Freedom: An Endangered Species in America, The Answer is People Power

 

 

 

Freedom: An Endangered Species in America   by Stephen Lendman Last September, marking the 9/11 tenth anniversary, the ACLU published a report titled, A Call to Courage: Reclaiming Our Liberties Ten Years After 9/11.” Who then could have imagined America engaged in: out-of-control imperial lawlessness; torture as official policy; extraordinary renditions; targeted killings; warrantless searches; other privacy invasions; falsified national security concerns; war on terror fear-mongering; military commission trials, including for US citizens; domestic military force deployments; secret FEMA concentration camps; pervasive homeland surveillance; racial profiling and persecution for political advantage; militarizing local police; indefinitely detaining US citizens in military prisons on spurious terrorist connection allegations; and turning America into a full-blown police state. Political discourse is now “driven in part by a wholly contrived ‘debate’ over whether” fabricated terror threats require “military” or “law enforcement” responses. Advocates for the former call it muscular and the latter anemic and irresponsible. In fact, post-9/11 policy hyped bogus terrorist threats and degraded rule of law protections for everyone. Unjustifiably claiming war powers, Bush II usurped unchecked authority, ignored constitutional prohibitions, and subverted rule of law standards and justice. Near the end of the Cold War, former Supreme Court Justice William Brennan commented on “the shabby treatment civil liberties have received in the United States during time of war and perceived threats to its national security.” When each crisis passed, hindsight “remorsefully realized that the abrogation of civil liberties was unnecessary.” Ten years post-9/11, political Washington hasn’t yet crossed that threshold. In today’s climate of fear, conflict resolution “is a distinct abstraction, not an actual event.” Bipartisan leaders claim today’s conflicts “take place everywhere and last forever.” As a result, what chance have freedom and justice? ACLU’s report examines America’s permanent war policy, the ramifications of militarizing counterterrorism, degrading equity and justice, embracing torture as official policy, racially profiling Americans, expanding a vast surveillance state, and entirely eroding democracy. As a result, freedom hangs by a thread. Permanent War On September 18, 2001, a joint House-Senate Authorization for Use of Military Force (AUMF) approved “the use of United States Armed Forces against those responsible for the recent attacks against the United States.” A decade of war followed. On May 26, 2011, the House gave Obama and all future presidents more war authority than Bush by permitting conflicts anywhere for any reason or none at all. In fact, Obama doesn’t need it. He already wages war on humanity abroad and at home in violation of international law and constitutional provisions and protections. As a result, permanent war is policy. Nations are ravaged one at a time for wealth, power, and unchallengeable dominance. Spurious existential threats are claimed. Fundamental values are discarded, including due process, habeas, equity, and justice, as well as other inviolable international and US law. Illegal wars, targeted assassinations, other lawless killing, unconstitutional military tribunals, torture, and indefinite military detentions replaced them. From inception, Guantanamo “was a laboratory for unlawful military interrogation, detention, and trials.” All US torture prisons symbolize imperial lawlessness. Candidate Obama said Bush officials “compromised our most precious values.” As president, he exceeded the worst of his predecessor. Rule of law principles no longer apply. Freedom hangs by a thread. Anyone considered threatening is guilty by accusation. So are nations earmarked for regime change. “No national security policy raises a graver threat to human rights,” international law, and peace, “than targeted killing, because the government claims the unchecked authority to impose an extrajudicial death sentence on” anyone anywhere for any reason or none at all. Bush officials initiated target killings. Obama expanded them exponentially. Secret “kill lists” were compiled. Legal criteria aren’t disclosed. None, in fact, exist. People are spuriously called terrorists. Lethal force is policy. So is unchecked militarization and war on humanity. Claiming national security concerns, in fact, undermines it. Pursuing permanent war and targeted killings subvert fundamental democratic values. Today they hang by a thread. Undermining Rule of Law Principles Post-9/11, Dick Cheney announced “us(ing) any means at our disposal, basically, to achieve our objective(s).” War, mass killing, illegal detentions, torture, and cold-blooded murder followed. So did total abandonment of international and US law. Promising a new course, Obama exceeded the worst Bush policies. “How could this have happened in America? The answer….involves secrets and lies, moral cowardice and legal sophistry.” “Dark side” lawlessness was instituted. Prisoner abuse depravity became policy. Torture prisons proliferated. Guantanamo is one of many. Innocent victims are called “bad apples” or “ticking time bombs.” Public debate is absent. So are legal considerations, morality, and other right and wrong issues. Conspiracy is invented to “create an impenetrable circle of impunity.” Everyone involved is culpable, but no one’s accountable. Congress, the administration and courts share blame. So do media scoundrels through silence, misreporting, or supporting lawless policies. “Today, we have a state of affairs” that shames the nation. No victim of America’s torture policy had his or her day in court. “And not a single court” handling torture suits “addressed the core question of whether the victims’ legal rights were violated.” Under Obama’s indefinite detention law, everyone’s at risk. Dark side justice threatens them. Congress overwhelmingly agrees. Criminal accountability no longer matters. Neither do constitution rights, including Fifth Amendment protections, stating no one shall “be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law.” Post-9/11, America had a choice. It embraced lawlessness, not rule of law principles and justice. Racial Profiling Persecution Muslims became public enemy number one. Political extremists and media scoundrels portray them as barbaric, violent, uncivilized, gun-toting terrorists. They became scapegoated for their faith, ethnicity, and other reasons or none at all. They’re targeted, arrested, convicted on bogus charges, given long sentences, and incarcerated as political prisoners. Washington uses “religious, racial, and national-origin profiling as one of this nation’s primary domestic counter-terrorism tools, even though experienced intelligence and law-enforcement officials agree that it is ineffective, inefficient….counter-productive,” and lawless. Allowing and encouraging fear-mongering divides America by race, religion, ethnicity, and core values. Obama expanded the worst Bush administration policies. Muslims are equated with violence. Constitutional protections were abandoned. More than ever, America’s unsafe. Unchecked Pervasive Surveillance Checks and balances are absent. Police state surveillance is policy. Warrantless wiretaping and other privacy invasions were instituted. Whistleblowers are targeted and prosecuted. Freedom’s under siege. Patriot Act provisions expanded FBI “National Security Letter (NSL)” use. They secretly demand telecommunications, credit, and financial information from companies on anyone deemed “relevant” to ongoing investigations. Pre-9/11, NSLs applied only to suspected spies and international terrorists. Patriot Act law eliminated constraints. Without them, flagrant abuses followed. Congress went along by abandoning oversight authority. Bush administration secrecy concealed unconstitutional surveillance. Obama expanded his policies. Unaccountability defines his administration. So does unprecedented criminality. Data mining is one of many lawless practices. It’s based on the spurious notion that “terrorist patterns” can be determined. State and local authorities now replicate federal policy. Everything’s done secretly. Despite years of secret pervasive surveillance, terror plots weren’t uncovered. Bad guys weren’t imprisoned. People were targeted for their race, ethnicity or religion, others for challenging government policy. As a result, America became less, not more, safe. Its entire character changed. Freedom’s now endangered. Dissent can be criminalized. Imperial lawlessness is policy. So is police state justice. After enacting indefinite detentions of US citizens, tyranny arrived in America Daily events should scare everyone. Peace in our time no longer exists. Today is the most perilous time in world history. Administration policies bear full responsibility. Washington is an out-of-control monster. It reflects rogue governance writ large. It targets humanity. It does so at home and abroad. It threatens world peace. Today’s upside down reality endangers everyone. Crimes in high places are rewarded. Warmakers win peace prizes. Police are licensed to kill. Anti-war, human and civil rights champions, whistleblowers, journalists doing their job responsibly, and other activists are ruthlessly targeted. Ordinary people are increasingly on their own sink or swim. International, constitutional and US statute laws don’t matter. Rules are what Washington says they are. Hegemons operate that way. Ruthless raw power explains. So does war on humanity. It rages out-of-control. Democratic values don’t exist. Peace, equity and justice are four-letter words. Freedom is dying in plain sight. America was never beautiful. Today it’s unfit to live in. Social protections are on the chopping block for elimination. Repression targets nonbelievers. Monied interests run things. Grand theft America is policy. So are global wars. One country after another is ravaged, destroyed and pillaged. The worst of all possible worlds reflects today’s reality. No one is safe anywhere any time. There’s no place to hide. Doug Dowd amazes. In December he’ll be 94. He’s still going strong. He’s uncompromisingly for peace, equity and justice. His teaching career spanned six decades. He continues writing important books and articles. His latest thoughts arrived by email. He headlined “We Need a People’s Movement Soon.” He more than ever believes “the world, led by the USA, is now headed for its worst ever disasters.” He’s not alone feeling this way. Washington is responsible “for much of today’s angers and violence.” ” ‘We the People’ ” must act. Ordinary people must do so before it’s too late. “(T)ransforming the country toward peace and decency” matters most. Wrongfully imprisoned human rights lawyer Lynne Stewart urges “Organize, Organize, Organize.” Dowd says do it to make America democratic. It’s lurching toward full-blown tyranny. People power alone works. Grassroots commitment matters most. Americans did it before. They can do it again. Anti-war activists helped end war on Vietnam. Abolitionists ended slavery. Civil and labor rights were won. They’re lost because energy waned. Ordinary people have power when they use it. Change requires longterm struggle. Former Supreme Court Justice William Douglas (1898 – 1980) once said: “Power concedes nothing without a demand.” Community organizer Saul Alinsky (1909 – 1972) said the way to beat organized money is with organized people. It’s always bottom up. It’s never top down. Authority can be challenged and beaten. Social movements can be pivotal forces. Disruptive activism works. According to Political Science Professor Frances Fox Piven: “Ordinary people (have) power.” They do so “when they rise up in anger and hope, defy the rules…disrupt (state) institutions (and) propel new issues to the center of political debate.” They do it when they force “political leaders (to) stem voter defections by proferring reforms.” “These are the conditions that produce democratic moments.” Electoral politics doesn’t work. Replacing bums with new ones assures same old, same old. America’s political system is too corrupted to fix. It reflects how power corrupts and absolute power does absolutely. Political analyst Kevin Phillips once called America “the leading interest group bazaar of the Western world.” Things are too far gone. It’s too late for scattered reforms. An entire makeover is needed. Disruptive power perhaps can change things. There’s no other way. The alternative is deepening fascism. It’s already deep-seated. It shows in civil and human rights abuses. Victims are unjustly blamed. America’s gulag prison system is the shame of the nation. Corporate interests matter most. Militarism dominates daily life. Permanent wars rage. Torture is official policy. Mass media lie for power. Fiction substitutes for fact. News and information are carefully filtered. Dissent is targeted. Civil liberties are suppressed for our own good. Patriotism means supporting lawless policies. Democracy is a figure of speech. It’s a convenient illusion. National security threats are hyped when none exist. Enemies are created out of whole cloth. Wars rage one after another. Predatory finance transfers enormous wealth amounts from ordinary Americans to corporate interests, rich investors, and high net worth households. Doing so causes deepening poverty, unemployment, underemployment, hunger, homelessness and unconscionable human misery. Social activism more than ever is needed. “Today many more must organize for decency and wellbeing and never quit,” says Dowd. Win or lose, it’s vital to struggle for what’s right. The alternative is greater immiserartion and serfdom. Vital concerns must be addressed, says Dowd. Today’s political, military and social crimes are too grave to ignore. Much worse ahead looms. “We must work together constantly to end the control of the government from the top and put it in the hands of the middle and the bottom,” says Dowd. Democratize! Democratize! Democratize! Making America fit to live in depends on it. Today it’s “a sick and dangerous nation run by a handful of the politically powerful.” Public dismissiveness lets them get away with murder and much more. Transformational change is needed. Doing it raises “many serious questions,” says Dowd. He addresses some below. “Who are ‘we’ in terms of the relevant politics?” “How do we create a national movement?” “In which political realms should we work most – local, state, national?” “Which issues – economic, social, military, environmental, etc. – should take priority?” “How are we to resolve the serious political conflicts likely to happen among us?” “If and when we create a ‘third party,’ how will its politics be decided?” “Which will be its main issues; decided how?” “How will it be financed?” Dowd supplied some “tentative answers.” He hopes for “a substantial movement” for change. Occupy Wall Street changed who we are. It proliferated nationwide. It’s motto says “(t)he only solution is world revolution.” Financial giants complicit with Washington, state and local governments united against it. Challenging them isn’t easy. Doing so requires “get(ting) to work in all realms: local, regional and especially national,” says Dowd. It takes hard work. One success yields others. Momentum has a life of its own. Commitment makes it sustaining. Making it the new normal is vital. So is preventing energy from waning. The enemy is destructive militarism, dominant monied interests, predatory capitalism, monopoly/oligopoly power, and police state ruthlessness. “The critical need in the US today is to change our political structures, south and north, east and west,” says Dowd. “The main participants in politics in all realms have been leaning more to the right than to the middle.” Change depends on “increased involvement by those in both the middle and the left.” Status quo assures much worse ahead. America never was a democracy. For sure it’s not one now. Grassroots activism is required to change things. At issue is “a society in which corruption, poverty, wars, the poisoning of Mother Nature, all other mixtures of evil and stupidity will cease.” “So let’s get to work,” says Dowd. “The foregoing was easy to write. It will require much difficult work by many thousands of us to bring about” meaningful change. “But if we don’t get to work on that our lives will continue to be corrupted and ruined and, with the rest of the world, soon be wiped out.” Turning swords into ploughshares matters most. So does establishing governance of, by and for everyone equitably and fairly. Disruptive power works. Collective defiance more than ever is needed. Indifference is no longer an option. The stakes are far too great. Mashburn has a whole series of work that centers around the overgrowth of cities, industry, and urban populations. His foreboding scenes look like they could be from a post-apocalyptic world. Comparing his methodical brushstrokes to to the monotonous processes of mass production, Mashburn observes, 'In the end, they both produce a polluted, drab landscape.' This stubbornness also speaks to the self-destructive tendencies of modern society - where the depletion of resources is protected, and celebrated, as a staple of 'freedom.'"

The ascendancy of a criminal financial elite and its complicit, accommodating state has led to the breakdown of law and order, the degradation and discrediting of the entire regulatory network and judicial system. This has led to a national system of ‘unequal injustice’ where critical citizens are prosecuted for exercising their constitutional rights while criminal elites operate with impunity. The harshest enforcement of police state fiats are applied against hundreds of thousands of immigrants, Muslims and human rights activists, while financial swindlers are courted at Presidential campaign fund raisers.

It is not surprising today that many workers and middle class citizens consider themselves to be ‘conservative’ and ‘against change’. Indeed, the majority wants to ‘conserve’ Social Security, pubic education, pensions, job stability, and federal medical plans, such as MEDICARE and MEDICAID against ‘radical’ elite advocates of ‘change’ who want to privatize Social Security and education, end MEDICARE, and slash MEDICAID. Workers and the middle class demand stability of jobs and neighborhoods and stable prices against run-away inflation of medical care and education. Wage and salaried citizens support law and order, especially when it means the prosecution of billionaire tax evaders, criminal money-launderering bankers and swindlers, who, at most, pay a minor fine, issue an excuse or ‘apology’ and then proceed to repeat their swindles.

The radical ‘changes’ promoted by the elite, have devastated life for millions of Americans in every region, occupation and age group. They have destabilized family life by undermining job security while undermining neighborhoods by laundering drug profits. Above all they have totally perverted the entire system of justice where the ‘criminals are made respectable and the respectable treated as criminals’.

Manifesto of Occupying America: Call for a new 9/11 investigation based solid facts that disprove the official version involving Muslim hijackers. Nobody belongs in the White House willing to peddle Bush conspiracy theory as fact. A program to phase out the Federal Reserve System on a realistic time-table is an absolute necessity. All “derivative” assets would be declared worthless and taken “off the books.” Institutions holding enough worthless assets to cause their failure would be allowed to fail. All “offshore” corporations would be declared illegal and their officers and directors prosecuted for tax evasion. The system of state banks and savings and loans would be restored and multinational banks would not be allowed to operate in the United States. The “Global War on Terror” would be renounced as a con. A war crimes tribunal would be organized which would have jurisdiction over members of congress, the Supreme Court and the executive branch. The Department of Homeland Security would be dismantled. The military services of the United States would be allowed 100 generals and admirals, no more. All others would be demoted to E-7 or below. All congressional districts would be reformed to reflect normal and reasonable geography and population, ending the “gerrymandering” that has made states like Texas a joke. Private prisons would be ended and the criminal system in the US overhauled. The justice system in the US will have to be recognized for what it is, a form of class warfare against America. One of our first admissions would be that there would be no narcotics in the US without the complicity of congress, the CIA, FBI, Homeland Security, ICE and key elements of the American military. A grand jury be empaneled to investigate the Supreme Court of the United States. A second Bill of Rights under which a new basis of security and prosperity can be established for all—regardless of station, race, or creed. “The right to a useful and remunerative job in the industries or shops or farms or mines of the nation; The right to earn enough to provide adequate food and clothing and recreation; The right of every farmer to raise and sell his products at a return which will give him and his family a decent living; The right of every businessman, large and small, to trade in an atmosphere of freedom from unfair competition and domination by monopolies at home or abroad; The right of every family to a decent home; The right to adequate medical care and the opportunity to achieve and enjoy good health; The right to adequate protection from the economic fears of old age, sickness, accident, and unemployment; The right to a good education.

 

History shows that revolutions must have political movement and a socially compelling goal, with strategic and charismatic leadership that inspires majorities to challenge a perception of fundamental injustice and inequality. A necessary feature is the development of a political ideology rooted in a narrative that legitimates mass collective action, which is indispensable to forcing dominant groups to address social grievances – or to overturning those dominant groups altogether. Unresponsive rulers risk possible overthrow of their governments. For example, the vision and struggle of a multiracial South Africa was a guiding principle that put an end to the entrenched white-dominated apartheid system. The time has come in America where to be free necessarily means to resist status quo and Bankers usurpation and to actively change the course and philosophy being shoved down our throats. There really is no middle ground any more. This is not a matter of politics anymore. This is not a matter of Social Injustice. This is a matter of FREEDOM, as much so as were the matters of 1775 and 1776. It is staring you in the face, daring you to make a move. May we never be guilty of causing, whether by our apathy, indifference, laziness or comfort, this nation to lose the rights and freedoms that our founders attempted to secure with infinite pains and labors. We the people must once again reassert our Sovereignty over the 1% in this country and the States must recognize and act upon their God-ordained role as Freedom protectors and tyranny resisters. Occupying America:  Second American Revolution Patrick Henry's speech on the Virginia Resolves (an 1851 painting by Peter F. Rothermel) The agitators who are taking it to the streets would be the modern day Patriots. How long is a “national development” season? America is into its 200 somethingth year and, although seemingly well rooted, and even putting out tentacles or dendrons to the rest of the world like crab grass, it still does not seem to have matured, blossomed, or appear to be going to bear fruit.  And it is in fact, beginning to show evidence of root rot…beginning to wither dry up in the soil in which it was planted. Perhaps the time is ripe to replant and start over again. You can always count on Americans to do the right thing – after they’ve tried everything else. Winston Churchill What is happening in the streets today is being hailed by some as the Second American Revolution, and it may very well be that our tree of liberty is beginning to bloom anew.   Sign on a tent at the Oklahoma City Occupation (photo by Lori Spencer) by ThisCantBeHappening! “There are combustibles in every state which a spark might set fire to.” – George Washington’s letter to General Henry Knox concerning the Shay’s Rebellion, 1786 One month ago, a group of some 1000 demonstrators gathered in Manhattan’s Zuccotti Park to protest the pillaging of the nation’s economy by powerful corporations and international houses of high finance. While these young activists were entirely peaceful, they also made it clear that this would be no hippie-dippy flower-twirling love-in, sit-in, teach-in, or even a camp-in; this was an occupation. The demonstrators announced that they intended to Occupy Wall Street 24/7, staying until hell freezes over if need be. The New York City police welcomed them warmly with pepper spray and more than a few violent smack-downs, even going so far as to arrest some 700 protesters on the Brooklyn Bridge who were lured into a position where they could be charged with blocking traffic. After video of these outrages went viral on the Internet, a wave of righteous indignation swept the land. Hastily-formed Occupy groups proclaiming themselves in solidarity with the NYC protesters began to spring up in big cities and small towns across America. At first it was just a handful: 20-30 groups in the first week, growing to a few hundred in the second week, then rapidly mushrooming to today’s current total of 1,947 cities around the globe. The most common critique leveled against the Occupy demonstrators is that they don’t seem to have a plan. “Disorganized,” “unfocused,” and “aimless” are buzzwords the movement’s detractors –both liberal and right-wing —   like to toss around. Last week former President Bush’s key political adviser Karl Rove cynically opined in the Wall Street Journal   that Democrats should distance themselves from the Occupy Wall Street movement to avoid alienating potential voters in 2012. And it’s true that even those Americans who are in fact part of the 99% and generally support OWS’s principles are themselves unclear as to what the protesters ultimately want and how exactly they are going to accomplish it. What are their demands? How long are they going to keep this up? Have they proposed any concrete solutions? But that’s an awful lot of pressure to put upon a spontaneous social movement that is only little over a month old. Certainly these are valid questions. In defense of the revolutionaries, though, remember that the last time we  had a revolution in this country , it took 20 years to start it, eight years to fight it, and still another six years to fully secure and implement a new government. If the Occupy movement is indeed the genesis of a Second American Revolution , we should not expect its progenitors to simply cough up a prefabricated quick fix. After all, if our elected representatives couldn’t seem to figure out how to correct the country’s multitude of problems over a few decades, is it reasonable to expect a loosely-organized band of citizen activists to offer the solutions within just a few months? We may be sowing the seeds of a revolution now, but let’s not forget that it usually takes many years to reap the harvest. History shows that revolutions do not occur overnight. Reasonable humans always prefer to work out their differences through lawful avenues and communication whenever possible. It is only after many years of futile petitioning that the oppressed are left with no other choice but to revolt. Some 236 years ago, the American colonists signed a Declaration of Independence — prepared to back it up through force of arms if necessary — but that unforgiving line in the sand was only drawn after 22 years of peaceful attempts to negotiate with Britain had failed. The seeds of the American Revolution were planted not in 1776, but in 1754 during the French and Indian War. Colonists became further disenchanted when taxes were levied upon them to pay the costs of that war. A number of other encroachments added fuel to the fire : restrictions on settlement of the West, increased duties on imported goods, the Stamp Act, the banning of colonial currency, outlawing town meetings, quartering British troops among the citizenry, and closing Boston Harbor, just to name a few. Discontent festered for nearly 20 years whilst the Loyalists and Patriots argued amongst themselves as to whether or not they dared to overthrow British rule. When the first armed conflict of the Revolutionary War began on April 19, 1775, only one-third of colonists supported the cause. The Declaration of Independence was adopted by the Second Continental Congress on July 4, 1776, but it took another year for all the delegates to actually sign their John Hancocks, quite literally putting their lives on the line for what they believed in. Although the final battle was fought in 1782, the state of war did not formally end until the Treaties of Paris and Versailles were ratified in 1784. The U.S. Constitution was written in 1787 but was not ratified until 1789. This delay was the result of ongoing debate between Federalists and Anti-Federalists over just how much power the new national government should have. Debates were so heated in fact that they frequently turned into armed skirmishes, standoffs, and deadly showdowns with authorities. One resonant example was Shay’s Rebellion, a populist uprising of debt-ridden New England farmers who had served their country in  the war, only to come home and have their lands foreclosed upon. (A scenario all too familiar for today’s veterans of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, as well as the returned veterans of practically every war in the 20th century.). “You say you want a revolution…well, you know…we’d all love to see the plan.” – The Beatles, “Revolution” Revolutions are a process of trial and error, of discarding what doesn’t work and eventually figuring out what does. Of course you can always count on revolutionaries to make some massive screw-ups along the way (such as George Washington’s bright idea to exclude blacks from the Continental Army, thus driving more than 20,000 African Americans to pick up guns for the British and turn them against their countrymen, for example). In truth, the original 13 American colonies were rarely in agreement on anything . While everyone could agree that the country was out of joint, reaching consensus on what to do about it proved far more difficult. Even when all 13 colonies finally signed on the dotted line in 1776, they still didn’t have a plan for a new system of government to replace the old. And while the Declaration may have been a poetic statement of collective principles and grievances, it offered nothing in terms of solutions. The Continental Army was a ragtag, disorganized, unruly band of volunteers who seemingly didn’t stand a snowball’s chance against the crushing might of Britain’s superior forces. These men fought an eight-year war without so much as a blueprint for what the hell they were going to do with their hard-earned freedom should they emerge victorious. Once the war was won, it took another six years of bickering, compromise, and re-tooling the Constitution before we finally had a supreme law of the land. All the while, Congress ran the United States because there was no leader; the new nation didn’t elect its first president until 1789. All in all, the process of the American Revolution comprised 35 years–a generation. What is happening in the streets today is being hailed by some as the Second American Revolution, and it may very well be that our tree of liberty is beginning to bloom anew. By that historical comparison, the agitators who are taking it to the streets would be the modern day Patriots. The majority who tell them to just sit down, shut up, get a job, and stop whining already are the Loyalists. All of these empty arguments being made today against the Patriots as a bunch of naive, ungrateful, disorganized fools are nothing new under the sun . W e Americans have heard that old saw somewhere before. Washington, Adams, Jefferson and even Tom Paine didn’t have all the answers in the beginning, either. Not until 1774 did the First Continental Congress convene to draft an official list of grievances, a statement of principles, and plans for organized resistance to England within the colonies. This bold first step towards independence had been 20 years in the making. Today’s revolutionaries actually seem to be moving forward much, much faster. Already, an Occupy Wall Street working group is calling for the election of a National General Assembly to meet on July 4, 2012 in Philadelphia. According to the 99% Declaration, ” 870 Delegates shall set forth, consider and vote upon a PETITION OF GRIEVANCES to be submitted to all members of Congress, The Supreme Court and President and each of the political candidates running in the nationwide Congressional and Presidential election in November 2012.” Now that sounds like a plan! It took many decades of unsustainable excess and deep-rooted corruption for America to reach this critical stage of mass unrest. So no one should expect us to get out of this mess tomorrow. We’re done with trusting politicians to sort it out for us. We have finally come to the inevitable conclusion that if we want the job done right, we’ll have to do it ourselves. We The People will fix this, even if we don’t know quite how to do it just yet. We will win some, lose some, fall on our faces sometimes, and learn from our mistakes as our forefathers did. If it took them at least 35 years to come up with a system that worked. Instant gratification is not something we can expect this time around, either. Give it time. Better yet, roll up your sleeves and help if you want change to happen faster. Many hands make light work, and we’ve got a hell of a lot of work to do. To borrow from President Kennedy, who outlined the New Frontier’s goals for the 1960s in his inaugural address and called his fellow Americans to action: ”All this will not be finished in the first 100 days. Nor will it be finished in the first 1,000 days, nor in the life of this administration, nor even perhaps in our lifetime on this planet. But let us begin.” OWS is fighting to strengthen democracy, and to end the domination of big money interests. Fracking is a clear example of how the power of money trumps common sense and controls our democracy. Fracking is incredibly destructive to the environment and human health. On Thursday, October 20th at five in the afternoon the residents of Liberty Square will march to the FERC hearing on the Spectra Pipeline at P.S. 41, located at 116 West 11th Street (between 6th and 7th avenues). Shortly before the hearings begin at seven in the evening we will stage a die-in to illustrate the likely results of this disasterous proposal by a disreputable corporation intent on infecting our drinking water with by-products from fracking. After the die-in members of #ows will enter the hearing and respectfully engage in participatory direct action against this catastrophic project. Do not let the destruction and death that occured due to corporate negligence in San Bruno, California last year happen in the West Village. Come and speak for #ows, come and speak for yourself. We will see you there. Submit comments to FERC online or by mail prior to Oct. 31st if you cannot attend the hearing 14 Comments Parents for Occupy Wall Street Family Sleepover Posted Oct. 20, 2011, 12:13 p.m. EST by OccupyWallSt Families Plan Sleepover on Friday, October 21, Growing Support for Occupy Wall Street Community http://www.parentsforoccupywallst.com/ Liberty Square, NY — A second try. The parent founded and run group, “Parents for Occupy Wall Street,” will be hosting a Family Sleepover, from 4 PM, Friday, October 21st until 11 AM the following Saturday morning—a second try after being forced to cancel their planned sleepover last weekend because of a threatened eviction. With the Family Sleepover rescheduled for this weekend, parents and families in the greater New York City area are excited to demonstrate their support for this growing movement creating real change for our children’s futures. Occupy Wall Street is a place for everyone, including families. At the Family Sleepover, families and children will find arts and crafts, a children’s music sing along, a pizza party, and a bed time story. With the help of various teacher and parent groups, such as the “School for the 99%,” and the Occupy Wall Street Outreach team, the Family Sleepover will have a sectioned off Child and Family Only area at Liberty Plaza. Safety is the first measure on everyone’s mind. Security and strict involvement rules will be taken at the event including a check in and check out system with parent’s ID with a Parents for Occupy Wall Street security person and an hourly headcount. All parents will be required to wear an identifying T-shirt while working shifts around the hour. The police are already aware of the group and will be checked in with hourly on the group’s size and location. The group’s goal is to raise awareness of the diversity of people supporting the movement. In the press, there is an assumption that the only people supporting the movement are solely homeless or unemployed when that couldn’t be further from the truth. With even a short visit to Liberty Plaza, you will see all walks of life supporting the movement, including middle class working families. With the Family Sleepover, Parents for Occupy Wall Street are Occupying to speak up for the ones without a voice and make real change, change for their children’s futures. 36 Comments America Supports #OWS Posted Oct. 20, 2011, 11:06 a.m. EST by OccupyWallSt Supplies and Support Pour into Occupy Wall Street from Every Corner of the US Occupiers Launch Tumblr Website Today: Gallery of Personal Notes of Support from Farmers, Veterans, Grandparents and "Knitters for Occupy Wall St" http://occupywallstreetcarepackages.tumblr.com/ Liberty Square, NY — Today we want to spotlight the tens of thousands of people from across the United States and around the world who are supporting the Occupy Wall Street movement by contributing blankets, clothing, food, money, and other needed supplies. The support has truly been overwhelming. Over one month ago, hundreds, and then thousands, gathered in Liberty Square to protest unprecedented consolidation of wealth and power, plummeting household income, skyrocketing school debt, and a broken political system. In the weeks since, hundreds of thousands have rallied and occupied in cities and towns around the world. And people from every corner of the United States have sent donations of tarps, home baked pies, hand-knit mittens, and pizzas — with personal notes of solidarity and support. OWS has compiled notes from supporters on a Tumblr site called Occupy Wall St. Care Packages: http://occupywallstreetcarepackages.tumblr.com/ This new site features only a tiny fraction of the thousands of packages and letters of support we have received. It includes messages like this one from Elora and Monte, supporters who live on a farm in West Virginia: "We stand ready to help #OWS in any way we can, from out here 'Just Off the One-Lane Road...' And we are so grateful for all of you involved in this defense of America. We firmly believe this is "it." If we can't grab this democracy this time, we'll sink and it will be a long time before we will have this opportunity again. Thank you for taking time from your busy life to be there and to email us. Whatever we can do, we are pleased to be a part of this incredible Movement." We know from history that social movements grow when they have a broad base of support. We are thankful that this movement has attained such a dramatic level of support in a short amount of time. We are hopeful that this people's movement will continue to grow.   Make no mistake about it ~ Occupy Wall Street Has now become Occupy America and it’s rattling the cages of the corpocracy and the Global financial elite. The stage has been set ~ the attempt to marginalize truth and dissent through the corporate media will continue until we realize that, to them, the world is a business, its lifeblood is profits and it answers to no one except its stockholders ~ that is, until now. ” ..the media in the United States effectively represents the interests of corporate America, and … the media elite are the watchdogs of what constitutes acceptable ideological messages, the parameters of news and information content, and the general use of media resources:”  Peter Phillips, Project Censored, 1998 Let’s use the firing of Keith Olbermann early this year as an example of the power of the media and corporate America ~ MSNBC’s parent company, General Electric, never seemed comfortable with Keith Olbermann’s role as a critic of the Bush administration, nor, for that matter, of the Obama administration or with the sniping between Olbermann and his Fox News rival, O’Reilly ~ so the axe finally fell on Countdown. Keith Olbermann spelled it out in his last show on MSNBC: “I think the same fantasy popped into the head of everybody in my business that has ever been told what I have been told ~ “this will be the last edition of your show.” You go to the scene from the movie Network, complete with the pajamas and the raincoat and go off on a verbal journey of unutterable vision, and you insist upon Peter Finch’s guttural resonance, and you tell the viewer to go to the window, open it, stick out his head and yell I’M MAD AS HELL, AND I’M NOT GOING TO TAKE THIS ANYMORE!! And this is just what the Occupy Wall Street movement is saying to the financially elite and corporate America as it spreads like wildfire ~ I’M MAD AS HELL, AND I’M NOT GOING TO TAKE THIS ANYMORE!! Perhaps Michael Moore best sums up my feelings regarding the rapidly blossoming OWS movement ~ “ I have not felt this good in a very long time. This movement has spread like wildfire. It has happened completely on its own momentum and it’s something that can’t be stopped. We’ve been involved in many, many movements over a long period of time and it takes a long time to build these movements, and at the beginning of these movements, the civil rights movement, the feminist movement, the anti-war movement, you didn’t have 59 percent of the American public with you in the first month of the movement. Fifty-nine percent of the American public is behind Occupy Wall Street. This has happened so fast and the reason, I think, is that the people are already there. The feeling toward Wall Street, corporate America, toward what’s going on, has just been simmering below the surface, and it’s just been ready to explode, and it can’t be turned back now.” 59% of Americans are behind Occupy Wall Street but we are up against a formidable profit making War machine and a captive corporate media that won’t bend unless it’s forced to. In 1961, American corporations paid taxes on 40.6% of their profits made and today they pay 10.5% on profits made. What Keith Olbermann did not refer to in his comments was Mr. Jensen’s speech to Howard Beale from the same movie Network ~ when Jensen told Beale the facts of life about the corpocracy and that, to them, the world is a business whose lifeblood is profits, regardless of the moral or ethical costs. t   Jensen: You have meddled with the primal forces of nature, Mr. Olbermann, and I won’t have it, is that clear?! The Arabs have taken billions of dollars out of this country, and now they must put it back and we are preemptively forcing them to do that. It’s not about human rights and Democracy ~ the world is a business, Mr Olbermann ~ it’s all about profits! It‘s ebb and flow, tidal gravity, it is ecological balance! You are unfortunately a progressive who thinks in terms of moral values, of right and wrong, nations and peoples. There are no moral values, no rights and wrongs! There are no nations! There are no peoples! There are no Russians. There are no Arabs! There are no third worlds! There is no West! There are only profits to be made, Mr. Olbermann ! There is only one holistic system of systems, one vast and innate, interwoven, interacting, multi-variate, multi-national dominion of dollars! petro-dollars, electro-dollars, multi-dollars!, Euro dollars, Reichmarks, rubles, rin, pounds and shekels! It is the international system of currency that determines the totality of life on this planet! That is the natural order of things today! That is the atomic, subatomic and galactic structure of things today! And you have meddled with the primal forces of nature, and you will atone! Am I getting through to you, Mr.Olbermann? (pause) You get up on your fifty-one inch screen, and howl about America, democracy and moral integrity but it will do no good ~ no one is really listening. There is no America, Mr Olbermann ! There is no democracy. There is only IBM and AT&T and Dupont, Dow, JP Morgan, Exxon, British Petroleum and of course General Electric and Comcast. Those are the nations of the world today. What do you think the Russians talk about in their councils of state ~ Karl Marx? They pull out their linear programming charts, statistical decision theories and compute the price-cost probabilities of their transactions and investments just like we do with our derivative high speed trading! We control the world and we mean to keep it that way, Mr Olbermann! The Stock market has no sympathy for you, your family or your emotions, Mr Olbermann. It  desires one thing only ~ profits. And those profits will often come at the expense of everything many wish for in this world but that’s considered collateral damage. Why do you think we created the World Bank, it’s really quite simple, Mr Olbermann. The World Bank’s analytical framework is used to justify a process of “economic repression”, which has been applied Worldwide in more than 150 developing countries. For example, the World Bank was actively involved in cooking the data and distorting the social plight of the Tunisian population. The official rate of unemployment was14 percent, the actual level of unemployment was much higher. Recorded youth unemployment was of the order of 30 percent. Social services, including health and education have collapsed under the brunt of the IMF-World Bank economic austerity measures. What happened in Tunisia, and is now happening in Greece, Mr. Olbermann ~ is part of a global economic process which destroys people’s lives through the deliberate manipulation of market forces and all in the name of profits! Tony Blair got it ~ it’s all about protecting our way of life (chuckle ) Every time he said those words ~ the same words he used to justify our preemptive humanitarian attack on Iraq, and now on Libya,  I get shivers of delight running up my spine. He’s our man in the Middle East and now North Africa ~ with all that sweet crude ( chuckle). Cheney and Bush not only got it ~ they accelerated it ~ bless their hearts ~ particularly Cheney’s crippled one ( sigh ) Obama gets it, too ~ He made his deal with the devil before he was elected and promised not to prosecute Cheney and Bush for war and financial crimes in turn for not rocking the boat with Wall Street. Why do you think we chose JP Morgan’s William Daly as his new chief of staff as well as his recent appointment of General Electric CEO Jeff Immelt as the head of the President’s Council on Jobs and Competitiveness ( Chuckle ) ~ they are his constant reminder that he answers to the financial elite on Wall Street and not Main Street ~ as Emanuel was most certainly his reminder not to cross AIPAC. Obama answers to Wall Street and the corpocracy, Mr. Olbermann ~ not to the American people ( knowing chuckle ). We’re heading for a New World Order, Mr. Olbermann, and guess whose going to be funding it ~ an unaudited federal reserve and IMF who will bail out our excesses as they did under Bush and Obama. It may not seem fair, Mr. Olbermann but its business and that’s how the game is played. We no longer live in a world of nations and ideologies, Mr. Olbermann. The world is a college of corporations, inexorably determined by the immutable by-laws of business. The world is a business, Mr. Olbermann! It has been since man crawled out of the slime, and our children, Mr.Olbermann, will live to see that perfect world in which there is no war and famine, oppression and brutality ~ one vast and ecumenical holding company, for whom all men will work to serve a common profit, in which all men will hold a share of stock, all necessities provided, all anxieties tranquilized, all boredom amused. And I chose you to preach this evangel, Mr.Olbermann, and you have obviously failed ! Olbermann: (shocked whisper) Why me? Jensen: Because you’re on television, dummy. One million people watch you every night of the week, Monday through Friday ~ and you’re starting to tell the truth and that makes us very, very nervous. Phil Donahue, who preceded you, made the same mistake by telling the truth in the run-up to the Iraq war and we felt he was a very difficult face for NBC in a time of war ~ so we fired him! Truth tellers scare us, Mr. Olbermann ~ it’s important for us to keep the public tranquilized and amused but not necessarily well informed. The last thing we want is them taking to the streets demanding change. The world is a business, Mr. Olbermann ~ your truth talk is not serving us ~ you’re fired ! Here’s the original award winning must see link to Mr. Jensen’s five minute monologue to Howard Beale in Network. It’s definitely worth a view ~ Network – The World is a Business Let those words sink in because our Republic is in peril and we still most assuredly need truth tellers and dissenters like Keith Olbermann, Michael Murphy, Chris Hedges, myself and many others who are supporting the Occupy movement with their words and actions.   Liberty Square is a space created for culture and civics, for eduction, and building solidarity. A place to mint revolutionary thought, where the next generation of freedom fighters, organizers and artists will be raised. On Thursday, October 20th, at ten in the morning we will be reorganizing the square. Sanitation, and Town Planning are calling for #OWS to come out, grab a broom, a mop, and work to make the Square beautiful. This is a space for individuals of every age, race, creed and religion to enjoy. On Friday From 4pm - 11am there will be a Family sleep over. We need to create space and to welcome them into the #OWS!   70% of #OWS Supporters are Politically Independent Posted Oct. 19, 2011, 2:11 p.m. EST by OccupyWallSt Occupy Wall Street Marks One Month Posted Oct. 17, 2011, 8:20 a.m. EST by OccupyWallSt From Tahrir Square to Times Square: Protests Erupt in Over 1,500 Cities Worldwide Posted Oct. 16, 2011, 1:08 a.m. EST by OccupyWallSt Citizens no longer control their government; they are slaves to it. Representatives no longer serve the citizen seeking their consent to govern, they are servants of the corporations and lobbies that control the economic system to which the citizen is enslaved. Presidents no longer lead, they are the obedient lackeys of their corporate overseers. Freedom of speech and belief and freedom from fear and want do not determine the needs of humans, economics of the market place supersedes all at the expense of the citizen and human rights. We exist in a corporate world of unending wars, of vengeance and recrimination, of fear as a commodity that imprisons the mind, of greed that destroys the resources of this planet without remorse, and of insatiable arrogance that harbors no concern for those it destroys. "Occupy the City" in Madrid on Saturday, Oct. 15, 2011Credit image :Arturo Rodriguez / AP This spring of human depression and desperation has given way to a fall harvest of hope and expectation as the citizens of the world unite to cast aside those who have commandeered their rights to a government of the people, by the people and for the people. They know now that economics must serve the people, all the people, not just the few: they see, as the arrogant cannot, that concern for all guarantees recognition of all, that compassion secures contentment, that justice overcomes prejudice and animosity, that fairness ensures equity, and that love secures lasting peace. Feeding the Golem of War is the path to destruction; feeding those in need, relieves the mind and the soul of its fear. To achieve this harvest of hope, we must dismantle both the myth and the reality of corporate control. Capitalism is not and never has been a closed system independent of regulations imposed by governments or social systems; laissez faire as a concept feeds a lie; it is a ruse to maintain deregulation, to prevent the government’s right to control so that all citizens are served, not the few. The rights of citizens to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness require the government to ensure these rights. That in turn means universal health care from birth to death, not care of private insurance companies the business of which is profit for the investor, corporate owners and CEOs; it means freedom of speech and freedom of the press, not controlled access to speech or free surveillance of the citizens’ speech by phone or Internet or library by government agents who report to agents of corporate power; it means equal justice for all not justice for those who can pay; and it means freedom from want and freedom from fear, and that means political and economic rights that can and must be provided by the government the people elect.   Banks across America appear to be fighting the growing protest against income disparity and rising fees as the Occupy Wall Street movement spreads worldwide. A series of videos filmed across the U.S. in New York City; Santa Cruz, California and St Louis, Missouri, show customers staging protests and mass account closures. However, footage has emerged showing what appears to be dozens of Citibank and Bank of America customers denied requests to close their accounts, some even being arrested after alleged clashes with branch managers. Scroll down for videos Arrested: Video footage shows a woman being detained outside of a Citibank branch in Manhattan after she attempts to enter with her chequebook in hand What's the OWS plan for Monday? After a weekend of demonstrations spreading around the world, Occupy Wall Street is today celebrating the one-month anniversary of when its movement began. President Obama wants to tap into public anger to turn up the heat on congressional Republicans as he embarks on a bus tour to rally support for his $447 billion jobs plan. Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin defended plans to bolster social spending and said it would help stave off any similar protests there. In Britain hundreds of anti-capitalist protesters mingled with bemused bank workers outside St. Paul's Cathedral in London on Monday. Back in New York protesters are planning more events, including a 'National Day of Protest to Stop Police Brutality' on Saturday. Celebrities are continuing to endorse the protest. Martin Luther King Jr's son said that his father would have joined the demonstration. Protesters continue to camp out in Manhattan's Zuccotti Park, but temperatures will fall to 50F (10C) this week, which could drive some away. Video footage obtained by Gawker.com earlier this month shows dozens of people corralled inside of a Citibank branch in Manhattan's Greenwich Village, some signalling inside they are facing arrest. A woman dressed in a business suit holding a checkbook attempts to enter but is stopped by officers outside who ask her if she was part of the protest. After calmly insisting she is a customer of the bank, a plain-clothed officer detains her. Police swarm as she appears to be taken back inside - one of 24 people arrested on charges of criminal trespassing, reports the website. Citibank said in an official statement the group was 'very disruptive and refused to leave after being repeatedly asked'. A bank spokesman said one person asked to close an account and was accommodated and acknowledged that the branch was closed 'until the protesters could be removed'. The footage follows a video uploaded to YouTube on October 8, which shows three Occupy Santa Cruz protesters attempting to close their accounts at a local Bank of America branch. Mob: Police swarm as the woman appears to be taken back inside - one of 24 people reportedly arrested on charges of criminal trespassing Two of the women are shown walking into the branch and sitting down, one of them with a large placard. A manager asks the women to leave and threatens to call police, claiming 'you cannot be a protester and a customer at the same time'. The women leave and vow to return without a sign the following day to close their accounts. The scenes were reminiscent of a rally in St Louis on August 12, which saw several people lining up outside of a Bank of America branch in effort to close their accounts. Banned: Two women were ordered out of a Bank of America branch in Santa Cruz, California after attempting to close their accounts in protest Video footage uploaded on YouTube shows demonstrators shouting on bullhorns outside of the branch in protest, as Bank of America employees stand outside barring the group from entering. The spectacles come weeks after both Citibank and Bank of America unveiled plans to hike fees for its services. Earlier this month, Citibank announced changes to its mid-tier checking accounts, which offer the potential for earning interest and a few other perks. Starting in December, Citi will charge $20 a month on these accounts, unless the customer has combined balances of $15,000 or more in checking, savings and investment accounts or loan balances. Rally: Protesters gather in St Louis, Missouri, where company employees bar them from coming inside to close their accounts The fee was previously waived for combined balances of $6,000 for that level of account, which offers perks such as interest-bearing checking. Customers also pay $2 fees for using non-Citi ATMs if they don't meet the balance requirement. Last month Citi said it will no longer give rewards points for debit card transactions. That stemmed, in part, from changes in federal regulations that cut roughly in half the amount banks could charge retailers for processing purchases made on debit cards, a rule that's cutting sharply into bank revenue. Citi's move came just a few days after Bank of America Corp said it would be charging $5 per month for using debit cards starting next year. President: Barack Obama - pictured today in North Carolina - wants to tap into public anger to turn up the heat on congressional Republicans as he embarks on a bus tour to rally support for his $447 billion jobs plan Weekend action: Occupy Wall Street protesters shout slogans against banks and economic system while they take part in a protest at Times Square in New York on Saturday Other banks have also been testing such fees. U.S. cities large and small were 'occupied' over the weekend by the group that calls themselves 'the 99 per cent': Washington, D.C., Fairbanks, Alaska, Burlington, Vermont, Rapid City, South Dakot, and Cheyenne, Wyoming were just a few. More than 70 New York protesters were arrested Saturday, more than 40 of them in Times Square. About 175 people were arrested in Chicago after they refused to leave a park where they were camped late Saturday, and there were about 100 arrests in Arizona - 53 in Tucson and 46 in Phoenix - after protesters refused police orders to disperse. Joining together: Protesters in Oregon, left, and Toronto, right, were out in solidarity this weekend Making a stand: Demonstrators march towards the state Capitol during an Occupy Atlanta protest on Saturday, left, and sit in New York's Zuccotti Park on Monday About two dozen people were arrested in Denver, and in Sacramento, California. Meanwhile, an offshoot movement called Bank Transfer Day appears to be gaining momentum. A statement on the movement's Facebook page encourages supporters to take a stand against big banks by removing their funds on November 5th. 'Together we can ensure that these banking institutions will always remember the 5th of November!! 'If the 99% removes our funds from the major banking institutions on or by this date, we will send a clear message and give the 1% a taste of the fear that we experience every day when we aren't able to pay for our rent, food, medication, utilities, student loans, etc.,' it reads. The poet laureate of the Occupy Wall Street movement is the late John Lennon whose prophetic lyrics to Imagine strike a universal need for a world community to unite in peace, love and harmony ~ not war, hatred and disconnection. Read and listen to Lennon’s words for they are now being carried in the streets of cities throughout the world ~ Imagine there’s no heaven It’s easy if you try No hell below us Above us only sky Imagine all the people Living for today… Imagine there’s no countries It isn’t hard to do Nothing to kill or die for And no religion too Imagine all the people Living life in peace… You may say I’m a dreamer But I’m not the only one I hope someday you’ll join us And the world will be as one Imagine no possessions I wonder if you can No need for greed or hunger A brotherhood of man Imagine all the people, Sharing all the world… You may say I’m a dreamer But I’m not the only one I hope someday you’ll join us And the world will be as one. Folk singer Pete Seeger, 92, joins the protesters as over one third of Americans back Occupy Wall Street movement Folk music and 1960s protest legend Pete Seeger has joined in the Occupy Wall Street protest, replacing his instruments with two canes as he marches with throngs of people to Columbus Circle. The 92-year-old Seeger occasionally sang 'We Shall Not be Moved' and other anthems of protest as about a thousand people walked peacefully Friday and police watched from the sidelines. Composer David Amran and bluesman Guy Davis were also in the crowd. Peace activist: Pete Seeger, 92, (centre, in a red cap) started work as a political activist in the 1930s, and his biggest hit was peace anthem 'Turn, Turn, Turn!' Generations of awareness: Tao Rodriguez Seeger is Pete Seeger's grandson and is also a politically-involved folk singer Tao Rodriguez Seeger said his activist grandfather was 'all fired up' about the late-night march after their scheduled performance with other musicians earlier at Symphony Space. The younger Seeger, a New Orleans resident, said music may not change everyone's minds but it can help people get along better. More than one-third of the country supports the Wall Street protests, and even more - 58 per cent- say they are furious about America's politics. The number of angry people is growing as deep reservoirs of resentment grip the country, according to the latest Associated Press-GfK poll. Some 37 per cent of people back the protests that have spread from New York to cities across the country and abroad, one of the first snapshots of how the public views the Occupy Wall Street movement. A majority of those protest supporters are Democrats, but the anger about politics in general is much more widespread, the poll indicates. 'They've got reasons to be upset, they've got reasons to protest, but they're protesting against the wrong people,' Jan Jarrell, 54, a retired school custodian from Leesville, South Carolina, says of the New York demonstrators. 'They need to go to Washington, to Congress and the White House. They're the ones coming up with all the rules,' she said. The approval rating comes the same day as the protesters were joined by Verizon Communications workers in a march to denounce corporate greed as the company and 45,000 employees negotiate a new labour contract. The march by about 500 people to a Verizon store in Lower Manhattan coincided with the top U.S. mobile provider reporting a third-quarter profit of $1.38 billion, more than double its profit for the same quarter last year. Spiritual support: The New York chapter of the Council on American Islamic Relations held Friday prayers at Zuccotti Park in New York Coming together: Like Friday's prayer group, Zuccotti Park has been visited by many groups supporting different causes and points of concern Occupy Wall Street has been called the liberal counterpoint to conservative-libertarian tea party, which injected a huge dose of enthusiasm into the Republican Party and helped it win the House and make gains in the Senate last fall. While the troubled economy is at the root of anger at both government and business leaders, there's a key difference. Tea party activists generally argue that government is the problem, and they advocate for free markets. The Wall Street protesters generally say that government can provide some solutions and the free market has run amok. Of the Americans who support the Wall Street protests, 64 per cent in the poll are Democrats, while 22 per cent are independents and just 14 per cent are Republicans. The protest backers are more likely to approve of President Barack Obama and more likely to disapprove of Congress than are people who don't support the demonstrations. Generally, many more Americans - 58 per cent- say they are furious about the country's politics than did in January, when 49 per cent said they felt that way. What's more, nearly nine in 10 say they are frustrated with politics and nearly the same say they are disappointed, findings that suggest people are deeply resentful of the political bickering over such basic government responsibilities as passing a federal budget and raising the nation's debt limit. This wrath spreads across political lines, with about six in 10 Democrats, Republicans and independents saying politics makes them angry. Fewer are hopeful about politics than when the year began, 47 per cent down from 60 per cent. Only 17 per cent of respondents say they feel proud or inspired. Since January, Congress and the White House have engaged in repeated standoffs over federal spending and the size of government as the economy has struggled to recover from recession. Breaking down the crowd: 64 per cent in the poll are Democrats, while 22 per cent are independents and just 14 per cent are Republicans. In the past month, fury over all that has spilled into New York's financial district, and groups of mostly young people have camped out in a park. The protesters cite the economic crisis as a key reason for their unhappiness. The unemployment rate hovers around nine per cent nationally. Many home owners owe more than their homes are worth. Foreclosures are rampant. And many young people - the key demographic of the protesters - can't find jobs or live on their own. Alexandria, Virginia resident Alice Dunlap said she was stunned at a 2009 family reunion to find that more than half of her four children and their spouses were out of work. 'They all have college educations, and some have advanced degrees, and they're unemployed?' says Ms Dunlap, 62, a retired speech language pathologist. She supports the protests because, she says, anger lingers at those who profited while the nation's economy tanked. 'We all got ripped off by Wall Street, and we continue to be ripped off by Wall Street,' she said. 'You can look at my portfolio, if you like.' The poll found that most protest supporters do not blame Obama for the economic crisis: 68 per cent say former President George W. Bush deserves 'almost all' or 'a lot but not all' of the blame. Just 15 per cent say Mr Obama deserves that much blame. Nearly six in 10 protest supporters blame Republicans in Congress for the nation's economic problems, and 21 per cent blame congressional Democrats. Six in 10 protest supporters trust Democrats more than Republicans to create jobs. Understanding the masses: A number of polls came out Friday attempting to describe the types of people who are involved in the protest Most people who support the protests - like most people who don't - actually report good financial situations in their own households. Still, protest supporters express more intense concern than non-supporters about unemployment at the moment and rising consumer prices in the coming year. A retiree in Michigan named Patsy Ellerbroek, 65, is among those who have little empathy for the Wall Street protesters. 'Everybody ought to own their own business before they start complaining,' Ms Ellerbroek says. Eight years ago, she and her husband sold 'The Fun Spot,' a roller rink they owned for three decades. Now she's a member of neither political party, and she gets frustrated when she sees politicians like the Republican candidates for president being disrespectful. Or Mr Obama 'flying around the county on our taxpayer dollars, politicking.' 'With all the politicians, it's like, the heck with the people who put them there. We need another Mr. Smith goes to Washington,' she said.   Coalition: It’s About Winning America Back SALE!! HUMAN LIVES, 75% OFF, THIS WEEK ONLY Business as Usual?  What Business? By Gordon Duff, America is in the middle of a very real revolution, same as Libya or Egypt.  It has begun, people have tasted power and they aren’t going back just because the corporate press sends out their hyenas.  Americans can no longer afford to be led around by political parties, the Israel lobby, abortion and gun control issues or terrorism paranoia.  It was all a con from day number one.  A good friend of mine who worked in the White House sends me list of prominent Bush officials who were into homosexual rape and ritual bondage.  It isn’t a small list.  Should we publish it?  This is a second source on the same thing.  All the while, these are the folks talking “terrorism” and “family values.”  Not only were they pushing agricultural implements up each others digestive systems from the “south end” but the same sources are clear on something else.  The Bush White House actively planned the 9/11 attacks itself and it wasn’t a few that knew about it.  Everyone knew.  Dozens of Bush officials have come forward, asking their names not be made public.  The story is the same.  “Our families would be killed, we would be killed.  Everyone knew it was going on.  Former President Bush, was still running it all, his son was never president.  Cheney was the ‘inside man’ for ‘Poppy Bush’ who set it all up with the gang from PNAC (Project for a New American Century) and dozens of holdovers from the first Bush administration.  The entire war on terror was a fabrication. Some of the people from PNAC tried to stop the 9/11 attack.  They were crushed.  Nobody could do anything, especially after the Patriot Acts were passed.  The Bush White House was like working in an insane asylum.”  (Bush official this week) Some made billions and others who wanted to talk, left the United States after promising to keep their mouths shut.  FBI and CIA employees who stumbled over parts of the plot, who never had the whole story but who tried to report it as though it were genuine terrorism were either arrested under the Patriot Act as with Susan Lindauer or officially “gagged” as with Sibel Edmonds.  One former UN Ambassador was arrested for terrorism and one heroic CIA asset named Osama bin Laden was labeled a terrorist but died soon after 9/11.  Another key American ally, former ISI Director, General Hamid Gul, close friend of Secretary of Defense Robert Gates, was put on a terror watch list for reporting Bush complicity in 9/11. VETERANS TODAY EDITOR,GENERAL HAMID GUL ON BIN LADEN AND 9/11 THE BUSH GAME, STEALING ALL THE MONEY IN THE WHOLE WORLD Stealing More Than You Can Imagine Here is a factoid for you, genuine classified information, something you are officially forbidden to know, leaked from the bowels of America’s government: The total worthless “derivative debt held by major banks is officially estimated at a staggering $1,400,000,000,000,000.  This is according to a State Department memo that got sidetracked somehow.  In Washington, they pronounce this as “one point four quatrillion dollars.”  America’s official national debt is around $15, 000,000,000,000.  Note the number of missing “0′s?”  This is only “fifteen trillion.”  When Jimmie Carter left office our national debt was “one trillion” with “0″ derivative” debt.  For a look at what is planned for America, take a moment and watch this video on the economic meltdown in Greece and how it effects everyday life: This is America’s future, garbage in the streets, long lines at “free clinics” for medical care, children who will never see a dentist, malnutrition, more crime and a prison population, already the largest in the world, that will explode.  America is the new “gulag.” DIVIDE AND CONQUER, WHY AMERICA FELL TO WALL STREET Not 'Flanders Fields' - But Poppy Fields 9/11 had one purpose, to allow a globalist cabal to loot the world, not just oil but set up Afghanistan as a drug haven, begin the same in Iraq, a fact unreported, and reassert the same control over world governments that the west did during the Cold War. We have a new chessboard now. China is awash in money but still willing to play “sweatshop” to the world, and Russia is run by organized crime, something not even whispered anymore. Both the US and EU are under the total control of a global police state ruled by a gang of financial criminals, civilization as foreseen would be stopped in its tracks. A new “dark age” would descend and has.  The promise of technology, clean water, electricity, education, health care, reliable food supplies, global trade zones ending traditional ethnic divides, all of these things had to be stopped. The tool to move civilization backward was to be the “Global War on Terror.” To get a look at how people are controlled, you only have to look at the recent TV series, “Homeland,” on the Showtime network. Originally produced in Israel, 3rd rate acting, 4th rate production and really bad writing pushed on the public by a massive public relations campaign, this mishmash of Islamophobia, anti-Americanism and cheap propaganda is so obvious it is laughable.   America has lost its moral bearings! Recent polls indicate that if Occupy Wall Street (OWS) were a candidate for President, it would decisively beat any candidate from either party. 86% of Americans think that Wall Street and its lobbyists have far too much power in Washington and those Americans are taking to the streets demanding real moral change. As I have mentioned before ~ there are evolutionary moral juices flowing through the Occupy Wall Street movement and they are social cooperation and altruism versus isolation and greed. A true shift in global consciousness is upon us for the OWS Movement is touching deeply felt evolutionary chords which will eventually break down the global walls of greed, separateness and war and will replace them with altruism, social cooperation and peace ~ the true driving forces of evolution. See my article ~ According to a recent CNN/ORC International poll, only 15% of Americans asked said that they trust the federal government to do the right thing most of the time ~ and that is because Washington is out of sync with America’s grass roots moral values. In a Press TV Interview this week I stress that the “Occupy” movements are seeking moral changes ~ both economic and political ~ which focus on social cooperation and altruism, not greed.  I also stress that America has obviously lost its moral bearings / six minute video I also mention the three stages of Occupy Wall Street; Occupy and establish a visible presence and present a moral vision. Demand the truth, including 9/11 truth, Fed Reserve transparency, full disclosure of Wall Street fraud and derivative indebtedness. Strike, revolt and demand real change The first step in regaining our moral bearings is the truth ~ which has yet to be fully revealed to Americans and which accounts for the deep mistrust of not only Wall Street but politicians in general ~ including President Obama. All of whom are obviously in bed with Wall Street and the corporate banking elite. Have we forgotten the words of Carl Sandburg? ” For we know when a nation goes down and never comes back, when a society or civilization perishes, one condition may always be found ~ they forgot where they came from. They lost sight of what brought them along.” No where is this loss of moral bearings more evident than our illegal preemptive attack and occupation of Iraq, where we set up and implemented a U.S. controlled coalition government, where we stage managed a flawed election and judicial system and where we condoned the brutal hanging of Iraq’s sovereign leader after a mock U.S. managed monkey trial. The recent brutal assassination of Libya’s dictator Muammar Gaddafi, by US backed NATO forces and rebels, is yet another example of our flawed moral vision. Here’s the collective human cost of this flawed moral vision ~ Number Of Iraqis Slaughtered In US War And Occupation Of Iraq 1,455,590 Number of U.S. Military Personnel Sacrificed (Officially acknowledged) In America’s War On Iraq:  4,798  Number Of  International Occupation Force Troops Slaughtered In Afghanistan: 2,776 Here’s the financial Cost of War and occupation of Iraq & Afghanistan Total Cost of Wars Since 2001 $1,268,965,662,411 Please Note the wars will cost Americans between $3.2 and $4 trillion, including medical care and disability for current and future war veterans, according to a new report by the Eisenhower Research Project based at Brown University’s Watson Institute for International Studies. Obviously, we have lost our moral bearings and focus and that is what’s driving the Occupy Wall Street movement ~ and many others acknowledge this driving collective moral force of a country that wants to redeem itself from its past and continuing moral transgressions. George Lakoff correctly writes in AlterNet ( How Occupy Wall Street’s Moral Vision Can Beat the Disastrous Conservative Worldview ) that OWS has a progressive moral vision and that they’re protesting the disastrous effects that have come from operating with a conservative moral, economic, and political worldview. Excerpt: “It seems to me that the OWS movement is moral in nature, that occupiers want the country to change its moral focus. It is easy to find useful policies; hundreds have been suggested. It is harder to find a moral focus and stick to it. If the movement is to frame itself, it should be on the basis of its moral focus, not a particular agenda or list of policy demands. If the moral focus of America changes, new people will be elected and the policies will follow. Without a change of moral focus, the conservative worldview that has brought us to the present disastrous and dangerous moment will continue to prevail…. Remember: The Tea Party sees itself as stressing only individual responsibility. The Occupation Movement is stressing both individual and social responsibility.”  See article ~ Former four star general and NATO commander Wesley Clark talks about that disastrous conservative world view and the resultant neocon plan to invade seven countries in five years ~ including an attack on Libya and eventually Iran. He calls it the neocon policy coup of the United States led by Dick Cheney and many others. Remember, there’s nothing moral or humanitarian about dropping bombs under the guise of a humanitarian intervention ~ Video: Eight minute Commonwealth Club Interview / 2007 In summary, OWS is a people’s movement with the moral power to change the world ~ because the need to unite and co-operate is a soul based moral need whereas the need to separate, control and destroy is an ego based immoral need and contrary to human evolution. Americans Are United in the Occupy Protests Across America Citizens and Veterans alike watch in horror and disbelief while police forces across the country inflict violence against peaceful protestors. These college age kids are our children, the veterans our brothers, and the old folks our parents. We watch as the Main Stream Media attempts to dilute and manipulate the message and make false claims that the demonstrators have no message. The demonstrators have a message and it is very clear. They are saying: We want justice for all. We want the Wall Street Bankers who have crippled and robbed our country, robbed all of us and robbed future generations brought to justice. We want the bankers tried and held accountable for their crimes against us. We want clean and fair government, not government for sale to the highest bidder. Wall Street Bankers have stolen all of our money; we can no longer afford to influence our elected officials, because the Wall Street Bankers have driven the price to own a politician through the roof. We Want the Banking System Totally Rebuilt We want an end to the Federal Reserve Bank. We want the US Treasury to do it’s Constitutionally mandated function. We want our jobs back, it is no longer acceptable for CEO’s to ship our jobs to China and off shore production, just to to make their bonus and inflate the value of their stock options. We want a justice system that is fair to all people. We want police that assist and protect the public, not the iron boot of fascism on our throat if we object to the violation of our 4th Amendment rights when catching an airplane. We want the Patriot Act repealed and the US Constitution restored to the Supreme Law of the Land. We want the Border secured and illegal aliens returned to their homelands. We want our schools, churches,  and neighborhoods free of drugs and criminals that molest our children. We want an honest and truthful investigation of the treason of 9-11! We want the real perpetrators punished for these crimes against us and our Country. Ten Years in Afghanistan - A Waste of Money and Lives We want the illegal wars to stop; we want our troops brought home. We know the War on Terror is a fraud, like all the other Wars the government wages, the War on Drugs, The War on Poverty,  et al. We want the America we know and love, returned to We the People. We are telling the government that we are withdrawing our consent to be governed until we have a government that respects us. We want a government that honors the US Constitution, not the fascist document mis-named “The Patriot Act”. We want to live in a Nation that looks out for it’s own citizens first, before it tries to police the whole world. Below is a video of what one brave group of citizens and veterans has done to stop the abuse by the police in the Occupy America Movement. I take my hat off to these brave men who have the stones to use their Second Amendment rights to protect the First Amendment Rights of the Demonstrators in the Occupy Phoenix Movement. I strongly suggest that Veterans everywhere do as this valiant group has done. They put on their BDU’s and they picked up their weapons and they openly protected the demonstrators from any potential violence from the Phoenix, AZ Police Department. We Need Our Veterans Protecting Us Here at Home - From the Enemies That We Have Here If there are other veterans in America who support the First Amendment, then emulate this example. First become a body of men, there is strength in numbers, the more men, the better. I would be cautious to attempt this as an individual. Be sure to check the laws in the jurisdiction where you plan to demonstrate: DO NOT BREAK THE LAW!! These men are exercising their Second Amendment Rights to protect the First Amendments Rights of others. This is exactly as the founders intended when faced by a brutal and oppressive government. I do not advocate violence, or any lawlessness, but armed men will not be assaulted and brutalized by the thugs who are masquerading as police. Please note in this video that the armed U.S. Military Veterans place themselves between the peaceful demonstrators and the potentially violent police. If this model is followed across the country we will observe the police violence quickly stop. Dear American Police - We Have Not Fought Overseas to Have Our Families Attacked at Home, by Police. And If It Doesn't Stop, You Will be Hearing From Us. The police are trained to deal with street criminals, the police are not trained to deal with Veterans trained by the US Military, who are the very best Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen, Marines, and Coast Guardsmen, in the entire world. This action is a game changer, and one that will force our corrupt and broken government to hear the message of the We the People. It does not matter if you identify with Occupy Wall Street or with the Tea Party, the problem that all citizens of the country face is the same. Let us use this opportunity to work together to purge our government of the corruption that Wall Street has used to infect Washington DC. Let us return to our Constitutional Government in the truest sense, and let us make America great again. Let us create an America that We the People can be proud of!! Music has always played an important role in the fight for freedom, civil rights and economic justice. During the Revolutionary War, the tune Yankee Doodle was sung by American troops to mock the British and to praise the new Continental Army. During the 1930s Woody Guthrie sang songs about the poor and marginalized, and Billie Holiday sang the song "Strange Fruit" to protest lynching in the South. Folk singers like Bob Dylan, Joan Baez, Pete Seeger and Peter, Paul and Mary sang at civil rights demonstrations and songs like "We Shall Overcome" were sung by civil rights activists for inspiration and strength. In the 1970s, punk bands like the Clash and ska bands like The Specials sang songs about the alienation and economic misery of a generation under Margaret Thatcher's England. In the early 1990s, rappers like Public Enemy wrote rap songs that highlighted the plight of the inner city poor. So it's no surprise that music has played a large part in the protests in Occupy Wall Street. There are several documentaries that tell of the importance of music in social change. The documentary Amandla! A Revolution in Four Part Harmony documents the importance of musicians in keeping the spirit up for anti-apartheid activists in South Africa. Get Up Stand Up is a PBS documentary about the popular music has played in the ongoing struggles for peace and equality. Soundtrack For A Revolution documents the freedom songs that were so inspirational to the civil rights activists of the 1960s. Two years ago The White House hosted a celebration of music from the civil rights movement, a highlight being a performance of "The Times They Are A Changing" by Bob Dylan. Here are a collection of youtube videos of musicians who have contributed their talents to the Occupy Wall Street movement.

Eventually, in one of the larger Cities, the mayor will announce that the demonstration has become a riot and the police will show up in riot gear and mean.  Then, tough will happen and if the people persist then they will be arrested in even larger numbers.  Heads will be cracked! If that does not send them home, then the State Militia will be called in larger numbers and mechanized will happen.  Eventually, if none of these escalation ploys do the job, bayonets will be fixed, the troops will move forward in line abreast clearing the streets and people will be injured. Ultimately, shots will be fired.  You will never know who fired the first shots but it will be obvious who fires the last shots and who gets killed. Someone will have to die.  At the same time City, State and possibly Federal forces will be escalating the pressure in all of the other large cities, until the “riots” have been quelled and the Government will announce that a major “revolution” has just been put down Taken down: A demonstrator with Occupy Wall Street is arrested during a march near the financial district in New York yesterday Credit Photo: Daily Mail Anyone who can order a few thousand people killed to take down a few buildings will not hesitate to kill a dozen or so, even a few hundred if necessary. And, remember, the more people who they have had to kill, the more serious was the threat of “revolution.”  There will be quotas. “Lieutenant, your unit was supposed to kill three hundred and thirty six.  You are fifteen short.  Now, go out there and get me fifteen more, dammit!” “Sorry, Colonel, but there aren’t that many left… sir, they’ve all gone home!” “Well then, go kick in some goddam doors and drag some of them back out into the street and get the job done, dammit… I gotta have fifteen more before I can send this engagement report up to the Governor.” Martial Law will be declared for the Nation, the Constitution and elections will be suspended, the Congress sent home  “for the duration,” and a Military Tribunal will be appointed to replace the Cabinet, to manage Government affairs and to “advise and support” the President.” Many of the State Militia will not fire into the crowd, or will fire wildly into the air or off target… but it will take only a small handful of casualties to do the job and a few hired professional snipers can easily ensure that casualties will actually happen. General Douglass MacArthur earned and ensured his place in Military History when, as Chief of Staff of the US Army, he led an Infantry and Cavalry attack, supported by tanks and machine guns against an unarmed “WWI Veteran’s Bonus Army of protesters camped on the Mall in Washington, DC in 1932. Americans have guts when it comes time to parade and protest, but they do not have the guts to stand unarmed and bleeding before a line of armed men, all of whom they believe will shoot to kill when ordered.  They will go home. There will be talk, or threats, of prosecuting some, perhaps notables or celebrities, on charges of plotting or attempting violent overthrow of the Constitution or the government, which are pretty grave offenses. They will probably not follow through on that, because they will not actually want the entire anti-riot exercise they employed investigated in court under sworn testimony… too many cops and soldiers will testify if asked or “forced” to by law. But, it will be threatening enough to ensure peace for a few more years, while positions are consolidated, and better barriers are erected for crowd management and control, and the people are further impoverished and starved into compliance and docile acceptance. All of which overlooks and ignores the fact that, without exception, people who have been impoverished and starved to the point where they have lost all hope and now have nothing to lose, eventually lose all fear and respect for the bayonet and the armed line of riflemen…. and the real revolution begins! That’s when it really gets messy! And, it is exactly what the cabal wants! Courtesy Salem-news.com Aha, today, we read AFL-CIO Calls on Members to Defend Occupy Wall Street Against Mayor Bloomberg’s Planned Attack. Read Full Article. If he attacks the movement with police, against the counsel of the Unions, he will never see public office in New York again. This might indicate the power of the influence the Cabal holds over him and other politicians. It may hurt his fat ego to lose his political stature, but it does not hurt the men who tell him to do the necessary thing and commit political hari kari for the “cause,” whatever it is.  They have  hundreds of men they can run for mayor and ensure a win, without him. If he complies and does as he is ordered he will be politically dead, but he will have a lifetime retirement plan ensured which will make his days comfortable down in Miami Beach with the rest of the boys. If he refuses, he will be literally dead, and his widow penniless. So, the cabal gets two for one.  They sacrifice Bloomberg, but not only get the Movement bloodied and sent home, they take some of the stiff out of the Unions as well… becasue it too will not emerge unscathed.  Some of  it’s men are going to bleed before this is over, and that is not good for the union, either.   Police accused of luring Occupy Wall Street protesters into trap before arresting 700 on Brooklyn Bridge Occupy Wall Street enters third week as protests spread to Boston, Chicago, Los Angeles, Denver and Seattle Protesters fuming after 700 of their crowd were arrested in New York this weekend for blocking Brooklyn Bridge Demonstrators plan to greet Wall Street workers dressed as corporate zombies and hold police brutality protest Film stars such as Mark Ruffalo and Penn Badgley spotted looking around protest camp at Zuccoti Park in Manhattan New York police are today facing fresh accusations they entrapped and intimidated demonstrators during the Brooklyn Bridge storm at the weekend. Today protesters allege police allowed them onto a road reserved for vehicles and were then able to round up as many as possible, arresting 700. Meanwhile major cities are bracing themselves for more protests against corporate America as the Occupy Wall Street campaign enters its third week. Protesters in the ever-growing movement are dressing as corporate zombies in New York and greeting Wall Street workers as they head into the office. A police brutality protest is planned after the 700 people were arrested this weekend for blocking Brooklyn Bridge traffic in the unauthorised protest. Stars: Actor, producer and screenwriter Mark Ruffalo, left, and actor Penn Badgley, right, visit the Occupy Wall Street protests at Zuccoti Park in Manhattan this weekend Shouting: Occupy Wall Street protestor Alexi Morris is arrested along with at several others in the financial district's Zucotti Park on Monday Living dead: Demonstrators with fake money in their mouths and hands march with others dressed as 'corporate zombies' as they take part in a New York protest today Sleepout: A participant in the Wall Street protests sits at an information desk at Zuccotti Park that hundreds of activists are occupying today Elsewhere: The Occupy Boston movement grew in Dewey Square on Sunday, left, and a girl holds a sign at Occupy LA on Saturday - as both joined forces with New York Songs: Participants in the Wall Street protests play music on Monday in New York City The demonstrations, which began in New York two weeks ago, have already spread to Los Angeles, Boston, Chicago, Denver and Seattle. The arrests of 700 people have only strengthened the resolve of protesters in New York, who have been camped out for the past fortnight and held mass gatherings. It’s all been sparked by the Occupy Wall Street movement, which has seen thousands of protesters camped out in New York's Financial District for the past fortnight and mass gatherings started nationwide, with the unified purpose of voicing anger at the U.S. banking and political systems. More... Signs of the times: Wall Street protesters get creative with placards in effort to make their message heard Stand-off! The moment Wall Street protesters came face to face with suited champagne sippers at National City Bank 'Bring back the guillotine and behead those who won't give up wealth': Roseanne Barr's solution to the banking crisis Some protesters were left angry after the New York Times website reprotedly removed a line in a story inferring that the police tricked demonstrators into going onto the bridge. Famous actors such as Gossip Girl star Penn Badgley and Collateral's Mark Ruffalo were spotted at the Zuccoti Park camp. Many of the demonstrators on the Brooklyn Bridge thought they had been hemmed in deliberately by cops. But police denied this was the case. The NYPD claims it gave 'numerous warnings' to protesters to stay on the pavement and they were told they would be arrested if they went into the roadway. Demonstrators are today being urged to dress in business wear with white faces and blood, and will march while eating monopoly money, a spokesman said. The group, which is also speaking out against climate change, want financial workers to see them ‘reflecting the metaphor of their actions’. Silence: Occupy Wall Street demonstrators occupy a park near Wall Street in New York on Monday as they protest in different ways Linkup: Protesters shout slogans while holding banners after marching to the courthouse where the trial for Michael Jackson's doctor continues on Monday in L.A. Demonstrations: A soldier is seen protesting in New York, left, and this photo, right, from the Occupy Wall Street website seems to be from inside a jail cell this weekend California: A protester wears an eye-catching outfit this weekend as he demonstrates in Los Angeles as the protests gather pace across the U.S. Mass movement: 'Occupy' protests started in Seattle, left, and Denver, right, this weekend - a clear sign that the sentiment chimes with residents across America 'We walked away realising what we'd just done': Reports from protesters, activists and witnesses on the ground 'At 5am I return to the 24-hour fast food bathroom. It is as hot as a sauna, and we pack in, taking turns using the hand drier. Some are changing, some cutting each other's hair, some just sitting on the floor to get some warmth into their soaked bones. People tell each other they're beautiful, reunite, hug, and compare horror stories of the rough night we just survived.' Melanie Butler 'They're arresting us one by one. I just asked a cop and they said they're going to arrest all of us. There are hundreds of people who dont have room to sit down. We're just crammed in.' Kristen Gwynne 'We walked away realizing what we had just done - spontaneously come together, demand change, and create it, in a movement that we are in solidarity with, but also feel a need for constructive criticism.' Hena Ashraf 'The three charges I received from today's Occupy Wall Street were: failure to obey order, prohibited use of roadway and blocking traffic.' Jeff Rae Police issued more than 700 summonses on Saturday to demonstrators who, despite multiple warnings, took part in the march on the Brooklyn-bound lanes which snarled traffic in the area until the bridge was reopened hours later. Most of those arrested were issued summonses and released. ‘In an hour or two, we'll be somewhere else protesting,’ said Patrick Bruner, an English major at Skidmore College in Saratoga Springs, New York, who has been serving a protest spokesman. He added that the group had contingency plans in case the park where they set up a makeshift camp was raided. The Occupy Wall Street movement, which has garnered the support of celebrities such as filmmaker Michael Moore and actress Susan Sarandon, are protesting against many U.S. issues such as home foreclosures, high unemployment and the 2008 bailouts. In Los Angeles, more than 100 protesters camped out in front of City Hall overnight on Saturday. Organisers want protests to spread across the country. Saturday's march in New York began at 3:30pm local time from the protesters' camp in Zuccotti Park, in downtown Manhattan near the World Trade Center site. The fire department said it has been to the camp to check for fire safety issues. Protestors have vowed to stay there through the winter. ‘Our concern is cooking, the use of propane tanks and garbage piling up. All we're concerned about is that everybody is safe,’ an FDNY spokesman said. The park property is maintained by Brookfield Properties, a publicly traded corporation. In a statement last week the company said it was extremely concerned about the conditions that have been created in the park and was working with city officials to restore the park to its intended purpose. During Saturday's protest on the bridge, police used orange mesh nets to surround the marchers in what witnesses described as chaotic scenes with protesters being handcuffed and taken off the bridge. Warnings were given by the police to the protesters to stay on the pedestrian walkway. ‘Some complied and took the walkway without being arrested,’ a police spokesman said. ‘Others locked arms and proceeded on the Brooklyn-bound vehicular roadway and were arrested.’ The arrests followed a peaceful march to police headquarters on Friday by more than 1,000 people to protest the arrest of 80 members of the Occupy Wall Street movement the previous week in the Union Square shopping district. During that march a few women were doused with pepper spray which was captured on video and viewed widely on the Internet. The group has garnered support from some union members including the United Federation of Teachers and the Transport Workers Union Local 100. Fledgling protests: The movements in Denver, left, and Seattle, right, this weekend are in their infancies and have so far been more peaceful than the New York version Under clear skies on Sunday afternoon, protesters could help themselves to food that unnamed supporters donated to keep the encampment running. Some ate pizza they said was ordered for them by a man in Egypt who phoned a local shop to have the pies delivered. 'A dozen officers came walking toward us with NYPD video cameras pointed at us' John Dennehy The campers also have been fuelled by encouraging words from well-known figures, the latest actor Alec Baldwin, who posted videos on his Twitter page that had already been widely circulated. One appeared to show police using pepper spray on a group of women, another a young man being tackled to the ground by an officer. 'This is unsettling,' Baldwin wrote. 'I think the NYPD has a PR problem.' In Los Angeles, several hundred protesters marched from Pershing Square to City Hall on Saturday, and said they would remain camped at the site 'indefinitely', like their New York counterparts. Organised by a group called Occupy LA, the demonstrators echoed the refrain begun by those on the East Coast, saying they hoped to change economic policies that benefit the richest one per cent of Americans. Crowd members waved signs, including one that read 'The Banks Ate My Baby,' and chanted 'Hey hey, ho ho, corporate welfare's got to go,' the Los Angeles Times reported.   Illinois: Demonstrators hold signs across from the Federal Reserve bank of Chicago while trying to keep dry last Friday Occupy LA: Los Angeles protesters marched from Pershing Square to City Hall to voice their discontent at the financial system on Saturday California uprising: Views of the Occupy LA protests taking place in Pershing Square on Saturday in Los Angeles, California Uprising: Demonstrators, pictured on Sunday, are camping outside the Federal Reserve building, in Boston. The group is part of a nationwide grassroots movement in support of the ongoing Wall Street protests in New York 'Their slogans capture emotions but are too often unrelated to solutions': The best U.S. comment on Occupy Wall Street 'They are earnest and know how to play for the cameras. They have internalized slogans that capture emotions but are too often unrelated to solutions. And that is a lost opportunity.' John Avlon, Daily Beast 'Up until now, the organizers have seemed to view the decentralized, inchoate nature of the protests as a strength for the nascent movement, not a weakness. The unifying idea has been drawing attention to "the 99," not offering a concrete policy agenda.' Ezra Klein, Washington Post 'Much of the sloganeering at “Occupy Wall Street” is pretty silly — but so is the self-righteous sloganeering of Wall Street itself. And if a ragtag band of youthful protesters can help bring a dose of accountability and equity to our financial system, more power to them.' Nicholas Kristof, New York Times 'Economic inequality is a consistent undertone, but at times this occupation has the feel of a music festival; drifting through the square are young people who seem to have walked out of a wormhole from Woodstock.' Laurie Penny, New Statesman 'I never imagined more than 700 people would be arrested. Nor did I imagine that I'd be kettled in an area where, ostensibly, protesters and witnesses were allowed to go' Anjali Mullany, New York Daily News   Evocative: L.A. demonstrators are a range of ages, from 12-year-old Lula Rod, left, wearing haunting face paint, to an middle-aged woman, right, holding a straight-forward placard outside Los Angeles City Hall on Saturday Star Spangled Banner: One protester in L.A. made use of the national flag to get his point across on Saturday Actor's admiration for protesters Actor and screenwriter Mark Ruffalo has been following the Occupy Wall Street protesters in New York over the last weekend. He praised them for standing up for 'purely American' values and 'democracy'. 'It is a thing of beauty to see so many people in love with the ideal of democracy, so alive with its promise, so committed to its continuity in the face of crony capitalism and corporate rule,' he wrote in a Guardian comment article. 'That should be celebrated. It should be respected and admired.' The anti-corporate protest in New York City entered its third week today, as the city's residents began to increasingly feel the effect of a mass gathering that began as little more than a dozen students. Yesterday members of the NYPD moved in and ordered some of those who had camped out to dismantle what police said were 'dwellings'. 'A dozen officers came walking toward us with NYPD video cameras pointed at us,' said John Dennehy, 29, who went straight back to Zuccotti Park after spending hours in police custody. He flashed a police desk appearance ticket charging him with disorderly conduct and prohibited use of a roadway. On Saturday the United Nations employee joined thousands of protesters who tried to cross the bridge after marching through the Financial District. Mr Dennehy and three others had built what they called their 'box castle' using cardboard mailing boxes to delineate their space on the plaza. But police told them to remove the structure and plastic tarps they were using to stay dry in a pouring rain also were not acceptable, they said. Screaming out loud: A man wearing a U.S. flag bandana across his face shows where Boston protesters drew their inspiration from on Friday, while a young woman shouts to make her message heard as hundreds of people converge on Boston Common Thin blue line: Demonstrators from Occupy Boston stormed their way to the Federal Reserve Bank in Boston during the first night of their protest on Friday   Tired: A protester sleeps on a mattress on the ground in Liberty Plaza on Saturday. The 'Occupy Wall Street' movement has now entered its third week The activists have even produced their own newspaper 'The Occupied Wall Street Journal'. It is paid for by funds gathered online via crowd-sourcing websites 'In the end, what we want to do is inspire working-class people to get involved in the political process,' Adam Liszkiewics, a 32-year-old USC graduate student, told the paper. 'In the end, what we want to do is inspire working-class people to get involved in the political process' Adam Liszkiewics The Occupy Boston movement appears the most well-developed of the off-shoot protests, with a sizeable camp, featuring tents, medical supplies and even wi-fi, setting up at Dewey Square, across from the Federal Reserve building. Tactical groups have been formed, covering legal affairs, food and media outreach, and a crowd in the spot had reached nearly 1,000 on Friday night on the first day of protest, the Boston Herald reported. Key organisers said they had been to New York to learn from the protests. Matthew Krawitz, an unemployed IT expert, told how he had been in Manhattan for the first day of the demonstrations there and wanted to replicate the scene in Boston. There were other protests in the city over the weekend, including one outside the Bank of America aimed at expressing people's anger at foreclosures and the announcement the bank will charge customers $5 a month to use debit cards to access their own money. It resulted in 24 arrests. President Obama's old stomping ground has been gripped by the 'Occupy' movement as well. A group of activists have gathered in front of the Federal Reserve Bank Chicago as part of a rally to protest against poverty and unemployment in the U.S. Protestors at Occupy Wall Street's media area coordinate news updates in Manhattan's financial district's Zuccotti Park The protest in New York has triggered similar occupations around the country by activists angry at the power held by the big financial institutions The Chicago sit-in began on September 23 with a march from Willis Tower to the bank, the Chicago Tribune reported, with some protesters calling it their Tahrir Square, in reference to the Egyptian capital Cairo. One demonstrator, Emilio Baez, told Press TV the protest is a 'direct call to working people worldwide’. ‘This is our Tahrir Square,' he said of the spot which led to a revolution in the African country. 'We'll stay here for months if we have to.' Meanwhile, more than 100 people turned out for Occupy Seattle on Saturday, with protesters waving signs and mingling peacefully with police. The demonstrators, however, are only beginning to coalesce and they acknowledge that they need to clarify their goals. Like their New York counterparts, the protesters are seeking for a place in Seattle's financial district to camp out for the winter. Denver had its first protest on Saturday, with demonstrators telling 9News that they are a leaderless resistance movement of people who will no longer tolerate the greed and corruption of Wall Street. Further 'Occupy' protests are planned for San Francisco, Washington DC, Phoenix and Albuquerque. Meanwhile in New York, one couple apparently out to take photos after their wedding were pictured being caught up in the march over the Brooklyn Bridge, where more than 700 protesters were arrested. Saturday: More than 700 people were arrested during the protest on Brooklyn Bridge and many were seen being led away in makeshift handcuffs Photo-op gone wrong: A couple encounters a sea of protesters on the Brooklyn Bridge during Occupy Wall Street demonstrations It emerged as the New York Police Department said it warned the protesters they would be taken into custody before staging the mass arrest. The protesters who have been camping out in Manhattan's Financial District say their movement has grown and become more organised over the last couple of weeks and they have no intention of stopping. The Occupy Wall Street demonstration started out small, with less than a dozen college students, but has grown to include thousands of people in communities across the country. Now entering its third week in Manhattan, those spending their days and nights at Zuccotti Park say they're going to stay as long as they can. New York City public school teacher Denise Martinez joined the protest on Sunday. She says the financial industry isn't doing enough to solve the country's economic problems. The Brooklyn Bridge was shut down and more than 700 people arrested this weekend after protesters camping out near Wall Street spilled onto the New York landmark and blocked traffic. In a tense showdown, police took swift action - cuffing and dragging hundreds to the sidings - after many of the protesters risked being hit by cars by moving from the walkway on to the road. Day of 'Global Revolution' comes to London as thousands of demonstrators take over the City Protesters inspired by the growing 'Occupy Wall Street' movement in the U.S have today taken over the City of London. Thousands have descended on the area known as the Square Mile - under the banner 'Occupy the Stock Exchange' - for a 'peaceful protest' against the global financial system. They had planned to take Paternoster Square, where the Stock Exchange is located, but police cordoned off the area prior to the protest. A notice was put up stating the square is private property and access would be restricted. Police sources said a High Court injunction had been taken out to prevent members of the public from accessing the square. Scroll down for video... Unite! A woman holds a flag during a protest against the global financial system outside St Paul's Cathedral Angry: Protesters hold placards as they stand on the steps of Saint Paul's Cathedral There is a heavy police presence throughout central London to help deal with the protest Pitched battle? Some of the demonstrators outside the London Stock Exchange appeared to treat the event more like a camping holiday Marching on the City: Police look on as protesters walk around the perimeter of the London Stock Exchange The event kicked off at midday outside St Paul's Cathedral and initial reports on Twitter talked of an 'amiable' atmosphere. Activists carried banners with slogans such as 'We are the 99%' and 'Bankers got a bailout, we got sold out'. Among them was Lorena Fuentes, 27, a charity worker originally from Vancouver, Canada. She said: 'I'm here today because I can't see why you wouldn't be and I feel that this is one of the few moments in history where it's not a protest, it's an actual movement that's taken root. More... Throwing punches and mowing them down with motorbikes: The shocking videos which 'prove brutal police overstepped the mark with Wall Street protesters' Taxpayer-owned RBS finally scraps its £10-a-head Christmas bash for investment bankers (but what about their £375m bonuses?) World finance leaders pledge to tackle debt crisis before it engulfs Europe Throwing punches and mowing them down with motorbikes: The shocking videos which 'prove brutal police overstepped the mark with Wall Street protesters' Rome in flames as 'global day of revolution' sees Wall Street protests spread across the world 'We're trying to challenge this myth that there are not enough resources to go around.' The protest was contained within the vicinity of St Paul's Cathedral, and some demonstrators started to put up tents - hopeful that they will be able to remain in the area for the future. At around 2pm, police reportedly 'kettled' protesters outside St Paul's Cathedral, where the demonstrators were forced to move because of the closure of Paternoster Square. Scotland Yard said two arrests were made for assaults on police officers. Scuffle: Occupy London protesters alongside police at an entrance to Paternoster Square Protest: Demonstrators hold placards as they stand on the steps of St Paul's Cathedral Laid-back approach: A demonstrator reads a book near tents belonging to other demonstrators during the London protest After protesters returned to St Paul's Churchyard, the square in front of the cathedral, police prevented more people trying to join the protest by cutting off access points. Several hundred protesters congregated behind the police lines and heckled officers for not allowing anyone through. Police at the scene denied that a "kettling" technique had been put in place to close protesters in and said they were free to leave the square. A bride, who was scheduled to get married in the Cathedral this afternoon, was ushered in by staff through a side entrance as the crowd swelled. An assembly of speakers then took place. Wikileaks' Julian Assange, who turned up at the protest wearing a mask, was asked to take it off by police. Human rights lawyer Jen Robinson, who came to his aid, tweeted: '#assange not under arrest. Says we can't wear masks and be anonymous but swiss banks accounts can be #occupylsx.' Wikileaks founder Julian Assange arrived at the protest wearing a mask, which he was promptly told to remove bv police Unmasked: After a talking to from police, Wikileaks founder Julian Assange removed his mask Julian Assange then spoke to demonstrators from the steps of St Paul's Cathedral Crowded: Protesters cheer as Julian Assange speaks outside St Paul's Cathedral THE V FOR VENDETTA MASK The 2006 film V For Vendetta popularised the Guy Fawkes mask as a symbol of rebellion. The mask was worn by an anarchist named V in the film and has since become a revolutionary symbol for protesters. V wears the Guy Fawkes mask for almost the entire film and used Fawkes' story as a role model in his quest to end the Norsefire rule – a fictional fascist political party ruling the UK in the original comic book series. This was because V felt Guy Fawkes was right in trying to bring down what he felt was an oppressive government during his day. In the film V briefly explains the mask’s significance, saying: ‘This visage, no mere veneer of vanity, is a vestige of the vox populi [voice of the people], no vacant, vanished.’ Over 100,000 of the masks are now sold worldwide per year, according to the Guardian. He broke through the police kettle enclosing St Paul's Cathedral at 2.30pm. He then fought his way through protesters, turned half-way up the steps and addressed those gathered below. The Guardian's Mark Townsend said: 'Assange began by lamenting the police tactics, noting hundreds more remained stranded outside the kettle. 'Then he began attacking a greedy and corrupt system that had united individuals from Cairo to London. People are being ordered to Guantanamo Bay to obey the rule of law, and money is being laundered through the Caymen Islands and London to obey the rule of law. 'This movement is not about the destruction of law, but the construction of law. With that he stopped, the crowd hollering as a list of other occupations throughout the world was read out.' Political campaigner Peter Tatchell also spoke to the crowds and proposed a one-off 20 per cent emergency tax on the net wealth of the richest 10 per cent of the UK population. He also wants the introduction of a 'Tobin Tax' on financial transactions. He said: 'The richest 10 per cent of the UK population have a combined personal wealth of £4 million, million. A one-off 20 per cent tax on those people would raise £800 billion. 'Those people can afford it, they'd feel no pain, they're so fabulously wealthy. With that sum of money you could pay off the entire government deficit. No need for any public spending cuts.' At the same time, he said a Tobin Tax would 'reduce speculation and be good for the economy, and raise at least £100 billion a year. Within two years this would enable us to clear the entire Government deficit.' 'Rich people who are not prepared to pay their way are traitors to this country, they're putting their own personal selfishness before the interests of the public,' he added. Call to arms: Political campaigner Peter Tatchell spoke to the crowds and proposed a one-off 20 per cent emergency tax on the net wealth of the richest 10 per cent of the UK population Holy protest: A demonstrator dressed as Jesus Christ to take part in Occupy London Long arm of the law: Police line up to confront protesters during the Occupy London demonstration The Occupy London Stock Exchange collective, which is supported by UK Uncut, said a Facebook page on the protest had attracted more than 13,000 followers, with more than 5,000 confirmed attendees. Laura Taylor, a supporter of the so-called OccupyLSX, said: 'Why are we paying for a crisis the banks caused? More than a million people have lost their jobs and tens of thousands of homes have been repossessed, while small businesses are struggling to survive. 'Yet bankers continue to make billions in profit and pay themselves enormous bonuses, even after we bailed them out with £850 billion.' Another supporter, Kai Wargalla, said: 'This is a people-powered movement protesting against the increasing social and economic injustice in the UK. 'We want to stand with the 99% - the overwhelming majority who value people over profit. 'We want to make our voices heard against greed, corruption and for a democratic, just society. We stand in solidarity with Occupy Wall Street, protesters in Spain, Greece and the Middle East who started this movement. Prepared: Protesters wait for the demonstration to begin outside St Paul's Cathedral Protection: City of London Police guard an entrance to the London Stock Exchange during the Occupy London protest Protesters inspired by the growing 'Occupy Wall Street' movement in the U.S are today demonstrating in the City of London 'They have inspired people all over the world to step forward and make their voices heard.' UK Uncut supporter Peter Hodgson added: 'The success of the square occupations across Spain in calling for democracy and an end to austerity, alongside the rapid growth of the Wall Street occupation, has shown that this is what is needed in London and the UK. 'The Government is ignoring its electorate as they impose these austerity measures.' OccupyLSX previously issued a statement which said: 'The words corporate greed ring through the speeches and banners of protests across the globe. 'After huge bailouts and in the face of unemployment, privatisation and austerity, we still see profits for the rich on the increase. But we are the 99%, and on October 15 our voice unites across gender and race, across borders and continents, as we call for equality and justice for all. Popular: More than 13,000 signed up to Occupy London's Facebook page Inspired: Occupy London has said it is taking its lead from the occupation movements across the world, including that in New York 'In London, we will occupy the Stock Exchange. Reclaiming space in the face of the financial system and using it to voice ideas for how we can work towards a better future. 'A future free from austerity, growing inequality, unemployment, tax injustice and a political elite who ignores its citizens, and work towards concrete demands to be met.' Occupy LSX was behind a protest that saw Westminster Bridge closed on Monday. According to its website occupations are also being planned in other areas of the country, including Worcester, Nottingham, Edinburgh, Liverpool and Bristol. The London protests have been inspired by the U.S.'s Occupy Wall Street and Spain's Indignant movement. Thousands have also taken to the streets in Sydney, Hong Kong, Tokyo, Rome, and Sydney. The organisers, relying heavily on Facebook and Twitter, say demonstrations will also be held in 951 cities across 82 countries in Europe, North America, Latin America, Asia and Africa. The 'indignant' protests first took hold in Spain, which has a jobless rate of 20.89 per cent rising to 46.1 per cent for 16-24 year olds. Activists lived in a ramshackle camp in Madrid's Puerta del Sol for a month. The movement then spread to the U.S. and Europe. Day of 'Global Revolution' around the world: City on fire: A car burns during a demonstration of the 'Indignant' group in Rome, Italy Ongoing: Occupy New York is still gathering momentum Movement: Occupy Wall Street moves to Cape Town, South Africa Angry: Thousands of protesters are taking to the streets of Frankfurt, Germany Indignants: Protesters practice yoga at the Puerta del Sol square in Madrid before this afternoon's demonstrationi Anger has also spread to Hong Kong The capital of South Korea has also been taken over by protesters Occupy Sydney holds signs in front of the Reserve Bank of Australia

Occupy Wall Street Faces Evictions   The Occupy Wall Street movement is facing evictions in multiple cities after two months of demonstrations in city parks and squares. In the past two weeks, police have forcibly removed protesters from their encampments in Denver, Portland, Salt Lake City, Oakland, Zurich, and now New York City. Overnight, New York City police officers moved into Zucotti Park, handing out fliers telling protesters they had to leave or face arrest. (The Mayor's Office claimed it was only temporary, to allow for cleaning.) Currently some 150 protesters are gathered around Zucotti Park, preparing to re-occupy if a judge decides the city has not shown just cause for eviction. Collected here are images from several of the recent evictions, as Occupy Wall Street protesters face a turning point in their movement. Police move through a makeshift kitchen, known as the Thunderdome, at Occupy Denver, smashing as they walk. The clearing out of Civic Center Park began on November 12, 2011, six Saturdays after Occupy Denver began with hundreds of participants marching through the city's downtown. (AP Photo/Leah Millis - The Denver Post)       2 An Occupy Denver protester is searched after being tackled and arrested by Denver police, who began arresting people on the 16th Street Mall, on November 12, 2011, in Denver, to end their second march of the day. (AP Photo/Leah Millis - The Denver Post) # 3 Smoke lingers after police put out a large fire in a grill before moving protesters out of Civic Center Park, on November 12, 2011. (AP Photo/Leah Millis - The Denver Post) # 4 Police officers hold the line as they remove belongings left behind after they cleared Civic Center Park, on November 12, 2011. (AP Photo/Leah Millis - The Denver Post) # 5 Riot police are engulfed in a mass of defiant protesters at the Occupy Portland camp, on November 13, 2011, in Portland, Oregon. In spite of an eviction notice for early Sunday morning, Portland police delayed closing two downtown parks early today as thousands of people converged to support the Occupy Portland movement. (Natalie Behring/Getty Images) # 6 A protester pleads with police during a demonstration near the Occupy Portland encampment, on November 13, 2011, in Portland, Oregon. Portland police have reclaimed the two parks in which occupiers have been camping after a night of brinksmanship with protesting crowds of several thousands. (Natalie Behring/Getty Images) # 7 Police officers arrests a protester in the Portland encampment, on November 13, 2011, in, Portland, Oregon. In a tense escalation of the Occupy Portland protest, police in riot gear Sunday surrounded demonstrators in a downtown park area after hundreds of people defied the mayor's order to leave the park by midnight. By early afternoon, officers had mostly surrounded the camp where the protesters were holding a "general assembly" meeting to discuss their next moves following the eviction order. (AP Photo/Rick Bowmer) # 8 Debris is scattered on the grounds of a park where Occupy Portland demonstrators camped, on November 14, 2011, in, Portland, Oregon. Two downtown Portland parks where Occupy Portland demonstrators camped for weeks are clear Monday and police say crews will be removing debris and assessing damage. Mayor Sam Adams ordered the camps cleared over the weekend because of unhealthy conditions, drug use and other crime. (AP Photo/Rick Bowmer) # 9 Police in riot gear are silhouetted against cyclone and barbed wire fencing surrounding Chapmen Square where the Occupy Portland camp used to be in Portland, Oregon, on November 13, 2011. Protesters were allowed back into the camp early Sunday morning but police in riot gear came in later in the day, moved the protesters out and started cleaning up and fencing the park blocks. (AP Photo/Don Ryan) # 10 Police arrest an Occupy Wall Street protester in Portland, Oregon, early November 13, 2011. (Reuters/Steve Dipaola) # 11 Protesters at the Occupy Portland camp chant slogans and hold up signs on November 13, 2011, in Portland, Oregon. In spite of an eviction notice for early Sunday morning, Portland police delayed closing two downtown parks early today as thousands of people converged to support the Occupy Portland movement.(Natalie Behring/Getty Images) # 12 Members of the Occupy Paradeplatz movement look on as Zurich riot police officers stand guard during their removal from the Lindenhof in Zurich, on November 15, 2011. Police began to clear the Lindenhof in downtown Zurich on early Tuesday morning, where protesters from the movement have been camping since October. (Reuters/Christian Hartmann) # 13 Zurich riot police officers carry a protester as they remove members of the Occupy Paradeplatz movement from the Lindenhof in Zurich, on November 15, 2011. (Reuters/Christian Hartmann) # 14 Police officers arrest an Occupy Oakland demonstrator inside a tent at Frank H. Ogawa Plaza in Oakland, California, on November 14, 2011. (Reuters/Stephen Lam) # 15 An Occupy Oakland protester is handcuffed to be detained as police officers take down the Occupy Oakland encampment at the Frank Ogawa Plaza in front of the Oakland City Hall, on November 14, 2011, in Oakland, California. Hundreds of police in riot gear swept into the Occupy Oakland site at dawn on Monday, an officer said, ordering protesters to leave the camp, which has been a weeks-long source of tension for the California city. (Kimihiro Hoshino/AFP/Getty Images) # 16 Police officers take down tents of the Occupy Oakland encampment to evict Occupy Oakland protesters, who are camping at the Frank Ogawa Plaza in front of the Oakland City Hall, on November 14, 2011, in Oakland, California. (Kimihiro Hoshino/AFP/Getty Images) # 17 Police break up an encampment for an Occupy Wall Street demonstration in Oakland, California, on November 14, 2011. Police in Oakland began clearing out a weeks-old encampment early Monday after issuing several warnings to Occupy demonstrators. (AP Photo/Paul Sakuma) # 18 A view shows the empty Occupy Oakland campsite following an eviction, in Frank Ogawa Plaza in Oakland, California, on November 14, 2011. (Reuters/Beck Diefenbach) # 19 Workers clear debris from Frank Ogawa Plaza in Oakland, California, on November 14, 2011. (Reuters/Robert Galbraith) # 20 Demonstrators re-enter the Frank H. Ogawa plaza after authorities moved in and evicted Occupy Oakland's encampment in Oakland, California, on November 14, 2011. Police moved in early on Monday and cleared out anti-Wall Street protesters from Oakland's City Hall plaza, arresting 33 people but avoiding the sort of clashes that marked a previous attempt to shut down the Occupy Oakland camp. (Reuters/Stephen Lam) # 21 Pat Kanzler, of Eureka, California, stands outside the Humboldt County Courthouse in Eureka, California, Monday morning, November 14, 2011. Earlier Monday, authorities arrested 32 people and cleared out an Occupy encampment. Eureka police Sgt. Stephen Watson told the San Francisco Chronicle that the people arrested will be held until they post bail, and that the Humboldt County district attorney will file unlawful lodging and other charges. (AP Photo/The Times-Standard, Josh Jackson) # 22 Police officers disperse Occupy Wall Street protesters near the encampment at Zuccotti Park in New York, early Tuesday, November 15, 2011. At about 1 a.m. Tuesday, police handed out notices from the park's owner, Brookfield Office Properties, and the city saying that the park had to be cleared because it had become unsanitary and hazardous. Protesters were told they could return, but without sleeping bags, tarps or tents. (AP Photo/Mary Altaffer) # 23 People link arms a few blocks from Zuccotti Park as New York City officials clear the Occupy Wall Street protest from the park in the early morning hours of November 15, 2011, in New York. (Stan Honda/AFP/Getty Images) # 24 A man confronts a New York Police Department officer a few blocks from Zuccotti Park as New York City officials clear the Occupy Wall Street protest from the park in the early morning hours of November 15, 2011, in New York. (Stan Honda/AFP/Getty Images) # 25 New York City police officers scuffle with Occupy Wall Street protesters after they were evicted from Zuccotti Park, on November 15, 2011, in New York City. (Don Emmert/AFP/Getty Images) # 26 A New York City police officer scuffles with Occupy Wall Street protesters after they were evicted from Zuccotti Park, on November 15, 2011, in New York City. (Don Emmert/AFP/Getty Images) # 27 An Occupy Wall Street protester is arrested by New York City police officers after the protesters were evicted from Zuccotti Park, on November 15, 2011, in New York City. (Don Emmert/AFP/Getty Images) # 28 An arrested Occupy Wall Street protester screams from a police van, on November 15, 2011, in New York. Police evicted the protesters from Zuccotti Park. Hundreds of police in riot gear dismantled the Occupy Oakland camp Monday, evicting and arresting protesters in the second such US move in as many days as authorities get tough against the two-month-old protest movement. (Don Emmert/AFP/Getty Images) # 29 A protester affiliated with the Occupy Wall Street movement pours milk over the eyes of another fellow protester to ease the pain from pepper spray during an unannounced raid by the New York City Police Department outside Zuccotti Park in New York, in the early hours of November 15, 2011. (Reuters/Andrew Burton) # 30 A woman yells at New York Police Department officers as New York City officials clear the Occupy Wall Street protest from Zuccotti Park in the early morning hours of November 15, 2011, in New York City. (Stan Honda/AFP/Getty Images) # 31 An Occupy Wall Street protester yells out at police after being ordered to leave Zuccotti Park, the Movement's longtime encampment in New York, early Tuesday, November 15, 2011. (AP Photo/Mary Altaffer) # 32 Police officers order Occupy Wall Street protesters to leave Zuccotti Park, the Movement's longtime encampment in New York, early Tuesday, November 15, 2011. (AP Photo/John Minchillo) # 33 Trash is piled high near Zuccotti Park, Occupy Wall Street's longtime encampment in New York, during the cleanup effort early Tuesday, November 15, 2011. (AP Photo/John Minchillo) # 34 Lieutenant Hayward of the New York Police Department prepares to strike Brent Schmidt (right) after members of the Occupy Wall Street movement were removed from Zuccotti Park in New York November 15, 2011. (Reuters/Lucas Jackson) # 35 New York City sanitation workers clear the Occupy Wall Street protest from Zuccotti Park in the early morning hours of November 15, 2011, in New York City. (Stan Honda/AFP/Getty Images) # 36 A member of the Department of Sanitation removes a drum, among other belongings of the Occupy Wall Street movement, from Zuccotti Park in New York, on November 15, 2011. Authorities declared that the continued occupation of Zuccotti Park -- which had become a sea of tents, tarps and protest signs with hundreds of demonstrators sleeping there -- posed a health and safety threat. (Reuters/Lucas Jackson) # 37 Workers use pressure washers to clean Zuccotti Park after New York City police in riot gear removed Occupy Wall Street protesters early on November 15, 2011, in New York City. (Spencer Platt/Getty Images) # 38 A man sits on the back of a New York Police Department squad car as he is surrounded by demonstrators affiliated with the Occupy Wall Street movement in New York, on November 15, 2011. Police wearing helmets and carrying shields evicted protesters with the Occupy Wall Street movement early on Tuesday from the park in New York City's financial district where they have camped since September, dismantling their tent city and arresting about 70 people. (Reuters/Lucas Jackson) # 39 A pedestrian takes a picture of an empty and closed Zuccotti Park in New York, early on November 15, 2011. Police officers evicted Occupy Wall Street protesters from the park overnight. The National Lawyers Guild obtained a court order allowing the protesters to return with their tents to the park, where they have camped for two months. The guild said the injunction prevents the city from enforcing park rules on the protesters. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig) # 40 A statue of a businessman sits behind a police barricade at the edge of a closed Zuccotti Park in New York, on November 15, 2011, after the Occupy Wall Street encampment was cleared form the park in the early morning hours after a nearly two month occupation. (AP Photo/Craig Ruttle) #

Financial Terrorism in America: Over 1 Million Deaths Annually, 62 Million People With Zero Net Worth, As the Economic Elite Make Off With $46 Trillion November 18, 2011 tags: BIS, Federal Reserve, Global Elite, Goldman Sachs, International Banksters, USA, Wall Street Shocking statistics proving the economic elite have launched a deliberate systemic financial terrorist attack against 99.9% of the population. by Alexander Higgins Published: Aug. 12, 2011 -Alexander Higgins Blog An all out campaign of corporate and government propagand has obscured the truth of the blatant reality that economic elite have raped and pillaged a generation of Americans. The veil of secrecy that keeps us blinded to our oppressors is disguised beneath obfuscated financial data and blatantly manipulated government statistics. The truth of the matter is every single American feels the stress and pain of  increasingly burdensome economic hardships on a daily basis. While we have been fooled to believe our troubles are isolated the light of truth is revealed from the great dark beyond and the fog that clouds our thoughts begin to clear. What was once distorted now becomes obvious, thanks to a very lengthy compilation full of some of the most shocking economic statistics every American should be made aware of. Due to the  length of the article, I fear many will shy away from it. To remedy the problem, I present here an abbreviated version containing the just the meat of the original along with  a bit of my own spice here and there. However, I fully encourage you to read the full meat and potatoes version because while meat helps us build strong lean muscle it is the potatoes that give us the much needed energy to move those muscles. The article is based on excerpts from the book “The Road Through 2012: Revolution or World War III” written by David DeGraw’s book, the editor and founder of AmpedStatus which will be Released September 28th. I begin here with the abstract of the book  followed by the stripped down version of the shocking statistics used to prove his case that the middle class is the victim of a deliberate systemic financial terrorist attack by the super elite who have raped and pillage a generation of Americans. Abstract :: Welcome to World War III Despite increasing personal financial hardship, most Americans remain unaware of the economic world war currently unfolding. An all-pervasive corporate and government propaganda campaign has effectively obscured this blatant reality. After extensive analysis, it is evident that World War III is a war between the richest one-tenth of one percent of the global population and 99.9 percent of humanity. Or, as I have called it, The Economic Elite Vs. The People. This war has been a one-sided attack thus far. However, as we have seen throughout the world in recent months, the people are beginning to fight back. The following report is a statistical analysis of the systemic economic attacks against the American people. Introduction The American public has sustained intensive economic attacks across broad segments of the population. While the attacks have been increasingly severe in scale over the past four years, they have been implemented with technocratic precision. They have been incrementally applied thus far, successfully keeping the population passive and avoiding any large-scale civilian unrest, while effectively reducing living standards for the majority of the population. As you will see in this report, the 55 million Americans that have been hit the hardest have thus far acquiesced due to temporary financial assistance, such as food stamps and extended unemployment benefits. The global Economic Elite have been much more strategic in handling the American public, as they are potentially the greatest threat to their continued consolidation of wealth, resources and power. National populations that are not as powerful, and on the periphery of the Economic Elite’s global empire, have been dealt with in much harsher fashion. In many smaller and less powerful countries the dramatic rise in food prices and costs of living have led to all-out revolt — Tunisia, Algeria, Albania and Egypt were among the first to rebel. While the contagion of rebellion has rapidly spread throughout Northern Africa and the Middle East, it is also spreading in a decentralized manner throughout most of the world, now threatening popular rebellion throughout Europe. Like the US population, the geographically clustered European nations represent a potentially powerful countervailing force to the Economic Elite’s continued domination. Within the United States, the technocratic suppression of the population has been extensive. Increasingly severe economic and governmental policies have systematically eroded civilian wealth, power and rights. Intensive propaganda has effectively distracted, confused, isolated, marginalized and divided the US population. Despite the success of these efforts thus far, given the severe, prolonged, unsustainable and escalating level of economic suffering, outbreaks of civil unrest are inevitable. The US population, if a critical mass is reached, represents the greatest threat to the Economic Elite. In this regard, the American people are their primary adversary. In writing this report, I will clearly demonstrate the severity and scale of the deliberate systemic economic attacks against the US population, in hope that we can urgently build a critical mass of aware and engaged citizens. The Economic Devastation Census Bureau data, from 2005 – 2009, average US household wealth declined by 28%. This represents a loss of $27,000 per household. Currently, at least 62 million Americans, 20% of US households, have zero or negative net worth. Based on government manipulated census data 43.6 million Americans, 14.3% of the population, lived in poverty in 2009. Here is how the government manipulates the census data to mask our true economic nightmare. The Census Bureau poverty rate is a horribly flawed measurement that uses outdated methodology. The Census measures poverty based on costs of living metrics established in 1955 – 56 years ago. They ignore many key factors, such as the increased costs of medical care, child care, education, transportation, and many other basic costs. They also don’t factor geographically-based costs of living. The National Academy of Science measure, which gets little if any corporate media coverage, gives a much more accurate account of poverty, as they factor in these vital cost of living variables. The most current Census data revealed that 43.6 million Americans, 14.3% of the population, lived in poverty in 2009. While that is a staggering number that represents the highest number of American people to ever live in poverty, and a dramatic increase of four million people since 2008, it significantly under-counted the total. A more accurate assessment of poverty data by National Academy of Science data shows that 52,765,000 Americans, 17.3% of the population, lived in poverty in 2009. Last year, in my analysis, extrapolating data from 2008 National Academy of Science findings, I estimated that the number of Americans living in poverty in 2009 was at least 52 million. Recently, the National Academy of Science released their latest findings, backing up my claim by revealing that 52,765,000 Americans, 17.3% of the population, lived in poverty in 2009. According to the manipulated government census figures, 20% or 15.5 million American children lived in poverty in 2009, which is 20% of all children in the U.S. The number of children in poverty increased 28% since 2000, and jumped 10% from 2008 to 2009. The more accurate National Academy of Science data showed 18.8 million American children living in poverty in 2009, which is 24%, or nearly one in four. “Every day in America 2,573 babies are born into poverty.” Even with the lower Census numbers, Nine major American cities have a poverty rate over 25%. Based on many key indicators poverty totals have continued to increase since 2009. Current deficit reduction plans will cut “anti-poverty” programs that currently assist tens of millions of Americans. Based on Census data estimates is predicted that the new deficit deal will cut the funding for these programs in half The “the poverty rate will double without these programs.” The total number of Americans living in poverty will increase to 80 million using census data estimates. The total number of Americans living in poverty will increase to 105 million using the National Academy of Science data. Record Breaking Food Insecurity In 2005, 25.7 million Americans needed food stamps. Today nearly 46 million Americans rely on food stamps. Tent city homeless camps are popping up all over the United States. Congress has responded the additional need for food stamps by saying fuck you to the public and cutting the funding for the food stamp program. The cuts come as 22.5 million additional Americans need food stamps The brings the total number of Americans in need of food assistance to a stunning 68.3 million people. Our politicians have more important priorities $16 trillion for secret banker bailouts and trillions more to fund the illegal perpetual wars. Record Breaking Unemployment “Official” unemployment is at 9%, but only because the government refused to count millions of unemployed as being unemployed. Go figure. While the “official” unemployment rate hovers around 9%, 14 million people, the government’s numbers are deceptively low once again. The only reason unemployment has stayed below 10% for the past few months is because millions of long-term unemployed, and part-time workers who are looking for full-time work, are not included in the baseline government unemployment rate. The real number of unemployed is at an all-time record total of 34 million people which puts the unemployment rate is 22.5%. The labor force participation rate, which measures the percentage of the total population currently working, has fallen to a 27-year low of 63.9%. Currently, an all-time record 6.3 million people have been unemployed for over six months. The average time it takes for a person to find a job has also just hit an all-time high of 40.4 weeks. Private-sector job cuts in July surged 60% to a 16-month high. From December 2007 to present, we have lost 10.6 million jobs. Since August 2008, state and local governments have cut 577,000 jobs. The new deficit deal will lead to an additional 1.8 million job losses. 60% of the jobs created by the $2 trillion stimulus are in low-wage fields. Since December 2007 2.8 million of the news jobs created have been part-time jobs. Over 12 months, the National Employment Law Project found that well-paying jobs are rapidly decreasing, while low-paying jobs are helping to mask an increasingly dire employment crisis: Lower-wage industries constituted 23% of job loss, but fully 49% of recent growth Mid-wage industries constituted 36% of job loss, and 37% of recent growth Higher-wage industries constituted 40% of job loss, but only 14% of recent growth Declining Income While the cost of living from 1990 – 2010 increased by 67%, worker income has declined. IRS data showed in 2009 average income fell 6.1%, a loss of $3,516 per worker, that year alone. Average income has declined 13.7% from 2007 – 2009, representing a $8,588 loss per worker. Worker income decline is due to the dramatic increase in CEO pay that  has consistently increased year-over-year since the mid-1970s. From 1975 – 2010, worker productivity increased 80%. Over this time frame, CEO pay and the income of the economic top 0.1% (one-tenth of one percent) of the population quadrupled. The income of the top 0.01% (one-hundredth of one percent) quintupled. After analyzing 2008 tax data, leading tax reporter David Cay Johnston summed up the situation pointing out that middle class wages should have been 68% higher which equates to a robbery of $406 each week. As shocking as that is, over the last two years, workers have lost an even higher share of income to CEOs. In the last year alone, CEO pay skyrocketed by 28%. Looking at 2009, according to a recent Dollars & Sense report, workers lost nearly $2 trillion in wages that year alone: “In 2009, stock owners, bankers, brokers, hedge-fund wizards, highly paid corporate executives, corporations, and mid-ranking managers pocketed—as either income, benefits, or perks such as corporate jets—an estimated $1.91 trillion that 40 years ago would have collectively gone to non-supervisory and production workers in the form of higher wages and benefits.” As bad as these numbers are, consider that the attack on American workers has increased significantly since 2009. From 2009 to the fourth-quarter of 2010, 88% of income growth went to corporate profits (i.e. CEOs), while just 1% went to workers. As the NY Times reported in an article entitled, “Our Banana Republic,” from 1980 – 2005, “more than four-fifths of the total increase in American incomes went to the richest 1 percent.” It has gotten even worse, as Zero Hedge recently reported, labor’s current “share of national income has fallen to its lowest level in modern history.” This chart shows how workers’ percentage of income has been rapidly declining: The bottom line, as statistics clearly demonstrate, these trends are getting worse and the attacks against us, as severe as they have been over the past four years, are dramatically escalating. Part Two :: The Economic Elite “There’s class warfare, all right, but it’s my class,the rich class, that’s making war, and we’re winning.” – Warren Buffett, Chairman and CEO of Berkshire Hathaway How Much Wealth Do The Economic Elite Have? While 68.3 million Americans struggle to get enough food to eat and wages are declining for 90% of the population, US millionaire household wealth has reached an unprecedented level. US millionaire households now have $38.6 trillion in wealth. They also have an additional $6.3 trillion hidden in offshore accounts. In total, US millionaire households have at least $45.9 trillion in wealth The majority of this wealth is held within the upper one-tenth of one percent of the population. US millionaire households will see a 225% increase in wealth to $87.1 trillion by 2020. Accounting for wealth hidden in offshore accounts, they are projected to have over $100 trillion in total within the next decade. Most people cannot even comprehend how much $1 trillion is, let alone $46 trillion. One trillion is equal to 1000 billion, or $1,000,000,000,000. To put it in perspective, last year the entire cost of feeding all 40 million Americans on food stamps was $65 billion. Now consider, according to the latest IRS data, only 0.076% of the population, less than one-tenth of one percent, earned over $1 million in 2009. The graph below, based on data from the Tax Policy Center, shows how much income is earned by a household at any given percentile in income distribution: Only 74 Americans are in this elite group are in the highest bracket for annual income is $50 million or more. The average income within this category was $91.2 million in 2008. As astonishing as that is, in 2009 they averaged $518.8 million each, or about $10 million per week. This means, in the depths of the recession, the richest 74 Americans increased their income by more than 5 times within this one year. These 74 people made more money than 19 million workers combined. In context, overall, the richest 400 people in the US have as much wealth as 154 million Americans combined, that’s 50% of the entire country. The top economic 1% of the US population now has a record 40% of all wealth, and have more wealth than 90% of the population combined. Who Rules America? Revealing The Economic Top 0.1% Here is an analysis from an investment manager with mega-wealthy clients breaking down the economic top 0.5% of the population, recently published by William Domhoff, sociology professor and author of Who Rules America?: “Unlike those in the lower half of the top 1%, those in the top half and, particularly, top 0.1%, can often borrow for almost nothing, keep profits and production overseas, hold personal assets in tax havens, ride out down markets and economies, and influence legislation in the US. They have access to the very best in accounting firms, tax and other attorneys, numerous consultants, private wealth managers, a network of other wealthy and powerful friends, lucrative business opportunities, and many other benefits. Folks in the top 0.1% come from many backgrounds but it’s infrequent to meet one whose wealth wasn’t acquired through direct or indirect participation in the financial and banking industries…. Most of the serious economic damage the US is struggling with today was done by the top 0.1% and they benefited greatly from it…. For example, in Q1 of 2011, America’s top corporations reported 31% profit growth and a 31% reduction in taxes, the latter due to profit outsourcing to low tax rate countries…. The year 2010 was a record year for compensation on Wall Street, while corporate CEO compensation rose by over 30%.… In 2010 a dozen major companies, including GE, Verizon, Boeing, Wells Fargo, and Fed Ex paid US tax rates between -0.7% and -9.2%. Production, employment, profits, and taxes have all been outsourced…. I could go on and on, but the bottom line is this: A highly complex and largely discrete set of laws and exemptions from laws has been put in place by those in the uppermost reaches of the US financial system. It allows them to protect and increase their wealth and significantly affect the US political and legislative processes. They have real power and real wealth. Ordinary citizens in the bottom 99.9% are largely not aware of these systems, do not understand how they work, are unlikely to participate in them, and have little likelihood of entering the top 0.5%, much less the top 0.1%…. … the American dream of striking it rich is merely a well-marketed fantasy that keeps the bottom 99.5% hoping for better and prevents social and political instability. The odds of getting into that top 0.5% are very slim and the door is kept firmly shut by those within it.” To get into the top economic 0.01% (one-hundredth of one percent) of the population, you have to have a household income of over $27 million per year. If you look at some of the central players who caused this economic crisis, you will see that they are among this Economic Elite group. Former Goldman Sachs CEO and Bush Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson had already amassed at least $700 million prior to moving to the US Treasury in 2006. Current Goldman Sachs CEO Lloyd Blankfein and a few other top executives at Goldman Sachs just received $111.3 million in bonuses. Blankfein just took home $24.3 million, as part of a $67.9 million bonus he was awarded. Goldman’s President Gary Cohn took home $24 million, as part of a $66.9 million bonus he was awarded. Goldman’s CFO David Viniar and former co-president Jon Winkelried both took home over $20 million in bonuses. Citigroup CEO Vikram Pandit just took home $80 million, in what may eventually total more than $200 million in compensation and bonuses. Coming in at the top of the list is JP Morgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon, who just took home $90 million. If you think people in this income level don’t control the US political process, you are not paying attention. After they caused this economic crisis, they got the government to give them trillions of dollars in taxpayer support, and then, after taking our tax dollars, they gave themselves all-time record-breaking bonuses. 2009 was an all-time record-breaking year for Wall Street executives bringing in a total of $145 billion. In 2010, they broke  the all-time record set the year before by pulling in another $149 billion. The audacity of it all is stunning. Finding people more grotesquely greedy than Wall Street executives would seem to be impossible. However, health insurance CEOs are giving them a run for their money. As the LA Times reported: “Leaders of Cigna, Humana, UnitedHealth, WellPoint and Aetna received nearly $200 million in compensation in 2009, according to a report, while the companies sought rate increases as high as 39%…. H. Edward Hanway, former chief executive of Philadelphia-based Cigna, topped the list of high-paid executives, thanks to a retirement package worth $110.9 million. Cigna paid Hanway and his successor, David Cordani, a total of $136.3 million last year…. Ron Williams, the CEO of Hartford, Conn.-based Aetna Inc., earned nearly $18.2 million in total compensation, down from $24.4 million in 2008.” Aetna CEO Ron Williams has recovered from his down year in 2009 by making $72 million in 2010. Given this level of obscene profiteering within the health care industry Americans pay more for medical care than any other nation in the world. Americans are actually forced to pay twice as much as most nations, and get lower quality care in return. Health insurances companies openly admit reaping windfall profits because people with health insurance plans still cannot afford to go to the doctors and have stopped going unless it is an absolute emergency. With well over 50 million people unable to afford health insurance and the skyrocketing costs. Over 60% of all personal bankruptcies are the result of medical bills. In fact, 75% of the medical bankruptcies filed are from people who have health insurance. Within this Economic Elite group, you also have the war profiteering oil companies, which themselves are in large part owned by the big Wall Street banks. While gas, oil and energy prices skyrocket for the middle class the biggest five oil companies reaped $36 billion in profit last quarter along. These companies also receive an average of $6 billion per year in government  subsidies paid for by none other than the U.S. taxpayer the same poor and middle class they rape. Tax Breaks For The Rich, Budget Cuts For The Rest Of Us To further demonstrate how the mega-wealthy have seized control our political process, consider that the richest 400 Americans paid 30% of their income in taxes in 1995. They now pay only 18%. In fact, 1,470 Americans earned over $1 million in 2009 and didn’t pay any taxes. The average tax rate for millionaires was 22.4% in 2009, down from 30.4% in 1995. The average millionaire saves $136,000 a year due to reduced tax rates. Corporate tax accounted for 27.3% of federal revenue in 1955. In 2010, corporate tax accounted for only 8.9% of federal revenue. Corporate taxes accounted for 4.3% of overall GDP in 1955, in 2010 they accounted for only 1.3%. Part Three :: The Perfect Storm Overhead: (Inequality = Debt = Austerity = Civil Unrest = Inflation + Deflation = Stagflation) The cuts in taxes for the mega-wealthy have led to record wealth inequality and resulted in a record national deficit. Meanwhile, to make up for the deficit that the richest one-tenth of one percent of the population has created, Democrats and Republicans are committed to making draconian budget cuts to vital social services, which target the poor, middle class, elderly and sick, while handing out billions more in corporate welfare annually. (Inequality = Debt = Austerity) Just as the government has done, to make up for tax revenue lost to the mega-wealthy, Americans have made up for the decline in income by taking on large amounts of debt as well. (Inequality = Debt) In a severely unequal society, massive debt will always be created, thus forming a vicious cycle of increasing inequality and increasing debt, until the fragmentation of society reaches a breaking point when those in debt cannot afford to pay back their debts without starving to death. We are now reaching that breaking point. (Inequality = Debt = Austerity = Civil Unrest) Debt Slavery The Indentured Servant Has Become The Indebted Citizen As for statistics on Americans being buried in financial debt, the indentured servant has evolved into the indebted citizen. As mentioned before, from 1990 – 2010 costs of living have increased 67%, while wages have stagnated and declined. As the national debt has reached a record $14.6 trillion, total personal debt is now over $16 trillion by official government estimates. Independent economists put the real national debt at $211 trillion. Consumer debt is $2.5 trillion. Credit card debt is $805 billion. Student debt now exceeds $1 trillion. Obviously, the more severe your debts are, the more you have to cut back in spending and the less money you have to buy new items. (Debt = Austerity) Meanwhile, a perfect storm circles overhead as society breaks down and falls into an economic death spiral – health care, food and gas costs are skyrocketing, while income and home values are plummeting. (Inflation + Deflation = Stagflation) Given these conditions, it is not surprising that over 250 million Americans, another record-breaking number, are currently living paycheck-to-paycheck struggling to make ends meet. Inflation The following charts, from Advisor Perspectives, show the increase in costs of living since 2000: As you can see, the price of basic necessities are consistently increasing, only clothing (apparel) has declined. The second chart highlights the crucial skyrocketing cost of energy: The third chart highlights the pernicious skyrocketing cost of education: The cost of education essentially buries a young person in a debt that they will spend a significant portion of their life attempting to get out of. Given the increasing costs of living, and the decreasing ability to make an expected income from such an expensive level of education, this young demographic will most likely live an entire life locked into spiraling levels of debt that they will never be able to get out of. Propaganda Inflation The Bureau of Labor Statistics has twice, since 1980, revised the method to calculate the Consumer Price Index (CPI), which measures inflation. Their methodology now masks the severity of inflation, similar to how they mask the severity of unemployment, by heavily discounting the measurement weight of energy, food and education – three of the most significant costs for most American households. Tcurrent “official” CPI is at a 3.6% annual rate. Calculated the way it was before Greenspan altered it in 1980, it would be 11.1%, three times worse than officially stated. So while the government and the Federal Reserve claim that inflation is low, at 3.6% over the past year inflation for the middle class has skyrocketed. Food prices increased 39% over the past year. U.S. gas prices  increased 34% over the same time frame. The increase in gas cost over the past one-year masks the severity of total gas price inflation at the pump. Gas is currently 125% more expensive since December 2008, increasing from $1.67 per gallon to $3.75. The Hidden Tax The Federal Reserve’s strategic policy known as Quantitative Easing (QE) has been a significant factor in the rising cost of basic necessities by deliberately stimulating inflation, while decreasing the value of the dollar. Because ofQE2 program, the dollar lost 7.5% of its value from January 2010 through March 2010. From August 2010 through March 2011, the dollar lost 17% of its value. To understand how this acts as a hidden tax, consider if you had $10,000 in the bank, over this time frame you would have lost $1700 in purchasing power. $10,000 in August 2010 would be worth $8300 March 2011. At the same time, the cost of gas and food drastically increased. The Phantom Recovery By decreasing the value of the dollar, the Federal Reserve is also inflating the stock market by creating the impression that stock prices are rising, which, when measured in dollars, they have. In real terms the value of the stock market has decreased. To understand how deceptive this strategy has been in giving the appearance of a rising market, instead of measuring overall stock value in dollars, let’s look at their overall value when measured in terms of gold: Dow/Gold Chart from January 1, 2003 – August 8, 2011 As investor Michael Krieger explains: “You can see from the chart above the downtrend of stock prices in real terms is completely intact and they have now hit a new low, below the previous low point in March 2009. In fact, although stocks did temporarily rise in real terms from the low in 2009 for the year as a whole, they were still down 5% in real terms. Then last year, stocks were 14% lower in terms of gold. Finally, despite a brief rally early in 2011, stocks in terms of gold are down 23% year-to-date.” Dollar Vs. Gold When comparing the value of the dollar to the value of gold, the dollar has lost a stunning 84% of its value since 2000. In 2000, gold was worth $279 per ounce, as of August 8, 2011, gold is $1,725 per ounce. In fact, the dollar continues to fall in value while gold continues to rise. Stagflation All these factors together create a perfect storm of stagflation. 90% of Americans are experiencing declining incomes. The value of the dollar continues declines. Tthe price of necessities continue to rise. The value of the one major asset many Americans have, a house, continues to decline. Declining home values have left 28% of US homeowners owing more on their mortgages than their home is currently worth. 10.4 million American families having lost their homes to foreclosure since 2007, Another 10.8 million homes are at risk of default over the next six years. This will obviously continue downward pressure on home values. The Beaten Masses Confronted With Severe Financial Hardship, Why Do Americans Remain Passive? With an unprecedented sum of wealth, tens of trillions of dollars, held within the top one-tenth of one percent of the US population, we now have the highest and most severe inequality of wealth in US history. Not even the Robber Barons of the Gilded Age were as greedy as the modern day Economic Elite. As famed American philosopher John Dewey once said, “There is no such thing as the liberty or effective power of an individual, group, or class, except in relation to the liberties, the effective powers, of other individuals, groups or classes.” The elite have strategically withheld wealth from 99% of the US population over the past generation Since the mid-1970s, worker production and wealth creation has exploded. The dramatic increase in wealth has been almost entirely absorbed by the economic top one-tenth of one percent of the population, with most of it going to the top one-hundredth of one percent. People  struggling to make ends meet are still not fighting back with overwhelming force and running the mega-wealthy aristocrats out of town because of two significant factors: 1) People are two consumed with holding on to the little they have left to try to maintain their current standard of living. 2) People have very little understanding of how much wealth has been consolidated within the top economic one-tenth of one percent. Considering the first factor, it is obvious that people have become beaten down psychologically and financially. A report in the Guardian entitled, “Anxiety keeps the super-rich safe from middle-class rage,” suggests that people are so desperate to hold on to what they have that they are too busy looking down to look up: “As psychologists will tell you, fear of loss is more powerful than the prospect of gain. The struggling middle classes look down more anxiously than they look up, particularly in recession and sluggish recovery.” Considering the second factor, people do not understand how much wealth has been withheld from them. The average person has never personally experienced or seen the excessive wealth and luxury that the mega-rich live in. Wealth inequality has grown so extreme and the wealthy have become so far removed from average society, it is as if the rich exist in some outer stratosphere beyond the comprehension of the average person. As the Guardian report mentioned above also states: “… having little daily contact with the rich and little knowledge of how they lived, they simply didn’t think about inequality much, or regard the wealthy as direct competitors for resources. As the sociologist Garry Runciman observed: ‘Envy is a difficult emotion to sustain across a broad social distance.’… Even now most underestimate the rewards of bankers and executives. Top pay has reached such levels that, rather like interstellar distances, what the figures mean is hard to grasp.” The average American vastly underestimates the severe wealth disparity. Americans are brainwashed into believing our society is far more equal than it actually is: (NY Times)“In a recent survey of Americans, my colleague Dan Ariely and I found that Americans drastically underestimated the level of wealth inequality in the United States. While recent data indicates that the richest 20 percent of Americans own 84 percent of all wealth, people estimated that this group owned just 59 percent – believing that total wealth in this country is far more evenly divided among poorer Americans. What’s more, when we asked them how they thought wealth should be distributed, they told us they wanted an even more equitable distribution, with the richest 20 percent owning just 32 percent of the wealth. This was true of Democrats and Republicans, rich and poor – all groups we surveyed approved of some inequality, but their ideal was far more equal than the current level.” The fact of the matter is that the overwhelming majority of US population is unaware of the vast wealth at hand. An entire generation of unprecedented wealth creation has been concealed from 99% of the population for over 35 years. Having never personally experienced or known of this wealth, the average American cannot comprehend what is possible if even a fraction of it was used for the betterment of society as a whole. In fact, given modern technology and wealth, not a single American citizen should live in poverty. The statistics clearly demonstrate that we now live in a Neo-Feudal society. In comparison to the wealthiest one-tenth of one percent of the population, who are sitting on top of tens of trillions of dollars in wealth, we are modern day serfs, essentially propagandized peasants. The fact that the overwhelming majority of Americans are struggling to get by, while tens of trillions of dollars are consolidated within a small fraction of the population, is a crime against humanity. The day the average American fully comprehends how much wealth is consolidated within just the top one-tenth of one percent of the population, there will be a massive uprising and all the paid off politicians will be run out of town. The next time you are stressed out, struggling to make ends meet and pay off your debts, just think about the trillions of dollars sitting in the obscenely bloated pockets of one-tenth of one percent of the population. The first step in overcoming your peasant status is to understand that you are indeed a peasant. This is a bitter pill to swallow and most will prefer to, as they have been conditioned to do, continue on their path of media-induced delusion, denial, apathy and ignorance. However, I still cling to the hope that once enough people become aware of this hidden and obscured fact, we can have the non-violent revolution we so urgently need. Until then, the rich get richer as a critical mass with increasingly dire economic prospects desperately struggles to make ends meet. Fascism in America Other than driving large segments of the American population into poverty, and pushing the majority into massive debt and a state of financial desperation, there is an ever darker side to what is unfolding today. The Economic Elite have turned America into a modern day fascist state. Fascism is a very powerful word which evokes many strong feelings. People may think that the term cannot be applied to modern day America. However, as Benito Mussolini once summed it up: “Fascism should more properly be called corporatism, since it is the merger of state and corporate power.” In the early 1900s, the Italians who invented the term fascism also described it as “estato corporativo,” meaning: the corporate state. Very few Americans would argue the fact that corporations now control our government and have the dominant role in our society. Through a system of legalized bribery – campaign finance, lobbying and the revolving door between Washington and corporations – the most power global corporations dominant the legislative and political process like never before. Senator Huey Long had it right when he warned: “When fascism comes to America, it will come in the form of democracy.” As President Franklin D. Roosevelt once described fascism: “The liberty of a democracy is not safe if the people tolerate the growth of private power to a point where it comes strong than their democratic state itself. That, in its essence, is fascism — ownership of government by an individual, by a group, or any controlling private power.” The most blatant modern example of this was the bailout of Wall Street, when the “too big to fail” banks got politicians to promptly hand out trillions of tax dollars in support and subsidies to the very people who caused the crisis, without any of them being held accountable. Modern Day Slavery Another shocking example of how far we have descended into fascism is the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), which is a group of corporate executives who literally write government legislation. They have gone as far as setting up a system that imprisons the poor and then puts them to work, instead of paying living wages to non-imprisoned workers. Make no mistake, this is a modern day system of slavery unfolding before our eyes. At the leadership of ALEC and various other Economic Elite organizations, poverty has essentially become a crime. To demonstrate these attacks against the poor, there was $17 billion cut from public housing programs, while there was an increase of $19 billion in programs for building prisons, “effectively making the construction of prisons the nation’s main housing program for the poor.” Before laws began to be rewritten in 1980, with direct input from ALEC, we had a prison population of 500,000 citizens. After laws were rewritten to target poor inner city citizens with much more severe penalties, the US prison population skyrocketed to 2.4 million people. We now have the largest prison population in the world. With only 4% of the world’s population, we have 25% of the world’s prison population. As I reported previously, in a report entitled, “American Gulag: World’s Largest Prison Complex“: “The US, by far, has more of its citizens in prison than any other nation on earth. China, with a billion citizens, doesn’t imprison as many people as the US, with only 308 million American citizens. The US per capita statistics are 700 per 100,000 citizens. In comparison, China has 110 per 100,000. In the Middle East, the repressive regime in Saudi Arabia imprisons 45 per 100,000. US per capita levels are equivalent to the darkest days of the Soviet Gulag.” The Death Toll The dramatic increase in poverty has obviously torn many families apart and caused a devastating psychological toll, but consider the increase in deaths as a result of poverty and severe wealth inequalities. This is a very difficult statistic to accurately measure, but Columbia University’s School of Public Health conducted an intensive examination of mortality and medical data and estimated that “875,000 deaths in the US in 2000 could be attributed to a cluster of social factors bound up with poverty and income inequality.” As a report by Debra Watson sums up the study, “There is no reason to believe, after a decade that has seen sustained attacks on social programs and consistently high unemployment rates, that the social mortality rate has declined. On the contrary, it has likely risen.” Indeed, poverty and income inequality have skyrocketed since 2000. Now, let’s consider the fact that, according to the Census Bureau, 31.1 million people lived in poverty in 2000, and according to Columbia’s study 875,000 deaths came as a result. This means that 1 out of every 35.5 people living in poverty die annually as a result of their impoverishment. If you extrapolate this data to the 2009 total of 52.8 million people living in poverty, you get an estimate of 1,486,338 deaths within that year. Even if you use the lower poverty totals from the Census Bureau, 43.6 million people, you get an estimate of 1,228,169 deaths in 2009. Deliberate Systemic Attacks The dramatic increase in economic inequality and poverty, along with the unprecedented rise in wealth within the top one-tenth of one percent of the population has not happened by mistake. It is the designed result of deliberate governmental and economic policy. It is the result of the richest people in the world, and the “too big to fail” banks, using the campaign finance and lobbying system to buy off politicians who implement policies designed to exploit 99.9% of the population for their financial gain. To call what is happening a “financial terrorist attack” on the United States, is not using hyperbole, it is the technical term for what is currently occurring. Compare the million people who die annually as a result of these economic attacks, to the 2,977 that died on 9/11. As someone who lived three blocks from the World Trade Center, as tragic as 9/11 was, these economic attacks are much more severe and damaging to us as a nation, albeit a much slower and unseen death toll. Nonetheless, the result is of genocidal proportions. One can statistically compare the economic attacks on the US to the invasion of Iraq, which some estimate as leading to one million deaths. Once again, many of those deaths came in brutal and spectacular fashion in bombing campaigns known as “shock and awe.” However, the death toll compares to the hidden brutality of a four-year campaign of economic “shock and awe.” Just as Iraq was invaded, the US has been invaded by a global banking cartel. As shocking as that is to realize, consider that this is happening throughout the world. While the US poverty death rate is probably higher than in most European countries, the Federal Reserve’s economic policies — along with policies from the International Monetary Fund, World Bank and Bank of International Settlements — have caused rioting and uprisings over skyrocketing food prices and costs of living throughout the world. The fact of the matter, and very harsh and unfortunate reality of this crisis, is that the global economic central planners are deliberately carrying out genocidal economic policies. As Che Guevara, a man who took on the global financial elite, once said, “The amount of poverty and suffering required for the emergence of a Rockefeller, and the amount of depravity that the accumulation of a fortune of such magnitude entails, are left out of the picture, and it is not always possible to make the people in general see this.” When tens of trillions of dollars deliberately flow to the top economic one-tenth of one percent of the global population, while large percentages live in poverty, you have to conclude, in technical terms, that a Neo-Feudal-Fascist state is upon us. The rich have never been richer, while their paid off politicians make budget cuts for the poor and middle class, and cause the cost of basic necessities to skyrocket.               You can call me extreme, but the reality of this is extreme, these people, the global economic top one-tenth of one percent, are genocidal fascists carrying out a holocaust. Fascism has evolved. There is no need to get blood on your hands while rounding up people and putting them into concentration camps when you can do it through economic policy while sitting in a jacuzzi on a corporate jet, or in a three-piece custom-made Armani, completely detached and insulated from the world in which you plunder. However, as what happens with all empires, greed and arrogance makes them overreach. The beaten down masses get to a point where they literally can’t live under these conditions. This desperation spreads throughout the population until it reaches a critical mass, then, suddenly, they rise up and the empire begins to collapse… Tunisia, Algeria, Egypt, Israel, (Northern Africa, the Middle East), Albania, Greece, Spain, Britain (Europe), Wisconsin… The Economic Elite are overreaching and their empire is collapsing. The decentralized global rebellion has begun… Welcome to World War III. Which side of history do you want to be on? As a wise old friend once said, “You can’t be neutral on a moving train.” Source: http://blog.alexanderhiggins.com/2011/08/12/financial-terrorism-america-1-million-deaths-annually-62-million-people-net-worth-economic-elite-46-trillion-54921/ Related: The coming derivatives crisis that could destroy the entire global financial system People Of Earth: Prepare For Economic Disaster Deliberate Impoverishment of the Western World VIDEO – Deliberate Economic Collapse DOCUMENTARY – Inside Job (2010) The Federal Reserve Cartel: The Eight Families 19 Reasons Why The Federal Reserve Is At The Heart Of Our Economic Problems Crisis as a Means to Building a Global Totalitarian State VIDEO – Economic Armageddon and You VIDEO – David Icke – World Financial System DOCUMENTARY – The Money Masters: How International Bankers Gained Control of America Auditing The Federal Reserve: What Are The Banksters So Afraid Of…? (With Videos) The Political Economy of Global Government A Rothschild Plan for World Government VIDEO – Overdose: The Next Financial Crisis 20 reasons America has lost its soul and collapse is inevitable (With Video) The Planned Global Economic Crisis The Aim of the Financiers: A One-World Government With a One-World Currency Are You Ready for the Next Crisis? The Origins of Modern Banking VIDEO – Preparing Americans for Hyperinflation VIDEO – The Dollar Bubble Rothschilds & Rockefellers: Trillionaires Of The World

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