Monday, October 17, 2011

Where's my bailout?

BEN BOYCHUK: "If the Occupy Wall Street protests were merely a gathering of liberals angry at the pathetic state of the economy and the incestuous relationship between Big Government and Big Business, most Americans likely would be on their side.

But something else is happening here.

We don't have much real data about who these protesters are or what exactly they believe. But we have a few hints. The protesters' online manifestos read like a Marxist child's letter to Santa Claus, demanding everything from college loan debt forgiveness to a living wage "regardless of employment."

New York Magazine took a snapshot poll of 100 protesters camping at Zuccotti Park in Lower Manhattan. About 34 percent of the "young, smart, educated young people" the magazine surveyed are "convinced the U.S. government is no better than, say, Al Qaeda."

So it's fair to say a sizable minority of the people camped out in New York and dozens of other cities around the country are on the fringe of mainstream American politics.

And yet Occupy Wall Street has touched a nerve for the right reasons.

"If you're a bank or an insurance firm, and you create a product that your investors and your regulators can't understand in a crisis, you aren't punished...Instead, you get rewarded with bailout money," my City Journal colleague Nicole Gelinas observed recently. "It's hard to argue with the Zuccotti protesters' manifesto on this point: 'They have taken bailouts from taxpayers with impunity."

The difference between the Tea Party marches of 2009 and the Occupy Wall Street demonstrations of 2011 is the difference between "No more bailouts!" and "Where's my bailout?" For the Tea Party, Big Government -- too many regulations, too much federal meddling in Americans' lives -- is the problem. For Occupy Wall Street, bigger government-more taxes, more regulation, more subsidies -- is the solution. The choice is yours."

Red and Blue America; what does Occupy Movement mean?

8 comments:

Saint Brian the Godless said...

There are nuts on both sides. However only the Tea Party is mostly nuts. Sorry to be the one to tell you. They might have been sincere in the beginning, but that was before they became co-opted as a political tool, oddly enough to attain political goals not even in their own best interests. It's sad the way ignorance has been exploited on the right.
So I'll take the unwashed kids trying to get a fair shake over the bigots and idiots that are just tools of big government, who have been convinced that they're not. The right says it wants small government but they really want a government so big that it gets into your bedroom. What a bunch of self-righteous fools.

Plus, way too much religion on the right now. It sucks the intelligence right out of the conversation. Religion is a social psychosis that has no place in politics.

Norma said...

We seem to know different groups, and based on your opinions and broad sweeping generalizations, I doubt you know very many of the exploited nuts up close, who they support or what they believe. It reminds me a lot of how racists and homophobes make conclusions about groups they don't know.

Anonymous said...

"For the Tea Party, Big Government -- too many regulations, too much federal meddling in Americans' lives -- is the problem. For Occupy Wall Street, bigger government-more taxes, more regulation, more subsidies -- is the solution."

Brian wuvs big government. Makes him feel safe. Doesn't have to make all those decisions.

Saint Brian the Godless said...

http://saintbrianthegodless.blogspot.com/

Stop by and say hi sometime... we tend to have long conversations about this stuff.
Or stay here and agree with yourselves all day. That seems to be the pattern.

Norma said...

Sorry Brian, I have no interest in debating a non-Christian who stops by my place to insult my values. Or who is so naive and gullible thinking more gov't taxation means more heart. Maybe it makes you feel good, but it doesn't do much for me. So don't look for me at your place.

Anonymous said...

Murray sez:
Brian, Brian, Brian. I cannot believe a person would invade the confines of another person to profess how he has things all bassackward. Did someone knock you in the head a ways back? Jeeeest!

Anonymous said...

Brian obviously can't read pie charts to figure out the percentage for social programs now. Or the percentage of taxes that people who earn more than he does pay. His probably a basement blogger. Ignore him.

Anonymous said...

It reminds me a lot of how racists and homophobes make conclusions about groups they don't know.

Norma, you said this? That's really odd, considering that the religious right are the ones who do that, not the atheists, liberals, etc.

We are the tolerant ones, the ones who live and let live, until you people start trying to shove your religious values down our throats and vote away our rights instead of just practicing what you believe and allowing everyone else their freedoms.

I don't believe I have ever seen an atheist or an agnostic or a wiccan going door to door trying to convert anyone. Have you??