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"Occupy Wallstreet" Video

weiss27md said:
Bank of America posted $6 billion just for the quarter.
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The problem with that is?????????? Apple made $6.62 billion this quarter. Is that bad as well? The are also a big corporation that's kind of evil.

NYCHitman1 said:
And they are about to begin charging their customers a $5 monthly fee to use their debit cards.. yippee!
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They are charging the fee because Congress passed legislation that cut into their profit margins. They are passing the cost along to the consumers. That anyone thought they (or anyone else) would do differently is a bit laughable.
 
did anybody happen to watch the daily show last night where they interviewed the occupy wallstreet people? sooooo funny :rolleyes:
 
A.Nonymous said:
...They are charging the fee because Congress passed legislation that cut into their profit margins. They are passing the cost along to the consumers. That anyone thought they (or anyone else) would do differently is a bit laughable.
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The banking industry is more concentrated than before the 2008 melt down, the one that Bank of America saw the benefits of SOCIALISM for themselves by accepting bailouts.

Once propped up by SOCIALISM it sent an army of lobbyist to destroy any laws or regulations that may prevent a repeat.

The BoA leadership was very successful in their lobbying endeavors thus awarding themselves huge bonuses.

BoA realizing the environment had less competitors increases banking fees thus supporting their over sized paychecks.

Maybe an outcome for the Occupy Wallstreet protests is to examine the reasoning behind socialism for the politically connected and capitalism for everybody else.
 
Frisco said:
Usually, when a protest doesn't seem centered, it's because of the diversity of the protesters themselves. But it can also be for the reason that those protesting are not sure who or what the target should be, exactly.

The target in this case is probably Wall Street's apparent perception of sucking up money and making wealthy people grow wealthier while the middle class shrinks and the poor amongst us grow in numbers.

Solutions? If they knew that they'd do it.. they don't, thus the rather meandering protests.
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I think the protest is beginning to have some focus.

msnbc.com Video Player
 
Congress passed the bill upping the fees despite the banking lobby's opposition to it so apparently they're not as strong as you think.
 
A.Nonymous said:
Congress passed the bill upping the fees despite the banking lobby's opposition to it so apparently they're not as strong as you think.
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Please supply a link to support "Congress passed the bill upping the fees".

The Federal Reserve did approve a cap on debit card swipe fees.
 
From your cited source, the Durbin Amendment "... expand Federal Reserve powers for setting interchange fees related to debit card transaction processing. ..."

"The Durbin Amendment only affects banks that have less than $10 billion in assets.

Retailers have a choice in selecting a debit network service to process the transactions. Before the new law, retailers could only use the STAR network to process Visa transactions. This was required even if other merchants charged less."

Another perspective believes this will cause increased competition.

"Banks will charge fees to offset the lost revenue. Sure, this is happening at some high profile institutions like Bank of America. But other banks are also using it as an opportunity to lure you away. Banks are limited by competition in terms of how much of the fee they can pass along to you before you bolt to a competitor. That is the free market working the way it should. When you take monopolistic fees like Interchange that are unavoidable to merchants and move them to the front of the transaction, consumers and small businesses ultimately win. You now have the ability to shop for the best deal, where transaction costs were previously hidden and passed along in other ways."

Why the Durbin Amendment Got It Right
 
A lot of smaller, local banks around here are raising rates as well. This is a classic example of people thinking they can stick it to the big company and the company won't pass the cost along to consumers. The company always does and the same people who pushed for the legislation in the first place complain about how unfair it is that the cost to consumers goes up.
 
Someone has started a "I am the 53%" Tumblr blog as a response to the "We are the 99%" Tumblr blog. Ironically, the I am the 53% people are selling tshirts. They are parodying/mocking the "We are the 99%" who claim they cannot get ahead no matter what they do and are making money doing it. So they're making money on a parody of people protesting that they can't make any money.
 
I never understood why protesters were going after Wall Street. Sure, Wall Street has caused a great number of problems. But they should have been priority #2 or lower.

It's the Federal Reserve that should be abolished. The Fed controls all the interest rates and inflation. Protest them. And protest your own government. Those whack jobs that have you tied all up in "will Hilary be the next VP" or getting wrapped up in the comedy that is the Romney vs Perry debates. Please, if these politicians wore their corporate sponsorship like NASCAR drivers do, you wouldn't be able to see what team they play for under all the patches.

And honestly, why does anyone give a damn what Palin thinks anymore?

Protest the government and the fed. Fix those problems, then we should tackle wall street. Doing it any other way is like trying to kill a starfish by lopping off appendages.
 
In London the Met found that 90% of tents were unoccupied one night using infared :p (in the Occupy London thing)
I doubt anything will change directly, but it might change enough minds to lead to a different make up of elected representatives.
 
Here in Occupied Utah, a man owns a lot and the occupy salt lake gang has set up camp. The property owner wants them gone and the police refuse to do much about it. The Chief is no better.

I think the police department needs to wake up and think about protecting property rights and upholding the law rather tha n worry about violence and riots. If there is violence, OK, let it happen.

I do not care if these morons are beaten silly with billy clubs.

Wake them up at 4:30 AM with bull horns, give them 15 minutes to leave and then bulldoze their belongings into a huge pile and roast some of Oscar's finest tube steaks.

I am sick and tired of these fools and their ilk. Perhaps they need to occupy the SLC Jail.
 
Bob Maxey said:
Here in Occupied Utah, a man owns a lot and the occupy salt lake gang has set up camp. The property owner wants them gone and the police refuse to do much about it. The Chief is no better.

I think the police department needs to wake up and think about protecting property rights and upholding the law rather tha n worry about violence and riots. If there is violence, OK, let it happen.

I do not care if these morons are beaten silly with billy clubs.

Wake them up at 4:30 AM with bull horns, give them 15 minutes to leave and then bulldoze their belongings into a huge pile and roast some of Oscar's finest tube steaks.

I am sick and tired of these fools and their ilk. Perhaps they need to occupy the SLC Jail.
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I keep wavering on this whole "occupy" thing sweeping the country (and a few other countries).

Civil disobedience became necessary and even essential in minorities and women gaining basic freedoms guaranteed American citizens in the U.S. Constitution.

Beatings occurred, arrests occurred and the fight was on. Americans won, or are winning (there is still a lot to do about those freedoms).

I admit to not being so sure about this latest stuff. Being pissed off at rich people and those who are hording money and resources for themselves isn't new. But the solution in the U.S. has always been for the individual to come to the understanding that s/he too could become rich with enough hard work and cleverness, etc.

It used to be that the doors to those opportunities were being slowly pried open by those women and minorities who used to protest and "sit in" and riot, etc. Now just about everybody is feeling excluded, thus the "occupy" movement.

If that is correct ^ .. we're in trouble as a nation.
 
I think someone else on here said that this protest seems to be a bunch of people demanding reforms to a system that they don't understand. This is the reason, I think, why so many of the demands (of which there is still no official list) make no sense. One of the more popular ones is the forgiveness of all student loan debt. This will effectively mean that no one will ever make a student loan ever again. So they'll be out protesting down the road demanding mandatory student loans which is an even worse idea.
 
A.Nonymous said:
I think someone else on here said that this protest seems to be a bunch of people demanding reforms to a system that they don't understand. This is the reason, I think, why so many of the demands (of which there is still no official list) make no sense. One of the more popular ones is the forgiveness of all student loan debt. This will effectively mean that no one will ever make a student loan ever again. So they'll be out protesting down the road demanding mandatory student loans which is an even worse idea.
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I'm not saying there should be loan forgiveness, but I think most are complaining about the risings costs of tuition year-over-year and the cost to benefit ratio. The GOP want to due away with the government providing student loans, which would mean a large portion of the population wouldn't be able to get an education for themselves. If this where the case, then I wouldn't have been able to go back and get my bachelors degree back in 2005 at the age of 32.
 
jikhead said:
If this where the case, then I wouldn't have been able to go back and get my bachelors degree back in 2005 at the age of 32.
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I got my second B.A. and my Masters with no gov student loans. It was a while back, but is that a bad thing to do now days? Bad as in holding down a few part time jobs and running through your own savings to pay for your educational goals? Sleeping in snatches between work and class and studies?

It was not the same numbers as today, but that is true of the wages as well as the tuition and housing. Translating to today's economy, it equals out as we adjust for cost and inflation. I noticed that portions of the system are actually free on most campuses now as opposed to feed entry where/when I was at university.
 
jikhead said:
I'm not saying there should be loan forgiveness, but I think most are complaining about the risings costs of tuition year-over-year and the cost to benefit ratio. The GOP want to due away with the government providing student loans, which would mean a large portion of the population wouldn't be able to get an education for themselves. If this where the case, then I wouldn't have been able to go back and get my bachelors degree back in 2005 at the age of 32.
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Getting rid of government backed student loans is something at least some of the protesters have advocated as well.
 
Not at all, if you have the funds and can afford it. I've been considering going back myself, because I've been an "unregistered" unemployed person for about 16 mos. now. I say that, because I'm not in the system drawing unemployment but trying to make it off my IRA which is getting extremely low. So this 9% unemployment rate is more like 16% when you factor those not drawing unemployment and in the Labor Dept. system. It's been extremely rough this year; been adding certifications to my resume; but still either over-qualified for a position or under-qualified for others. Compound that on top of so many people applying to so few jobs; I have to compete with tons of others also applying. I don't really want to start piling up another student loan to my existing one; but if I do go back...considering foregoing my masters in Business and going and taking course work to get me into medical or pharmacy school.

Either way, it's ****ing tough out there for all of us!!!!!
 
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