Occupy Protests now trying to shut down Ports...

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Well I guess that means you don't have to be dirt poor to be fed up with the system.

While that much is true, I just don't see why anyone who can afford a $500 smartphone would be concerned about someone else's wealth ... App envy, most likely ...

I think its more like having a 500 dollar cell phone does not magically fix everything.

I doubt this will ever happen unless people are willing to forgo technology and live like the Amish.


I don't know about that. I don't think the founding father's should be worshiped as infallible beings. Hell, they didn't agree with each other half the time, owned slaves, and only thought white male property owners should have the right to vote. I think your distinction between morality and justice is semantics. The right-wing philosophy of "rugged individualism" that we have here in the US is a dogma more than anything.

Six Waltons have more wealth than the bottom 30% of Americans

Northeast states cut heating to poor



This is only the beginning. OWS crowds can only get bigger.

They may not have to live like the amish but they may have to forgo some creature comforts.



There are problems with these inalienable rights we do have. Typhoid Mary is one. Right wingers will not listen to you on that They had to strip her of her liberties to protect other people's lives. It seems like some inalienable rights more inalienable than others. With what is going on in the world have we reached this point?

I believe rugged individualism is a myth. I believe people survived in communities and they pulled together.

I'm tired of hearing these vomit-inducing tropes about how people just need to "get jobs and work hard". Where do you think people get jobs in a market with 9% unemployment? The job fairy? By moving to one of the countries with terrible safety standards and working conditions the jobs keep getting outsourced to?

Also, you should be concerned with wealth inequality, since it's a problem that's getting worse. Not to mention it's more global wealth inequality that's the issue. Poor countries have been getting exploited for cheap labor for quite some time, and now it's coming back to bite the Western world in the ass since we're losing jobs to them as they grow.

Really, considering how obvious the incompetence and corruption in corporate America is, I don't see how people are dense enough to get angry over people complaining about it instead. Do you swallow garbage that easily? Are you so obsessed with believing in our current system you think it's OK that a group of people got away with idiotic and illegal business practices and got billions in bailouts and still got paid millions in bonuses?

Is this even supposed to be a cogent point?

You try to sound smart but you completely miss the point. XD

Maybe people are concerned about not having any wealth, and the extreme societal problems it creates.

Census shows that 1 of 2 people are poor or low-income

Haven't hit the bottom yet. OWS is a better alternative to what might be in store.

Confirmation: http://www.npr.org/2011/12/15/143770049 ... low-income

Well that's what happens when you call taxes on the rich 'class warfare'

Those $500 dollar smart phones could wind up saving people money in the end if they lived accordingly. I have a smartphone, and it's the only phone in my house. So I don't need a land line phone. No bill there. My smart phone has internet, so if I wanted to end my internet service to my house, I'd still have access to the web. Another potential bill gone. Don't have to worry about buying a GPS device, because my smart phone already has one. Don't have to buy extra gas for getting lost. If you're signing up to a contact, those $500 phones only cost that much if you fail to pay for your service.

Maybe the face the a smartphone user should be the face of frugality.

Out of curiosity I kind of wonder how much it actually costs to make smart phones and if 500$ really reflects that.

Not a chance. I bet it's high though. Smartphones are filled with all sorts of expensive metals

Well then, have those self-righteous hypocrites in the "Occupy Movement" sell their $500 smartphones, their designer jeans, their name-brand shoes, all of their jewelry, their homes, their cars, and everything else they own, and give it all to the poor!

Believe me, I get it. Members of the "Occupy Movement" want other people to share their wealth, but no members of the "Occupy Movement" seem to want to share theirs.

I have a smartphone and I donate as much as I can to non-profits and charities. I think I should be taxed at a higher rate than those with less money than me.

Nobody involved in Occupy thinks that people in the top 1% should give up 100% of their belongings and live like monks, so this extreme exaggeration simply isn't a valid comparison whatsoever. If we were demanding that, sure, then that response would be a rational argument in response, but given that we aren't, it's not. Thinking that a billionaire should be taxed slightly higher is not the same as thinking they should have to live in a chicken shack or even cease being billionaires!

How is someone a hypocrite if regardless of all the material things they might have, they still think people are getting screwed by the system and want to say something about it? I think its good that its not just those on the very bottom of the heirarcy we have going on in this country can see there are problems with the current system.

As for giving their cell phones to the poor it would be a nice thought, except if someones poor how are they going to afford the 50 dollars a month to keep the service? I'm good with my cheap pay as you go phone because I am not obligated to pay a bill every month and its way cheaper.

and lots of people donate used clothes to thrift stores and places where they provide resources for homeless people and such......I don't think the police would be too happy if everyone starting stripping and giving the clothes they are wearing to poor and homeless people who would also have to strip down to change into the designer clothes......so I see no reason to make an issue of that. Though I would hope the protestors try to stay away from new clothing manufactured with cheap labor from china or wherever but in this corporatocracy its hard to find places that sell things that were not produced that way. The same can be said for the shoes, and even jewelry though I think clothes and shoes are more important

Cars and houses usually involve bills, again how are the poor going to afford the utility bill, the car payments, the car insurance payments or any other expenses that come with having a house and a car? So as you can see even if people where willing to give all their possesions to the poor it would not help anything........the only thing that would really help is to reform the system so there is not such income based inequality in society.

So I really don't see what point you are trying to make there.

I personally do not have a smart phone, designer jeans, expensive jewelry, a house or a car.....yeah my shoes can be a little pricy because good luck actually finding shoes for under 20 dollars that don't hurt your feet or break within a week unless you have amazing luck at the thrift store. So I am one of the lower income people who more or less supports the occupy movement and I don't mind sharing what I do have.

Last edited by Sweetleaf on 15 Dec 2011, 1:47 pm, edited 1 time in total.