

What does HN think about OccupyWallStreet? - jwee

A. Down with the bankers, up with main street!
B. Cool protest...but half of my friends work at GS so...
C. If I get this startup done, I'll automate an entire industry! Wait, did someone said protest?
D. All of the protesters should enroll in C++ or Haskell class right now. Or join the enemy: VBA.
======
pedalpete
e. I think some of these people have valid reasons to be upset with how the
bailouts were handled, and at least they are trying to take some action and
care about their future. But what are they trying to accomplish with their
protests. I'm the 99% doesn't give the 1% who you are trying to affect the
opportunity to understand what you want them to do.

the gov't gave you $4 trillion when you screwed up, and we're paying for that
with our lack of jobs, income, and loosing our houses. We want you (banks) to
x,y,z and we will do a,b,c...

I just want to see one place where a coherent message of demands is, so I can
pick a side. I think the way the bailouts was handled was shameful, and I'd
like to see main st. Get back on it's feet, but it is difficult to do that
because I don't know what they are really asking for.

in contrast to Vietnam war protesters, they got it. They knew what they
wanted, nobody questioned what the protesters really stood for. Same with
anti-nuke, immigration protests, civil rights, etc etc.

I'm assuming that they are possed about the bailouts and the financial issues
only because they are trying to disrupt wall st. They could be the 99% who
can't afford healthcare, 99% who thinks there are too many Starbucks outlets,
99% who have to watch their weight and exercises to stay thin while the 1% can
eat whatever they want and never gain a oz.

how they haven't realized that they don't have a single cause yet is very
surprising, or maybe I'm just missing it.

~~~
glimcat
It's only their third week. The Vietnam War protests went on for how long?
Give them some time and maybe they'll get the message figured out. The
solutions to economic depression and socioeconomic disparity are a bit more
complicated than "pull out of the war." You don't fix a mediocre Gini
coefficient overnight.

They seem to be at the "I'm pissed, are you pissed too?" stage. I expect
they'll either fizzle out eventually, or they'll refine their message and
pivot.

------
mtdev
It is good that this is getting some publicity but the whole protest is
misdirected without a clear message or demands. I would love to see more of
the '99%' take a relatively smaller step forward and participate in elections.
With so many close races, even a few unified percent, of the '99%', can hold a
lot of political clout thereby making a stronger statement. As a bonus, you
can take work off to vote and you don't have to get arrested!

------
thinkcomp
It's a movement desperately in need of leadership.

The financial system is incredibly complex. It makes protesting it extremely
difficult because there are so many aspects that are broken. Anyone who ends
up leading it will inevitably have to be pretty closely connected to the so-
called 1%, because frankly that's who runs the show right now and those are
the people who understand the system and how to change it.

I'd love to help but I'm afraid I'm on the wrong side of the country. If you
want to help me with PlainSite (<http://www.plainsite.org>), though, I think
it could help articulate the movement's message.

