The Chattering Classes, Occupy and the 99%

*Inspired by Russia Today*


This morning I watched a debate on Russia Today on Occupy Wall Street. They had the presenter and three panellists. One of whom was of particular interest as he embodied every stereotype of the so-called 1%. In the face of gathering momentum across the US and across the globe he belittled the protests as issues of the 'chattering classes'. WOW. The others could scarcely believe their ears. The disturbing thing is I do not think he was part of a propaganda machine trying to persuade the masses that the Occupy protests were meaningless due to any vested interest. To me he was the victim of the propaganda machine and he genuinely dismissed the mass unhappiness at the economic and political systems currently in place. He said the only unity between the protesters is their system of voting consensus and even this he dismissed as arduous and unworkable. I am guessing that this is exactly what was said when democracy came to the fore.

Across the world people en masse are refusing to accept the status quo that has made their lives a misery, so why exactly should people in the West still accept that more deregulation, income equality and cutting spending aka services for the poor, is the answer to the world's economic problems. For their convenience, people like the man I mentioned would like to put people in neat little categories which fit his view of the world. They also do this in order to feel safe, as this is how the masses are controlled. Create stereotypes and people will conform to them. People fear what they don't understand... You get the point! I wonder if Mr Category is aware that he himself is embodying a stereotype?

The Tory Voice on twitter called @raraproduction 'bitter socialists' due to a report on David Cameron. This had nothing to do with being a bitter socialist, it was simply exposing the person that is in charge of your life. This is another example of a right-wing assumption - because you are unhappy with aspects of the elite or capitalism that means you are a hippy socialist? No-one in their right mind begrudges the success of someone who is rich and has worked hard, it is the resulting slavish way that the politicians end up soullessly pandering to them that is pissing off the 99%.

See also http://raraproductions.blogspot.com/ & http://anbarrockny.blogspot.com/

CHAV - Council House and Violent - Do They Deserve All The Derision?

 *Inspired by http://anbarrockny.blogspot.com/2011/11/rent-goes-up-again.html & the attack on the poor*

There are not many societies which deride the poor i.e. the working class as much as we do (see Pippa Middleton dressed at a fancy dress party as a chav). I'm going to join on this for a minute but just bear with me for a minute... I have known so many people throughout my life who have pretended to be homeless, with their parents' encouragement, in order to get themselves in a hostel. Thus ensuring a coveted London council flat in the future, heavily subsidised by the taxpayer. Many council workers are in on this scam and actively tell their friends to get on the housing list, I have been offered this myself. I turned it down and although my morals are intact I cannot help kicking myself as property prices continue to soar and rents becoming more expensive than mortgages. As a child of a parent with those horrific endowment mortgages (after 25 years of an interest based mortgage we will still owe more than a third of the cost of the house, thanks Conservative government and an unregulated mortgage market!) I find myself getting annoyed that council and housing association tenants are paying about 10% of what private renters pay and less if they are on housing benefits.

But this is what the government wants us to do!! To feel angry at the poorer members of society who are just trying to secure their own lives, rather than redirecting anger at the state and how they have let things get to the stage where a studio flat i.e. a box, can cost £300 a week excluding bills and council tax. Instead of facing down greed and forcing landlords to downsize their rent demands or tax them according to how many properties they have etc. they would rather, yep you guessed it bow down to the FREE MARKET system. Nooo don't tax the bankers too much, they will leave the country, Nooo don't sort out the housing prices, that will mess up the free market system. So they are wilfully ignoring the unaffordability (yes I made up a word) of a basic human need and even more absurdly, they would rather stump up the cash in the form of housing benefit.

Many estate agencies do not accept housing benefit tenants anyway for security reasons. Furthermore, housing benefit has been cut in an attempt to move the poor where they should be, in cheap, crap housing just like the good old tower block days. Instead of being unwilling to pay for poor people's sky high rent, why not make sure the rent is not that high in the 1st place? Radical idea I know! If they were forced down, what would really happen? Will the landlords themselves become poor? Err no, obviously not. If tenants had a little more shopping change, would that also not better this flawed economy? Err, obviously YES.

See also http://raraproductions.blogspot.com/ & http://anbarrockny.blogspot.com/

Let's just start from zero

The economy schonomy is all over the news and I don't know if it's just me but it's sooo boring, plus it's terribly depressing. We've been hearing about financial doom and gloom for years now, everything is all 'recession' this and 'slow growth' that. Governments are meant to be controlling/providing for us but the real control over all nations is the economy.

Aaaah the economy, all our lives and livelihoods rely on this thing getting better, oooh don't hurt the poor economy, it has to be fed anything it wants because it has to grow, it can't be restricted by government but yet it must be fed by government money. Well it sounds to me like this economy thing is the emperor in the emperor's new clothes. It's an idea which is enamoured and revered more than God yet it is non-existent and just totally crap.

Everything to do with bail-outs is coated with billions of dosh, where are these billions and now trillions coming from? Greece may get a trillion euros to save them from bankruptcy, America is in trillions of debt and no, all the debt is not owed to China as they are also in trillions of debt apparently. The International Monetary Fund lends out billions on a regular basis, especially to 'developing' countries like Somalia who owe 90% of the entire country's debt to them. How come the Bank of England can just pump billions to provide quantitave easing? Whatever the hell that means. Where did they get all this money from and more importantly, why don't they give it to me?!!

My point is if everyone is in debt, with little to no hope of paying it back this century, yet these random organisations which are meaningless to the ordinary person seem to have an abundance of cash, why don't we just either rob all this money they have or better yet just start from scratch. No-one's listening to the 99% as they allegedly have no resolution except to be anti-capitalist. Rampant capitalism obviously is not full proof or they wouldn't have to keep being rescued by taxpayer's money in a socialist fashion. The power of the West is slowly but surely dying out with the emergence of the Bric countries and nobody can estimate or underestimate the direction of the Arab Spring, so let's just forget AD and call this era PR- post recession and start from zero.

See also http://raraproductions.blogspot.com/ & http://anbarrockny.blogspot.com/