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Occupy Wall Street actually has a whole lot of money
By Ben ReiningaOctober 17th, 2011, 1:48 pmComments (36)
One of the crazy right's favorite insults to lob against the Occupy Wall Streeters is that they're anti-capitalist communists who want to send the bankers to Maoist communal farms. And I guess that might be true, but if it is, they've done a great job raising money to make their Marxist dreams a reality. In the month since the Occupy Wall Street protests began, they've raised over $300,000.
The money was raised entirely through grassroots efforts, mostly from individual donors online. While speculation has run rampant that the protest has more formalized funding, it doesn't seem to be the case. Ol' George Soros, the closest thing the left has to a Koch brother of its very own, said explicitly a couple days ago that he's not funding it, "directly or indirectly." Disappointing, perhaps, since OWS could surely use the money, but in a way, it's also a boon to the authenticity of the movement, since they've actually raised their money (unlike, say, the Tea Party).
If it keeps up, $300 grand a month adds up to about $3.5 million a year — which isn't a mountain of money, as these things go, but it's not nothing. The question now is, what should they buy? Porta-potties? Kombucha and keffiyehs? Or, like true socialists, they could just give everyone in America a penny.
Commentarium (36 Comments)
Oh, convicted felon (yes he's a convicted felon Ben, UNLIKE the left's latest boogie men the Koch brothers) George Soros says he isn't funding it so it must be true!
Sorry, Greg, he's not a convicted felon. He was convicted of insider trading in France, but the whole concept of felonies comes from the English common law tradition and therefore does not exist in France.
@Me: Don't try to loosen my Glen Beckian grasp upon Greg's head! Keep the facts out of it!
From the NY Times (your bible):
Mr. Soros, 81, was convicted of insider trading in 2002 by a French appeals court and fined 2.2 million euros — the equivalent of what he was accused of making — after a Paris court found that he had bought and sold shares of Société Générale in 1988 with the knowledge that the bank might be a takeover target. Two co-defendants, one of them a former senior official of the French Finance Ministry, were acquitted.
Greg, now is the best time to buy GOLD!!
It's not really a point whether or not he's a felon (though, last I read, you're wrong.) It's an issue of whether the movement is actually popularly supported. It's 100% clear that the Tea Party is a fake grassroots movement, funded by billionaires. At best, it's uncertain whether the same is true w/ OWS.
No, Ben, it's not "100% clear that the Tea Party is a fake grassroots movement." Why would you possibly suggest that's true?
Because he's right.
Oh, ok, thanks. Except he's not. Sorry but I had to refute your well thought out argument. I guess we'll see who's right in Nov 12.
So they (who exactly?) are being handed $300k. What are they going to do with it? Share? Hell no. They will use it for their own means just like the crooked banks did with the money that was handed to them. Porta-johns would be the perfect use for the cash because god forbid they do anything like try and do anything useful with it like buy their own candidate like the teabaggera. I love how these assholes talk about having student loans forgiven but can bash the banks for gladly taking money that was just handed to them. I can't wait for winter so these assholes will have to go occupy Miami.
You do know you're on Nerve...right?
comma comma comma comma comma chameleon...
Now THAT'S gay.
We know you're one of us, comma.
You really are too stupid to be on here. How about another stupid "mirror" reply, iidiot.
Speaking of stupidity, how about a little bit of me, conservatroll?
Another unoriginal "mirror" reply. It's even more banal that you pretend to be google and spell check. What a pussy you are.
You don't get any of me. That's why you spend so much time being a conservatroll on Nerve!
At least I can spell, even if it's inverted.
Yes, you can spell. But pretending to be a mirror makes you a total loser.
to be a comma makes you a loser x infinity!
I think the fund raised money will be an opportunity for OWS to practice what they preach. Or at the very least coalesce into something grounded in a little more harmony. I passed by during its infancy stages and asked a member what the cause was for and who was in charge. He couldn't give me a definitive answer. One of the most foreboding signs of a revolutions demise. Dissent from within. Fucking tsk. All the money in the world cant help ignorance.
Hey everyone! I'm a Bible now!
small "b."
Little o.
fiction!
@Big - a better description of the NYT.
It was referring to all religion, not journalism. Doh!
So you're saying that Tea Partiers haven't raised any of the funds they used to do whatever promotions or events they produced, not even a figure comparable to $300K? You're saying that all their money just got dropped on them by the Koch brothers? Do you really want to go out on that limb?
We helped too!
Does anyone think $300k is enough to do anything of significance on this stage? I'm sceptical.
to get national press attention. Uh huh...
Son of a gun, this is so hleupfl!
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