Buckle Up America!

The American Dream

Buckle Up: America Is Getting Very Angry And The Protests Are Going To Become Much More Frightening

The Occupy Wall Street protests and the rise of the Tea Party movement have both changed America, but you haven't seen anything yet.  You better buckle up, because America is getting very angry and as the economy continues to decline the economic protests are going to become much more frightening in the years ahead.  Americans have become very accustomed to prosperity.  Now that our prosperity is vanishing, people are starting to become very angry.  The scary thing is that the vast majority of our population now lives in tightly congested urban areas.  That makes the potential for mass rioting and civil unrest much greater.  Back in 1910, 72 percent of Americans lived in rural areas.  Today, only 16 percent of Americans live in rural areas.  So what happens when you have millions of incredibly angry people crammed into tightly congested metropolitan areas?  Well, we are about to find out.
Over the past 4 years, we have seen some unprecedented things happen in America.  First we witnessed the rise of the Tea Party movement.  Initially it pretty much was a true grassroots movement but now it has been mostly taken over by establishment Republicans.  Now we are witnessing the rise of Occupy Wall Street.  While there are some grassroots elements to it, the reality is that Occupy Wall Street seems to be pretty much controlled by the Democrats.  In fact, one individual was recently told that "Ron Paul signs are not welcome here" at a recent protest.
So we have the left and the right fighting with each other like cats and dogs.  The Tea Party movement and Occupy Wall Street both pretty much hate each other.
Meanwhile, those that control both political parties are enjoying the view.
But the people that are expressing their anger through protest movements such as Occupy Wall Street are not going to be content with the status quo for long.
The truth is that there is a lot of anger in the United States today, and that anger is rapidly growing.  Millions upon millions of Americans are deeply upset about the economy and about our financial system.
Right now, protests by both the Tea Party movement and Occupy Wall Street have been mostly peaceful.
But that will not last indefinitely.
In fact, there are already signs that Occupy Wall Street protesters are not content with simply sitting in the park and banging on drums.
For example, protesters stormed the Senate Hart Office Building in Washington D.C. today.  A handful of protesters were arrested.
Also, more than 50 protesters from the Occupy Boston movement were arrested today when they would not do what police were ordering them to do.
But most notable of all was the march to the homes of certain millionaires up in New York.  Earlier today, Occupy Wall Street protesters marched to the homes of Jamie Dimon, David Koch, John Paulson, Howard Milstein, and Rupert Murdoch.
Needless to say, that is going to seriously upset some people.
The home protests were not spontaneous.  The truth is that they were highly organized.  Organizers such as SEIU board member Stephen Lerner have been talking about them for quite some time.  In fact, you can hear him discussing plans for the upcoming protests at the homes of these millionaires back on October 3rd right here.
There is a lot about Occupy Wall Street that can be criticized (just check out this article), but one thing that Occupy Wall Street is actually doing right is that it is focusing on the role of money in politics.
The big financial powers spend hundreds of millions of dollars on political campaigns.  Just check out this infographic.  All of that money buys a lot of influence over the political process.  If it didn't, the big financial powers would not be spending that kind of money.
But the big financial powers are not just spending money on political campaigns.  It has now come out that the big Wall Street banks can order New York City police officers just like they would order pizzas.  In fact, over a million dollars is going to be spent this way just this year alone.
A recent article that was posted on counterpunch.org detailed how this works....

One of the ingenious methods that has remained below the public’s radar was started by the Rudy Giuliani administration in New York City in 1998.  It’s called the Paid Detail Unit and it allows the New York Stock Exchange and Wall Street corporations, including those repeatedly charged with crimes, to order up a flank of New York’s finest with the ease of dialing the deli for a pastrami on rye.
The corporations pay an average of $37 an hour (no medical, no pension benefit, no overtime pay) for a member of the NYPD, with gun, handcuffs and the ability to arrest.  The officer is indemnified by the taxpayer, not the corporation.
New York City gets a 10 percent administrative fee on top of the $37 per hour paid to the police.  The City’s 2011 budget called for $1,184,000 in Paid Detail fees, meaning private corporations were paying  wages of $11.8 million to police participating in the Paid Detail Unit.  The program has more than doubled in revenue to the city since 2002.

So expect the big Wall Street banks to be sending in orders for huge numbers of New York City cops to protect them from the half-crazed Occupy Wall Street protesters.
Sadly, if recent poll numbers are any indication, the anger of the American people is not going to abate any time soon....
*According to Gallup, the percentage of Americans that lack confidence in U.S. banks is now at an all-time high of 36%.
*According to a recent Washington Post-ABC News poll, 90 percent of Americans believe that the economy is performing poorly and approximately 80 percent of Americans believe that it is "difficult" to find a job right now.
*According to a recent Rasmussen survey, 48 percent of all Americans believe that reductions in government spending are "at least somewhat likely" to result in civil unrest inside the United States.
*Another recent survey found that 73 percent of all Americans believe that the nation is "on the wrong track".
*According to a recent CBS News/New York Times poll, Congress has a disapproval rating of 82%.
*A recent Rasmussen survey found that 85 percent of Americans believe that members of Congress "are more interested in helping their own careers than in helping other people", and that same survey found that 46 percent of the American people believe that most members of Congress are corrupt.
*According to a different Rasmussen survey, only 17 percent of all Americans now believe that the U.S. government has the consent of the governed.
*A recent Washington Post poll found that 78 percent of Americans are dissatisfied "with the way this country’s political system is working" and that only 26 percent of Americans now believe that the federal government can solve the economic problems that we are facing.
So what does all of that add up to?
It adds up to a U.S. population that is very frustrated and that is looking for outlets for that frustration.
As the U.S. economy continues to fall apart, that frustration is going to continue to rise.
What we are seeing all across America is only the beginning.  We are going to see protest movements and explosions of anger that we can't even imagine right now.
Dark days are coming for America.
You better buckle up.

You have read this article american dream protest buckle up occupy wall street with the title Buckle Up America!. You can bookmark this page URL http://talesofthefroggod.blogspot.com/2011/10/buckle-up-america.html. Thanks!