I'm throwing in the towel for my support of OWS. Here's why:

Okay, for starters, I would like to say how excited I was when OWS originally started. I was keeping up with it from the very beginning, although I never went to NYC to be there.
But I thought OWS was going to be 'It.' You know, the catalyst for something that sought justice and freedom and was going to put an end to tyranny and corruption and motivate people to get out of their apathy and stand up for what this country represents: Freedom.
But the movement quickly lost its core. That's to be expected. We all know who started contributing lots of money to the cause. And we were all wondering, 'Why?'
I originally thought the Occupy Wall St. Movement was going to be about ousting those in power who are using their Power to manipulate and use the economic/political system against our Country while systematically destroying our freedoms...but OWS seems to be focusing now on blaming our entire economic 'crisis' situation on the top 20% of Americans.
Basically it has become the "I'm poor and this isn't fair" Party. Well, guess what: I am 'poor' too (though I always seem to have what I need...thanks to God) But I do not blame ANYONE for my financial affairs. I've been working three jobs lately, making lots of connections, and I just applied for a new (much better) job last week (looks like I'm gonna get it!) and I understand that if you want to be successful it takes time and persistence and dedication and you have to put in your dues.
But today I saw this pictures posted by one of the Occupy pages on Facebook:



All of the comments were bashing the Top 20% of Americans. Calling them "Slave Masters" and the top 1% "THE Slave Masters." They said the top 20% are the "overseer's", said they sold out and sold their souls, said they were evil, said they were thieves. THIS IS RIDICULOUS.
Since when did it turn from the 99% in to the 80%?
You know....a good amount of those 'top 19%" are American FAMILIES with two parents who went to college, EDUCATED themselves, worked their BUTTS OFF to provide for their children, were SMART with how they invested their money and ended up EARNING (not receiving) what they now have. That is what America is about. We are not 'guaranteed' money and luxuries, we are guaranteed the freedom to pursue our dreams. The top 1% and .1% (and even here there are exceptions) however, are the ones looking to take away those FREEDOMS, and while they do that 'They' want to keep US busy arguing about who has a nicer car. It's silly guys, it really is. While you're busy arguing about money, they are BURNING THE CONSTITUTION.
Don't blame somebody for being successful. I know plenty of people who are in the top 20% who are genuinely great people with good morals who are now able to provide for their family and give back to society.

I know times are tough. I know people (especially parents) are stressed to death with wondering how they are going to provide for their children. I know the burden of student loans (TRUST me.) But we need to decipher between what is "Fair to blame" on others, and what isn't. There is plenty of BS out there, and Lord knows our Politicians are selling off our freedoms daily while simultaneously working to make our money worthless. I know. But remember, 'divide and conquer.' Right now they are dividing us with CLASS AND RACE WARS. You think it's a 'coincidence' this is all coming up at once? Come on guys. Stop complaining and DO SOMETHING.

I come from a family in the top 20%. I realize, and have always been made aware, of how 'lucky' I was. Not in the sense of 'better than,' just so I understood that not everyone had the same things/experiences. But my parents were both the first ones in their families to go to college. They both got their Masters afterwards too. They worked as waiters and pizza delivery and construction and whatever else they could get while they were young and fresh out of college. But they slowly began to build their life. They worked (and still work) extremely hard. My parents remodeled their entire house, but they did it themselves, without hiring construction crews. I was raised a hard worker. I've been mowing lawns and babysitting and pet sitting and selling lemonade since I was in early elementary school. But now I am out of college, engaged, and 'on my own' financially. We don't always eat much. She works 2 jobs, I work 3. But we pay our bills. Have a nice little house. And continue to get more and more 'secure.' And it all stems from our trust in God that we will always have what we 'need,' and as long as we continue to be a bright light of service for others, and following what we love to do, everything will work out just fine. Just as it always has.
Blah. My rant is turning in to a ramble.
Bottom line: STOP BLAMING PEOPLE WHO HAVE DONE WELL FOR THEMSELVES.

Free market capitalism isn't operating as it should, OP. That's why they're distraught.

You would realize this rather quickly if you paid attention. While the top 1% may have great college educations, the way the make and hold their money is not correct. Wealth distribution across the classes has made it slave vs. master, and that's final.

I work my ass off 40 hours a week, over time, and I can barely afford to live. And I don't work at McDonalds, either, and I do have an education.

That's not right. The system is corrupt.

reply to post by b3l13v3


I am not saying the system is 'correct.'
And i am paying plenty attention.
In fact I specifically acknowledge that our system is very flawed.
There is plenty that needs to change.
Including people blaming the top 20% who HAVE done well for themselves.
What, you think after making X amount of dollars people just stop working?
I promise, both of my parents still work 40+ hours a week. No overtime either (it's salary.)
During my mothers 'busy season' she works close to 70 - 80 hours a week.

Yes, things are flawed. Yes, the SUPER SUPER rich are using their money and power to influence our political situation. But most of the top 20% are just like you: hard working people who want to be comfortable and provide for their families. They are not out to 'destroy America and kill the lower class.'

Amen, OP.
Any society that demonizes success is one that has a 100% possibility of failure.
The top 0.01 percent are just as much a bunch of leeches as the larger percentage at the bottom. I'm all for going after them. But that will never happen with a large, centralized government, which absolutely requires an elite class to survive.
By demanding something for nothing, the Occupy movement exposes itself as a pathetic joke that will not be even a historical footnote.
By demanding to be dependents(which is what entitlements and government programs mean), they are demanding their own slavery. At no time in human history have dependents ever had any power and they never will. Nor should they.
If they were demanding to have the freedom of self reliance and personal responsibility (and therefore the freedom to fail), I'd respect them more.
Hissy fits that result in costing hard working taxpayers millions in cleanup and security are not a way to endear oneself to productive people. What you have left is entitled, self righteous dilettantes.
no thanks

Originally posted by b3l13v3
Free market capitalism isn't operating as it should, OP. That's why they're distraught.

You would realize this rather quickly if you paid attention. While the top 1% may have great college educations, the way the make and hold their money is not correct. Wealth distribution across the classes has made it slave vs. master, and that's final.

I work my ass off 40 hours a week, over time, and I can barely afford to live. And I don't work at McDonalds, either, and I do have an education.

That's not right. The system is corrupt.

Free market capitalism has not existed in a long time. Perhaps it is time to bring it back.
People who have it in them will absolutely be successful. It still happens all the time.
If the markets were freer it would happen much more frequently.

First mistake is thinking capitalism is 'free-markets'. The term capitalism was coined by the socialists, to mean the private ownership of the means of production, a state granted and protected right to privilege and control.
There have been free markets for centuries, but capitalism has only been around since land ownership laws were changed in the 1700's, and 'surplus value' was created.

surplus value

Definition
Difference between a worker's wages (exchange value) and the value of goods and services he or she produces (use value). Since use value is (or should be) always higher than the exchange value, workers produce a positive surplus value through their labor. German philosopher-economist Karl Mark (1818-83) used surplus value as a measure of worker exploitation by capitalism.

www.businessdictionary.com...

We can have free-markets without capitalism. Independent producers (workers) exchanging goods for their mutual benefit.

Capitalism is simply the private ownership of the means of production, it does not guarantee 'free-markets'.
To say it isn't working correctly is a mistake, there are no rules as to how capitalists operate, except they have to make profit.

In fact it can not be 'free-market', because labour is not treated like all other capital. Capitalism works on exploitation, coercing a person to produce more than they are paid for, so the private owner can take that surplus value as their own 'profit', simply because they are lucky enough to own capital.

Yes it more than the 1% that are the problem. Everyone who makes their living by exploiting labour is the problem.

Capitalism by its very nature creates artificial scarcity in order for the capitalist to maintain profits. In times of recession capitalists have the wealth to ride it out, the rest of us are the ones that suffer.

I too was initially hyped when OWS started. After studying literally nonstop every single day for many weeks it became obvious that the whole movement is jacked. THAT is what woke me up! I had been studying CT's for YEARS but until OWS happened I NEVER knew what was really going on. After spending DAYS reading I came to the conclusion that ALL revolutions and depressions throughout history have been orchestrated INCLUDING OWS.

Petrus4 here on ATS seems to have a VERY good grasp on this situation:

Originally posted by petrus4
The Illuminati use revolution as a means of institutional theft, or the re-acquisition of property into their own hands. They tell everyone else that the purpose of revolution is to make the common man free, but that is not their real purpose with it. Their real purpose is for everyone else to lose what they own during the looting and chaos, and they end up getting hold of it in the process.

That is what they did during the Depression, and again in 2008. It's the reason why they deliberately engineer economic systems with structural flaws and weaknesses built in. Eventually they know that they are going to want to crash the system. They do it in waves, and every time they do it, they end up with more and more property, and everyone else with less.
LINK

"One does not establish a dictatorship in order to safeguard a revolution; one makes a revolution in order to establish a dictatorship." ~ George Orwell's 1984

The Truthergirls video is just ONE of many exposes' that reveal the hidden agenda behind OWS:

OK I'm going to play devil's advocate here - OP you say that you're family is from the top 20% and that they worked hard for their money. I'm accepting that. On the other hand you say a good amount of that top 19% worked hard to be where they are, which might be true also. But do you accept that a good amount of that 19% did not work hard to be where they are and / or inherited money?
Finally to really play D.A. let me ask you OP why you have any more right to say a better education and lifelong financial security than somebody who hasn't inherited wealth?
I won't go too much into the fact that some people among the top 1%, 19% or whatever got there by immoral means or through exploitation, but thats something most of us realise.

It doesn't have to be one way or the other, you know. Yes, people are a little more spoiled, maybe, compared to the old days. Kids now take for granted stuff I could only dream of as a kid. The media puts high expectations in people's skulls and makes people feel entitled to millionare lifestyles right out the gate. People are overmaterialistic, fat, and lazy. They've gone into debt with unrealistic ideas of their ability to pay it back, irresponsibly, often to live a lifestyle they thought they "deserved." All this is true.

But at the same time, the game is rigged. Bankers get handouts far more egregious than the people who scam the welfare system. Like it or not, inequality destabilizes societies every time. Perhaps most importantly of all, the more the game is rigged, the more opportunity itself shrivels. 30 years ago, "start your own business" was a lot easier. It was easier for ambitious little people without much to their names to make it in America. Thanks to outsourcing, offshoring, and unrestrained immigration (something OWS should be protesting, but isn't - in that respect I criticize them), plus over-regulation and other dirty tricks, the table is tipped so the slops run down to the big guys and leave the little man high and dry.

I don't want to see the OWS become a tool of the democrats/left ideology any more than I wanted to see the Tea Party coopted. But the rage on both sides is real, and I'm hoping it can coalesce into something truly populist that goes beyond the two-party ideological spectrum. From that perspective, I'm happy to see people taking it to the streets and shaking things up a bit. Its what TPTB need to see. They need to quake in their boots a little, and if OWS (and the Tea Party, too) can make that happen, then I'm all for it.

Of course, it's called "controlled opposition".

I would guess "they" were worried about popular uprising after the Wall Street bail outs, mortgage fraud scandal, etc so they came up with a relatively safe, harmless outlet for the public's frustration and have given it a nudge here and there to keep it ineffective. The last phase will be to destroy it so it wouldn't surprise me if the latest developments in OWS are at least partially scripted.

Like any good mass movement with potential for class warfare, the socialists and communists have shown up to try and hijack the movement (or someone is working to make it seem that way).

Unfortunately the people in power are just too good at manipulating the public and they have all the tools, money and technology to deal with most any threat. Americans are just too far gone to rise up and make real change (that would mean missing a TV show or two, after all) and at this point nothing short of a failed nation scenario can change that.

A huge, credible disclosure of information horrible enough might do the trick. If it can get out and get past the gate keepers, media managers and spin Drs.