Pro-tax Occupation Protests Held Across U.S. (O.W.S. Thread)

[deep]

another victory for the 99%.

Verizon drops plan for $2 fee on some bill payments
Los Angeles Times | Dec. 30, 2011 | 12:26 p.m.

After a strong reaction from protesters flinging coffee drinks at the front doors of Verizon Stores, Verizon Wireless said today that it will scrap its plan to charge customers $2 for making some types of bill payments.
More at latimes.com.

 

[Caleb8844]

These are the things that cause people to feel validated in their opinions that OWS is filled with idiotic, lazy pot heads.

 

[BVS]

These are the things that cause people to feel validated in their opinions that OWS is filled with idiotic, lazy pot heads.

Care to explain?

 

[Caleb8844]

Throwing coffee drinks at a business's front door until you get what you want isn't exactly the most mature or civilized thing in the world

 

[BVS]

Throwing coffee drinks at a business's front door until you get what you want isn't exactly the most mature or civilized thing in the world

Do you really think the coffee cups are what caused the change?

 

[financeguy]

Throwing coffee drinks at a business's front door until you get what you want isn't exactly the most mature or civilized thing in the world

Do you think they should have adopted the tactics of American special forces in Iraq?

 

[Caleb8844]

Do you really think the coffee cups are what caused the change?

Never said it was.

 

[Caleb8844]

Do you think they should have adopted the tactics of American special forces in Iraq?

Not totally sure what you mean by this, or where you're going with it...but I guess I probably wouldn't be okay with that, no

 

[BVS]

Never said it was.

I'm just curious why you allowed yourself to focus on that? It was obviously a small editorialized spin to the overall result.

 

[HBK-79]

I must have missed something.

According to CNN, Verizon Wireless dropped their plans for that $2 after angry customers had left them negative feedback online.

 

[Caleb8844]

I'm just curious why you allowed yourself to focus on that? It was obviously a small editorialized spin to the overall result.

To me, it was just another example of OWS trying to get results in the wrong ways. I don't totally disagree with a lot of the base principles of OWS. I really don't. I just think that more often than not, they go about trying to get their goals in the wrong ways. Just my opinion, though.

 

[BVS]

To me, it was just another example of OWS trying to get results in the wrong ways. I don't totally disagree with a lot of the base principles of OWS. I really don't. I just think that more often than not, they go about trying to get their goals in the wrong ways. Just my opinion, though.

I think this can be said about all activist groups.

 

[Caleb8844]

I think this can be said about all activist groups.

Yep, I'd agree. It's depressing really. But oh well, such is life

 

[MrsSpringsteen]

I can't believe Verizon, with all they are making on cell phone plans and phones, would even try something like that. Especially after the B of A thing.

They just don't get it

 

[Achtung11]

I can't believe Verizon, with all they are making on cell phone plans and phones, would even try something like that. Especially after the B of A thing.

They just don't get it

While it was a dumb move from a PR standpoint, I don't see the big deal. It only applied to people who manually pay with credit card. That means you could have still made monthly automatic payments without paying the $2 fee, or have simply paid with your bank account. It costs businesses more money to accept CC payments than bank payments, so it's understandable that they'd want to charge for that.

 

[MrsSpringsteen]

It's only a "big deal" because of the symbolic nature of it, just like the Bank of America fee. It doesn't matter what it costs them, people don't want to hear that right now.

At least Verizon didn't get a bailout. Maybe they're going so broke that they'll ask for one soon.

 

[Achtung11]

It's only a "big deal" because of the symbolic nature of it, just like the Bank of America fee. It doesn't matter what it costs them, people don't want to hear that right now.

At least Verizon didn't get a bailout. Maybe they're going so broke that they'll ask for one soon.

I will agree on that. Like I said before, it was pretty dumb from a PR standpoint.

 

[cobl04]

Today I was part of a photo shoot for a silly edition (made up stories) of the paper I work at. We were "the 1%" and dressed up in suits, held iphones, coffee from Starbucks and held placards. Mine said "99 problems but I ain't one"

 

[Vlad n U 2]

Awww, Cobbler's first costume party.

 

[INDY500]

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. (AP) - A southern Indiana city has ordered Occupy Wall Street protesters to vacate a downtown park and remove their personal belongings.

The Herald-Times reports Bloomington officials posted a public eviction notice Wednesday evening at Peoples Park declaring that all personal belongings, including tents, must be removed by noon Thursday.

Protesters have camped at Peoples Park since October. The city had allowed the protesters and several homeless people to stay overnight in tents at the park, cook over a propane stove and set up military-style canvas tents.

It only took our ultra-liberal mayor 4 months to conclude that freedom of speech does not equate to freedom to camp in public spaces and poop in the bushes.

 

[PhilsFan]

You live in Bloomington? I was there a few months ago.

 

[HBK-79]

According to CNN, Americans make up more than half the world's wealthiest 1%.

Some Americans are saying that this is evidence that hard work pays off, that free enterprise really does good things, and that the OWS protesters should be grateful that they don't live in Africa or Asia.

Do you guys agree with this statement?

 

[coolian2]

Some Americans are saying that this is evidence that hard work pays off, that free enterprise really does good things, and that the OWS protesters should be grateful that they don't live in Africa or Asia.

that's particularly degrading towards asia, i'd suggest.

 

[INDY500]

You live in Bloomington? I was there a few months ago.

Hope you enjoyed our Hoosier hospitality.

 

[PhilsFan]

Most definitely. Great town there, I'd say probably nicer than State College.

 

[INDY500]

Occupy Oakland arrests reach 400; City Hall vandalized - latimes.com)

Occupy Oakland arrests reach 400; City Hall vandalized
January 30, 2012

Reporting from Oakland— Officials surveyed damage Sunday from a volatile Occupy protest that resulted in hundreds of arrests the day before and left the historic City Hall vandalized after demonstrators broke into the building, smashed display cases, cut electrical wires and burned an American flag.

Mayor Jean Quan condemned the local movement's tactics as "a constant provocation of the police with a lot of violence toward them" and said the demonstrations were draining scarce resources from an already strapped city. Damage to the City Hall plaza alone has cost $2 million since October, she said, about as much as police overtime and mutual aid.

Time Person of the Year

 

[Moonlit_Angel]

I like how you bolded the "burned the American flag" part. To me this is much more bothersome and aggravating:

left the historic City Hall vandalized after demonstrators broke into the building, smashed display cases, cut electrical wires

That's going to take a lot of time and money to clean up.

Not to mention, as has been discussed before, the "Person of the Year" is just nominating someone who was newsworthy, good or bad qualities notwithstanding.

 

[coolian2]

I like how you bolded the "burned the American flag" part.

anything that can be considered a mild affront to the flag makes baby jesus cry.

 

[deep]

I like how you bolded the "burned the American flag" part.

unfortunately, it was not "the" American flag

only 'an' American flag.

 

[anitram]

Lovely article from Bloomberg today:

Bonus Drop Means Trading Aspen for Coupons - Bloomberg

Some especially great parts:

Schiff, 46, is facing another kind of jam this year: Paid a lower bonus, he said the $350,000 he earns, enough to put him in the country’s top 1 percent by income, doesn’t cover his family’s private-school tuition, a Kent, Connecticut, summer rental and the upgrade they would like from their 1,200-square- foot Brooklyn duplex.

...

“People who don’t have money don’t understand the stress,” said Alan Dlugash, a partner at accounting firm Marks Paneth & Shron LLP in New York who specializes in financial planning for the wealthy. “Could you imagine what it’s like to say I got three kids in private school, I have to think about pulling them out? How do you do that?”

...

Wall Street headhunter Daniel Arbeeny said his “income has gone down tremendously.” On a recent Sunday, he drove to Fairway Market in the Red Hook section of Brooklyn to buy discounted salmon for $5.99 a pound.

...

Scheiner said he spends about $500 a month to park one of his two Audis in a garage and at least $7,500 a year each for memberships at the Trump National Golf Club in Westchester and a gun club in upstate New York. A labradoodle named Zelda and a rescued bichon frise, Duke, cost $17,000 a year, including food, health care, boarding and a daily dog-walker who charges $17 each per outing, he said.

Still, he sold two motorcycles he didn’t use and called his Porsche 911 Carrera 4S Cabriolet “the Volkswagen of supercars.”

...

The malaise is shared by Schiff, the New York-based marketing director for Euro Pacific Capital, where his brother is CEO. His family rents the lower duplex of a brownstone in Cobble Hill, where his two children share a room. His 10-year- old daughter is a student at $32,000-a-year Poly Prep Country Day School in Brooklyn. His son, 7, will apply in a few years.

“I can’t imagine what I’m going to do,” Schiff said. “I’m crammed into 1,200 square feet. I don’t have a dishwasher. We do all our dishes by hand.”

The family rents a three-bedroom summer house in Connecticut and will go there again this year for one month instead of four.