Watch out for those torches and pitchforks on your way to work for the next couple weeks, guys. The natives are restless.
The National People's Action group has launched a new campaign called Make Wall Street Pay under the tagline, "Because we're done picking up their tab." The rumpus kicked off on Monday with protesters and foreclosed families descending on the National Association of Attorneys General spring conference in DC to demand the jailing of Wall Street bankers.
Trumka, head of the nation’s largest union organization, is hoping to tap into that kind of anger at Wall Street with two weeks of protests aimed at Goldman Sachs Group Inc., the most profitable securities firm in U.S. history, and the country’s five other largest banks. The AFL-CIO says it plans 200 events covering all 50 states, starting March 15.
Now, you guys know I'm generally sympathetic to the less fortunate and I'm more than willing to blame Wall Street when it's appropriate. But this shit is pure theater, engineered by the labor unions who are suffering from waning membership numbers and their growing irrelevance.
They say they're doing it to get a Wall Street transaction tax enacted, ostensibly to pay for job growth on Main Street. What they're really doing is what they alway do: trotting out the poor for the TV cameras and doing everything they can to stoke class warfare. Nevermind that the union heads are all millionaires in their own right - pay no attention to the man behind the curtain.
It's a pretty despicable way to cash in on the misery of others. I'm all for homeowners who've been screwed by the banks banding together in massive class action lawsuits, and I'd frankly like to see the worst offenders on Wall Street bankrupted. But this kind of populist Kabuki theater accomplishes nothing.
And that's a shame, because millions of people really do need help out there.
What will you guys say to the Make Wall Street Pay mobs when they show up at your bank?
Phase 1: high inequality Phase 2: worse off people 'rise up' because inequality is 'unfair' Phase 3: measures such as specific taxes or higher min wages spread a bit of wealth to worse off people Phase 4: worse off people spend money, a fraction of which leaks into the pockets of business owners Phase 5: this continues until the supposedly 'high inequality' is restored Phase 6: repeat
Sigh, if mainstreet learn to work harder and stop pulling stupid stunts like this, income inequality wont exist
There will always be a transfer of wealth from dumb money to smart money.
If you have a society of 100 people, 5 of which are smart and 95 of which are equally dumb, and each person is endowed with the same amount of initial wealth. Now as time goes on, the 5 people who are smart will come up with ideas on how to produce goods and services which the rest of the population will want to buy (these are the owners), and they might hire the other 95 to help them do the labor (these are the workers). Therefore as time goes on inequality will inevatibly grow. Inequality is just a natural occurence in the case of a heterogenous population where some people value immediate consumption while others value capital accumulation.
The ideas by people trying to redistribute wealth is the same as the wealth getting reset every once in a while. Not only will this reduce the owners incentive to come up with goods and services but also not do anything for inequality as it is a static measure trying to solve a dynamic process.
W.T.F!! I can't tell if you're serious or just high on some Charlie Sheen...
Are you retarded?
Wall Street is a small community but it's a very big place. Just because you work at a Financial Institution does not mean you are part of the problem. Me and the people I work with had nothing to do with any of the bullshit that caused the crash, yet we take the heat as much as everyone else does for the crisis. That's what these dumbass union folk think.
To put it comparatively and using Big Evil here... The Public Union Leadership are responsible for political contributions and significant lobbying for the improvement of their situation to the point where the leadership believes that they are entitled to everything instead of agreeing to make a few concessions in order to help keep things moving swimmingly. Their members might not agree (and I can think of a few Teachers in New Jersey who hate having to walk the party line) and their members are not responsible for the bullshit of forced servitude to their masters, yet those members are still clumped in with the unions.
Unfortunately, the Unions don't think rationally when their sacred cow status is challenged. They never will... and that's the sad truth.
That's why sacred cows make the best burgers.
A bill for what? TARP? the money thats pretty much been paid with a ton of interest? Shxt like this really gets under my skin. Wasn't the economic recovery act basically money to the states to create jobs through projects ect....That last one was a serious question thought, I mean if Obama's plan to create jobs has left you out in the cold, maybe you should be protesting the white house.
I am not pro union and think the union heads are mostly idiots, but the bailouts went far beyond TARP. TARP was just a small piece of the puzzle. If you think otherwise than you need to do some homework.
I believe you, but I don't believe "main street" knows that, I think all they saw was the TARP, and thats what they are fighting.
right happypantsmcgee, it definetly not the willingness to work, wealth is just not distributed evenly. Its the way things are unless you want a socialist society. I see it as main street upset they are seeing how much money is being made by those on wall street and want a piece of the pie, I don't know if I would call it jeolousy but very close.......And good reference to the 5 smart people analogy, I agree.
I'm always in favor of a good riot.
Class warfare bitches...load your guns and lock your doors, they're taxin' errbody out here
It's too late to "Make Wall Street Pay." The taxpayer will have to wait for the next crisis and see his efforts thwarted again as banks still pose systemic risks.
Trumka?!
T ragic
R ectal
U nionisation
M asturbation
K illing
A merica
Sounds like a fucking Estonian supercar, I'll take mine kasha powered comrade.
investment bankers should make a union called young money the theme song can be I made it.
Also every company tries to minimize their tax exposure.......why come after banks only. Why not just go after anybody who is making financially stable.
I just find the Irony here to be great... The Unions (and Main Street, the Politicians, and pretty much everyone not employed in Finance) are angry at Wall Street, yet before the crash, they didn't give a damn what Wall Street did because everyone was under the impression that things would continue to rise for a long time and as long as their investments and pensions were beating the markets and making returns, they didn't see or care for the risks that lied ahead. And now they are bitching.... go figure.
lol exactly, they all thought extra homes and "flipping" them for profit was so great! People are such hypcrites. I don't think politicians are ignorant to this either, I think they believe as long as they side with the "unfortunate" they will continue to get elected.
Quote my office just recieved from the fed:
"protesters want state and federal bank regulators to force mortgage lenders to reduce principal and lower interest rates for homeowners who owe more than their house is worth."
So you tell me what risk do borrowers share when it comes to buying their home? Their happy just as long as its appreciating, but as soon as depreciation kicks in banks need to lower the principal to match.
Why not tax the unions? All of those union fees should be taxed a the corporate tax rate of 40%. You want to kill the unions quick do this. Union members will get pissed when 50% more has to be taken out of their checks to keep the "status quo" of the union bosses.
^ philosophical abstractions aside, if the system gets too top heavy, people will tear it down. It's just that simple. Think of it in terms of the GI Bill: after WWII millions of heavily armed and unemployed young men were returning home, and the gov't knew that if not properly directed, they would rapidly become a problem.
While not all people taking advantage of social programs earned them, there is no reason why anyone should go hungry in a nation such as ours where there is so much wealth. After a person's basic survival needs are met though, I believe the rest is on YOU: if you want the 'good life' you have to work for it.
As long as you include a quality public education in that equation, then I am in agreement.
nhks1 I see where your coming from thought. I know some people who were just lazy as shxt in school, didn't give a damn about grade, and thought success was measured by how many pair of sneakers they owned. Now work at home depot, and prob won't amount to crap. But there are a lot of hard working people out there that just caught an unfortunate break.
Nowadays there are way too many opportunities for people to get higher education whether it be a trade school, or community college, and many of those people your referring to just don't give a fxck.
I'm not wading into this one because I'll just inevitably get pissed off at "Main Street" and their blind ignorance, but I just came by to throw Eddie a banana for skillfully using the word "rumpus". Carry on.
LMAO. Thanks bro.
Did anyone else read "Make Wall Street Pay" as "Make Wall Street Salary"? Of course Main Street would want to make Wall Street pay...
Also, my last gf dumped me for an IT guy who makes less but is around more: most Main Street people don't envy us. They look at the paycheck and think it would be nice, but there's more to life than money and sometimes I envy them.
I definitely agree that people have different needs and preferences. I was mainly trying to point out that they could have made a name that can't be interpreted as both anti-Wall St and pro-Wall St at the same time...
Henry Paulson should be the first to go
Wall Street already pays...and pretty well at that, what's the big deal?
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