Tag Archives | Occupy Wall Street

Bloomberg repeats the Big Lie

By on November 21, 2011 in Economics, General Discussion, Politics

Barry Ritholtz has a good article on the Big Lie (that the housing bubble was mainly caused by the federal requirement to dole out subprime mortgages to unqualified borrowers). Ritholtz (author of Bailout Nation) identifies 12 different factors which contributed to the housing bubble and financial crisis. http://www.ritholtz.com/blog/2011/11/what-caused-the-financial-crisis-the-big-lie-goes-viral/ I mention Bloomberg’s lapse in judgment as [...]

Read full story • Comments { 1 }

The Arab Spring and The Financial Crisis: The Common Thread

By on November 9, 2011 in Economics, Human Behavior, International affairs, Politics

This is in response to Diogene’s argument that the revolt against Gadhafi in Libya was somehow ‘manufactured’ by America. The May/June 2011 issue of ‘Foreign Affairs’ had a series of articles on the ‘The New Arab Revolt’, with subtitles of ‘What Just Happened’, ‘Why No One Saw It Coming’, ‘What It Means’, and ‘What Comes [...]

Read full story • Comments { 28 }

The transformation of the political process.

By on November 4, 2011 in Human Behavior, Politics

The political process in the U.S. is undergoing a rapid shift, and what should be clear is that we don’t know precisely where it will take us. While we focus on the here and now we should remember the impact the MoveOn.org, a liberal movement, had on the 2008 election, and in the last election the Tea [...]

Read full story • Comments { 2 }

A Debate on the consequences of Debt Forgiveness

By on October 23, 2011 in Economics, General Discussion, Human Behavior, Politics

One again today, fox news reported that a lingering and repeated theme resonating from the OWSERS is that of debt forgiveness.   It sounds simple enough but after a few minutes of just thinking about the concept even without researching it a few things came immediately to the fore.   Mortgage payments made month by month [...]

Read full story • Comments { 16 }

Just a small push.

By on October 20, 2011 in Economics, General Discussion, International affairs

I brought this up as a comment to a post by Arkady but given the current demonstrations in Greece it seems to be worth a post of its own. http://www.nytimes.com/2011/10/20/world/europe/greek-workers-start-two-day-anti-austerity-strike.html?ref=world The Occupy Wall Street protests have spawned many sympathetic protests around the world, but the protesters may not be aware of how close they are [...]

Read full story • Comments { 7 }

Syncronicity.

By on October 16, 2011 in Human Behavior

From a New York Times piece covering a  global research effort tracking peoples moods on social media, ‘drawing on messages posted by more than two million people in 84 countries, researchers discovered that the emotional tone of people’s messages followed a similar pattern not only through the day but also through the week and the changing [...]

Read full story • Comments { 3 }

The message.

By on October 15, 2011 in General Discussion, Human Behavior

Something we have heard a lot about the Occupy Wall Street protests is that they don’t have any clear demands, they may not have clear demands but they do have a message, the message is put forward in the very act of the demonstrations. So as they go global, http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/10/15/us-protests-idUSTRE79E0FC20111015, http://www.nytimes.com/2011/10/16/world/occupy-wall-street-protests-worldwide.html?hp,  lets be clear about what the message [...]

Read full story • Comments { 10 }

Paul Krugman On The Panic Of The Plutocrats

By on October 11, 2011 in Economics, Politics

A very interesting op-ed by Paul Krugman:   October 9, 2011 Panic of the Plutocrats By PAUL KRUGMAN It remains to be seen whether the Occupy Wall Street protests will change America’s direction. Yet the protests have already elicited a remarkably hysterical reaction from Wall Street, the super-rich in general, and politicians and pundits who [...]

Read full story • Comments { 8 }

Reich: The Wall Street Occupiers and the Democratic Party

By on October 8, 2011 in General Discussion, Politics

Reich wrote an interesting comment which was picked up by Economists View. I think you might enjoy it. Will the Wall Street Occupiers morph into a movement that has as much impact on the Democratic Party as the Tea Party has had on the GOP? Maybe. But there are reasons for doubting it. … So [...]

Read full story • Comments { 16 }

Occupy Wall Street

By on October 4, 2011 in Economics, Politics

Gentlemen: For those of you who may not know, Occupy New York is a spin off of Show Down in Chicago and perhaps a more radical version. I attended the 2009 Show Down to protest the American Bankers Association meeting. The next Showdown in Chicago is this weekend and again coincides with the ABA meeting. [...]

Read full story • Comments { 5 }