
First they came for the Socialists, and I did not speak out–
Because I was not a Socialist.
Then they came for the Trade Unionists, and I did not speak out–
Because I was not a Trade Unionist.
Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out–
Because I was not a Jew.
Then they came for me–and there was no one left to speak for me.
Martin Niemöller,
Well said, and so true. The freedom to prosper and the freedom to fail is what what true liberty and fairness are about. No we should not totally eliminate the social safety net, but it should be a hand up, not a hand out. At some point, we have to let people suffer the consequences of their poor decisions and/or laziness.
It should read, "What WERE they fighting for?" They've packed up and gone home. Winter, though mild was still cold. Convection trumps conviction.
I do not understand this article at all. Comparing problems in the United States to the 3rd world is ridiculous. I also take issue that there is somehow this morality gap that just happened along in the last 20 years. The ways that buisnesses and banks for better or worse conduct themselves have not changed much since the 16th century.
The basic problem is globalization and automation are changing the professions that generate financial success. In 30 years even the assembly done by Chinese workers will be automated. The reality is individuals need to be nimble at all stages of their working career if they wish to be succesful. This means if you have no real skills, no one is going to give you 40 dollars an hour to do a repetetive task. The factory worker will go the way of the hooper, the gas station attendent, and the nobilty of central europe who lived on the backs of the rural peasents before they flocked to American and the factories in the cities. For those who think taking out a government loan for a film degree and a minor in pottery may wish to reconsider. I recommend attending a community college and do everything else online. Yes, even the monopolies of the big universities are not immune to change. Utterly ridiculous people pay tens of thousands of dollars for the right to attend classes taught by foreign grad students who cannot speak English.
When I was following the Occupy movement I did not see very many engineers, entreprenors. programers, or doctors particapating. Does the Occupy Movmement claim a monopoly on morality? We know what Lenin and Mao did with their proclaimed monopoly.
The reality is when their is change, there are new winners and losers. Sometimes the losers use the morality card to attempt to recover what they feel was unfairly taken from them. This was one of the reasons why so many of the old nobility supported Facisism in Central Europe. The old guard has been surplanted by the new industrialists and worse some of those benefiting were Jews. Then there was labor and socialism gaining the upper hand and threatening the little power the old guard had. Facisim represented a higher level of morality that would fight the ammoral Jewish industrialist and the Mongoloid Bolechevik factory worker.
I guess in summary I get very scared when someone throws out the morality card. The Bolecheviks and Facists played that same card to play on the fears of classes of people who felt threatened by change. All I see in the Occupy movement is people looking to blame others for their problems and like the Bolechevicks and Facists the solution is to erradicate the enemy.
Wow!, how moral of them
"When I was following the Occupy movement I did not see very many engineers, entreprenors. programers, or doctors particapating."
You really followed the movement?
"Comparing problems in the United States to the 3rd world is ridiculous."
You are out of touch, aren't you. Like George Bush senior who marvelled over the operation of cash register. This country is becoming 3rd world. You are so out of touch.
The Occupy movement around the globe is united against unrestrained capitalism, something which encompasses ALL of those other issues. It's not about getting rid of capitalism, but rather limiting it to being a way to acquire wealth rather than a way to run society. None of the other issues which Occupy takes a stance on would exist had it not been for capitalism run amok.
A direct analogy would be the HBO show The Wire. While it would be correct to say that it was about drugs, crime, government, union labor, the press, and a whole host of issues, it is all under the umbrella of unrestrained capitalism's effect on the American city. (That's coming from David Simon himself, not my own pet theory.)
Socialism.
All their other 'issues' are just things they see as keeping 'the will of the people' (socialism) down.
I thought "the will of the people" was called Democracy. Are you saying Democracy is Socialism?
Occupy is an anarachist group fighting for a socialist state that will kneel before Jihadists.
Somehow you managed to be wrong multiple times in one sentence.
First off Occupy Wallstreet isn't about socialism its composed mostly of students who are anxious about graduating into a nonexistant job market which has been trashed by a corrupt banking industry. So if you want to say its mostly composed of unemployed students then you would be correct however not for the reason implied. Students are going to school trying to better themselves and make themselves more marketable to the workplace so it really goes without saying that they would be unemployed.
Second of all socialists make poor jihadists since socialism promotes secularism which is about as far from religious extremism as you can possibly get. Its actually anti religious extremism.
However I do applaud your effort of trying to mix Jihadism with Socialism even though its sort of like trying to mix oil with water. No matter how you try to mix it its not going to work.
I think what is being said is that they are a lawless, anti-government group that will lead to an over-reaching nanny-state that will be ill-equipped to deal with threats to this nation, both internal and external.
Oh, and college students don't have to be unemployed. In fact (and I may be wrong here, just let me know if I am), I though students didn't count for unemployment as their status as a student is, in the view of the government, their employment.
Not to mention, there is still a job market for engineers, doctors, researchers, physicists, mathematicians, etc. Of course, those are just positions that require a degree. I mean, otherwise you've got electricians, welders, millwrights, truck drivers, mechanics, etc.
You know... useful people with useful knowledge and useful skills. There's a lot of call for them.
Occupy has a place in our society to raise dialog about real injustices such as corporate and Wall Street greed, and government missguided priorities that proves to be immioral. There is nothing wrong with that. I believe that Occupy has helped the nation's concienceness by bringing some jobs back to the US. This country has a strong moral fabric that just needs tweeking on occasion.
Raising awareness...how clever. But when we find out that some of these occupy slugs are in fact on the payroll of ACORN, then we see this for what it really is about. Obama and his policies have done more harm in 3 years that all the rest. He was to be the Great Uniter, the hope and change agent. What a crock.
You libtards bought a pig in a poke, the left wing media didn't vet this moron, and you have a hard time admitting you have been duped. Still mad at yourselves for voting for the liar in chief, the racist in chief and the divider in s chief. Get over it. Vote for whoever isn't Obama and we can get this country back on track or we can all be occupiers and stand in the soup lines together. The Govt is broke, morally, financially and intellectually.
Hope and change has now become what it always really was: Blame and Shame!!
ACORN was liquidated in 2010 long before Occupy Wallstreet started. Your information is inaccurate. I suggest going back to your source and letting them know they are spreading misinformation.
WOW. Comparing the occupy movement to starving peasants is quite a stretch. Most of the poor in our country have more benefits that so many other countries are lacking. Water. Electricity. Education. While there are definitive problems in our country, we need to remember that overall we have life pretty easy.
Have you ever been a starving student living on cupanoodles? I have.
You had education, shelter, clean water to add to your food and a way to cook it? Congratulations! You have a better life than a majority of people in the world!
Alternatively:
You were a student living on cup'o'noodles? Congratulations! You've experienced college!
No you f***ing haven't!!!!!! Go to Haiti if you want to see what 'starving' is you spoiled brat.
OWS is fighting for the right to do exactly what they're doing now: everything EXCEPT what's required to become personally successful. There will ALWAYS be inequality. Therefore, OWS will ALWAYS have someone to blame for their lack of success. ALWAYS.
You know, I would go out and join the OWS with their protests, but I'm working at the job that my Liberal Arts degree got me. No, wait... that's not right... I wasn't a liberal arts major... oh yeah! I'm a MECHANICAL ENGINEER. I have a BoS in Mechanical Engineering from a respected engineering university! That's how I got a job.
Seriously, I've seen too many people who don't take their education seriously at any point in their lives. College is not for partying, and your student loans aren't for a big TV for your dorm. I know that the liberal arts degrees are more fun, cooler, and easier, which leaves more time for parties, drinking, and drug use, but the easy road early on becomes the hard road later.
Am I in the 1%? No. But I'm living extremely comfortably, and I really don't want for anything. Do I need more money? No. Do I want more? Yes. I want as much money as I can get. Do I think you deserve anything that I or anyone other than you worked for? Take a guess. Or take a flying leap, for all I care.
There are engineering students in OWS. Also I know many unemployed engineers.
I am happy you have a job and are happy however not everyone unemployed is lazy or uneducated. If you go out and talk to people you will find that I am right.
I also know people who are unemployed. My friend recently lost a supervisor position at a local pizza place. This occured about a month ago, so he's been sitting around for a month lamenting the unfairness of the economy.
....
Nah, I'm just fooling. He actually looked for employment and found an open position for a Quality Control Technician at an industrial coating workshop. He applied, interviewed, and had the job within a week and a half. He didn't even get to collect any unemployment. Did I mention he's supporting his family with this position as well?
Work is out there. Find it. It will not look for you, and I will not find it for you. I will also most certainly not hand you anything that I have earned for myself. Stay in the street until you rot for all I care. We will move the bodies, and go about our business.
Housing, jobs, even food is not a right under any law of America. These are aspects of life that people need and must produce economic value in order to earn the benefits of their efforts. This is not something the government, business, or anyone's neighbor is obligated to provide.
Reframing a socialist movement as a moral movement does not make it moral or credible.
Occupy in other countries?
Theres' a way to waste space in an article that should just be delaing with our HUGE inequities in the US.
Subsistence is never a problem, there's always living 3 generations in one home, 10 to a room, in cardboard boxes.
The movements PRIME motive was to publicize the economic inequality in American, the huge gulf it's created, the increasing gulf, and the myraid little ways the rich, the corp execs, have chipped away at the economic support of Americans just to add antoher buck to the hundreds of millions and billions they have already ammassed.
It was a simple message, and one the "big business" of news had tried it's best, as in this article, to marginalize.
i know, reporters need to make a buck, survivie, but if that's your goal, please become an accountant and let someone who cares more for the news than their paycheck take a crack at the news business.
What I seem to notice is that life comes down to sacrifice. Any one human can't have it all. This is often true in the realm of employment. There is work to be found; in fact, there's a lot of work out there. But everyone has their price, and their reasons. "That's demeaning." "It doesn't pay enough (for college, for family, for etc., or just in general)." "I don't want to move to (insert place here)," or worse, "I don't want to leave (insert place here)."
These all seem like very good reasons. But if you don't find some form of employment, you lack anything to leverage better employment. And that will be unfortunate the day that one of those reasons becomes less important than "I want to eat."
Never let anyone tell you that your dignity is worth it. Dignity is just another item that can be pawned to ensure you have enough money to live. Me, I'm glad that I worked for where I am. I have resources, contacts, and experience. I'm fortunate to have put myself above the need to use my dignity as a food stamp.
I agree but must add that you must be careful about what it is you are truly selling or willing to sell. In the name of that new age religion called "free market capitalism" everything seems to be for sale. At what point will you be asked to sell your mind, your ethics?
Your argument of "mind" is poorly placed. I am an intellectual with a degree in a scientific and technical field; my "mind" and my skills are what I live on. No matter what job you work at, you're selling something of yourself. Being needed for my intellect and, more importantly, my education is a rather desirable position.
The minute I sell my ethics is the minute I no longer deserve my employment. People don't usually realize this, but engineers do have ethics. In fact, they are necessary as we design, build, and maintain structures, systems, and components utilized by people. In fact, our ethics are important enough that we have regulations against companies and businesses to keep them maintained. More than that, there is nothing anyone could pay me to have me willfully make a wrong call. I feel no pressure from my employers in this regard, simply because if they tried anything like that, it would be then made public that they attempted to bribe an engineer, they would burn while I would walk away scott-free, likely landing a new job in weeks.
My answer for you? Try finding a job with inherent ethics. You know, something important, that requires real work towards a real degree with real responsibilities. I have no need nor desire to cash in my ethics because of that.
Uhh, votes counting for more than money in elections?
Occupy slime they must protest everything. just protesting to protest. everything in life is unfair.
What you did to your mom last nite in bed is unfair!
As with any "movement" political scientists can look at it and find almost any meaning or purpose that suits the needs of their next publication.
Is it not equally likely that "Occupy" has no agenda, no purpose, that it isn't a movement but rather an event? The "movement" seems to be mostly disenfranchised youth with nothing significant to do, in ohter words, bored kids with no particular prospects. Why is it necessary to seek order in chaos?
I'm shocked by how not bad this is! Far above the usual CNN standard.
This article dramatically presents untruthful information. This is ideology in Dr. Aziz, not scholarship.
First fact: it was the NIRA (National Industrial Relief Act), also commonly known as the NRA that was the main administrative cause of the food crisis during the Depression. Elevated price fixing forced by the progressive Roosevelt administration - the federal government - led directly too food shortages. The Roosevelt administration's progressive ideological base imposed quotas on production, wages, hours worked, and attempted to prosecute anyone for lowering prices that allowed businesses to compete and therefore attempt to stabilize prices. Roosevelt also forced overproduction in food to be destroyed, such as farm products considered illegal because of overproduction.
Every time the central governments try to impose price fixing there is a food shortage.
There are also colossally many more facts in history that are contrary to Dr. Aziz's views.
I am not a republican. I am not a democrat. I am not a progressive. I am not a neoconservative. I am not a socialist. I am a moderate who believes in liberty. I am aware of the immense dangers of ideology that ignore and generate activists to furiously try to rewrite history to cover over the dramatic failures of ideologies imposing themselves on other people.
Subsistence?!?!??!??! Are you freaking kidding me! There wasn't a single person in that protest who didn't have an iPhone, get your head out of your culo!!!
They're fighting against the corruption. They want their leaders to serve the interests.
Some of the things they protest against they have a point, but what I find funny is there is no real push in the movement to target the Obama Administration for their role. I guess as long as you are left wing it is ok to be on the sides of the banks, etc.
What they're really fighting for is just to raise hell. There are protests all over the world about injustices and Americans feel left out. They want a cause and just can't seem to find one, so they make one up.
Occupy carries the message of 19th Century European mysticism: no one has property rights, all men are agents of history, history is a whim of the universe, the universe is an unknowable dream. They are fundamentally anti-American.
No Peik. Occupy states (in part) that people will no longer work for whatever lousy wages the "employer" whimsically thinks up. This is how the income inequality came about. Nothing mystical about that, my friend.
What is he talking about?
Yeah helping people keep their homes, in cases where the banks are wrong in forclosing I can buy it. But in the case where people made their own bad choices and now can't or won'tpay for their homes, why should they be allowed to keep them? Are we expecting the banks to buy everyone in the country a house? Hey occupiers come talk to my bank so I can have my house for free ok?
Lets see how many support #OccupyMovement
Tweet if u support : #tweeVtVotes :I vote @tweevtYES for category #OccupyMovement at http://www.tweeVt.com
Tweet if u dpnt : #tweeVtVotes :I vote @tweevtNO for category #OccupyMovement at http://www.tweeVt.com
Tweet #OccupyBowelMovement if you think OWS is just full of sheep-dip.
I guess they are Occupying for the right to go to the bathroom wherever they please.
Wow, you are gonna be SO sorry someday when you face your Maker...
LOL. Only in the US does OWS refuse to take on the Administration. It's all too willing to take on corporations that operate and profit within the law but not so willing to take on a government all too willing to operate outside the law. Cowards and hypocrites, both. These people are parasites. They want the right to basic subsistence, they just don't want to work for it. They live in tents on public property...depriving families of using those public parks...and living on donated food. It seems like they already have what they've asked for. The right to a job? You already have that right. You can have any job you like, so long as you're qualified to do it and the employer has a need for YOUR services. Bear in mind, with sometimes thousands of people applying for maybe 3 or 4 positions, not everyone is going to be hired. Not everyone CAN be hired. No company can be or should be forced to hire people for which they have no use, no can they or should they be forced to hire any specific person...meaning YOU. In case you people didn't know it, there's millions of illegals in this country working in jobs that they have no right to work in. What? Farm labor is beneath your dignity or something? Butchering and processing chicken or beef doesn't sit well with your vegan lifestyle? Tell it to the hand, man. You have the right to life (damn!), liberty and the pursuit of happiness. Note the word "pursuit" in there? It's something to strive for, to work for, to yearn for. No one guarantees you will ever be happy. THAT part, my friends, is entirely up to you. We don't owe you a thing.
WASTING TIME
Our nation's problems can be summed up with the two E's. When we fix the E's, we'll be able to settle all the small stuff later. Oh, and before you say it, Economy is not one of them.
One is Energy. We are unique in the world in that we are a power hungry nation of progressives. This means we complain about rolling blackouts, grid failures, and any other number of issues, but we don't want to see more oil refineries, oil wells, coal plants, hydrofracking sites, or nuclear facilities. This needs to be fixed. I understand the environment is important, but we need to get our house in order for our energy needs. Encourage alternative energy, but also build more nuclear plants (a power source as green and safe as any alternative energy), build more refineries (this will truly lower gas prices as we will be better suited to utilize crude oil found in this nation), and for the love of Pete, repair and upgrade the aging and decaying power grid. A modern, more efficient grid would help with a lot of our energy needs. All of these options will provide jobs, security, and a better way of life for millions of Americans.
Really CNN? Really?
Maybe it'll go through if I use l337 speak. The second E is 3N717L3M3N7. Let's see if CNN lets that through.
Oh Lord. REALLY?
I can't use the E word in a conversation about Occupy? Every time I've tried to post it, the comment gets buried for that?
Ok, let's sum it up then. LET PEOPLE FAIL. Whether it is a bank, a person, an organization, doesn't matter. Stop teaching people that everyone deserves success. Work hard, stop complaining, and maybe you'll have a better life. Stop expecting someone to pick you up after you fall; do it yourself.
The economy is a tort and the gov't a joke. Accordingly, in my opinion, the United States gov't should be held liable for that negligently designed roller coaster (that throws the riders into divorce court and/or foreclosure) it whimsically calls "the economy." A class action lawsuit should ask a Federal court to order 1/2 of the gold in Fort Knox held in a constructive trust, pending debits for legitimate claims. This trust will be divided per capita among the successful claimants. Anyone who can prove to a referee that he has been injured by the so called Great Recession should receive a payment in gold. The other half of the gold will be disbursed in the same way if there is a "double dip."
Or... and hear me out on this... we could just try to focus on improving the state of life for the people actually providing a useful service to the nation. You know, the ones who don't sit around on welfare because it's "better than what they'd get from a job."
Suck it up, buttercup. No one should be given free gold, especially not people who were irresponsible with their money in the first place.
Strong moral standards is required for creation of a biologically correct family. This requires accepting responsibilities and commitment to such a family which then becomes a member of a strong community working together to make a strong nation. Nations determined to work together to create a morally strong world government is what should be considered the only hope for the future of this rapidly decaying human society in every corner of this planet.
I think 99 weeks of unemployment insurance is more than enough of a helping hand for us in America, given that Harvard economists have proven that it actually hinders people from getting a job.
"Moral economy." Right. The fact of the matter is that there is already a "moral economy" in place–it says that you get paid if you work, otherwise you don't. It says that if you acquire a skill that society needs, as opposed to getting a degree in something useless, then you will be more secure in your job.
Our "moral economy" says that those who serve will be served, and those who don't will not. The problem isn't that we don't have a moral economy: the problem is that these OWS people don't like the morals it is run by.
To all of your saying the OWS is nothing but lazy jobless people wanting a hand are way dead wrong, its not just about money. How about the facts that the totall corruption that has gone on since WW2, its about how people waste there lives working for nothing, unable to raise families with moral values because they work all day with no time to spend with them, hence leads to higher crime and a more brutal society, and those who complain about OWS wish to continue to hide in the dark and fear change that happens all part of a giant human story that continues to evolve, stop letting the media dictate your opinions, i know people who would believe whatever the news says, overwhat the smartest man in the world would say.
Occupy means nothing. they protest about everything. wall street, Wal-Mart, tuna, GOP, Democrat convention, comic con, Jews, save the whales, PETA, Wars, guns, Capitalism, unions, Fox News, abortion rights, free everything. the whole time they are stealing, raping, defecating and urinating in public, assaulting police and service women, taking and selling drugs.