Very well said. The media is owned and operated by these very crooks and Americans lay about watching and listening. We believe anything we are told.

Jim Hightower for a good ole boy you’re really good! Very honest & straight forward presentation of the casuals of our plight as a people, as a nation.

Dave Brillig, well, you’re right too. Only you seem to see the examples of the symptoms and along with other commenter’s surrender a sense of an inability to correct these things that benefit only the 2%ers. I don’t quite buy into the 1%ers theme. Their core power base is more than only 1% for it to sustain its self as it has. It is a sensibility that they hold sway with and utilize.

Nor, do I hold the rest of us as innocent, hoodwinked victims. We, the people have been aware of the machinations, everything at least the results have been in the open, in the press, print, media & internet, etc. but we, the people just wouldn’t connect the dots, see the trends, realistically perceive, admit our individual participation in the relinquishing of our citizen’s obligations, not to our families, our employment, not our honor, not our dignity but to our collective responsibility to our Nation.

During the ‘Booms” we languished in bliss at our crumbs fallen or cast from their tables, during the ‘Recessions/mini Depressions’ we turned ugly inside, shunned our dignity and damned any voices that hinted of our addictions.

As for this prevailing restricting under current fear of this, peaceful righteous incongruous protesting all turning violent, what else is so new? It better! And yes some of it will spin down the wrong paths at times, just like all our other movements; Civil rights, just like end the Viet Nam War, etc. But if we, the people honestly realize that it is not the 1%, or for my kind the 2%ers, that must change, they’re fine the way they are, but us, me, you, our friends, our families. This ‘economic’ façade is what we allowed & made it by our collective actions & inactions.

Look not to the scruffy, micro, disjointed groups all over America, who thankfully have made us begin our epiphany by their vague cutesy finger wiggling, or esoteric statements.

Look deep inside yourself, look inside the spirit of our being as a Nation, see the direction or Valhalla you want our America to be. Then we, the people will see that Tea Party, Leftist, middle Class, Unionist, homeless, criminal & saint, etc. are one people, who by our very nature as Americans will make this happen.

There are more parts and things we hold and are in common than meets the eye. A love of country, that love has been whored & we are so angry, and misdirected.

Our Republic is our form of Democracy, and as cumbersome & inhumane as it is, it is still the only game for we, the people to live & prosper, as a Nation in a world of nations. This isn’t American Exceptionalism, it is simple fact. Go anywhere else on this earth & you don’t fit, only here on this piece of dirt and strange as all get out, we fit together.

So our resolves must be together reached. Having for my work life dealt with making Government work for the least of us, I know the systems, organizations, laws, etc we have already are so damn functional & beneficial to our society & culture. But it is in disarray, intentional neglected repair.

This coming ‘Revolution/Evolution’ must be violent, bloody, and horrendous for how else will it have value for us, we’re still, in many colours, under so many gods, America.

When the dust settles, when the bloodied earth dries & the stain fades away, the wounds scar over. Struggle without high cost is ney an honorable struggle, nor the results worth attaining.

Democracy, freedom are not stable static things, but this journey of tears, anguish, and at cost we cannot avoid but are fated to relish.

At the resolve, which yes we will reach, till the next time anyway, we will all look back and again proudly, with honor loudly roar, "This is what we, the people did! Damn right! We did!"

God don’t bless America! ‘We, the people’…do!

The voting system is rigged also, Iqbal. Computers and scanners can be programmed to add or subtract votes, or put the wrong name, even if you hit the button for the name you wanted. Check out Black Box Voting's website!

$4.5 trillion tax cuts for the rich over 8 years of Bush and forcibly continued over 2 years of the hapless Obama. There has been no supply side wealth creation or trickle down voodoo economics either with this largesse. And the 99% voted in the Republicans in mid-term as well !! Its the media ownership, stupid !

The Federal Reserve Bank, a private corporation empowered to "print" our currency, inflates the money supply by buying T-bills in the open market.

This is also how it affects interest rates to keep them so low. It has been referred to lately as "quantitative easing" but it's the only tool it has in it's tool box to affect interest rates or the money supply other than people borrowing money.

All this new money enters the money supply at the top of the food chain, by going to the former owners of treasury bills which are issued in denominations of $100,000 or larger. Can there be any question of the biggest source of money at the top? If the Fed were not constantly in the market buying these t-bills, interest rates would rise and retired savers could survive on their savings. Higher interest rates would make the gov't less eager to borrow and spend, and force business owners to make wiser decisions. People at the top would not have such a ready market for their financial instruments and they'd be less willing to sell them at the lower prices now being offered by fewer buyers, so there would be less cash and less income at the top, less price inflation to harm the lower and middle classes.

According to a recently released very limited audit, the Fed's balance sheet increased by over $16 TN in the last 3 years in an attempt to "stimulate" the economy and we now have some massive price inflation coming down the pike.

Ron Paul 2012 end the wars, audit the fed, down with spending, up with freedom.

The persons who have the audacity to call themselves "leaders" don't have a particular problem with greed. Money is a shield to them. They hide behind it quivering, quaking and trembling in terror. Their fear is responsibility. They want to be known, but haven't got the guts to actually do anything. So they lie, steal and kill to build up their wall of money. But they flee in a dead-run, wild-eyed, salivating terror from truth and responsibility. They are the most despicable cowards the planet has ever known.

Right on the mark! When the goal in life is to have more than anyone else, what self-restraints are there? None! Anything goes! Ironic that the most conservative elements of our society, the ones who wrap themselves in flag and Bible, are happily destroying lives and piling up the money while they stomp on the very democratic freedom they claim to love.What we have here in America today is not capitalism in it's basic form, but fascism, the evil wedding of government and business to control the economy, and with it, the people. Those in power will never tolerate peaceful disobedience. They are already frightened that this movement is gaining traction; witness the feeble attempts to discredit it using their mouhtpieces on the talk-show circuit. At some point, fairly soon, a violent confrontation far beyond what we've seen so far will take place, instigated by a few carefully-placed provocateurs, and some of the Occupy protesters will unwittingly join in. And that will give the far right the ammunition it needs to destroy the credibility of the movement. I'm no conspiracy thoerist, but similar things have happened in the past. It doesn't take a national consipracy to do this...just a few politicians who are doing thew ill of their money masters. And it doesn't have to happen everywhere; just one hih-profile incident will be enough. Pick any large city.So, Occupy folks...be aware, bless you for your courage, but take care!

If the widening chasm between the rich and the rest of us is not addressed, our society will devolve into a jungle — and not even billionaires will enjoy living there.

If the "Rich and Powerful" will not listen and get the message that the 99% of the Citizens of the United states of America and the World are trying to send them Peacefully, and the "Greddy and Corrupt" Politicians do not heed what the 99% or the Majority of the Citizens of theis country are clearly telling them, then the 99% will have n NO CHOICE but to take up ARMS and stop asking for Justice and Equallity for ALL and we shall take it.

At that point in time it is very possibly that the Rich and Powerful Individuals who were not supporting the 99% Movement, and the Greedy and Corrpt Politicians who were not supporting the 99% Movement will have all taken from them including thier FREEDOM.

That means Your Homes, Your Money, Your Airplanes, Your Investments, Your Power, Your Corporations and your Companies, Your Institutions and Your Organizations and Your Individual Freedoms.

As one billionaire said, "of course there is class warfare. Now, they are starting to shoot back." I said in the 70's , during the first oil embargo, that it was orchestrated to raise prices because the middle class was getting too comfortable. We will always be pawns in the hands of the super-rich until we get a real democracy where the will of the people is what counts and not the will of the wealthy and powerful. The powerful can stage any scenario to disrupt the economy with very little effect on themselves. Why do you think the Bilderbergs andother groups exist?