motherjones:

Best #OccupyWallStreet photo ever of the day.

The rich folks are only making it harder for themselves. If they keep on pissing off the 99% like this, there’s going to reach a tipping point… let’s hope the economy catastrophically fails for the 1% before that happens, though.  Because then it’s likely to be like that Daniel Day-Lewis movie (I’m talking about the title, not the milkshake—the rich have already been drinking our milkshakes for quite sometime).

I can’t wait for 10/10/11! Anonymous says it’s going to shut down Wall Street. I’m awaiting with glee!

I can’t wait for 10/10/11! Anonymous says it’s going to shut down Wall Street. I’m awaiting with glee!

-Just Summer

Haha, well, just so long as it’s with that same kind of glee that Slim Pickens enjoys at the end of “Dr. Strangelove” ;)  That’s the thing—as entertained as I am on an abstract level at the world falling apart around our ears (like some shitty Roland Emerich disaster movie), I’d just assume it not be.  It’d be much better if we had proper leaders who would represent us properly and fight for our rights and our prosperity.  But since that isn’t happening, it’s awfully hard to not root for guys like Anonymous who do what We the People don’t have the means or knowledge (or guts) to do on our own.

If only the powers-that-be would react with responsibility instead of fear when protesters and vigilantes come knocking at their doors.  The correct response to the people rising up, isn’t locking them down—it’s opening up ears.  They’ll let you stay in power if only you listen to their needs and act accordingly—you know, do your job.

newsweek:

What’s amazing about this photograph (by David Shankbone, Mr. Coolest Last Name Ever) is the ‘Charging Bull’ sculpture was initially installed without the consent of the authorities. It’s guerilla art!

The rest of the Occupy Wall St. photos from ‘In Focus’ are equally fascinating, go check ‘em out. (And hey! There’s a rumor Radiohead might be performing for the protesters at 4pm. Woah.)

MUST PROTECT THE BULL.  (Typical establishment types!)

Wall Street firms to pay higher compensation

Wall Street firms to pay higher compensation

From ibtimes.com:

Wall Street is set to witness a record rise in employee compensation for the second consecutive year, according to Wall Street Journal.

About 35 securities and investment firms are expected to pay $144 billion in compensation and benefits in 2010, up 4 percent from $139 billion in 2009, according to a survey, WSJ said. While compensation is set to rise at 26 firms, revenue increase may be seen in 29 of the 35 institutions, the survey showed.

It’s so nice that there’s no one who can stop all this from happening. It’s like we don’t mind our money being taken out of our pockets and put into the pockets of a comparative handful of people. >_<

I think I smell a candidate for effyou.org this week!

Story found via Frederic’s Tumblr.

The Dow Dives: Bailout in Action? Who Can Tell?

Got the above screencap from here: http://is.gd/3MTw (a live graphic of the Dow at NYTimes.com).

Now, I can't remember where I read this, but apparently that bailout bill that got passed won't kick in until after the election. So, all those billions of dollars won't go anywhere until it's too late. Now we watch as the Dow, the NYSE's main guidepost, nosedives to just above 8,000. So, no, this isn't the bailout at work, it's the bailout not existing for another month. Why should the market care about what will happen in a month's time if businesses can't function now?

It seems like no matter what the USG does it just can't follow it's own rules. First, the free market is supposed to be fine on its own. Then the bailout is supposed to help save the free market. And now... ?

OK, just checked the latest and now, at closing, it's back up to 8711. That puts the Dow down nearly 6% from yesterday. Specifically, it's down 547 points.

Can you say "weeee!"?

In case you're wondering, the Dow does not represent the market as a whole. It's just a chunk of it--the most important chunk. According to Wikipedia.org's entry for the Dow Jones Industrial Average (here: http://en.wikipedia.org/…l_Average), the DJIA is an average value :

...of 30 of the largest and most widely held public companies in the United States.

In short, when it goes down, people panic. Ultimately, though, the Dow usually climbs the day after a spectacular drop. However, it's kind of like how you feel so much better after you puke. It's not that you legitimately feel good, it's just that after your previous ordeal ANYthing feels better.

Then again, these days, everything's screwy and hard to predict, so who knows?

I mean, hey, the USG said that we had to move quickly, so why is all of that bailout money sitting around doing nothing during all of this? What was all that rush and lack of public discussion for?

Oh and it looks like I had my numbers wrong above--just checked the numbers again and while it looked like the Dow had rebounded a bit, it just went ahead and dropped again, making it down to 8579--that's a percentage drop of over 7% and a point drop of almost 680.

I guess that was the last drop of a really good rollercoaster ride--just when you were thinking "Oh, that was quite a ride! There's the exit coming up--WAHHHH!!!"

It's times like this when I ask just what the hell are our leaders up to?

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The Federal Reserve Waits for No Government

So, remember how there was all that funny hubbub regarding the US Congress trying to spend all this time working on a bailout bill for Wall Street? Remember how Bush, this morning, gave another bit of speechification (here: http://is.gd/3lH2 ) on how we really, really, really need to pass a bill to help Wall Street? Perhaps you remember that other time he talked about the economy where he said that if we didn't do something the entire economy was in danger?

As Jon Stewart might say:

Funny story!

Turns out the Federal Reserve decided to go on and bail out Wall Street all on it's own!

Yesterday, the Fed took it upon itself to borrow more money from other central banks around the world. Europe, the UK and Japan all took part in the fun, allowing the Fed to inject $630 billion into our economy, via loans to banks.

Now, the above screencap comes from Bloomberg.com (here: http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news ) but neither CNN.com nor Money.CNN.com had any headlines about this. I did a quick search through Google News and it looks like the hardcore money sites are covering this, but I didn't see any of the mainstream news sites with headlines about it.

So, this means, once again, America doesn't know what the heck is going on with it's own money.

Not only that, but the Bloomberg article I cite above doesn't mention a damn thing about how $630 billion will impact inflation.

In fact, I haven't stumbled across anything mainstream newsish that even talks about inflation in the context of today's economy or the bailout or now, the Fed's bailout.

So, what the heck happens now?

Damned if I know.

Can't imagine why the tax-payers need to pay for anything now. But watch the media ignore the Fed deal and the Congress push through a bill just the same.

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Wall Street Protestors Footage Part 1

This is a 14 minute video made up of the most interesting stuff I streamed from my iPhone yesterday (20080925) at the big Wall Street Bailout protest. Remember, it came from my iPhone, so it kind looks like crap. Watch for a poorly shot moment (still learning how best to use the iPhone as a camcorder) where I met Arun Gupta, the man who wrote what Amy Goodman of Democracy Now called "the email that was heard 'round the world." Apparently the protest sprung up with no organizing group--everyone who read Arun's email just said "we'll be there on Thursday!" and so Arun was there, too. I'm guessing his email was just that moving. He seemed like a real cool guy, too. Other highlights: The crazy guillotine man, the best profane protest chant evar, scooter cops, and MORE.