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Solidarity with Working People
updated: Oct 28, 2011, 8:58 AM

By Occupy SB

We at OccupySB recognize the important work that AFL-CIO, SEIU, and the many other unions across our country and the world have done for decades on behalf of fair wages for fair labor. OccupySB recognizes that what is in the interest of the majority of union workers is also in the interest of non-unionized members of our society, especially relating to these facts:

1. We (the 99% of the population) perform the vast majority of tasks that allow our society to function.

2. The practice of suppressing the wages of people whose efforts are essential for a functioning society, for purposes of creating additional dividends to corporate shareholders, or additional executive compensation, must be altered to reflect the real human needs of workers, union or non-union, and their families.

Having asserted the above position, OccupySB invites all workers of the world, including those unemployed, fully employed (but still feeling the pain in our community), or the underemployed, to join us. We, the 99%, will in turn supply voices and numbers through coordinated efforts with the unions of workers in our country to advance efforts for our greater good, in consent through our General Assembly process.

In order to restore fairness to our economic model we must come together to demand more fair practices in corporate governance and economic policy.

We are the 99%, and so are firefighters, teachers, steelworkers, factory workers, sanitation engineers, grocery store clerks, and anyone else suffering from the system that has been manipulated to favor the 1%.

Sincerely,

The Occupy Santa Barbara General Assembly
OccupySB.org

Comments in order of when they were received | (reverse order)

COMMENT 227243P	2011-10-28 09:07 AM
Do these people vote? That would be the first step, along with actually helping candidates who support their views, which do seem popular.
COMMENT 227251	2011-10-28 09:16 AM
Yes, let's puff up the Unions, another integral part of the government industrial complex. I'm sorry, I do agree with OWS movement, but this SB chapter seems misguided. The whole point is to do away with the excessive influence corporations have over government, something unions are part and parcel of. Occupy Wall Street, yes, Occupy SB, no thanks.
COMMENT 227259P	2011-10-28 09:28 AM
I don't have a problem with unions or corporations making money...necessary counter-balances. The one common thread linking the diverse (and fuzzy) demands of the OccupyXYZ people is the requirement for MORE governmental regulation of corporate activity. As we all know, this and tax-hikes are the right-wing third rail. If anything pro-OccupyXYZ is going to happen, it has to start in Congress. There is where the problem lies.
COMMENT 227261	2011-10-28 09:30 AM
You don't speak for me. Quit claiming my voice. I am the 53%.
COMMENT 227264P	2011-10-28 09:40 AM
261 - Please explain 53%.
COMMENT 227267P	2011-10-28 09:42 AM
We, the 99%, wonder who exactly you are who purport to speak for us. Also, we, the 99%, didn't get a chance to vote for the alleged General Assembly, so that it, made up I'm sure, of fine upstanding citizens, could report to the world that it speaks for us, the 99%. Perhaps it is because most of us are fully involved in trying to live day to day. Also, just curious... Do you (we?) the 99%, like the Tea Party? Are they part of you (us)? Do you (we) only like unions? Is it ok for us to sleep in our own homes ( is it ok for us to have homes?) or must we set up a tent somewhere and poop in porta-potties?
COMMENT 227270P	2011-10-28 09:47 AM
Reads like the "manifestos" issued by groups in my student days long ago. I guess we're all allowed to be young and naive during those years. It all may sound well and good, on some level at least, but these people are deluding themselves if they think anything significant is going to change via this movement. Comparisons that one hears to the so-called "Arab Spring" are ludicrous (unseating despots does not equate to this "struggle") and let's see how those "revolutions" play out in the Middle East when said despots are ultimately replaced by equally-repressive Islamic regimes. Good luck to us all. Change is not always for the good, even when intentions may be noble ones.
COMMENT 227275	2011-10-28 09:54 AM
These union supporter don't speak for me. In fact I believe in capitalism and not communism nor socialism. "Workers of the world unite!" is a communist slogan all. Repurposed. Please ask yourselves if you liked the USSR. Of not please do not support these misguided, manipulated uprising. When I was in college I studied race. class, and gender. The forefront of my historical studies were unions as they pertain to all and all three types of political economies. Let's just summarize my conclusions with a conversion back to the capitalist mentality I grew up with. It provides much more opportunity to all citizens. This communist strain has been trying to take down the United States capitalist structure every opportunity they get.
COMMENT 227289	2011-10-28 10:16 AM
The USA has great wealth diversity, if you don't think so go down to Mexico and assess the wealth distribution there. Size up the opportunities for getting a business started...or even getting any job that would support a lifestyle that compares with what an unemployed citizen or alien enjoys here. I visited De La Guerra Plaza Tuesday. I guess it was break-time at the protest. A couple homeless types, a couple kids hanging out, and the ground littered with little signs professing how the non-haves want what the haves have got. With 9% unemployment you are NOT the 99%, you are the less than ONE in TEN that doesn't have a job. The 10% solution? Go Anarchist...Vote in a Hugo Chavez..Burn our Flag..but raiding your neighbor's fridge usually doesn't go on very long..Really!
COMMENT 227307	2011-10-28 10:51 AM
99% - 53% - these threads are getting convoluted at best. Lets have a march on Saturday - I'll be getting my choirs done Thanks
COMMENT 227308	2011-10-28 10:53 AM
The 53% comes from 47% of Americans don't pay federal taxes - you can look this up per the Brookings Institute and the Tax Policy Center. The numbers fluctuate a bit, but it is close. It's the anti-Occupy movement. I pay my taxes, I worked my way through college, I carry a student loan, I have a job I hate due to the economy, I pay a mortgage that costs more than my house is worth - I accept my responsibilities, I do not whine about it and I do not want government hand outs, social welfare. I am young, liberal and the occupiers do not speak for me but claim to represent 99% of us. This is me, my piece of the 53% and my voice. And I do not support the unions!
COMMENT 227313	2011-10-28 11:06 AM
@261 The 53% thing is terribly disingenuous though. Sure, the number of Americans who don't pay federal income taxes hedges around 45-47% on average. But these people couldn't _afford_ to pay those taxes if you continued to implement regressive taxes; most of their income is spent on subsistence. Additionally, it's not like they don't contribute tax revenue. There's state taxes, sales tax, payroll tax, SSI taxes, Medicare... Just because someone doesn't pay federal income taxes does not mean they don't contribute tax revenue to the government. Also the 99% refers to people in a particular income group, so technically speaking you ARE a member of "the 99%"; the vast majority of Americans are, hence 99%. You just aren't a part of the protest movement.
COMMENT 227341	2011-10-28 11:44 AM
I agree there need to be changes and people have a right to assemble, but I'm so sick of the "99%" comments. I'm not a top 1% earner (not even close), but the Occupiers do not speak for me nor millions of others that disagree with the movement. They are not THE 99%, they are a portion within the 99%. How many people have attended (or supported) Occupy rallys across the entire US? Is it even close to 1% of the population (let alone 99%)?
COMMENT 227342	2011-10-28 11:46 AM
Are the unions now representing 99% of us in Santa Barbara. I don't think so. As part of the 99% the unions should stay out of this and let the people speak for themselves. I believe the people are capable of doing this without top-down ideas from union heads. Occupy SB wake up!
COMMENT 227350	2011-10-28 12:03 PM
NOW THE TRUTH COMES OUT!!! "We at OccupySB recognize the important work that AFL-CIO, SEIU" do. Do yourselves a favor find a country that best fits your lunatic values and move. Two things would happen, YOU would be MUCH happier in your utopia and WE wouldn't have to listen to uncontrolled behavior any longer. Something tells me you find all the corporate toys you all have much more appealing than your fantasy wonderland....
COMMENT 227353	2011-10-28 12:05 PM
Of course these people vote. They are incredibly knowledgeable about politics and government. EVERYONE has a chance to vote at the General Assembly. But you do actually have to take an interest and go be part of it, instead of sitting at home complaining. If you think the Occupiers don't speak for you, that's because you haven't bothered to hear what they are saying. They are fighting for EVERYONE. We are the 99%!!!!
COMMENT 227354	2011-10-28 12:07 PM
If the negative effects of the current recession were felt equitably by all people, it would be a shared sacrafice. The growing disparity between rich and poor disproves that notion. We need to cleanse the temple. Cast the money changers out of government.
COMMENT 227361	2011-10-28 12:26 PM
I don't see what is dangerous. I'm not asking for any changes to be made - I'm just speaking for myself and saying though the Occupy movement claim to speak for 99% of all Americans, they in fact do not. They say We Are the 99%, I'm saying, no you're not because I'm part of the 53% and this is what I think. But you're right - most of the 47% do contribute in some form. I never said they do not. But as a former union member, I whole heated disagree with O-SB's stance and their claim to my voice.
COMMENT 227365	2011-10-28 12:35 PM
The only unifying message between Occupiers is that they are unhappy with the economic situation (who isn't) and that they think they represent 99% of the population. They do not. They are apart of the 99% (only by the income criteria), but they do not represent 99% of the people's views. (I guarantee that all occupiers do not agree with unions, even if SB does). There's so much false hope in the Occupy movement. It's a shame.
COMMENT 227366P	2011-10-28 12:35 PM
The Occupiers do not speak for me either. I am employed because my employer, a large corporation, is successful. Who cares what they pay their management? How do the protesters think people who get multimillion dollar salaries are reacting to them? They think of them like tiny annoying little mosquitoes. Stop fooling yourselves. These protests will not make them change their behavior. Corporate leaders will only wear more Deet. In my opinion (I speak for nobody), here is the occupy movement broken down: envy, jealousy, reverse-greed, communism, and robin-hood. Get off your high horses; stop misinterpreting the constitution; contribute to society.
COMMENT 227373P	2011-10-28 12:44 PM
Here is a four part series that explains what happened on Wall Street. If after viewing it, the need for reform is not clear, then I don't know - maybe ethics and morality are no longer valued in our society. http://english.aljazeera.net/programmes/meltdown/ Plus, a shorter video with some positive news that criminal investigations are starting at the state level. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y1ftnRBR-QY&feature=youtu.be
COMMENT 227377	2011-10-28 12:49 PM
I am the 99%. I vote, don't belong to a union or particularly sympathize with unions, trend Republican, earn enough as a professional with an advanced education to buy a nice home in Santa Barbara, and (except for the last two weeks, when my subscription expired and I haven't had the spare $$ to renew it) pay for Edhat. The whole idea of the Occupy Protests is that we are all in this together, whether we make minimum wage or $250,000 a year. Financially, most of us are in the same boat. Incomes for almost all of us have gone down or remained static, our roads are crumbling and our schools are in a mess. There is no guarantee of Social Security, and the stock market where our 401k plans are invested is controlled by computer trading set up to benefit the 1%.
COMMENT 227379P	2011-10-28 12:51 PM
The Occupy movement is fundamentally about cleaning up the corruption on Wall Street, which is crippling our ability to govern ourselves and our ability to sustain and grow a *productive* economy. During my lifetime, the portion of the GNP that represented our manufacturing base, which actually made something to sell, has been replaced by financial services, which is just pushing electronic data around to make it look like there's real growth. These services are corrupt, unregulated, and unpoliced. Just last week, the Federal Reserve gave approved the transfer of $75 Trillion in risky derivatives from Merrill Lynch to the Bank of America. This happened over the objection of the FDIC. Now, we are all on the hook to cover Merrill Lynch's losses through Federal Deposit Insurance. JP Morgan would like to do the same with $79 Trillion in derivatives. How is it capitalism if we privatize profits and socialize costs? Not one critic of the Occupy movement addresses these issues, and it doesn't take much investigation to find many, many examples of corruption. It's just "I work hard; I don't whine; I'm the hero of my own life; You're communists; You're hippies; You're whatever pejorative is most offensive." Well, I'm an old, married, middle class family person, community volunteer, working 1 1/2 jobs, raising kids, active member of a faith community, donating to charity, and paying more taxes than most of you have ever paid and I say it's time to clean up the corruption. Yes, it's better here than in Mexico, but that's where we're headed if we don't change. I was raised to believe that America was a shining light because of the rule of law. I was raised to believe that there was a reason my ancestors left the plutocracies of Europe to found a new nation where merit is rewarded. Liberty does not mean freedom to commit fraud and get away with it. Liberty does not mean freedom to amass a king's wealth through oligarchic practices. It makes me ill to think how far downhill we've gone a society in the last 40 years. My legacy was a functioning democracy and it's gone. How can I look my children and grandchildren in the eyes if I don't try to restore that legacy?
COMMENT 227382P	2011-10-28 12:55 PM
Thanks for the explanation 261 about the 53%. As a working person I agree with you completely. What these people seem to have lost track of is that the system does work if you work and take responsibility for yourself. As a middle of the road earner I (and most everybody on this board) am living better than royalty did even 100 years ago. Do others have more? Sure, but so what? But by not taking responsibility you can fail in this system. Take out $100,000 in student loans that will get you some worthless degree that qualifies you to flip burgers isn't responsible. Then to blame the system is simply a display of the entitlement mentality that has so invaded our culture.
COMMENT 227385	2011-10-28 01:02 PM
No one on this board is debating whether there is corruption out there, or whether reform is needed. The only debate is Occupy's message. Everyone gets the overall complaint, but there is a problem with the individual proclimations (like how this thread started with the support of Unions). Occupy was a good idea, I admit that, but the implementation is absolutely horrible. Too many small ideals, that do not represent the cause's intention, are clinging to it, causing distortions.
COMMENT 227389	2011-10-28 01:03 PM
Really? We're becoming Mexico? Yeah... And America is a Republic, not a democracy. Look it up.
COMMENT 227391P	2011-10-28 01:07 PM
When did our wants become our needs, and our needs become our rights?
COMMENT 227402P	2011-10-28 01:22 PM
The problem is that these stories of corruption are not being reported and discussed. The story about the Merrill Lynch derivatives was reported by Bloomberg, but no major media outlet focused on it. We're fed details about the Michael Jackson trial, etc. ad nauseum. However, it's not a story when, overnight, taxpayers are on the hook for up to an additional $75 Trillion in debt!? The corruption gets worse and worse, and the perpetrators more brazen. Yet nothing changes! The Occupy movement is one way to get the media to do their job and focus on the corruption. Hopefully, with awareness the electorate will insist on change. I have been watching this coming for at least 10 to 15 years. I should have been paying attention sooner, but like most people I was busy going to work and raising my family. Also, nothing in my education prepared me for understanding finance. I've had to educate myself. Having done so, I can't just walk away and pretend it's not happening. @261, I know the difference between a republic and a democracy. Your comment just reinforces what I said about not addressing issues. Just sarcasm and denigration. So you know one fact. What else do you know about economic history or political science?
COMMENT 227404	2011-10-28 01:26 PM
391P: If you're living better than royalty did 100 years ago, then you're not part of the 99%. Or you're completely ignorant about history and economics. Or you're lying. You choose!
ANEMONEFISH	2011-10-28 01:31 PM
We walked by the OSB encampment in De la Guerra Plaza late yesterday afternoon and looked at the signs on display, as well as the 'occupiers' on duty who were preoccupied chatting among themselves. While any group so pretentious as to create a General Assembly from which to issue manifestos rediscovering the living wage and proposing compensation adjustments as a solution to wealth gaps earns a wince, we found some clever signs, some seriously off-putting ones, and ourselves in full agreement with the sentiments on most. It's like more people are waking up to what Amy Goodman and others in alternative media like Pacifica Radio have been warning about for many, many years. Now that it's really hit the fan and is blowing back into the faces of mid-America, folks are beginning to take the situation personally and go, "Yea...that's ME and people I actually know they're talking about!" (Too freakin' bad enough didn't wake up to the idea that the invasions of Iraq and Afghanistan weren't very good ideas. We'd be in a lot less mess today if those protests had garnered more support.) Anyway, a collection of posters was laid out on the ground along the street at OSB. One of them, scribbled on a cardboard panel, got our attention: Q: "What is your goal?" A: We're working on that. First we need structure. Please don't bombard us with content. Newcomers: I'll explain whatever you need 2 know on the side. There's a lot to think about in that little sign and what it says about some attitudes of this most recent movement - as compared to the arrogant elites who don't want input and will tell us what we need to know - the remaining 98% of us, that is.
COMMENT 227413	2011-10-28 01:43 PM
There are a lot of good, substantive comments here about the unfathomable crimes committed by Wall Street. Unfortunately, these concepts are complicated and not easily explained or even comprehended by the Millenial iPod generation, so we get "free student loans", "tax the 1%", etc. The message and the messenger are both the problems here and token gestures such as the loan payback period adjustment proposed will be accepted as a victory while the banksters regroup to break the world yet again. France had a good solution for out of control royalty and it's time our wall street billionaire elite started thinking about their necks as well as their wallets.
COMMENT 227428P	2011-10-28 02:25 PM
227264P - Between 1993 and 2000, 23 million jobs were created, and rich and poor were doing better. So much so, the debt was decreasing and trending toward a surplus. Between 2001 and 2008, just 1 million jobs were created. Tax breaks were given to the rich, because they were supposed to create jobs, but did not do so. By 2008, this country was hemorrhaging jobs at an accelerating rate. I would suggest that the bulk of the working force in the two eight year periods is more or less the same. But some people are implying that those same people were responsible for themselves between 1993 and 2000, but suddenly became irresponsible between 2001 and 2008. Please, give me a break. Large numbers of businesses have closed - we have seen that in this town. When businesses close, job disappear, If there are no jobs, people struggle. It is not a case of people being irresponsible. For ego and pride alone, everyone would like to have a job, medical benefits and paid vacation. It also means that with a steady job, people can live in a better home, whether bought or rented. People prefer to live in their cars? It is sad when a broad-brush is taken to a group of people, without knowing the facts to justify that broad-brush. In fact, I would say that that is way more irresponsible.
COMMENT 227434	2011-10-28 02:38 PM
Okay 373 - Nice facts. What's your solution?
COMMENT 227438P	2011-10-28 02:52 PM
Unions Suck! You are forced to join and pay dues. If striking, only the union bosses get paid. I've never worked for a union. If I didn't like the wages or conditions, I quit and got a different job. Yep, I quit the crappy job, found a better one. You know, work. Choice is a wonderful thing.
COMMENT 227442P	2011-10-28 03:00 PM
264..your right. We have been such a welfare society that what we use to work for, now people are wanting as a "right". It's "pursuit of happiness"...not the right of happiness. So what should the wage rate be? Who gets fired so the employers can pay those wages to the remaining employees? What do the fired employees do? The Sheriffs Dept did it right. They took care of themselves by passing up on raises that they had worked for, to keep the deputies they have. Yes, we wish for an ezier life, but we don't expect more than we have. We are so blessed just to live in Santa Barbara...
COMMENT 227449P	2011-10-28 03:22 PM
You have to wonder 50-75 people claiming they represent everyone else, seems like delusions of grandeur. Yes they have had more people show up from time to time for marches but reality is thats the core and probably less than 30 came up with this statement. As for unions used to be good, but now we need their money and corporations money both out of the process.
COMMENT 227455	2011-10-28 03:37 PM
You guys are getting really annoying! I tried to go return some library books last Saturday and got all stuck in your B.S. traffic. I was having such a wonderful Saturday until I met up with you folks. Please stop disrupting other peoples lives with your "cry out"
COMMENT 227457	2011-10-28 03:41 PM
455: If it were up to the 1%ers, there wouldn't be a public library for you to return your books to. You are the 99%!!!Embrace it!
COMMENT 227470	2011-10-28 04:02 PM
@379P - Your articulation is awesome. Well said. I'm a CEO and make very good money, but not ridiculous money, and not on the backs of the workers in my company. It despises me to see big company executives take "off the chart" compensation packages. Our society, the one we grew up in and loved patriotically is in peril, because of the greed and corruption that's permeated our society in general and our government specifically. For those of you that think things are fine, I ask you this: Are you aware of the wealth disparity that's occurred in the past 10 or so years, and do you think that's a good and sustainable thing for America's future?
COMMENT 227480P	2011-10-28 04:23 PM
@457. Didn't Andrew Carnegie build a lot of local libraries? I'm pretty sure he was in the .001%. He's not my favorite guy but he did build a lot of libraries.
COMMENT 227492	2011-10-28 04:45 PM
"Wealth disparity" is too broad and general a term. We need to look at it in a more "real life" tangible way. The top 1% of wage earners typically take more risk (start a business that could fail), are far better educated and sacrifice their personal lives in order to get ahead at the office more often than the "average Joe". Half the people I encounter on a daily basis can't speak or write correctly and they couldn't tell you anything other than who Jennifer Aniston happens to be dating at the moment. Most of these folks in the top 1% are simply far more gifted and far more determined to sacrifice and succeed than the other 99%. They therefore deserve to make significantly greater sums of money than the average person you run into. Let's be honest, we are not all created equal and the market pays accordingly. The majority of the population is relatively low-skilled, half-educated, and doesn't possess an exceptional work ethic. They are paid as such.
ANEMONEFISH	2011-10-28 04:52 PM
@353, considering the 1600+ Carnegie Libraries built in the U.S., I'd propose rephrasing: "...up to SOME of the 1%ers." Andrew Carnegie was in the 1% of his era, and lots of towns and colleges have libraries thanks to his philanthropy. The question is less about having great wealth - there is inevitably a top 1% or 2% or 10% - than gap width. It's also about how people think about what they have, and whether they feel obligated to honorably reciprocate to the people who gave them that wealth or to hoard it like 21st century Robber Barons. In light of current issues both here in town and nationally, I offer you this quote: "One man or woman who succeeds in living comfortably by begging is more dangerous to society, and a greater obstacle to the progress of humanity, than a score of wordy Socialists. The individual administrator of surplus wealth has as his charge the industrious and ambitious; not those who need everything done for them, but those who, being most anxious and able to help themselves, deserve and will be benefited by help from others and the extension of their opportunities at the hands of the philanthropic rich." That's from Carnegie writing in the North American Review, December, 1889, yet I feel like I've heard that same viewpoint expressed without the hint of a smirk in current political debates. Source: http://digital.library.cornell.edu/cgi/t/text/pageviewer-idx?c=nora&cc=nora&idno=nora0149-6&node=nora0149-6%3A7&view=image&seq=686&size=125
COMMENT 227503P	2011-10-28 04:56 PM
@480P -- Andrew Carnegie did build libraries and I benefited from them growing up. He was a very interesting person and I recommend reading more about him. He was a self-made man. He did not believe in inherited privilege, and he gave most of his fortune away once he had made it. I think, from what I've learned about him, that he would agree for the need for financial reform.
COMMENT 227511P	2011-10-28 05:20 PM
227261 - Return to the tax rates of 1993-2000 - Return to the financial regulations that were put in place after the first depression. - Take the money out of politics. - Change the filibuster rules so that good regulation cannot be blocked. Most filibusters in the history of the congress have occurred since 2006. Please watch this series in 227373P. Watch Maddow and Schultz on MSNBC to understand what has happened. Rachel showed graphs of what has happened since 1947 to the present, and the change since 1980 has been dramatic - good for the wealthy, bad for everyone else.
COMMENT 227513	2011-10-28 05:21 PM
Did I read an oblique reference to a PROGRESSIVE tax structure?
COMMENT 227514	2011-10-28 05:23 PM
In case you people haven't noticed, Carnegie died 92 years ago. I wouldn't count on him to keep the libraries open anymore. If there were more Carnegies in this country, and less Waltons we'd be in much better shape. But while Carnegie was an American industrialist who helped build this country into a manufacturing powerhouse and then gave away most of his money, the Waltons spend their money propagandizing and lobbying against income and Estate taxes so their worthless heirs can do nothing while they destroy the jobs of American workers.
COMMENT 227519P	2011-10-28 05:37 PM
@272 You are speaking from belief, not fact. Take a look at who is in the top 1%. Do the research. I guess I could speak from belief, too. I don't think you can judge a person's worth by their salary. Not everyone is motivated by the acquisition of material wealth. I've known corporate executives from Fortune 500 corporations and I've known state policemen, nurses, inventors, teachers, artists, social workers helping foster youth, etc. You cannot convince me that those executives have more merit than all the rest, because they earn more money. I'm not advocating income equality. I'm advocating a level playing field that rewards merit, not inherited privilege. I'm advocating rule of law over corruption and anarchy. I'm advocating representational government rather than a bought Congress, Presidency & even Supreme Court. I'm also advocating a banking system that invests where it creates jobs and helps grow the economy, not where it feathers off-shore savings accounts & beggars the taxpayers.
COMMENT 227545	2011-10-28 06:46 PM
yyyaaawwwwnnnn Get over it . focus on what matters...This doesn't
COMMENT 227562P	2011-10-28 08:29 PM
What a joke this whole "occupy" bs has become. Like a bunch of spoiled upper middle class white kids with too much time on their hands wanting to feel self important by using big boy words like "general assembly". Joke.
COMMENT 227575P	2011-10-28 09:26 PM
OWS philosophy is transparent and uncomplicated: Mother's cutting pie and little brother's stomping mad that he got a smaller piece than his bigger, older, smarter, harder-working brother. Look at those furious little fists banging on the table top yelling "Not fair! It's not equal! I demand a portion of his slice!” Quit coveting what others have and go read Aesop's Fable: "The Goose That Laid the Golden Egg." You might learn something.
COMMENT 227580P	2011-10-28 11:07 PM
What a joke. The 1% gal/guy buys an old, beat up house, tears it down, hire architects, buys permits, hires a general contractor, who employs a secretary, a bidder, a job foreman, framers, structural engineers, HVAC, carpenters, foundation guys, plumbers, A/V, demo, painters, scaffolding, interior designers, insurance for the new house. The 1% guy/gal has created something out of nothing, using money. The money that is earned goes directly to the working X% to spend as they please, with some of their wages going to Uncle Sam to pay down our country's massive debt. Meanwhile, the Occupy SB person draws a slogan on a piece of cardboard and stands in front of a bank all day. Hmmm, who has benefited society more...?
COMMENT 227597	2011-10-29 07:18 AM
One of the days in my life I look back on with pride was the day that I realized that the company I had started enabled several people to pay their rent/mortgage and live here in Santa Barbara. I work harder than most people to keep a roof over my head and food for me and my dogs on the table. I have no intention of letting any General Assembly take that away from me. I have worked hard to be an Ant in this little world of Santa Barbara, and all the Grasshoppers can starve come this winter for all that I care. If you want justice, vote and be a productive member of society. Don't expect that your degree in ancient Sanskrit and school loan debt entitle you to a happy life. There ain't no such thing as a free lunch
COMMENT 227605	2011-10-29 08:00 AM
How are you people gonna occupy Santa Barbara when your getting drunk on Monday in Isla Vista? If you don't like it here move to Cuba :)
COMMENT 227608	2011-10-29 08:02 AM
My union is part of the problem (SEIU). By not organizing SEIU's own members and just handing local candidates $7500 each is a shame. Make no mistake, that is the strategy, to buy local officials with campaign donations. JUST LIKE THE CORPORATIONS DO! I hope the local occupy sb does not get co-opted by SEIU local 620.
COMMENT 227625	2011-10-29 08:52 AM
Wow. Such uninformed comments this morning. The 1% are busy spreading complete lies. The Nazi comments are beyond ridiculous. Please show me where this alleged anti-semitism is?
COMMENT 227638P	2011-10-29 09:20 AM
Oh, for heaven's sake! Instead of criticizing this statement, how about thinking about what the Occupy Wall Street groups are standing for: calling attention to the corporate greed on the part of the few that brought down our economy and participated in the loss of jobs and income for so many Americans.
COMMENT 227642P	2011-10-29 09:27 AM
625: Let Me Google that for you (but I doubt you will look) http://www.youtube.com/results? search_query=anti+semitism+and+Occupy+Wall+Street& aq=f Lets see: unemployed: check "underemployed" (means they think they deserve a better job than they have): check Wall Street Crash: check Protest Wall Street financial institutions and banks: check Backed by Big Labor Unions and proposing National Socialism: check Worldwide movement: check Scapegoat is Jews (see youtube link) and corporations: check All of the above describes Germany circa 1930. Beyond ridiculous? I dont think so.
COMMENT 227644	2011-10-29 09:36 AM
638P - They're calling attention to every want and need they've so desired! Free college education, free health care, forgiven of student loan debts, raising minimum wage, free, free, free, give me more, more more. Listen, they're protesting against the wrong people! Instead of going after those "evil bankers" how about protesting Congress and the President?! The're the ones that make the laws, that have spent this country into the ground and continue to dig us into deeper holes. It's funny that every other country that is having an uprising is throwing out their government, yet when asked among OWS's if they would vote for Obama again, overwhelming majority say yes lol. Obama has accepted more contributions from Wall Street than any President in history! You guys wanted change, well you got it. Now, don't complain it was the change you didn't want.
COMMENT 227665P	2011-10-29 10:23 AM
638P, the people who brought down our economy are the same bunch that always brings down our economy, us. This occupy movement is a silly waste of time for people that want to be part of a movement. The same people who brought down this economy will pick it back up again, and bring it it down again, just like the seasons... Some day you'll look back on all this with a chuckle, just like some of us remember the "Summer of Love" in SF back in the 60's. You'll know its over when they make you into a tourist attraction and people stop giving you food.
COMMENT 227690P	2011-10-29 10:58 AM
I would like to engage in discourse. However, for the most part, every anti-OWS posting has been character assassination, generalizations, and hysteria. It doesn't sound like any of these people read anything posted by others. Nazis? Look up the definition of fascism and see who was in control in Nazi Germany. It wasn't the working people. It was the plutocrats and corporations who persuaded the 99% to give them power in return for jobs & food. Sounds like its the opposite of what OWS participants are advocating. I'm tired of this stereotyping of of OWS. I know many people, ranging from a soldier on active duty in Afghanistan to hard-working engineers to wealthy retired business, owners who support OWS and the demand to clean up Wall Street corruption and end the flow of corporate money into Congress. I won't be out with Occupy SB today, because I'm working a second job. However, I appreciate their efforts even if I wouldn't agree with every individual's opinions.
COMMENT 227692P	2011-10-29 10:59 AM
227592P - the people who brought down the economy are the people who had to get bailed out at the end of 2008. And are now paying themselves billions in bonuses because they did such a heck of a job. They crashed this economy and those overseas, by creating toxic assets and selling them at inflated prices. See links at 227373P. Some of these people have been prosecuted for fraud; others are yet to be. As for some of the other comments, the ignorance and broad-brushing is simply astounding. Facts do not matter. Twisting to suit one's point of view is the bias du jour.
COMMENT 227697	2011-10-29 11:09 AM
Wow. You'd think all of these subscribers that are so proud of their success and spend so much time bragging about how much better than everyone else they are would want to show their usernames. But then we would know that it's just the same couple of greedy, selfish people making all of the comments.
COMMENT 227701	2011-10-29 11:12 AM
227379P - WHAT YOU SAID.
COMMENT 227704P	2011-10-29 11:22 AM
227697 - On any thread, the same id number is given to one person, so multiple comments by the same person can be checked. Just enter the number after hitting Ctrl/F and then hit F3 repeatedly to find all of the comments. Copy and paste can be used to put the number into the "find' box.
COMMENT 227706P	2011-10-29 11:31 AM
@579 It's ludicrous to describe OWS as anti-semitic. You can find a few people with extreme viewpoints in any group. Here is a link to an article in a Jewish newspaper, which I subscribe to and read, describing how the charges of anti-semitism at Occupy Wall Street have been promoted in order to discredit the call for a cleanup of Wall Street corruption. Jewish student groups, such as the Hofstra University Hillel, have taken part OWS. A Kol Nidre service were held there on the eve of Yom Kippur. You can find videos of that on You Tube, also. I'm sorry to promulgate a stereotype, but I don't see any anti-OWS postings that don't appear to be gleaned from Fox News. In the biography of Steve Jobs that was just published, I read that he personally took Rupert Murdoch to task, calling Fox News a "destructive force" in America and telling him that if he didn't change this would be the legacy that he was known for. One rich, self-made man to another rich, self-made man, and still diversity of opinion.
COMMENT 227719	2011-10-29 12:12 PM
379P - Did you also read in that same Steve Jobs biography where he blasted Obama and his administration for being so business unfriendly? It would seem that when the largest company in the world is telling you that, you'd listen. This administration needs to realize that you can't create jobs just by throwing money out there, it needs to come from the growth of existing and new private business. The only way to spur that is by helping them, not taxing them more and forcing them to cut costs.
COMMENT 227734P	2011-10-29 12:53 PM
227644 - Are you aware of Apple's appalling business practices? Do you want US workers to become like this? "Some of my roommates weep in the dormitory. I want to cry as well but my tears have not come out." These are the words of a 22-year-old woman working at the Foxconn factory in Chengdu, China, a manufacturing facility that solely produces Apple products, as recorded in a new report by the Center for Research on Multinational Corporations and Students & Scholars Against Corporate Misbehavior (SACOM), two non-profit advocacy groups." http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/05/06/foxconn-factory-conditions_n_858619.html Do you know that Jobs also said that Fox News is a destructive force? Do you know that Warren Buffett, one of the richest men in the world, supports Obama? and that many millionaires have asked for more taxes. Choose your poison, but I do not think that Apple's business practices are anything to be proud of, hence invalidating what Jobs said.
COMMENT 227746P	2011-10-29 01:35 PM
@644 OWS isn't about Republicans or Democrats. As far as I'm concerned, the middle-class has been decimated by the policies of both parties for over 30 years. The presidency belongs to corporate America. Look at the Wall Street advisers who surround Obama. We have 30 years of attempts to cut taxes on the wealthy in order to support economic development. That has failed to happen. Instead, we have 30 years of shipping American jobs overseas. What's worse is that research & development jobs have been increasingly shipped overseas over the last 10 to 15 years. Where will the next generation of innovation come from? I do not idolize Steve Jobs. I think he was the most brilliant marketing guy of his generation. However, he oversaw Apple's decision to move manufacturing jobs overseas. I don't think this can be laid at the doorstep of American taxation policies. I think it falls more at the doorstep of Wall Street, which has demanded ever-increasing short-term quarterly profits over long-term growth for 30 years now. I lived through that shift and I saw the resultant decrease in innovation and competitiveness. It brought about the rise in power of the professional manager and bean counters who, thanks to cronyism and golden parachutes, never experience the consequences of their failures.
MARTINSHAPIRO	2011-10-29 01:44 PM
The statement supports ALL workers and unemployed people not just union workers. But I would much rather work somewhere where a union or others workers organization has the power to fight for workers' rights. 99% doesn't mean that all those people support the statement, They can only put that together with input from those who SHOW UP. I appreciate their commitment and am glad they are speaking for all of us who are not in the richest 1%. What the 99% protest is about, as I understand it, is that the 1% have the money (like the Koch brothers) to totally fund someone's election. Then those bought candidates implement policies that benefit the rich even more. We have to get money out of our election system so that it will return to a Democratic election, where the candidate supported by the most people, not the most money, wins the election. We have come to a place where Senators and Representatives have to spend a ridiculous amount of their days raising money and then must feel indebted to their donors. We need to cut these monetary ties. Elections should finally be publicly funded. Banks which brought this country to it's knees and were bailed out by taxpayers, should pay every cent back before giving any million dollar bonuses to it's top administrators. And when they have broken the law, they should go to prison, just like the homeless man who got 15 years for stealing money for food. Where are your ethics and values Republicans? Marian Shapiro
COMMENT 227798P	2011-10-29 06:08 PM
Tens of Thousands Flooded Israel's Streets Demanding Economic Justice for the 99% as #OWS Blooms Chanting "We Are the 99 Percent" and "The People Demand Social Justice," thousands of Israelis returned to the streets, mirroring this summer's massive tent protests that helped to inspire #ows (and which were themselves inspired by Egypt's encampment-based protests in Tahrir Square). Amazing photos: http://www.dailykos.com/story/2011/10/29/1031194/-Tens-of-Thousands-Flooded-Israels-Streets-Demanding-Economic-Justice-for-the-99-as-OWS-Blooms? via=siderec " I was inspired by the protests in Israel this summer started when a person (woman?) who could no longer afford to pay rent moved her possessions into the street. The protests are echoing and re-echoing around the world!"
COMMENT 227949P	2011-10-30 10:23 AM
If anyone knows who Tom Friedman is, then this is something, coming from him "CITIGROUP is lucky that Muammar el-Qaddafi was killed when he was. The Libyan leader’s death diverted attention from a lethal article involving Citigroup that deserved more attention because it helps to explain why many average Americans have expressed support for the Occupy Wall Street movement. The news was that Citigroup had to pay a $285 million fine to settle a case in which, with one hand, Citibank sold a package of toxic mortgage-backed securities to unsuspecting customers — securities that it knew were likely to go bust — and, with the other hand, shorted the same securities — that is, bet millions of dollars that they would go bust." http://www.nytimes.com/2011/10/30/opinion/sunday/friedm an-did-you-hear-the-one-about-the-bankers.html?_r=1
COMMENT 227985	2011-10-30 12:23 PM
In my opinion a lot, if not most, could afford to pay taxes. A lot of them sure do seems to have the new iPhone and tattoos! Neither of which come cheap!
COMMENT 228028P	2011-10-30 02:36 PM
227985 - one is entitled to one's opinion; not to one's own facts. Everyone I know who has an iPhone, pays taxes. I also know people who pay taxes, but do not have iPhones. And everyone in the country pays taxes - sales tax, etc. There are some who earn so little that they fall of the tax charts and do not pay income tax, but they pay a number of other taxes. The only way to get everyone to pay income tax is to pay them incomes high enough. This is what has happened since 1980 - people's incomes have flat-lined and some have gone below the income tax threshold. The PRODUCTIVITY of US workers is at an all time high, but they are not being paid for that productivity. The people who are making off with the money are just pushing paper and making financial bets in the gambling house of Wall Street; hardly real work.
COMMENT 228200	2011-10-31 09:37 AM
This movement deserves our support, since it is the best we have done so far to defend citizens against ruthless Corporate greed. Fewer of us have good jobs now and this trend is clear, so something really needs to change. Be aware that greed moved jobs out of the country, boosted pay of the top 1% tenfold more than the cost of living, and destroyed our economy by illegal investment gambling (as yet unpunished), and corrupted legislators and elections with "donations". It also fooled much of the public with biased and false news. Meeting such organized opposition takes some organization: this movement and unions are key to public interest.

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