Wall Street Freedom Fighters Release Their Demands

Politics 1,497 replies 31,835 views
Glory Days's avatar
Glory Days
Posts: 7,809
Oct 28, 2011 7:40am
Saw this gem posted around the area last night in cleveland. I say go ahead, dont goto work. when you are fired, it gives someone unemployed and who wants to work a chance at a job.


Glory Days's avatar
Glory Days
Posts: 7,809
Oct 28, 2011 7:44am
Found their website: http://www.occupyoakland.org/
the proposal passed by the Occupy Oakland General Assembly on Wednesday October 26, 2011 in reclaimed Oscar Grant Plaza. 1607 people voted. 1484 voted in favor of the resolution, 77 abstained and 46 voted against it, passing the proposal at 96.9%. The General Assembly operates on a modified consensus process that passes proposals with 90% in favor and with abstaining votes removed from the final count.PROPOSAL:
We as fellow occupiers of Oscar Grant Plaza propose that on Wednesday November 2, 2011, we liberate Oakland and shut down the 1%.
We propose a city wide general strike and we propose we invite all students to walk out of school. Instead of workers going to work and students going to school, the people will converge on downtown Oakland to shut down the city.
All banks and corporations should close down for the day or we will march on them.
While we are calling for a general strike, we are also calling for much more. People who organize out of their neighborhoods, schools, community organizations, affinity groups, workplaces and families are encouraged to self organize in a way that allows them to participate in shutting down the city in whatever manner they are comfortable with and capable of.
The whole world is watching Oakland. Let’s show them what is possible.
The Strike Coordinating Council will begin meeting everyday at 5pm in Oscar Grant Plaza before the daily General Assembly at 7pm. All strike participants are invited. Stay tuned for much more information and see you next Wednesday.
O-Trap's avatar
O-Trap
Posts: 14,994
Oct 28, 2011 8:18am
believer;947925 wrote:I agree. My parents are working class folks who held factory jobs. I never in my wildest dreams thought I'd ever have an opportunity to go to college or finance it.

The only viable route for a degree in my world was to serve some military time in exchange for the GI Bill.

Not only did I find a college degree a worthwhile pursuit, my military service gave me the life experience I needed to have the inside track on landing my first "degree worthy" job.

A degree in and of itself doesn't guarantee a job. It merely says you have proven yourself to be trainable.

Like everything else in life you still need to market yourself and be willing to shovel shit for a while to demonstrate to potential employers you are willing to get the job done.

When I've interviewed entry-level applicants that require degrees, I always looked for that "you owe me this job because I have a degree" mentality. If I see it, that applicant is far less likely to impress me.

The kid who worked his way through college, flipped burgers for a while after college, or served some military time (as well as earned that degree) are far more likely to impress me.

This is what I did. My loans for college are all on me, and I own them. I worked through college in order to put what little money I could toward them.

So I graduated with a degree. No salary job chock full o' benefits was available, so I got a job that didn't require a degree to start out. Worked hard and out-performed most of my peers. An acquaintance took notice and hired me to a much better job.

The job market is, and will always be, a competitive atmosphere. That is as it should be, and in order to help your cause, getting a good degree that you worked for and being willing to do any job to help a company will put you ahead of a LOT of the competition.
Q
queencitybuckeye
Posts: 7,117
Oct 28, 2011 9:11am
Glory Days;947967 wrote:
Can one really say no to both debt and austerity? Don't they kind of pull in opposite directions?
O-Trap's avatar
O-Trap
Posts: 14,994
Oct 28, 2011 9:47am
Glory Days;947967 wrote:Saw this gem posted around the area last night in cleveland. I say go ahead, dont goto work. when you are fired, it gives someone unemployed and who wants to work a chance at a job.


Oh good. Generals are going on strike.
Glory Days's avatar
Glory Days
Posts: 7,809
Oct 28, 2011 9:49am
queencitybuckeye;948022 wrote:Can one really say no to both debt and austerity? Don't they kind of pull in opposite directions?
haha i looked up the definition just to double check...the antonym for austerity is leniency. Fail.

STRIKE. RESIST. OCCUPY EVERYTHING......yeah, this sounds like its going to be peaceful....
G
gut
Posts: 15,058
Oct 28, 2011 9:50am
queencitybuckeye;948022 wrote:Can one really say no to both debt and austerity? Don't they kind of pull in opposite directions?
LOL....I was going to make the exact same point. Don't you have to choose one or the other? Maybe they mean say no to your debt and no to govt austerity. Or, in other words, they ARE looking for a handout (I was told in another thread I didn't understand their goals).

So they have a general assembly now that concocts and votes on resolutions? Becoming quite the little communist experiment.
Q
queencitybuckeye
Posts: 7,117
Oct 28, 2011 9:56am
gut;948057 wrote:Maybe they mean say no to your debt and no to govt austerity
"Down with corporate greed, up with personal greed".
O-Trap's avatar
O-Trap
Posts: 14,994
Oct 28, 2011 12:17pm
queencitybuckeye;948065 wrote:"Down with corporate greed, up with personal greed".
Personal greed > Success > Corporate Greed

Backing up the process will probably end with the same result. If I have frogs, and I begin to advocate for tadpoles ... what will I end up with? :D
jhay78's avatar
jhay78
Posts: 1,917
Oct 28, 2011 12:25pm
Glory Days;947967 wrote:Saw this gem posted around the area last night in cleveland. I say go ahead, dont goto work. when you are fired, it gives someone unemployed and who wants to work a chance at a job.


queencitybuckeye;948022 wrote:Can one really say no to both debt and austerity? Don't they kind of pull in opposite directions?
Likewise, is it really possible to "occupy everything"?
O-Trap's avatar
O-Trap
Posts: 14,994
Oct 28, 2011 12:29pm
jhay78;948282 wrote:Likewise, is it really possible to "occupy everything"?
Not unless our population problem gets a lot worse.
G
gut
Posts: 15,058
Oct 28, 2011 12:31pm
They want their education loans forgiven and, you have to admit, the school probably should give them their money back.
O-Trap's avatar
O-Trap
Posts: 14,994
Oct 28, 2011 12:37pm
gut;948291 wrote:They want their education loans forgiven and, you have to admit, the school probably should give them their money back.
Wouldn't that be a double return?

Technically, it wasn't their money most of the time, just as it wasn't mine. It was a bank's. They just told the banks they'd get 'em back for it.

Renege!
Mulva's avatar
Mulva
Posts: 13,650
Oct 28, 2011 1:47pm
O-Trap;947391 wrote:However, they paid for the education, not the job. They got the education. The job wasn't part of the deal.
I agree from a societal point of view, but from a personal point of view I think that's sort of splitting hairs. I paid for the education in order to get the job. I didn't attend for the simple pursuit of knowledge.

If I go to the store and buy sugar, I'm directly paying for the sugar, not the cookies. I'm buying it to make the cookies though. The sugar by itself is meaningless to me. I could make cookies without it, but they'd be terrible. I invested in the sugar to get the better tasting cookies out of it.

Nobody is or should be guaranteed a job simply because of higher education, but I (and, I'd argue, most people) pay for the education for the future rewards of it (the jobs), not the education itself. I'm all for working ones way up, but that's what entry level jobs are for. Ideally a person should be able to "pay their dues" at a job that is at least in the same ballpark as the career path he/she is attempting to pursue. Washing dishes or staffing Foot Locker provide experience, but it's not going to be the experience a lot of people need to advance in their fields of interest or degree, it's just a way to pay the bills (which is obviously important).
G
gut
Posts: 15,058
Oct 28, 2011 2:28pm
Mulva;948390 wrote: Nobody is or should be guaranteed a job simply because of higher education, but I (and, I'd argue, most people) pay for the education for the future rewards of it (the jobs), not the education itself.
The reality is also simply that some people are wasting their money on college. If you're a C or D student at a 3rd rate school, or even an "easier" major at a school like OSU, that degree really doesn't make you much more appealing to an employer.

If you take the bottom 10-20% of all graduating college students this year, I'd expect their options to be pretty shitty if they even have any at all (just like most years, but in this economy there are fewer shitty companies to hire them). Like the person who bought more house than they can afford, graduating with no job and a boatload of debt is, more often than not, the culmination of a series of bad choices. I am sympathetic because high schoolers often get bad advice, if any at all, but I struggle to forgive such ignorance that they do bear a large amount of responsibility for.

The above examples reflect a society today that increasingly wants to forgive rather than hold people accountable for mistakes of their own doing.

So in a nutshell, this economy has destroyed a lot of sh!tty companies and sh!tty jobs, and the sh!tty employees are pissed off about it.
Q
QuakerOats
Posts: 8,740
Oct 28, 2011 2:32pm
The folks who are getting the free stuff, don't like the folks who are paying for the free stuff, because the folks who are paying for the free stuff, can no longer afford to pay for both the free stuff and their own stuff, and the folks who are paying for the free stuff, want the free stuff to stop.
And the folks who are getting the free stuff, want even more free stuff on top of the free stuff they are already getting!
Now... the people who are forcing the people who pay for the free stuff, have told the people who are receiving the free stuff, that the people who are paying for the free stuff, are being mean, prejudiced, and racist.
So... the people who are getting the free stuff, have been convinced they need to hate the people who are paying for the free stuff, by the people who are forcing some people to pay for their free stuff, and giving them the free stuff in the first place.
We have let the free stuff giving go on for so long that there are now more people getting free stuff than paying for the free stuff.
G
gut
Posts: 15,058
Oct 28, 2011 2:40pm
The only problem is there's a lot of free stuff going around that nobody's paying for. Well, I guess our children will be paying for it...but that's ok so long as it's only the children of rich people :D

A big part of the problem is people have bought into the lie that the rich people can pay for all this free stuff, and more, if we just raise their taxes.
O-Trap's avatar
O-Trap
Posts: 14,994
Oct 28, 2011 3:28pm
Mulva;948390 wrote:I agree from a societal point of view, but from a personal point of view I think that's sort of splitting hairs. I paid for the education in order to get the job. I didn't attend for the simple pursuit of knowledge.
An unfortunate reality, but I would hope that many still recognize that an education (not "degree" necessarily) can at least be beneficial for more than just an occupation. If not, then what separates a college from a corporate version of a trade school or technical institute?

But even still, I'd say it's far clearer than splitting hairs. The educator is never misconstrued as a head hunter or career counselor.
Mulva;948390 wrote:If I go to the store and buy sugar, I'm directly paying for the sugar, not the cookies. I'm buying it to make the cookies though. The sugar by itself is meaningless to me. I could make cookies without it, but they'd be terrible. I invested in the sugar to get the better tasting cookies out of it.
The thing is, sugar is useful for far more than making cookies. It's good for other desserts like brownies or cakes. It's useful for sweetening coffee or tea. It adds flavor to yams. Sugar has a slew of uses. Whether or not a person buys it for a single reason shouldn't even be the concern of the grocery store.
Mulva;948390 wrote:Nobody is or should be guaranteed a job simply because of higher education, but I (and, I'd argue, most people) pay for the education for the future rewards of it (the jobs), not the education itself. I'm all for working ones way up, but that's what entry level jobs are for. Ideally a person should be able to "pay their dues" at a job that is at least in the same ballpark as the career path he/she is attempting to pursue.
But again, if the jobs aren't there, it doesn't matter what you attempt to pursue, and that transcends into ALL areas of the market.

For example, I could choose to be a psychology major, because I want to be a.child psychologist. However, if the market is grossly saturated when I get out, it doesn't matter what industry or niche I'd like to pursue.

When I got out of school over $50,000 in debt, I couldn't find a job related to my field of study, let alone one that would allow me to pay my bills. Didn't matter what I wanted. I had to keep my landscaping job for a couple months until I got my retail job, which didn't require a dregree (;)).

It might feel like it sucks, and maybe some might feel that getting a degree should mean that they're "above" that kind of work (not saying you think like this). The market dictates the opportunity, though. If you don't win out over the pack for what available jobs there are, you have to settle for what you can get.
Mulva;948390 wrote:Washing dishes or staffing Foot Locker provide experience, but it's not going to be the experience a lot of people need to advance in their fields of interest or degree, it's just a way to pay the bills (which is obviously important).
And if the area of interest and education is saturated, it's an experience that can keep you working while you continue to look for jobs you like.

Believe me, I get it. I took the crappy job out of college, and I've dealt with the unemployment. It blows, and I still have yet to see a decent job in my field open up.

However, I am more employable, all around, than I was out of college. That includes in that field, even though I don't have any professional experience in it. You might be surprised how settling for a less-than-desirable job can still pay dividends later on that can pertain to your field of choice ... should the position be open.
J
jmog
Posts: 6,567
Oct 28, 2011 4:23pm
Mulva;948390 wrote:I agree from a societal point of view, but from a personal point of view I think that's sort of splitting hairs. I paid for the education in order to get the job. I didn't attend for the simple pursuit of knowledge.

If I go to the store and buy sugar, I'm directly paying for the sugar, not the cookies. I'm buying it to make the cookies though. The sugar by itself is meaningless to me. I could make cookies without it, but they'd be terrible. I invested in the sugar to get the better tasting cookies out of it.

Nobody is or should be guaranteed a job simply because of higher education, but I (and, I'd argue, most people) pay for the education for the future rewards of it (the jobs), not the education itself. I'm all for working ones way up, but that's what entry level jobs are for. Ideally a person should be able to "pay their dues" at a job that is at least in the same ballpark as the career path he/she is attempting to pursue. Washing dishes or staffing Foot Locker provide experience, but it's not going to be the experience a lot of people need to advance in their fields of interest or degree, it's just a way to pay the bills (which is obviously important).
Why should it be the colleges fault that you can not get a job however?

Using your own analogy, you buy suger, the sugar was just fine, but your oven sucks and its thermostat was broke. The cookies still come out like crap due to a bad oven.

Should the grocery store then give you a refund on the sugar? Of course not, it makes no freaking sense, its not the stores fault that your oven sucks.

Its not the colleges fault that the economy sucks right now.
Writerbuckeye's avatar
Writerbuckeye
Posts: 4,745
Oct 28, 2011 4:24pm
Potential employers always look more favorably on people who are out there working, even if the employee isn't able to work in his chosen field at that time. It shows intangibles like work ethic, initiative, drive and a willingness to improvise when things aren't going your way.

All good traits for a potential employee, regardless of their field of expertise.
Q
QuakerOats
Posts: 8,740
Oct 28, 2011 4:32pm
Writerbuckeye;948551 wrote:Potential employers always look more favorably on people who are out there working, even if the employee isn't able to work in his chosen field at that time. It shows intangibles like work ethic, initiative, drive and a willingness to improvise when things aren't going your way.

All good traits for a potential employee, regardless of their field of expertise.

Gimmie a break .... that's way too difficult --- could damage one's esteem.
pmoney25's avatar
pmoney25
Posts: 1,787
Oct 28, 2011 5:35pm
I have a perfect example, I have a kid who just graduated from OU with an IT degree. While interviewing he just straight up said, he just wants a job to gain experience in a professional setting. Will take whatever. So I hired him as a pt teller at the bank I managed. Only gets paid $10 an hour with no benefits and works his tail off . Thinking about promoting him to personal banker position soon. He knows what he wants to do eventually but doesnt care what he does now because he just wants to work and show stability.
I
I Wear Pants
Posts: 16,223
Oct 28, 2011 11:11pm
pmoney25;948618 wrote:I have a perfect example, I have a kid who just graduated from OU with an IT degree. While interviewing he just straight up said, he just wants a job to gain experience in a professional setting. Will take whatever. So I hired him as a pt teller at the bank I managed. Only gets paid $10 an hour with no benefits and works his tail off . Thinking about promoting him to personal banker position soon. He knows what he wants to do eventually but doesnt care what he does now because he just wants to work and show stability.
I don't see how working as a bank teller helps to further his career in the IT field. I mean sure, it shoes that the dude is able to act like an adult and do a job, but so will any other candidates that an IT employer will be looking at. How does that really further his career?
S
stlouiedipalma
Posts: 1,797
Oct 29, 2011 12:26am
What really attracts a candidate to an employer is the willingness to work for next to nothing. It's all about maximizing profits and minimizing expenses. If you think hard work means anything these days you are only fooling yourself. Why do you think companies ship operations overseas? It has little to do with work ethic. It has everything to do with the lowest pay scale possible. Get real.
pmoney25's avatar
pmoney25
Posts: 1,787
Oct 29, 2011 1:03am
I Wear Pants;948815 wrote:I don't see how working as a bank teller helps to further his career in the IT field. I mean sure, it shoes that the dude is able to act like an adult and do a job, but so will any other candidates that an IT employer will be looking at. How does that really further his career?
Banks need IT workers also?? The point being, he just wanted to get into a work enviroment and start working. He did look for quite awhile to find a job in his degree but when nothing was available immediately, he took an entry level position, then after working somewhere for six months to a year, he can show that he is a valuable commodity to the company, it will be easier for him to apply for jobs within the company and get the job he wanted.

I will also mention that a lot of people have no clue how to interview. I interview people for manager jobs, banker jobs, teller jobs, sales job ..etc. and a lot of kids just out of college, to put it mildly do not know how to sell themselves in an interview.

I get that people want to work in a field they studied in college but sometimes you may have to take a detour to get your final destination.