Where is Occupy Wall Street Going?

I have to applaud the “Occupy Wall Street” movement even if their message is a little disjointed.  I think the message will sharpen in time.  I hope the main focus continues to be the ongoing market manipulation and crime that has gone unpunished.  I know folks on both sides of the spectrum are criticizing these folks.    I am not surprised because, after all, both parties have been bought off by the Wall Street bankers.  (I am behind anyone who is exercising their First Amendment rights.)  James Howard Kunstler (Kunstler.com) has written a very clever and thoughtful post on the New York protesters.  He gives us his vision of where this movement is heading, and I could not have done anything better.  Please enjoy!  –Greg Hunter–

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Occupy Everything

By James Howard Kunstler

Guest Writer for USAWatchdog.com 

“Recession Officially Over,” The New York Times’ lead headline declared around 7 o’clock this morning. (Watch: they’ll change it.) That was Part A. Part B said, “US Incomes Kept Falling.” Welcome to What-The-Fuck Nation. I suppose if you include the cost of things like the number of auto accident victims transported by EMT squads as part of your Gross Domestic Product such contradictions to reality are possible. Elizabeth Kübler-Ross, where are you when we really need you?

I dropped in on the Occupy Wall Street crowd down in Zuccotti Park last Thursday. It was like 1968 all over again, except there was no weed wafting on the breeze (another WTF?). The Boomer-owned-and-operated media was complaining about them all week. They were “coddled trust-funders” (an odd accusation made by people whose college enrollment status got them a draft deferment, back when college cost $500 a year). Then there was the persistent nagging over the “lack of an agenda,” as if the US Department of Energy, or the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs was doing a whole lot better.

This is the funniest part to me: that leaders of a nation incapable of  constructing a coherent consensus about reality can accuse its youth of not having a clear program. If the OWS movement stands for anything, it’s a dire protest against the country’s leaders’ lack of a clear program.

For instance, what is Attorney General Eric Holder’s program for prosecuting CDO swindles, the MERS racket, the bonus creamings of TBTF bank executives, the siphoning of money from the Federal Reserve to foreign banks, the misconduct at Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the willful negligence of the SEC, and countless other villainies? What is Barack Obama’s program for restoring the rule of law in American financial affairs? (Generally, the rule of law requires the enforcement of laws, no?)

Language is failing us, of course. When speaking of “recession,” one is forced into using the twisted, tweaked, gamed categories of economists whose mission is to make their elected bosses look good in spite of anything reality says. I prefer the term contraction, because a.) that is what is really going on, and b.) the economists haven’t got their mendacious mitts around it yet. Contraction means there is not going to be more, only less, and it implies that a reality-based society would make some attempt to acknowledge and manage having less – possibly by doing more.

Instead, our leaders only propose accounting tricks to pretend there is more when really there is less. The banking frauds of the past twenty years were a conspiracy between government and banks to provide the illusion that an economy based on happy motoring, suburban land development, continual war, and entertainment-on-demand could go on indefinitely. The public went along with it following the path of least resistance, allowing themselves to be called “consumers.” They also went along with the nonsense out of the Supreme Court that declared corporations to be “persons” with “a right to free speech” where political campaign contributions were concerned – thereby assuring the wholesale purchase of the US government by Wall Street banks.

Praise has been coming in from all quarters for the peacefulness of the OWSers. Don’t expect that to last. In the natural course of things, revolutionary actions meet resistance, generate friction, and then heat. Anyway, history is playing one of its little tricks by simultaneously ramping up the OWS movement in the same moment that the banking system is actually imploding, with the fabric showing the most stress right now in Europe. I shudder to imagine what happens when OWS moves into the streets of France, Germany, Holland, Italy, and Spain.

All of the action right now has the weird aura of being an overture to the year 2012, fast approaching as we slouch into the potentially demoralizing holidays of the current year. I don’t subscribe to Mayan apocalypse notions, but there’s something creepy about the wendings and tendings of our affairs these days. OWS is nature’s way of telling us to get our shit together, or else. This means a whole lot more than bogus “jobs” bills and Federal Reserve interest rate legerdemain. It means coming to grips with the limits of complexity and purging the system of the idea that anything is too big to fail. What happens when Occupy Wall Street becomes Occupy Everything, Everywhere?

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Mr. Kunstler is a prolific and talented author. Some of his recent books include: “The Witch of Hebron,” World made by Hand,” and “The Long Emergency.” To check out Mr. Kunstler’s bio (click here.) To go to his website (click here.)

 

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Comments
  1. MT_oroyplata

    Excellent article. Very well written Mr. Kunstler. I am just glad that I am fortunate to live in rural Montana during this period in history, as I don’t think the future, or near future for that matter, is going to be pretty.

    • Greg

      Thank you MT!
      Greg

  2. maria oceanna

    “Language is failing us…” ?
    No, it’s the lies that create the failure.
    Why are you all wondering “what the Wall St protests are about?”
    THE INJUSTICE OF THE FINANCIAL SYSTEM is what the protests are about.
    The commentaries are full of ambivalence about those who are spending their time and energy to register disapproval for the bailouts, Glass -Steagall and the rest of it. That makes me wonder, whose side are the so-called Dems on?
    Not the one I live on. My small town is sliding into a depression, not a recession. Foreclosures are now common in the middle class and even upper class circles here.

    When Americans don’t support each other in this protest against injustice, they have already taken a side.
    History will prove that Americans know how to pull off another revolution, despite the pundits on both sides.

  3. Mark

    I’m not always a fan of Kuntsler but I believe he has it largely correct this time. For an equally acerbic observation of OWS please see Steyn’s article-

    http://commonamericanjournal.com/?p=34042

    Or a dose of common sense –

    http://mises.org/daily/5753/Occupied-by-Government

  4. Bob

    they have a message, 99% feel they are being walk on and the 1% is the problem. They are giving the 1% a heads up to get on board in a peaceful way. Now it’s up to the 1% to send a message, they will enforce the laws close down bad banks and just do what a lawful country should do. The reasons for feeling this way is on there blog.

    • maria oceanna

      Exactly.
      Watch Ron Paul on http://www.zerohedge.com
      He says it all.
      The to 1/10th of 1 % will not give up their power; but their time is over.

  5. pieter

    I enjoyed reading the article. I am upset that majority of people in us and europe are so naieve and just refuse to investigate and study why and where our economic problems come from. It is really not so hard to see when the governments and banks made a secret deal that both could by
    means of fractional banking create as much money they wanted. With this system which is almost world wide common in most countries is not surprising that we are in a economic crisis. The same old tricks which were used hundreds of years ago by kings and emperors are still in practice. The only solution is return back to sound and private money whithout any interference of goverments or banks. And yes I forget we need to start first let the bankers families pay taxes minumum 30% as they did not pay any taxes for centuries because of their wealthy they constant amass and hide in trusts and foundations. Best would be close all those trusts and foundations and clear all their assets and give them back to the public of whom they have stolen them through out centuries in the first place. Our politicians are almost all of them bought and firmly on the payroll of our banksters. Rest me with last question whom you trust more your own politician or would you have more faith in gold in financial matters.

    regards,

    Pieter from Holland europe “flying dutchman”

    • Greg

      “Flying Dutchman”
      I am very happy to get a European perspective on the site. Thank you!
      Greg

  6. Stief Bijer

    Great article (as usual, Greg)!

    Let me say a good word about some bankers, such as my uncle, who was a bank president in the 1960’s in our small city. He actually QUIT and retired when the Fed and the NYC INVESTMENT BANKERS (Goldman $achs, et al) began to endlessly increase their control of everything to do with money.

    In short, we need to carefully define the true culprits behind the horrible disaster headed inevitably our way (in 2014-15 in my uncle’s opinion).

    The real mastermind crooks are NOT Wall Street stock brokers and traders, nor the “rich” (now defined as $250K+ gross annual family income).

    The real crooks are NY City’s INVESTMENT BANKING cartel (Goldman Sachs, et al) and the NY City press (WSJ, NYTimes, TV, radio and other print media) which earns $1,000MM in ads from these investment banksters each year to stay silent.

    These NYC crooks “own” at least 98% of ALL the US government politicians, judges, prosecutors, inspectors, etc.

    I doubt there are 10 people in all these NYC “bu$inesses” and Washington offices that could qualify as honest, ethical and caring.

    The only honest one I know about is Martin Armstrong, who is as financially brilliant as he always was, but is now also extremely noble and caring….more so because he was falsely imprisoned by these same crooks for the last 9 years.

    • Greg

      Stief,
      I have no problem with bankers in general. I have a big problem with crooked bankers that rig the game and buy off politicians. Thank you for your comment.
      Greg

  7. Will

    Stief is correct and I’m hoping the emerging Occupy the Fed will focus on the root cause of the global financial crisis – CENTRAL BANKING. Based on the demans of OWS I fear the original cause may be in the process of being hijacked as many of their proposed solution smake of socialism and statism.

    In any problem you must continue to ask why and peel back the onion until you reach the root cause. Government and Wall Street are enabled by central banking. Get rid of that and you racket back government and Wall Street significanly. I’m not saying all the problems would be solved but perhaps 90%. That would give “we the people” some breathing room to tackle the other 10%.

  8. Joni Carleton

    I roared over Mr. Kunstler’s article. Greg, have you read John Rappoport’s article yesterday,’OCCUPY WALL STREET,OCCUPY WHITE HOUSE’? Another great piece which reminded me of Bill Maher’s type of sarcastic political commentary.

  9. William

    Its really all very simple. First Obama must go. Second Liberalism must go. Are those the only problems, no, but they are the biggest by far. Why Liberalism? Because the root of liberalism is Godlessness.
    No matter what the lib’s say this is true. The current protest crowd is the same one that was around during Bush protesting the wars. What happened to them when Odumba got in? They disappeared. These fools who half don’t even know why they are there are simply a result of a liberal upbringing where they were taught what to think and not how to think. Greg your right on most issues, but the Wall street thing your wrong. Tell the lib’s to occupy Penn, ave and call for Obama to step down, then you will see them all fade away. Thanks for letting us express our thoughts.

    • Greg

      William,
      “Liberalism” is not solely responsible for all the problems we have in this country. Lots of God fearing conservatives helped dig the hole. Two wars and a tax cut by Bush. Wild Wall Street speculation that went unchecked and even encouraged in the Bush 43 years. TARP came from a Bush and he Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson. Of course all this crap was covered up and continued by Obama. So, in my mind, there is no difference. The country is in deep financial trouble and both the left and right are to blame. I don’t know how you think I am wrong on Wall Street. Crimes on a large scale have gone unpunished. A thousand financial elites went to jail in the wake of the S&L crisis. The 2008 crisis is 50 times larger and NOBODY on Wall Street went to jail. Is your God that forgiving? Mine is not.. The banks and Wall Street must be fixed or the country will never recover! Thank you for your comment.
      Greg

      • William

        Dear Greg, You make alot of great points that cannot be denied. Yes men are men left or right, but given the choice Greg tell me who you would choose to run your city or town you live in. A conservative or a liberal? Yes if crimes were committed then of course justice should prevail. But there is a difference, slight at times yes but still a difference. These are times of deep trouble and I think we know it will only get worse. Emotions run high on all sides, how will we all react when it really starts to get bad? God help us all, that is the ones who believe in father God. The ones who deny father God as the scripture says will be on there own.

  10. citizen ron

    language IS failing us only because TPTB have hijacked that, too. you’d almost have to be a linguist to understand it, or at least have enough grasp of the language to know the difference between ‘education system’ and ‘school’. TPTB own the language and they control it every day through mass-manipulation (TV) and every other arm of media on the planet. they’re coming for the internet, too.

    where the OWS ‘movement’ is going:

    1- some are going to jail.
    2- some will go home.
    3- many are going to die.

    dire, stark warnings have been lodged for the past several years to get out of the cities. there are reasons for that warning, the least of which are RIOTS, which the USG is actively trying to incite. it will come; history repeats itself and this will not end nicely. this has been seen before, it’s a rerun.

    applaud those brave souls? i don’t think so. you are cheering for people who are about to be razed en masse over an ideal. freedom of speech is the very least of our worries now. when you step back and look at the big picture, everything pales in comparison to COLLAPSE OF INDUSTRIAL CIVILIZATION. when you step back and look at he big picture, tell me if you see:

    1- your own vegetable garden. does it exist?
    2- a three-month supply of food in your pantry. is it there?
    3- a stash of weapons in your closet (or wherever). do you have them?
    4- gold and/or silver bullion or coin. got any?

    collapse is here, right now, and it’s getting bigger and badder by the day. how many of the OWSers are ready for it? don’t tell me. i already know: almost none.

    what would be the best move for the OWSers now would be to en masse drop all that crap they’re carrying around and go home, start planting food, trade worthless fiat for gold & silver & other useful items for survival, stock up the pantry with foodstuffs, staples and SEEDS. lots and lots of SEEDS.

    cheering them on and/or cheering against the upper 1% is moot at this point. the system is crashing right now. the time for this protest was quite some time ago… perhaps right after 9-11 would have been good.

    if you care the least about their lives, you’d cheer the OWSers to go home. it’s too little, too late. educate them and make them see there’s no time left for protesting. tell them to go home and prepare. get out of the cities, get out from under the boots of the stormtroopers.

    mike ruppert at collapsenet says “until you change the way money works, you change nothing”. that’s only partially right. until you change YOURSELVES– that is change your mind and change your spiritual tack–
    the way money works cannot possibly be changed. REAL CHANGE COMES FROM WITHIN, NOT WITHOUT.

    but don’t take it from me. deepak chopra was interviewed on the streets of nyc last week. find that video and listen to his words. he echoed my sentiments almost precisely.

    there is NO future for banks or bankers.

    there is NO future for ‘infinite growth’, because it’s not possible on a finite planet (that is expanding).

    there is NO future for OWS.

    when the vanity of ‘WE ARE THE 99%’ wears off, you’ll realize these OWSers are walking into a trap. maybe then you’ll stop cheering for them, go get your car and start shuttling them out of the cities. these cities are going to burn. wait and see.

    the warnings for getting out of the cities the last several years haven’t been issued for nothing. history repeats itself and it’s very easy now to see what’s coming. it’s all happened before. it’s happening again.

    go home and plant seeds. in less than two months you’ll be eating organic veggies while the city you once ‘occupied’ is still burning and the system is crashing all around you.

    • Mountainaires

      AMEN RON. I’m in complete agreement with you. This is not something to support; it’s just another indication of the breakdown in our social and economic system, and it will become violent; in fact it already is, the language has escalated over the weekend. Giving people permission to vent their RAGE carte blanche is never a good idea; it’s dangerous. I completely support the right to march in protest, under legal permit; but they’re trespassing at Zucotti Park, which is privately owned property, and challenging authority with threats; their rhetoric is growing increasingly violent and threatening; they are actually threatening people in their homes. It’s not good, it’s going to get ugly.

  11. Joni Carleton

    Greg, as a follow-up here’s Jon Rappoport’s ‘Occupy the White House or Occupy the Men’s Room’, on his blog: http://www.nomorefakenews.com 🙂

    • Greg

      Thank you Joni for the link!
      Greg

  12. Emmett Grogan

    “The Boomer-owned-and-operated media was complaining about them all week. They were “coddled trust-funders” (an odd accusation made by people whose college enrollment status got them a draft deferment, back when college cost $500 a year).”

    Excuse me, but you are entirely missing the point, Mr. Kunstler. ONLY the rich baby-boomers went to college to avoid the draft; not everyone could afford college then and it wasn’t always $500/year everywhere. Why are you buying into the idiotic media lie that we baby-boomers created this mess? You’re talking about 1% of Boomers, the rich ones and they aren’t good examples, the rich in every generation have always been the same. Most of us Boomers in ’60’s were protesting unfair civil rights laws and alot of other good causes. And if you think Rupert Murdoch is a baby boomer, you can’t do simple math, he was born in 1931, hardly a boomer.

  13. iknowbetter

    The author wants to know where OccupyWallstreet is going. This cannot be understood unless one anlyzes where they are COMING FROM. Please analyze that before predicting futures.

    Start your anlaysis at “mad as hell.” At that point, you’ll never know where it’s going.

    …ikb

  14. Roderick Pagnossin

    Citizen Ron makes a good case. This certainly could become a ugly event. It may whisper out. But next time it may not.

    Either way nothing is more important that preparing for hardship. Also for those you want to help such as family and friends as they may not “get it” either.

    You will hoarde up on food and other items needed to survive if you understand the enourmity of the mess this country and the world is in.

  15. Mountainaires

    I’m sorry to see you are supporting this marxist revolutionary movement, Greg. Get real. This is already getting violent, and the violence will only escalate. Who’s backing these people?

    1). AGJ–the Alliance for Global Justice, a revolutionary marxist organization, with ties to the Sandinistas, and the Zapatistas in Mexico. Ironically, they’re a 501 3 c “charity” for tax defrauding purposes! They’re processing the money donations for OWS.

    2.) The Nazi Party of the US has publicly come out in support of OWS

    3.) CPUSA, the Communist Party of the USA has come out in support of OWS

    4). SEIU and ACORN are also “on board” helping to provide the latest “surge” to the crowds over the weekend.

    5) Anarchists are already making their way into the protests in Rome and will soon be infiltrating OWS, if history is any guide.

    What is wrong with people? This isn’t anything to be supported. Their agenda isn’t “justice”; it’s marxism and revolution and upheaval. NOTHING that is on their agenda can be positive for this country.

    • Greg

      Mountainaires,
      I am supporting the 1st Amendment. The people you mentioned didn’t start this movement, they are just trying to hijack it. By the way, putting crooked bankers in jail would be a good first step. Stopping the banker bailouts would be a good step#2.
      Greg

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