Anyone switching to a credit union with what's going on?

[MrPopo]

http://www.readersupportednews.org/opin ... s-cheating

In other words, why should we let banks get away with what we could never get away with.

Based on that article the people are occupying the wrong place. They should be protesting in DC. As an officer or shareholder in one of these companies I would be livid if they DIDN'T take advantage of all the loopholes the government has put in place.

Not everyone subscribes to assholery.

That doesn't invalidate my point. The issue isn't that companies are taking advantage of loopholes. The issue is that the loopholes exist. So take your protests to the people that create the loopholes, not the ones who benefit from the loopholes.

It wouldn't be so bad if he were actually just amoral. An amoral, self-interested, member of the lower 99% would advocate for positions that benefit the lower 99%.

No, an amoral, self-interested member of the lower 99% would advocate for positions that benefit that person, not necessarily the rest of the 99%. Like that article. "If you miss a mortgage payment you can lose your house but banks get bailouts". My response is good thing I don't miss my mortgage payment, so I don't care. My position is I will follow the established laws (as I'm realistic about the effort to overturn every single one I disagree with) and I will get left alone. So far it seems to be working out.

What we have here is completely unprincipled authoritarianism.

Still pissed that I don't want you smoking pot, huh? But seriously, have you looked at the 99% lately? Do you REALLY want them making decisions? I'm not saying the 1% are any better, but the overall concept of total democracy is about as flawed a system as you can think of. The only reason it even remotely works is we don't have a good way of objectively picking the "best" people to run things, so anything that involves too much concentration of power ends up blowing up as soon as you hit a bad ruler.

[Inazuma]

@Popo

So it's OK to do immoral things as long as it's legal? Fuck that. You disgust me.

[MrPopo]

@Popo

So it's OK to do immoral things as long as it's legal? Fuck that. You disgust me.

I don't believe in a concept of universal morality, so these things aren't immoral to everyone. Legality is well codified, however.

[Hatta]

My response is good thing I don't miss my mortgage payment, so I don't care.

And when your mortgage handler misfiles your mortgage, swears under penalty of perjury that your mortgage is in default despite doing absolutely nothing to check, and you get kicked out of your house by the Sherrif, will you care then?

The fact that you have escaped the consequences of the crimes committed by the finance industry is nothing but luck on your part.


@Inazuma. It's worse than that. MrPopo condones criminal acts, as long as they're done by the powerful.

[Inazuma]

@Popo

So it's OK to do immoral things as long as it's legal? Fuck that. You disgust me.

I don't believe in a concept of universal morality, so these things aren't immoral to everyone. Legality is well codified, however.

Replace "immoral things" with "harming others".

In other words, if there was a legal way to earn more money but it required fucking over many people, would you do it?

[MrPopo]

@Popo

So it's OK to do immoral things as long as it's legal? Fuck that. You disgust me.

I don't believe in a concept of universal morality, so these things aren't immoral to everyone. Legality is well codified, however.

Replace "immoral things" with "harming others".

In other words, if there was a legal way to earn more money but it required fucking over many people, would you do it?

Depends on if I knew the people or not.

The fact that you have escaped the consequences of the crimes committed by the finance industry is nothing but luck on your part.

No, the fact that other people have fallen victim to these are bad luck on their part. I'm not lucky until >50% of the possibly affected people are affected. By your logic the fact that I haven't been struck by lightning is luck on my part.

[J T]

That doesn't invalidate my point. The issue isn't that companies are taking advantage of loopholes. The issue is that the loopholes exist. So take your protests to the people that create the loopholes, not the ones who benefit from the loopholes.

You've had a "don't hate the player, hate the game" attitude throughout much of this thread. While I agree that we should also go after the government institutions that allow the tax loopholes to exist and that poorly regulate the financial district, there is a problem in blaming it all on "the game" because the top "players" are using their winnings to change the rules of the game so that they continue to benefit at the detriment to everyone else.

What's the point in playing a game where the top 1% of players have secured their position so that no one else can ever even approach them? The only point in playing it is that it's not a game. It's real life. And you need a job to survive. And you need other people to survive. And a bunch of people at the top holding all the money gets in the way of all of that, so you have to go directly for them and change everything.

[Zing]

FDIC insurance only covers up to $250,000.

Yeah but the safe assumption is that most people don't really have to worry about that upper limit. Certainly the "99%" are good to go under that threshold.

Really? 99% might not make 250k per annum, but it's not at all unfeasible that they wouldn't have been, oh, I dunno, saving their whole life. If I make $50k a year, spend $25k of it, than it only takes me 10 years to get that. So a hardworking American who does this would find himself screwed if he worked, oh, I don't know, 20 years only to find a bank collapsed and he lost half his savings.

In the past ten years, the average American rate of savings hit zero, and some researchers believe it even went negative.

The median net worth of Americans as of a few years ago was $120k if you factor in absolutely everyone, and just over 50k if you exclude the top 25% wealthiest families.

[J T]

Just saw this posted by someone over at gog.com

Police cracked down on Occupy Oakland -- war zone in the US:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QngE6kKk8Lg

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wlPs-REyl-0

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4_Y2qZxKDWg

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bytMNoKNeRA

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3lCHioHaznw

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RZubytrF9WM

http://www.youtube.com/watch?NR=1&v=1NJXEsXlw7Q

NOT reported in the US . Media blackout.

Thanks for posting this.

No problem. I just want to spread the word about what's going on. The police force being applied is getting out of hand. If the police keep coming in with force like this, it won't be long before these peaceful protestors cease to be peaceful. You can feel the tension in the air. I worry that we will have riots in the streets soon.

[Inazuma]

Depends on if I knew the people or not.

No, the fact that other people have fallen victim to these are bad luck on their part. I'm not lucky until >50% of the possibly affected people are affected. By your logic the fact that I haven't been struck by lightning is luck on my part.

Just sickening. What is wrong with you?

You need to sit down and think more carefully about this. Your way of thinking is straight up dangerous, unhealthy and insane.