Over the past month, the crusaders at Zuccotti Park have braved the elements, tussled with police, and stood their ground against Mayor Bloomberg. But how much do the protesters actually know about the economic system that they're fighting to change? To find out, we asked 50 occupiers a series of questions about Wall Street, taxes, and government. The results were mixed. See if you can do better.
• What is the Dodd–Frank Act? 84% did not know.
• Who is the chairman of the Federal Reserve? 42% said “Don’t know.” 38% said Bernanke.
• Who is Elizabeth Warren? 64% said “Don’t know.” 24% said “professor/senatorial candidate.” 10% said “Warren Buffet’s wife.”
• What is the “SEC”? 68% said “Don’t know.”
• What is the top marginal income tax rate for the richest 1 percent? Only 10% got it right (35%).
• What does the government spend more on? Health care and pensions, education or the military? 94% said “the military” when the correct answer is “health care and pensions” at 43%, Defense is at 20%.
Read more at nymag.com • What is the Dodd–Frank Act? 84% did not know.
• Who is the chairman of the Federal Reserve? 42% said “Don’t know.” 38% said Bernanke.
• Who is Elizabeth Warren? 64% said “Don’t know.” 24% said “professor/senatorial candidate.” 10% said “Warren Buffet’s wife.”
• What is the “SEC”? 68% said “Don’t know.”
• What is the top marginal income tax rate for the richest 1 percent? Only 10% got it right (35%).
• What does the government spend more on? Health care and pensions, education or the military? 94% said “the military” when the correct answer is “health care and pensions” at 43%, Defense is at 20%.
I'm sure if you asked a Tea Partier they could give the right answer.
Allen West expressed criticism of the Occupy Wall Street protests.
“I think the hypocrisy of this movement is somewhat laughable,” he declares. “I would agree with them that we don’t need to have crony capitalism in the United States of America, where we have government picking winners or losers in the free market or trying to be a venture capitalist. But when I see signs that these people are holding up signs saying ‘end capitalism,’ then my question is: What do you replace it with?
“I think there is a danger in the people on Capitol Hill starting to embrace this movement, especially now that we know that the American Nazi Party and the American Communist Party are also starting to align themselves with this Occupy movement.
“When you really start to peel the onion back and look at some of the things these protesters want to see in America, it is contradictory to the foundational principles and values that we have in the United States.
If Howard Stern sees through these idiots it's only a matter of time before everyone starts looking closer at these protests. I love it when these people talk. It's better then a comedy show. I know the main stream media isn't covering these protesters, but they are passing up some great entertainment. Maybe they could have a game show with these Occupy protester and call it Occupy Are you smarter then a 1st grader? Somehow I think the first graders would give more lucid answers. I wonder where all those haroin needs go when they are done with them?
The sad thing is this isn't a joke. These people are really like this. These are the people Obama and the Democrats stand with. But there is a silver lining to all this. This is the beginning of the end for all of them.
Fantastic that all the dems including Obama are running to embrace this! Embrace away! Sad. What losers. Hoping to achieve a tent to get laid. Precious.
ReplyDeleteLMAO. I love that your siding with a raunchy shock jock who is everything a Christian shouldn't be to go after the Occupation people. Politics makes strange bedfellows indeed.
ReplyDeleteAre you kidding me Anon? I never said anything about being in bed or in support of Stern and what he does, unlike Obama and the Democratic Party taking up the Occupy cause. I just pointed ouyt that even the lefty Stern is dissing these idiots and seeing them for what they are. Nice try though. LMAO.
ReplyDeleteIf your going to make that jump, does that mean that Obama and the Dems support rape because they like what the Occupy protesters are doing? Duh
ReplyDeleteThere is a way to bypass government and slowly but surely take back the power to people:
ReplyDeleteBuild a web/mobile platform that will give people the power to:
Exchange goods and services based on a new worldwide currency where 1 bread loaf in America is worth 1 bread loaf in Africa
Share those unofficial skills that everybody has, but that won't be recognized by official institutions unless you study 3 years for it
Tell their working preferences and passions so that any company willing to join the platform would be able to know which employees would be the most motivated and autonomous (A passionate employee is motivated, productive, and doesn't need any external source of motivation or coercion)
The same way, people could unite and rebuild/occupy enterprises and get them running by themselves, where employees share responsibilities and tasks
This may seem impossible, but building the basis of such a platform would be a big step forward in empowering the people to build the world they want to live in.
I've been developing this idea for a while and I need skilled web developers and mobile apps developers to help me start this project, anybody interested?
Time for OWS to take this to the next level
ReplyDelete1.OWS needs to become a real organization and needs to form some sort of leadership group. At this point we are a joke.
2.OWS needs to formalize a single, concise message and stay on point. There is only a single issue here; that our entire political process, our entire government, has been high jacked by the wealthy ruling elite, who use it for their own purposes and to further their own single minded agenda, and that this must change.
3.OWS needs to stay far away from any and all issues that can be viewed as Republicans vs. Democrats, Conservatives vs. Liberals.
4.OWS needs to be in this for the long hall. To force real change will take years and a great deal of effort.
5.OWS needs to partner with the rest of the Occupy groups around the country and march on Washington, with a group that is considerably larger than any million black man march.
6.OWS needs to form a third party.
Ineptocracy (in-ept-o-cra-cy) - a system of government or mob where the
ReplyDeleteleast capable to lead are elected by the least capable of producing, and
where the members of society least likely to sustain themselves or succeed,
are rewarded with goods and services paid for by the confiscated wealth of a
diminishing number of producers.
The worst thing about Occupy Wall Street is that it's ruining a good cause: hating Wall Street. Just when opposing Wall Street was gaining momentum, these brain-dead zombies are forcing us to choose between thieving bankers and them.
ReplyDeleteIf the Flea Party were really concerned about the greedy "Wall Street 1 Percent," shifting money around to make themselves richer and everyone else poorer, their No. 1 target should be George Soros.
Of course, we don't know exactly how much money Soros has, since he keeps all his money in offshore bank accounts.
We do know that Soros has been convicted of insider trading. And we know that his general modus operandi is to run around the world panicking sovereign nations, so he can pocket the difference when their currencies collapse...
With 31% of OWS protesters thinking violence is the answer I hope you don't take it to the next level. Greece is the next level. And that isn't turning out too good for anyone in that country.
ReplyDelete