The Bishop and the Butterfly: Murder, Politics, and the End of the Jazz Age
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    No Plan on Wall Street

    By Doctor Cleveland on Fri, 10/07/2011 - 4:28pm | Politics, Business, Social Justice

    It's become disturbingly clear that the people occupying Wall Street, and the centers of several other major American cities, have no plan for the future. No vision. No coherent ideas. No sense at all of what to do next.

    I'm not talking about the Occupy Wall Street movement. Expecting a protest movement to have a shovel-ready legislative agenda is silly. If there were a bill in Congress or an existing major-party platform that would make these people happy, they wouldn't be a protest movement. They'd be a lobbying movement. I'm talking about the people who occupy Wall Street on normal days. They have been entrusted with a huge influence over our national economy, and heavily subsidized by our taxes. And three years into our economic crisis, they're just plugging along as if nothing had happened, doing the same things they used to do in the boom times. They have no plan at all.

    The people occupying the Federal Reserve have no coherent plan. Most of them realize that something is badly wrong with the economy, but they have no actionable agenda for fixing it, and a few of them actually worry that workers' incomes will grow too high. That's just fantasy land.

    The people occupying the Treasury Department are callow idlers, more dedicated to maintaining a certain kind of lifestyle than to addressing our structural economic problems. Timothy Geithner expresses his desires for the economy, but has no plan that could actually be put into practice. Geithner apparently has no idea of what to do.

    The people occupying Washington, DC have no practical grasp of the situation. They have some incoherent sound bites, they have a grab-bag of small-bore proposals that don't address the big problems, and they have deeply impractical ideological commitments to ideas that would make things worse. They have allowed their encampments to generate into chaotic, directionless debates between people who want to do too little about our problems and people who want to do nothing about our problems. They are not putting forward any sensible or workable program.

    The people occupying major newspapers and news channels have an unrealistic and immature grasp of basic realities. They are incapable of articulating solutions to our national problems, or of talking about them in anything but the most emotional and incoherent terms. They don't even know what it is they're asking for.

    The people who occupy positions of our power in our society do not have a coherent plan for the nation's future or any idea how to address our economic woes. They have emotional attachments to a certain way of doing things, but no serious or concrete plan for making things better. Some of the people who occupy those positions of power, wealth and privilege fault the Occupy Wall Street demonstrators for not providing the kinds of workable proposals that the leadership class has failed to provide. But the obligation to provide those plans is on the people who occupy the positions of leadership. Angry crowds without a specific plan are understandable. A leadership class without a specific plan is an abdication of duty. And the angry crowds are the natural result of leaders who offer no solutions.

    The message of Occupy Wall Street is messy and multivocal and muddled. Different protestors say different things. Of course. But when you step back a little from all those angry voices, you can hear a pretty clear set of demands:

    THIS IS NOT WORKING.

    STOP PRETENDING THAT THIS IS OKAY.

    WE CAN'T TAKE ANY MORE OF THIS.

    DO SOMETHING.

    If you occupy a place of power or influence in our country, if you want to preserve that place for yourself, then you would do well to start your to-do list with those items. Nothing else is going to work.

    Topics: 
    Politics
    Business
    Social Justice

    Comments

    Great post. The message of 1% America is, I'VE GOT MINE.


    by Donal on Fri, 10/07/2011 - 5:19pm

    Great post.

    This.  wink


    by AmericanDreamer on Fri, 10/07/2011 - 5:29pm

    But not for long.  This will not be the doing of the protestors, however. The Wall Street minions will be the ones who will be their own undoing and it's no longer a matter of whether but when.

    Despite all the happy talk and fantasy worlds that the PTB want everyone to believe, the current economic system is still unraveling.  Just look at the desperate measures that Europe is taking and the FED. All trying to hold it together.

    But the design was poor to begin with and prone to failure.

    It was a mere 70 years since the real industrialization of this country began when it first collapsed under it's own weight and the government and financial sectors has been trying to hold it together ever since. But the bandaids are old and the glue don't hold anymore.


    by cmaukonen on Fri, 10/07/2011 - 5:32pm

    Time to rename this protest "WE THE PEOPLE"

    SolarManJD


    by SolarManJD (not verified) on Sun, 10/09/2011 - 11:18am

    I disagree most humbly Doc.

    I just rendered a comment on Donal's blog.

    The dems suck. No way around this.

    It is only a few dems that screw it all up but damn.

    Like Dylan Ratigan says: twenty or forty million out of work (which means millions sent to the underground economy) and the dems offer a million and a half jobs which the repubs will nix overnite.

    The repubs will offer no unemployment benefits, no infrastructure spending, no plan for the environment, no plan for regulating the real felons who control this economy on Wall Street, no....

    Fox did us all a favor by cutting down any message from the 'sit ins'.

    The unions managed to do great work backing the protests.

    We shall see how this all turns out.

    I mean the teabaggers supposedly were against the bailouts and now they are cutting down the efforts of the 99% ers.

    Maybe this might mean something in the end.

    If the unions are dissed later, that will be one thing.

    But this country as far as its government, does not give one shite about the unemployed or underemployed 20% and it sure does not give one shite about the middle class.

    the end

     


    by Richard Day on Fri, 10/07/2011 - 5:39pm

    The Republicans DO have bold ideas. Mitt Romney has a plan for:

    1) Kick ass total domination of the United States military world wide, increased defense spending and decreased taxes for the rich and war profiteering corporations.

    2) Kick ass increased war ships, aircraft carriers, and action to meet the new threats from China, Iran, Russia, Pakistan and Venezuela.

    3) Kick ass perpetual and eternal supremacy of the US Navy in all oceans, for our  defense and to protect freedom in China and surrounding regions. Funding if necessary, by selling more US debt to the Chinese government.

    4) Kick Taliban ass and win the war in Afghanistan, no matter how much it costs, or how long it takes.

    5) Kick ass permanent deployment of multiple carrier task forces in the eastern Med and Persian Gulf.

    6) Repair damaged relations with our kick ass friends in Israel, and coordinate intelligence and military contacts with this stalwart beacon of democracy and most faithful ally.

    7) Kick the world's ass....... or someone else will!

     

     


    by NCD on Fri, 10/07/2011 - 8:19pm

    WELL PUT!


    by Richard Day on Fri, 10/07/2011 - 9:38pm

    Really liked the post, Dr. C.  This is a very interesting moment to be in, with everyone trying to figure out what it all means.  Perhaps we're all a bit too anxious for that answer.  For now, yours is as apt as any.


    by DF on Fri, 10/07/2011 - 6:07pm

    Very well said.  Thanks.

     


    by EmmaZahn on Fri, 10/07/2011 - 6:33pm

    Richard Heinberg chimes in with, What Are Your Demands?

     

    A movement needs one or two simple but key demands around which everyone can unite. Let me suggest these (and they are by no means original):

    1. Get money out of politics.

    2. Strip corporations of legal personhood.

    Why nothing about our desperately needed energy transition, or the crisis of unemployment, or the two pointless and endless wars in which our nation is embroiled? Because these cannot really be addressed without first confronting the two issues named. Political corruption forms the bottleneck preventing effective responses to any and all of the converging economic, environmental, and political crises our nation faces.


    by Donal on Fri, 10/07/2011 - 6:37pm

    Gee ! With the important nerve centers and places of power which control the pulse of the nation under occupational forces it would seem the battle the protesters are gearing up for was over long ago and the occupiers captured those strategic positions because they won the right to the spoils of war while the rest of us were asleep. While I agree one hundred per cent with the protest movement, I've also read Shock Doctrine and I have my doubts ... it's too far gone for the public to recapture what was stolen from them under the guise of mutual cooperation for the public good. Especially with the GOPer's on the payroll of the very oligarchs who have taken the public to the financial cleaners.


    by Beetlejuice on Fri, 10/07/2011 - 10:44pm

    Okay.

     

    I am part of Occupy Denver.  Last night  we had our 'FIRST' open forum on vision, mission, goals, and steps.  A couple of us arrived with writting contributions in hand ready to do the actual work of defining these things.

    The facilitator expressed her intention that this was just going to be an open discussion to start talking about these things.  I was very frustrated because one comes before the other and I don't think the facilitator understood these things herself. 

    Having said that this meeting was a first open dialogue about these things and we are free to create committees to work on this so my response to what happened last night in this forum is to create a committee to come together and work on this which means more open forums and providing some simple, basic information and examples of vision, mission goals, etc so that people can begin to understand why and how these things are generated.

    I can tell you that in general the movement wants to wake up the sleeping majority in this country and get them to reclaim their power and restore democracy.  To that end we are looking at how to recognize those things that are supported by the majority of the people that our government does not express or take action on and recognizing everyone's right to believe in anything but to perhaps serve the group and the movement best by putting forward the ideas that they are passionate about that we have evidence that a majority of Americans agree with. 

    You do not need to survey the crowd to understand what they want to support.  You just need to look at what a majority of Americans support or believe to know what this movement supports.  They want the majority of the people represented by their governance.  So if a majority of Americans believe that 'corporations are NOT people' and 'money is NOT free speech' we support that.  A majority of Americans believe we need to get the money out of politics.  Personally I feel those two things might need to be addressed before we can get much traction on the other things a majority of Ameircans support.  But you get the general idea.

    No matter how chaotic and messy things may seem.  There is substantial and real passion and power behind this movement to put the people back in charge of their government. All of us may have a lot of ideas that we want to see engaged and represented but even in the practice of a general assembly where in Denver 2/3 majority is the rule, we  put forth proposals that are not always agreed to.  And in our discussions it is clear that there is an awareness that what we want again is to wake the sleeping majority and inspire them to take action and reclaim their power and restore democracy.   We recognize that we can't accomplish big things without them.

    In my view this is going to take a long time.  But if you notice that you are on a ship with a lot of people that is starting to sink... you can stand by and watch it go down or you can take action and work together to find a way to correct the problem.

    This movement is incorporating homeless, mentally ill, anarchists, religious, non-religious, republican, liberal, independents, etc. the list goes on.  We have a lot to disagree about so it makes sense and these are people coming together without knowing each other without some path to follow of 'how it's done'.  So on that note I hear your criticism and see it as valid but also somewhat irrelevant.


    by synchronicity on Sun, 10/09/2011 - 8:43am

    Thanks for this post.  Considering the issues in play, there really isn't a way for them to formulate a step by step platform, these aren't Paul Krugman clones out there, the issues aren't as simple as hell no we won't go or free Bobby Seale, and FIX THIS, HELP US, NO MORE are indeed all messages too.  

    Not to mention that  having the Unions begin to show up speaks volumes in and of itself -- most especially to our dear Democrats. 

    The terribly hopeful thing to me, platform or no platform, is that this thing is simply not going away and that, instead, it's beginning to develop legs.  In all likelihood, the movement will eventually have to coalesce around some specific issues and demands.  But I say even if it doesn't, numbers speak too.  Numbers can constitute a powerful message as well, so let it grow.  Let the sun shine in and let it grow.

    http://www.nytimes.com/2011/10/09/nyregion/wall-street-protest-spurs-online-conversation.html?_r=1&partner=MYWAY&ei=5065

     


    by anna am on Sun, 10/09/2011 - 11:37am

    This is a movement, which symbolizes a political generation becoming conscious of itself as a generation: becoming conscious of the problems facing them. That is the important thing.

                                                         .............

    Becoming *fully* conscious of the implications of how American democracy has been corrupted... emptied out, by corporate power takes quite some time, as does communicating the full significance of these conclusion to others.

    Amen.  and Amen again. 


    by anna am on Sun, 10/09/2011 - 12:04pm

    I'm not sure where I first saw it, but some wise sage recently declared that watching the politics and culture of The United States lately is not unlike "watching Romans turn into Italians."

    The 1% sense this, I believe. In addition, they do not suffer at all from the ongoing financial crisis that is so devastating to the other 99%. In fact, the best and brightest (and most morally corrupt!) among them have figured out wonderful ways to profit handsomely from the misery of others (see derivatives and short-selling and executive compensation, just as a few examples). They also know what palms to grease - in bi-partisan fashion! - to make certain no regulations or policies are enacted to stand in their way as they ride this train wreck to its conclusion, milking every last bit of energy (meaning "profits") out of it to the last.

    Despite whatever efforts we might make in reading tea leaves and making sure "our guy" wins in 2012, politics-as-usual just ain't going to work to arrest this descent into poverty for the majority of us. It really is time to jettison any pol who still thinks they can work both sides, spouting populist rhetoric while chasing corporate money and the strings to which it is attached.

    Interesting times. We can do this. We are the 99%. Occupy EVERYTHING. Occupy Wall Street!

    It's our last chance to get it right.


    by SleepinJeezus on Sun, 10/09/2011 - 3:40pm

    NO MORE MONEY FOR WALL STREET !! OR BANKS OR CORPORATIONS ! NO MORE UNDERHANDED UNDER THE TABLE LOANS FROM THE FED !

    If you fail, you fail. If you invest in a failing company you lose your money.

     

    NO EXCEPTIONS !


    by cmaukonen on Sun, 10/09/2011 - 4:44pm