Occupy Movement

[PuppetRebel]

There was a thread asking about the propriety of posting controversial topics here, since the answer was that they are allowable with the understanding that they are lockable I figured I'd give a go with a topic that's very relevant, controversial and extremely important to me. For the record, I had the thought of bringing this up before that other thread was posted, so I'm not bringing this up just for the sake of discussing something controversial, which is why that thread was locked.

Have you been following the Occupy movement? In my view it boils down to the middle class taking a stand against corporate greed and the governmental corruption that is a result of such greed.
The craziest thing about it to me is that it has spread worldwide.
I'm personally in full support of the movement. I've spent the last 2 years trying desperately to get a job while it seemed pretty clear to me that there are people (the top 1%) that seriously have MORE than enough money to spread around. I read than Bank of America still made billions in profit the year they were bailed out by the American government. This kind of fuckery just can't stand.

I've avoided to much of a ramble because I don't want the discussion to focus mostly on what I said, but the actual issue. So, what are your opinions? Be civil and try your hardest not to get this locked.
;D

[AmishGoat]

Alright I'm going to throw something together real quick, I'll be back later...

From what I understand, most of them are college grads who got degrees in liberal arts, and are now complaining that they don't get the highest paying jobs. So all the people occupying Wall Street want free jobs, free this, free that? Guess who gets to pay for it? The REAL middle class, those who are actually doing the money making.
Yes the highest 1% get much more money, but that has always been true throughout history. I will also point out that if it were not for "corporate greed", many of the comforts that you enjoy would not exist, "corporate greed", also known as making money, is the motivation behind the founding of companies, the reason we have jobs and don't go farming with the Amish. /rant

This topic may be a little too controversial, as current politics tends to end in flame wars from my limited experience.

[DaveYanakov]

The actual issue is that the 1% currently control far more of the total than ever before. It's the fact that some of those 1% got multi-million dollar bonuses paid out right after the bailout four years ago that has people pissed off. The 'real middle class' you're talking about has been under attack for years now with shrinking salaries and benefits. The number of people who can be considered upper middle class as a percentage is smaller than at any time in the last century. Right now the average CEO of a listed corporation is making 300 times the salary of their lower level employees. What we're looking for is a return to just 30 years ago when that 300 was a more reasonable 40. I'd hardly call that a "War on Wealth"

[AmRadTheory]

There are so many issues that the Occupy movement is addressing... and to be honest AmishGoat's comment got me pretty fired up. I saw this video the other day and thought the guy had some really good things to say... so in the interest of preventing my ranting, I'll just share his video

[FlowerChild]

There was a thread asking about the propriety of posting controversial topics here, since the answer was that they are allowable with the understanding that they are lockable

Actually, the answer was that they were fine if you were cool with being arbitrarily banned at any time. Not quite the same thing.

I DO NOT support controversial threads. What my response was intended to convey is that I was going to let people use their own judgement in deciding what was "too" controversial, and ban them if that judgement failed.

I'll keep an eye on this one, but I'm really not certain how I feel about the mod-forum turning into a venue for political debate.

My own political views are pretty damn extreme man, and while they may still come out here and there, I try my best to keep them away from the mod and the community. In this case, if I were to voice them it would probably start an all-out flame-war and would be incredibly divisive of the community.

Actually, fuck this. This isn't a political forum, regardless of whether it is the off-topic section or not. I see no point in tearing apart a *gaming* community with these kinds of topics.