[bootlegga]

Gunnair Gunnair:

bootlegga bootlegga:

BartSimpson BartSimpson:

Zip, the point Rex is making is that if the OWS folks are tweaking about 'the greed of the 1%' then where's their outrage at Hollywood? Why do multinational, multibillion dollar corporations get a free pass on the protests just because they're Hollywood? Isn't someone poor and homeless because Brad Pitt and James Cameron are rich? Isn't someone poor and hungry because MGM, Universal, New Line, and etc. are more interested in their profits than they are in social causes?

Or is it that it's okay to be rich when you're a leftist?

Let me know when Hollywood causes a global recession and I'll agree with you.

And if you're at all aware of history - it was Hollywood that kept people from blowing their heads off by entertaining them in the last Great Depression - which only occurred after the greedy bastards on Wall Street screwed up.

Let me know when the occupation has given up the 1% vs the 99% mantra in favor of focusing their ire on the handful of shitheads who caused this. Oh, and also point out when they also begin to preach some personal responsibility to live within your means instead of owning a Hummer, a quad, a big house, and the yearly vacation down south because interest rates were so damned low.

Rex's 'Occupy Hollywood' is nothing more than a red herring and anyone with a brain knows that.

The point behind Occupy Wall Street, you know, where this whole movement started, was to mainly highlight how Wall Street screwed over the rest of us with their recklessness (not unlike 1929 I might add).

As for people living outside their means, that's another red herring. It has really nothing to do with the top 1% gaming the system and paying as little taxes as they can AND getting "too big to fail" bailouts when they make bad financial decisions.

You might have a point if the government got into the business of bailing average people out of their poor financial planning (like using home equity to finance vacations and expensive toys), but to date, no government (or company) that I know of has done so. Instead, they let the financial sector move swiftly to re-possess the property of those who tried to keep up with the Joneses. Meanwhile, those same huge financial companies that took out the rough equivalent of home equity loans to chase huge profits (usually on bad debt) got big checks from the government to keep them solvent.

[Thanos]

Upwards of 85% of the bad sub-prime loans to borderline clients were issued by the banks and brokers, not by government-sponsored agencies like Fannie and Freddie. In fact by the mid years of the last decade Fannie and Freddie were moving away from that part of the market on their own while Wall Street still dove in head-first into a toxic mess. So there's another 1%'er myth busted right there. The government is responsible too for what happened but the guilt of the private financial sector outweighs that of the government by a factor of about a million.

[Zipperfish]

Gunnair Gunnair:

That is not completely what the occupation is about here now is it? The occupation is as vocal about wealth redistribution as it is about capitalist corruption. They may bitch about wall street fat cats doing illegal things to line their pockets, but that is a very small portion of the 1%. Most of that 1% makes their big bucks legally, and wrt Hollywood stars, people hand their money freely then bitch about it afterward. Rex is pointing out that people are missing many others tactical targets in the overall strategic assault on the 1%.

I don't really get the occupation. Not in Canada anyway, where socialism is still recognized as having some innate value the same way the free market does.

And as I said earlier, Rex's argument only makes sense if he himself is protesting the 1% fat cats. He is saying that the protestors, to be consistent, should be outraged at Hollywood, like he clearly is. However, by exactly the same argument, in order for him to be consistent, he should be as outraged at the fat cats, which he clearly isn't.

People aren't consistent, and it amazes me that the myth endures that we are.

This is the kind of argument I expect to see in the letters column of a community newspaper. I just expect better from Rex.

[Zipperfish]

Thanos Thanos:

Upwards of 85% of the bad sub-prime loans to borderline clients were issued by the banks and brokers, not by government-sponsored agencies like Fannie and Freddie. In fact by the mid years of the last decade Fannie and Freddie were moving away from that part of the market on their own while Wall Street still dove in head-first into a toxic mess. So there's another 1%'er myth busted right there. The government is responsible too for what happened but the guilt of the private financial sector outweighs that of the government by a factor of about a million.

12000 posts for me. and you passed me on rep points, bitch! I'm neg repping you right now.

Edit: Crap. "must spread rep points to other users first"

[Thanos]

LOL. My ratio rulez moar than your ratio. Let's see how much you like being in second place for a change!

[andyt]

Zipperfish Zipperfish:

I don't really get the occupation. Not in Canada anyway, where socialism is still recognized as having some innate value the same way the free market does.

And yet our income inequality is growing faster than in the US. But no, nothing to see here.

[Zipperfish]

andyt andyt:

Zipperfish Zipperfish:

I don't really get the occupation. Not in Canada anyway, where socialism is still recognized as having some innate value the same way the free market does.

And yet our income inequality is growing faster than in the US. But no, nothing to see here.

Nothing to see here? Come on over, pal. I'll show you income inequality.

Besides, I'm making scads of dough so why the fuck should I care? we need to take all the protestors, grind them up and shoot them into the atmosphere to stop global wamrmng.

[andyt]

Zipperfish Zipperfish:

Nothing to see here? Come on over, pal. I'll show you income inequality.

Besides, I'm making scads of dough so why the fuck should I care? we need to take all the protestors, grind them up and shoot them into the atmosphere to stop global wamrmng.

You been drinking Gunnair's bathwater again?

[Zipperfish]

andyt andyt:

You been drinking Gunnair's bathwater again?

Whatev. How about a new avatar? Don't you ever get sick of looking like an asshole?

[andyt]

I'm all about equality - gotta do what I can to fit in in this place.

[Zipperfish]

andyt andyt:

I'm all about equality - gotta do what I can to fit in in this place.

Why am I even wasting my time with you? You can't rep me. Now apologize and piss off.

But seriosuly dude...the avatar?

[Dragon-Dancer]

phxguy phxguy:

Rex

no wonder the CBC hates him.

If they hated him they wouldn't put him on the air. He's a talking head from a certain point of view they need to cover one side of an issue but nothing more.

He's also very much off base. It could be considered funny if only he didn't take himself far too seriously.

[BartSimpson]

Zipperfish Zipperfish:

Thanos Thanos:

Upwards of 85% of the bad sub-prime loans to borderline clients were issued by the banks and brokers, not by government-sponsored agencies like Fannie and Freddie. In fact by the mid years of the last decade Fannie and Freddie were moving away from that part of the market on their own while Wall Street still dove in head-first into a toxic mess. So there's another 1%'er myth busted right there. The government is responsible too for what happened but the guilt of the private financial sector outweighs that of the government by a factor of about a million.

12000 posts for me. and you passed me on rep points, bitch! I'm neg repping you right now.

Edit: Crap. "must spread rep points to other users first"

You're one point ahead now. You're welcome!

[Thanos]

Well, that was kind of mean.

[BartSimpson]

andyt andyt:

And yet our income inequality is

...irrelevant. Same as in the USA.

You know, I used to accuse you of envy due to your obsession with other people's incomes but now I realize it's actually moved past envy and become resentment.

A wise man once said to me:

A Wise Man A Wise Man:

Resentment is shooting yourself in the head and expecting the other guy to die.

You invest so much of your effort into paying attention to what other people earn that it certainly comes at a cost to your own income.