Wealthy and Powerful Politicians are Terrified of #OccupyWallStreet
Posted: October 7, 2011 Filed under: #Occupy and We are the 99 percent!, U.S. Economy, U.S. Politics | Tags: #OccupyWallStreet, Eric Cantor, growing mobs, Michael Bloomberg, municipal workers, Tea Party, unions, Values Voters Summit 22 Comments
Mayor Bloomberg is really upset. In an interview with the Village Voice today, He claimed that #OccupyWallStreet is trying to destroy jobs for working people in New York City. Funny, I had the impression they were protesting because so many Americans don’t have jobs.
“Everyone’s got a thing they want to protest, some of which is not realistic,” Bloomberg said. “And if you focus for example on driving the banks out of New York City, you know those are our jobs … You can’t have it both ways: If you want jobs you have to assist companies and give them confidence to go and hire people.”
“The protests that are trying to destroy the jobs of working people in this city aren’t productive,” Bloomberg said in his weekly radio appearance with John Gambling. Taking a swipe at “some of the labor unions participating,” Bloomberg added that “their salaries come from – are paid by – some of the people they’re trying to vilify.”
I guess as far as Bloomberg is concerned, the bottom 99% don’t pay any taxes, and bankers are “working people.” That seems like a pretty skewed view of reality to me. But what do I know? I’m in the bottom 99%. And where did he get the idea that anyone is trying to drive the banks out of New York?
Bloomberg says the protests could affect tourism, but it seems to me that a lot of those protesters are from out of town and probably spending whatever money they have in NYC. But of course they aren’t wealthy or bankers, so they probably don’t count in Bloomberg’s world.
Bloomberg also issues a couple of not-very-subtle threats. He says “we’re not going to be able to pay our municipal employees,” presumably because all the bankers will leave town and there won’t be any tourists. I don’t get the logic there, but the threat to unions who have joined the protests is clear.
Finally, Bloomberg said that he’s letting the protesters “express themselves,” but he hinted that a crackdown could come at any time. I wonder if he realizes how much he sounds like Hosni Mubarak?
“The one thing I can tell you for sure,” he said…”is if anybody in the city breaks the law we will arrest them and turn them over the district attorneys.”
Hmmm…does that include bankers who broke the law? Or does the warning just apply to the bottom 99%?
And then there’s Rep. Eric Cantor (R-VA). Today spoke at the “Values Voters Summit,” which, according to MSNBC, is
an annual gathering of the religious right…[that] provides Republican politicians and presidential candidates an opportunity to display their conservative bona fides.
In the speech, Cantor expressed his fear of the #OccupyWallStreet protesters:
House GOP Leader Eric Cantor decried the protests that started several weeks ago in New York, and have spread to major cities across the country. Cantor said in a speech at the Values Voters Summit in Washington that he is “increasingly concerned” about the “growing mobs” represented at the protests….
“Some in Washington have actually condoned the pitting of Americans against Americans,” Cantor said of the protests after accusing the Obama administration’s policies of being an “assault on many of our nation’s bedrock principles.”
Here’s a clip from the speech:
The hypocrisy almost takes your breath away, doesn’t it? Cantor speaks to a group of people who are segregated by their religion and political party and who as a group hate gays, women, and anyone who isn’t their kind of “Christian,” and he accuses the Occupy protesters–a very diverse group–of dividing Americans against each other.
Oh and Cantor loves the Tea Party, because they aren’t trying to divide Americans against each other. /snark
The good news is these two powerful politicians–and probably many others as well–are running scared. Let’s keep them that way!
peej
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Sky Dancing 
Yes, they are a bit threatening with their comments.
It’s breathtaking, isn’t it?
What does he mean he’s ‘letting?” Americans have a Constitutional right to peaceful assembly and this gathering has been remarkably peaceful. The hyperbole over the last few days is amazing. I just watched a few clips from CNBC a poster [anon-a-mouse] put up at another site. The talking heads are referencing Lenin, anti-capitalism, people who like to break windows.
What Occupy movement are they watching or listening to?
And now the astro-turf charge is being leveled. It’s all a diabolical plot by Obama and Axelrod for reelection purposes. Cantor says the protests [the mob] is pitting Americans against Americans. That would be the 99% against the 1%. Orin Hatch says the movement will inspire massive riots. Coulter claims it’s the Left’s typical push towards destructive behavior [she’s got real gall].
Could the whole thing be co-opted by the powers that be? Yes, that is a distinct possibility. But where’s the evidence of that now? Herman Cain at least admitted that he had no proof in saying it was a deliberate distraction by the Obamacrats. That was almost as dumb as claiming the unemployed are responsible for their own unemployment. So, I guess we blame the poor for being poor, the elderly for being old and the infirmed for being unhealthy. Great philosophy!
There have been complaints that the movement started too late [it should have manifested in 2008]. Well, many Americans had hoped for change. It didn’t happen and now they’re pissed and unemployed, many homeless. There are no stated themes/goals. I dunno. We Are The 99ers pretty much implies what this is about–economic injustice, the Law’s double standard as applied to the top 1% [who own just about everything and have gotten away with the biggest heist in history]. It’s being held in the wrong place–could’a, would’a, should’a been held in DC. Well, as Klein bluntly stated: Wall St is the site of the crime. And DC? Occupy set up in DC Thursday.
The protest has been on for three weeks. The anti-demonstration voices are already bubbling with absolute hysteria. That tells me there’s something very right going on. This thing may go sour in a New York minute. It could be smothered in its crib. But there’s also the chance, it won’t fail and anyone who says they know absolutely how this turns out is either lying or scared shitless.
I remain cautiously optimistic. The longer the protesters hang on, the bigger the numbers get, the better chance it has to rattle the cages, gum up the machine and bring in the fresh air and transparency we so desperately need. It’s a start. Everything needs to start somewhere.
Peggy Sue,
You need to write a post! Don’t you think it would only strengthen the movement if Bloomberg tries to really crack down on the protesters? I do. It was the brutality of the NYPD that got the media interested in the first place.
That is also what created the stonewall defiance into the glbt civil rights movement. The nypd are notoriously brutal with group gatherings of folks they don’t like.
Good post – I just find it astounding that NY Bankers brought the system down, got bail outs and now want to forget every thing and move on with their unstustainable operations,. They and the government refuse to recognize that fraud was rampart with no prosecution by the government. Now Mayor Bloomberg wants us to forget that.
He seems to have not idea in terms of how the nation was damaged by his banks. Guess what, you accepted the tax revenue from the banks and now he has to deal with their residue.
,It’s time to turn all these dinosaurs out of office. They’re extinct but they don’t know it yet.
They’re starting to get nervous though.
I’m wondering how many people are in jail today for theft that is pennies compared to the grand theft of the crooks on Wall Street?? Double Standards — indeed!
These people are going to push Americans too far, and they’re going to find out they aren’t as powerful as they think. They have the guns but we have the numbers, as Jim Morrison used to say.
David Koch runs away from ABC news reporters
http://videocafe.crooksandliars.com/david/david-koch-flees-abc-news-over-iran-scandal-
This makes me smile!! 😀
Hillary 2012
Good! It made me smile too.
Can what they did be construde as treasonous actions?
Spot on BB! Some have such a twisted perspective of things. It’s time for clarity in ones vision.
Thank you, Randy. I think it’s important not to get caught up in the consensus reality formed by the media and government. Seeing all those people joining in with the “occupiers” is getting me excited and inspired more than anything that has happened in a long long time!
Last week I sent an email to my Congressman, and both Senators, in essence saying – “See, I told you eventually people would rise up if you don’t listen” that after three years of writing to them saying “pay attention, you have to start to reflecting our needs and stop ignoring those of us who sent you to represent us.
We all need to do that rather than wait until our cities are totally ravaged. The Occupy Wall Street initiative has cost the city over $50 million so far! there’s got to be a better way – Didn’t they learn anything from our protests in the 60’s and 70’s??? 😦
seems we the people are waking up. 🙂
And the shits still keep coming: Occupy Wall Street Protesters Like The Unabomber | Liz Trotta Video | Mediaite
The unibomber had a lot of very good ideas, despite his crimes.
I thought so too.
Yeah, but I am getting sick of the BS that the media is labeling these protesters.
But there is something that can be detrimental to the movement: Occupy Wall Street Begins to Chafe Its Neighbors – NYTimes.com
I saw a segment on the daily show that highlighted this woman who runs the coffee shop: Wall Street Occupied – The Daily Show with Jon Stewart – 10/06/11 – Video Clip | Comedy Central
Watch that Jon Stewart clip…because those shop owners have a point.
There should be some sort of sanitary rules these protest need to follow. I remember the protest in Egypt…there was an area set up with portable toilets, and the protesters would take turns cleaning the trash in the square. I think in other cities there are more organized but this is going to be an issue that will bite the occupation in the ass if they don’t do something about it.
Let me just add this. When I worked retail for 11 years, our bathroom was always a place we hated to let people use. One time this guy used it and needless to say we had to call clickity clack plumbing and the result was a bunch of clothing being thrown out because the man caused the toilet to flood the entire back room which was held our back stock.
I guess that is why I can understand the point these businesses have…