Occupy Wall Street?

One of the odder political phenomena of the moment is the “Occupy Wall Street” campaign, which began in New York and now has spread to several other cities. The Wall Street demonstrators look like the same bedraggled good-for-nothings that we have seen many times before, at G-20 meetings and the like. But the Democrats, somewhat to my surprise, seem to be embracing the protests, even as they turn increasingly violent. Some have referred to this as Tea Party Envy, which I think is exactly right.

But I find the Democrats’ attraction to these demonstrators odd and almost certainly unwise. It is one thing to have a peaceful four-hour rally in a public place, listen to some speakers and then go home. It is something else entirely to occupy a park for weeks, disrupting traffic, provoking clashes with policemen, and engaging in vandalism and other violent acts. People don’t like that. The images they see on television and in newspapers are not positive; not to the average American, anyway.

This guy is actually one of the more clever ones:

One obvious question is, who are these guys? Some, as noted above, appear to be the usual suspects when it comes to demonstrations–anarchists turning out, apparently, to support big government. In some cases, they are Communists, like this guy in Los Angeles. International Answer is a Communist organization which we wrote about extensively when the group was organizing anti-war demonstrations:

Unions seem to have become the main sponsors of the “movement.” These demonstrators in California are part of a group called “Make Banks Pay California.” If you go to that group’s web site, it obviously is a coalition of unions with a few union front groups mixed in: California Nurses Association, Oakland Education Association, SEIU 1000, SEIU 1021, SEIU 721, SEIU ULTCW, SEIU USWW, UAW 2865 and UAW 4121:

Andrew Breitbart is making news again with video of an AFL-CIO representative at a meeting in Pennsylvania, where he urges young people to get arrested and says the AFL-CIO is paying for lawyers for demonstrators who are apprehended committing illegal acts.

So the whole campaign may turn out to be nothing but union/Democratic Party astroturf. But that still leaves the question, what do the demonstrators stand for? It is hard to say; as many have pointed out, they seem to be adherents of a previously unknown ideology: anarchists for big government. And I still can’t figure out, what do they have against banks? Based on appearances, it isn’t likely that most of them have had many encounters with banks.

The demonstrators are patently dupes; but whose dupes, exactly? An astute friend and long-time reader offers these observations:

Hey, kids!…it’s even worse than you think!
That’s right!….oh, sure….all the money’s gone…there’s no future…you have debts.

Ha!….you don’t know the half of it….those union “allies” marching with you?….the state workers?….guess who’s on the hook for their massive unfunded pension benefits?….that would be you, comrade!….assuming you do work….YOU are on the hook for THEIR pensions and salaries….and they can’t be fired!

Have you looked at your paycheck? See that withholding? FICA? Your lousy barista job at Starbucks for 8 bucks an hour?….you’re paying almost 15% for Social Security and Medicare — that would be payments to wealthy doctors, for example —- for wealthy elderly! And guess what, kids….that’s ON TOP of the income tax you pay to Uncle and the state….so almost ONE THIRD of your lousy pay is taken — not by bankers! — but by government….largely to pay transfers to people who, more often than not, are much better off than you!…including, by the way, many of the “1%”….oh, incidentally, kiddos, there is no end in sight on transfers….and you’re on the hook for about $50 TRILLION in unfunded middle and upper class entitlement liabilities!!…on top of what you owe for the unfunded liabilities for your “allies” pensions.

And do you think you’re going to get yourself anything remotely close to the deal the entitlement beneficiaries are getting?…LOL!…it’s a Ponzi scheme, boys and girls!….one that your pals in the government created and run, NOT the banks…the banks could never get away with such a rip-off….in fact, if the banks DID take your FICA taxes…. even if they just put it in the vault at ZERO interest….you’d be MUCH better off!….did you know that, kiddies?

Did I mention that your taxes are paying for bailed out GM employees, too?…like the UAW “allies” who just got a $6,000 signing bonus?….and the normal $28/hour plus benefits?..did you get a bonus?…and do you think those limousine liberals you are puppets of, like your left wing professor “allies,” traded in their Volvos and are driving those subsidized Obamamobiles? Think again.

And let’s not forget Solyndra….and the myriad other corporatist boondoggles from Obamaland that your taxes — again, heroically assuming you actually do work — are paying for….

….that’s right, babycakes!…they’re lying to you…no, not the “banks”….your left wing heroes in government and the MSM….your leftwing professors….you can confiscate the banks, the 1%….the “rich”….go ahead….feel better?…..it isn’t remotely close to enough to get out from under the serfdom that liberals have prepared for you.

You are fools….willing, useful idiots for a hypocritical New Class elite that wants nothing more than government power over all economic life…run by them…and not pro bono either, comrade!

Yup! You’ve been had, little darlings! It’s not the banks and the 1% destroying your opportunities…profits and capital are jobs, taxes are not….if you had any brains you’d be for a conservative regime that would control taxes and the corporatist middle class entitlement and regulatory state…..but then if you had any brains you wouldn’t be the unwitting dupes and deluded shock troops for limousine liberal Obamaland — wholly owned by Wall Street and corporatist interests, you fools — out there sleeping outside in the rain for the greater glory of the welfare state profiteers, would you?

Demonstrators will assemble at the Federal Reserve Bank in Minneapolis some time tomorrow. If I can get away, I will try to attend and take a few photos…maybe even do an interview or two.

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