Occupy Wall St. Signs of the Times

Signs of the Times

A few weeks ago, I wandered down Broad St.. picked up a placard, and participated in the first political rally of my life. Here are what some of the signs read:

　Tax the Rich: We are no longer the Land of Opportunity, but the Land of Profit for only the Very Wealthy.
According to a recent News Week article, since the 1970s, median income has grown 5% for 90% of Americans compared to 281% for the top 1% of Americans. Those top 1% now possess 40% of our nations wealth.
After 10 years of the Bush Tax cuts that saved 4 trillion dollars to the rich, job growth remains stagnant.Tax rates are below what they were under President Eisenhower, yet Conservatives are adamant that they will not raise revenue by taxing the Super Rich and large corporations because they are the job creators. Really?

People Over Profit: Lets look at one large corporation that has prospered over the last decade. One of the so-called job creators, Apple Industries, is expected to make a whopping 80 billion in revenue this year. Because they still employ more Chinese than Americans in their manufacturing, Apple is responsible for contributing billions toward our national trade deficit. Like other big corporations, Apple disguises profits as foreign earnings in lower taxed countries and do not pay their fair share of taxes.
 Make Wall St. Pay: "Liberty and Justice for all" no longer has meaning because there has been no justice for those criminals in Wall St. investment firms who intentionally packaged risky mortgages into unregulated derivatives.
People have lost their jobs, their homes, their savings, and not one Investment banker or Wall St. trader has been indicted.

Corporations out of Washington: Corporate power has too much influence in Washington. Is it still "We, the People", or "We the Corporations" that our elected representatives strive to serve, protect, and defend?
The House of Representatives chose to lose our national debt rating rather than negotiate a debt ceiling. With the pawns of the Corporate elite scurrying to defend the profit margin for their benefactors, we have made little progress toward balancing our federal budget.No Lobbysits: Lobbyist has become a nasty word. Even Herman Cain has ommitted his stint as a Restaurant Industry lobbyist from his resume. The flaky as his crust candidate who is the frontrunner for Conservative Presidential slot earned his living lobbying in Washington against smoking bans in restaurants, against a lower alcohol blood level limit, and against a higher minimum wage.

No More Unpaid Wars: Starting a war while simutaneously cutting taxes in 2001 and 2003 has so far contributed a whopping 800 billion to our national debt, and sacrificed 4500 American lives, and 654,965 Iraqui lives (British Medical Journal, The Lancet), and for what? The troops will be home with their families for Christmas, but the Iraquis are rewarding China and India with oil contracts

Corporations are Not People until Texas executes oneYou may have your brains laundered and locked up tight by Corporate owned media that passes for news like Rupert Murdoch's NewsCorp....you know the one that is under investigation for phone tapping? Sarah "Take the Money and Dont Run" Palin took a college student to court for hacking into her e-mail. He was sentenced to a year in jail. Billionaire Rupert Murdoch runs his media empire with an iron fist. How much time do you think he will
serve?

Why is it that when greed and corruption impacts common welfare and forces the government to take action, legislate, regulate, prosecute, and fine. .. too often the actual fine is a miniscule percentage of the overall profit and billionaires go free? Corporate crime does pay in the United States of America.
When I stopped on a Broad St. crosswalk to let a motorcyclist cut through the mass of people, he thanked me by shouting back,"Go home!" Hey, motorcycle dude, I dont know where you are from, but we are home. We have been patiently listening to a group of people yelling at us for the last 2 1/2 years while the country continues its decline. So now listen to this. You just ran over my First Ammendment toes. And this Motorcycle Mama has laid her big spike down! We are the 99% and we will Occupy Wall St. and Restore Main St.

Starting right here on Broad St.
#OWS