November 21, 2011
Wall Street Symbolism
by Akim Reinhardt
On the morning after Mayor Michael Bloomberg had the New York City police expel the Occupy Wall Street Protestors from Zuccotti Park in the middle of the night, I wrote that the next 24-48 hours could very well be pivotal. Well, it’s now been forty-eight hours since I woke up to hear that Bloomberg had sent in riot police to clear out Zuccotti Park, supposedly in the name of a molly maid cleanup of the park; I’m writing this on Thursday morning since I will be traveling as of Friday.
The protestors have responded. Several hundred of them gathered this morning (last Thursday) and tried to prevent workers on Wall Street from working. Of course that literal action failed. But as far as this movement is concerned, it’s the symbolic actions that are most important, at least for the time being. Their presence was felt. Bloomberg’s actions have not put an end to this, far from it. And so the symbolism of Occupy Wall Street remains vital.
Why is the Occupy movement’s so important? The movement’s now famous horizontal organization, as opposed to a more typical top-down vertical structure, has created many opportunities for many people to participate. But it also means that specific agendas and specific action proposals have been sometimes slow to form. Consequently, in some way the real importance of the demonstrations thus far has been it’s ability to influence the national discourse and provide a symbolic stance against the corruptions and ethical shortcomings permeating American society.
It seems to me that of all the Occupy demonstrations that have emerged around the country, and indeed around the world (including the one right here in Baltimore where I live), that Occupy Wall Street is vitally symbolic for several reasons. Of course it was the first, the one that kicked off all the rest. But much more important than that, Occupy Wall Street is, well, at Wall Street. And I believe that matters quite a bit. To that end, Occupy Wall Street is central to the Occupy movement because nothing represents the current economic system in all its sodden disarray better than Wall Street.
And it seems that the protestors have responded. Several hundred of them gathered this morning in an effort to prevent workers on Wall Street from working. Of course that failed, but ag
The symbolism of Wall Street, however, is just as vital and of much longer standing. For nearly four centuries, in one form or another, it has represented separation and elitism.
When the Dutch first settled on Manhattan Island in 1630, they did so starting at its very southern tip (for a nice south-facing view of the island, check the 3 Quarks Daily banner at the top of the home page). They inched their way northward then erected a large earthen wall stretching the width of the island. It went from river to river and cut across the established Indian path that would eventually become Broadway. A little league version of other failed population control walls like Hadrian’s or China’s, it served as border control on both Indians and English imperial rivals. During the 1640s, the Dictatorial Dutch governor Peter Suyvesant helped coordinate a strengthening of the wall. Both lower class free colonists and African slaves were used to raise it up to about twelve feet in height.
After the English defeated the Dutch in the Anglo-Dutch War of the 1660s, they took control of the high seas, began to dominate the trans-Atlantic slave trade, and seized some Dutch colonies, turning New Amsterdam into New York. In 1685, they added road along the inside of the wall, and in 1699 they took the wall down altogether. As the 18th century opened, all that remained of the wall was its name.
By then merchants and traders had started to gather by the wall. In addition to hawking wares, some traders bought and sold speculative items, particularly bonds and shares of business ownership. This practice continued throughout the 1700s, with a button tree that had sprouted up along the lane serving as a communal gathering spot for speculators. The 1792 Buttonwood Agreement helped formalize the market by regulating manipulations and instituting commissions.
Wall Street’s symbolism as the home of the elite took a political turn when George Washington became the first U.S. president when he was inaugurated on the balcony of its Federal Building. Washington’s intelligence has been sometimes unfairly maligned because of his quiet demeanor. In truth, he proved himself to be a brilliant politician. It’s also worth noting that he was the only founder to free his slaves, albeit after the death of himself and his wife Martha.
However, another reading of Washington is that he was an aristocratic planter who enjoyed fox hunting and held over 300 slaves at Mount Vernon. And fittingly perhaps, he was also an avid and accomplished land speculator, and one of the wealthiest individuals in the new United States. Indeed, when the nation’s capital was moved south, Washington insisted that the new district to be carved out Maryland and bearing his name and, include the nearby town of Alexandria, Virginia. Why? The town was only eleven miles upstream from Mt. Vernon, Washington owned land there, and including it in the District would presumably help its value. Congress acquiesced, though they forbid the building of any public structures in the town. The new president might profit from his position, but only so much.
So in some ways then, George Washington’s first presidential inauguration on Wall Street was the symbolic dovetailing of a young nation’s reckless pursuit of wealth.
Wall Street itself rose to national power as a result of publicly funded infrastructure projects; private profits from public spending is nothing new. First came the Erie Canal, which opened in 1825 and connected New York City to the Great Lakes. Since waterways were by far the most important trans-continental transportation system, farmers throughout much of the Midwest began shipping their produce to New York instead of down the Mississippi River to New Orleans. Commodities trading on Wall Street exploded.
During the 1830s, the first modern big businesses rose in the form of railroad companies. The investment capital needed to get a railroad going was far beyond the scope of any individual or even syndicate of investors. Government handouts were vital. In particular, the federal government offered companies low interest loans and large grants of free land, upon some of which they could lay track while selling all the surplus, often to land speculators. But even with that, more investment capital was needed, and Wall Street played a vital role. Public stock offerings raised millions, and shares changed hands daily as investors sought fortunes on the unstable tides of these new, mammoth businesses. Many would even
For nearly two centuries since, Wall Street has been the symbol of American free market capital. Whether it’s the real and imagined fortunes of profiteers ranging from robber baron Jay Gould to Daddy Warbucks, or the economic calamities of countless crashes, epitomized by apocryphal stories of distraught traders leaping to their deaths in October of 1929: Wall Street is the symbol for Americans’ unapologetic and wildly erratic pursuit of wealth.
And so to the extent that the Occupy movements have an impact through their symbolic opposition to a ferocious financial system that seems to enjoy transferring its debts to the public while privatizing its profits, the Occupy Wall Street will remain at ground zero. For Wall Street remains the world symbol for this economic system, as it has for centuries.
Posted by Akim Reinhardt at 12:40 AM | Permalink
Comments
When are the textbooks going to be updated to show that the same people who occupy Iraq and Afghanistan also occupy the US?
The 1% did a coup some time ago and changed the US from a constitutional republic into a plutocracy with a plutonomy.
In that sense the Occupy movement is technically a counter-coup, a counter-revolution, and insurrection to take the country back for the 99%.
Posted by: Dredd | Nov 21, 2011 9:58:27 AM
NYC Mayor Bloomberg Evicts Wall Street Executives
Future News Network (FNN), December 5, 2011, 6:35 pm EST:
New York City Mayor, Michael R. Bloomberg, defended his decision to evict the top executives of the finance, banking, insurance, and investment companies who have a presence in the Wall Street area of lower Manhattan.
At a press conference that ended only moments ago, Mayor Bloomberg justified the raids on corporate offices that began this morning at 10:00 am, EST.
Over 1,600 middle and upper level executives were expelled from their offices, with approximately 387 being arrested for a variety of charges including disorderly conduct, refusal to comply with a lawful order, and assaulting a police officer.
Twelve police officers and as many as 32 executives were taken to local hospitals for injuries related to the police operation; at least one police officer is in serious condition after being struck in the face with an executive's Stueben Glass award statue that was on her desk.
One week ago Bloomberg released a statement apologizing for ordering the expulsion of peaceful OWS demonstrators from Zuccotti Park in lower Manhattan in the early morning hours of November 15, 2011.
He said he had, "...an epiphanial moment, and personal spiritual awakening, after realizing that the demonstrators were the real victims, and that the perpetrators of suffering and loss for the entire country were unscrupulous, immoral, and greedy corporate executives."
The Mayor went on to say that, "...corporate America, as a whole, contributes greatly to our society and economy, but these leeches want all the blood they can get their hands on, even if they don't need it."
When questioned about the legality of ordering the raids on executive offices, Bloomberg said he was taking a moral stand against the kind of greed that inflicts suffering on so many people.
Mayor Bloomberg refused to comment about learning, two weeks ago, that four of his grand nieces and nephews were ruined by the 2008-2009 financial collapse, and that one had committed suicide, leaving a widow and three orphans.
Posted by: Norman Costa | Nov 22, 2011 1:09:55 AM
The Occupy movement is the origin of a much deeper approach of humanity and the way that we have to interfere with each other because we have to
OCCUPY the IMAGINARY WORLD of ECONOMY
Ir Wilhelmus P.C.M. de Wilde
27 october 2011
Abstract
Revaluation of the human being is one of the most important issues in this egoistic World. The material revaluation lies in the fact that each human represents daily energy received by the sun and a certain surface of the earth , he is not the Owner but is responsible for that, a human is not only a social number or a unit for consummation. Our Economy has become the new religion, with a God that is called money, this God has no spiritual background but only materialistic and egoistic guidelines. Even the 10 commandments become worthless for obtaining PROFIT. Profit is not Well Being, Growth is only admissible in the spiritual way. Work is a word invented by factory owners and should be replaced by voluntary efforts, people need not to be retired the can proceed with their voluntary efforts at any time during their lives, no more pension funds that play dice with our money. As each human being is a representative of real Material and Spiritual value, they have the right for Housing, Food, Education, Health Care and free Transport, all this cannot be arranged in one day, we must start with our free will and become conscious of the things we really like to do to arrange a future society, so at the end of each life one can say “I have added to the well being of our world”.
Key words : The new God : Economy, slavery, profit/non-profit, human dignity, personal responsibility, consciousness, stability without economic growth, well being.
History
In the beginning mankind lived in little groups and moved to the places where there was food, there were no fences and no one called himself OWNER of land, of course there were struggles when two ore more groups arrived at the same spot where there was not enough food for all of them , but the weakest had the possibility to move on to the next spot.
Once we started agriculture, we settled and fences were established, we had to defend our so called “property”, this was the beginning of imprisoning of mankind, the surplus that was harvested from this fenced land could be exchanged for products that were also needed but were not cultivated.
However it was possible for every individual to agree upon the value of the products he exchanged, it was the origin of the counter-value . Arrived also the voyagers who travelled from fence to fence and from settlement to settlement with products or services that were unknown to the little communities, they also exchanged their services and products for food and beverage.
When people began to organise their little communities over bigger areas countries arose, that had to create rules in order to prevent a so called “disorder”, so by these rules in fact imprisonment of mankind continued and individuals were more and more chained in these rules that became laws.
The “progress” went on and we sailed the seas and the oceans in order to get products from until then unknown countries, in the case of for example America and Africa, these products were (in the beginning) still exchanged with the original habitants but for objects, that in the country where the merchants came from were worthless. Later on they just were stolen , the original habitants murdered and made slave, without any respect and only for profit of the few.
This was also the time that gold was mined (and stolen). In their home-countries this gold served as a counter value for the so called “MONEY”, money that in the beginning was still in the form of coins made of copper, silver or even gold, these early coins represented a value that was agreed upon, by achieving gold it became possible for counties to emit the so called paper money, behind a piece of imprinted paper was the value of a certain amount of gold.
This was also the reason that some people did not labour any more , but just were busy to collect more and more imprinted paper, gold, silver and diamonds, these activities had nothing to do any more with the original “exchange” of basic products, where in fact the value was the labour of a human being.
The people who were doing this kind of “activity” grouped together and created the “BANKS”, they fooled the people by telling them that they gave “SERVICE”, all kind of service was invented like Insurance (negative lottery), Intermediates (making love with dick of someone else)
So in fact all these “activities” were the origin of the devaluation of the background of money, the original labour was no longer highly estimated , but was looked upon as inferior, worthless and simple. “Educated” people were taking over the power together with the Church (who gave only education to their priests, whose religious “SERVICE” had also to be paid very expensive ) , the normal guy who was working hard was in fact busy to make the rich richer and lived himself in poverty (like it has always been) . All the energy from the working class (which is a lot) was consumed by a few.
After the industrial revolution the factories were established to make more products in a cheaper way in order to make more profit, the working class had to fulfil another task namely that of “CONSUMER”, the wages were just enough to buy food and drink, and it was made clear to them , by means of publicity for the products made by themselves , that they were unhappy, because they did not possess the latest model of some product.
Grieves
In fact this was a psychological move that worked very well for the class of the happy few, because unhappy people work harder to become as happy as the people that were shown in the advertisements.
What we see here is that the value of the money lost every background, from the natural products of the field, to gold, to ….. nothing, air, promises and now it has become only digits in a list of imaginary numbers, it has become virtual.
The people who are just contributing nothing to society as being present in reunions, are receiving the highest rewards, and the mass “the 99%” is kept “eager” with new ideas and gadgets, but is paid just enough not to starve, and even that is now too much, people who are working don’t have a roof above their head and have to go to the food bank because of the fact that the “SERVICES” offered by the few are no longer offered but are “IMPOSED”. In fact these are the same services as mentioned above , it is just another way of stealing legally from the poor.
The Economy has become the new religion, governments are only busy with the so called prevention of crisis, they do that by pumping worthless money (without any value behind it) in Banks, Banks that are spoiling our money in adventures of share holders in Stock Exchanges, this spoiling money they call rendering Service, but it is gambling in order that the happy few gain more. In the meantime the pensions of the working class have been wasted in their same system, and their solution is clear : let them pay more premium and let us pay them less pension !!!
The institutions housed in their huge buildings with lots of precious metals as wall paper , to impress people , and give them the idea that their money is safe, and you can trust them! This is a kind of trustworthy that is complete irrelevant, it is extravagance that should be distrusted, it is our money, our work, our sweat that is spoiled there.
The people have the idea that democracy works, but when you look further then you see that the trust we gave to persons to represent us, once they are settled they just act for themselves and their future position in the top of the system (with a view on a commissariat in a great bank).
In the news we are warned that a new recession is coming, that our pensions will be worthless and our purchasing power will be diminished, be aware that this only counts for the 99%, the other 1% is earning so much that it never touches them, our mentality is worked upon in a way that we think it is inevitable , but in fact we have the power to change things, it is beginning in the “OCCUPY” demonstrations. But we have to be aware that only a demonstration is not enough we also have to propose solutions.
What can you do ?
For instance we can show our influence in a direct way . Think also that when you receive your monthly salary on the bank and withdraw directly this whole amount, what will happen then ? All the banks will have problems because they just don’t have these amounts. We ARE the 99%, if you take for instance just the city of London with its 20 million habitants, lest say that 30% is working wand has a salary : 6 million people with an average monthly salary of £.1.500,-- take for the automatic payments £.600,-- so everyone takes from his bank £.900,-- makes a total of £.5.400.000.000,-- in one month, and I am now just talking of London.
This action is two-sided : It is very useful also for yourself, you divide your money over 4 weeks and you will see that all those so called easy-pay methods and credit cards are very expensive and only created to make you a slave, the repayment of the debts that they offer you with the best promises become handcuffs, they OWN you, so you always are the victim of so called opportunities that are not relevant. When you pay cash, you become more conscious of the fact that money is a means of exchange, you will be more aware of the pricing of articles and less a victim of publicity.
This is only to point out that in fact it is the 99% , the fundament of society and the power that we in fact represent but are not aware of. But of course this is not the way to change the system, it is only a warning for the 1% that we still exist not only as numbers but also as individuals not only puppets on a string.
To change the system we need to come back to a value behind our work, expressed now in a certain amount of money that we receive in exchange . The money we receive is worthless virtual figures are used for fear. The essence is our contribution to the society in the form of our efforts.
What does each human being represent ?
When we take for instance the energy policy all over the world, it is ridiculous that 7 great companies (the so called Seven Sisters) have all the power in their hands , we pay very expensive oil, while the free energy is at hand in the form of the Sun, the Wind, the Sea and our own Earth. Each quarter of an hour sun shine is enough for all our energy needs, the argument that is too expensive to make the solar panels is nonsense. When we all together decide that we are going to produce these solar panels then the energy we put in this work will be fruitful and of great value even for our children, building together wind mills and solar panels is better as pumping up the last oil from the earth, but therefore we need another form of economy.
So if we are aware of the facts that :
1. we are not powerless, each human being represents an amount of solar energy, the total of energy that the earth receives is 174 Petawatt (10^15watt), divided by 7 billion (habitants of the earth) it means that each human being is representing each day 102.000.000 watts, and you pay for your energy bill !!!
2. The surface of the earth (land) 148.940.000 km², this means that each living human being represents 21,000 m² so 2,1 hectare. Representing this surface does not mean that you possess it, no but you are responsible for it, the time we are living this responsibility counts.
Being responsible and representing a certain surface of the earth and a repeating incoming energy gives the material value of each human being, not the amount of precious metals he possesses (also only during his life) not the amount of Zero’s that form the number of virtual money that he could use, the REAL VALUE of course is beside this formulation the CONSCIOUSNESS of each human being, and with a revaluation of the material side of the human being also the revaluation of the SPIRITUAL side has to be accounted for.
It must be possible to work and think together to find a new way of distributing and really using these energies (energy of our efforts and surrounding energy of nature), we are now with 7 billion people on earth, if everyone is just spending one hour per week to achieve this goal it could work.
Arrangements to be made
1. agreeing on a new value behind our work : for instance if we achieve the solar project (on the earth scale) the energy is X megawatt over for instance 25 years, this has to be divided over 7 billion people, over the coming 25 years. These kind of earth (Gaia) projects need to be centralised .
2. The word “WORK” has to be changed in EFFORT, work is in our society a duty, and it must become free will even become a desire.
3. The other form of centralisation, but not of political power but of thinking power (for instance by the use of the internet) has to be : taking care of the actual food problems, we must achieve together by solving the energy problem (and so being no longer a slave of the oil companies) enlarge the well being of the whole human race, it is not a problem of sharing wealth, but of sharing well being, the earth must be looked upon as our treasure , and it is big enough to take care of all its inhabitants (also the animals). Wars for oil will be finished, the energy spent on making wars can be spent on rising food and advancing science.
4. Once the energy project has started, the final result will be free energy for all, the “work” to be done will be continuation and improvement of the technique , science for that can be a speciality of people interested in the area, they do that because of the fact that they are : 1. interested and 2. have the wish to do it, not because of the fact that they “have to”.
5. The word PROFIT has to disappear from our vocabulary, the word “well being” and “happiness” will be the most important goal of mankind, egoism like the share holder society that we live in must disappear, the word GROWTH and MORE should only be used for well being and happiness. It is absolute ridiculous that some company that has generated a profit of 600 million and now generates “only” 500 million is a reason for the egoists to say that something is going wrong, this being the cause of a recession where the lowest paid are the first victims.
6. If there is enough free energy available ALL EDUCATION MUST BE FREE for everybody, no matter the age, the teachers will be men an women who like it to teach and get a good feeling when they do it, then the level of education in the world will automatically grow. Also the ones that choose for a special education will be really interested, the whole atmosphere will be pleasant. The basic education however for children has to be a duty, inherent to the above mentioned responsibilities.
7. Because of the fact that nobody these days does anything for nothing the “COSTS” are becoming incredible high and in no relation with the end product, costs in fact are also an expression of not being willing or able to achieve something for another being without profit, the word IDEALISM must be revaluated. In fact everybody needs to achieve the feelings of an artist, for an artist needs to express himself in his own personal way, and so he does no matter what the material gain will be, it is just the expression that gives the well being.
8. Banks have to do what they are for: being a distribution and accounting centre for values, no longer speculations on stock exchanges, just keeping mankind informed of the “energy” status , the work done in this banks will in the future be done by computers and eventually Artificial Intelligence.
9. Public transport will be free, the real public transport. More so called “Nerds” (whose hobby it is to achieve technical structures) will be used to arrange that this means of transport is flowing in the right order. It is ridiculous that private companies who’s only goal is to make profit are used for public transport.
10. Factories will still exist , but with less workers, the workers that exercise these jobs do it because of their interest in the “making of” and contribute to the “improvement” of the products. The age of the contributors is of no importance.
11. People are achieving more and more high ages, so there will be no more pensions, no one will retire at a certain age, the elderly will by their way of living and thinking contribute to the total of the new society, the fact that every human being is granted a life (food, education, transport, housing, energy) means that pension funds are useless (as they are already because the receive our money but don’t pay).
12. The HEALTH CARE must be free too. It is a basic human right. People that are taking care of other people do this with their hart, as lots of them do it already.
13. In this world we try to preserve personal reserves because of the fact that our personal well being can be attacked every moment , if the new energetically unified society becomes a reality then there is no more need to create your own reserves, because the whole mankind is your reserve, and the value of the material representation (earth surface) and responsibility for the energy are assuring our REAL material VALUE.
14. Criminality : criminality in the form of sick people attacking others cannot be eliminated, science however will continue to search for healing , but killing someone for a dollar will be finished, there are no more dollars, burglary is not useful any more, bank robbery is not existing any more, fraud neither.
The key word for this new society is “WELL BEING”
All the above seems perhaps too idealistic for changing our reality of today, therefore I should like to introduce a manual for any individual who is trying to change the direction of egoism to the direction of well being and so we can all begin :
1. Look around you and become aware of the reality, become aware of the fact that you are being deceived, note all the deceptions for yourself in a little notebook (just an example, any means is good), bring out these facts on the social media.
2. Go search in “yourself” for the interests that really apply to your personal wishes. You will encounter then the real voluntaries of your life, write them down, if it is only one be happy , these activities are in fact the new bases of the future society. When there is a central point to collect all these activities you will see that even at this very moment a lot of so called “work” can be achieved!
3. Become aware of all the publicity around you and become consciousness how this publicity is changing your well being, if your well being is diminished the publicity is a trap. Mention these trap publicities in your paper or on the social media.
4. When you are blogging try to forward this message or your personal interpretation of it.
5. IF YOU DON’T COME TOGETHER? IT KEEPS FOREVER BUBBLING UNDER !
If these propositions just were used in order to ameliorate your own perception, perhaps than we missed a very important issue, namely the amelioration of our planet, that as a matter of fact has enough potentiality for the well being of us all.
In order to arrange that it would be important that the remarks that you found on the nr.2 above should be emitted to an internet site that is like a future bank collecting all the data and putting them in the right order, this becomes then a real treasure bank with the treasures of all the human possibilities. You see what is happening , all the data from individuals around the world are being collected and from there we are already indicating the amount of people and their personal activity that can be done just for free, in this way we are giving the rest of the society already a clue that we are not crazy, so we expect reactions from EVERYBODY !!!
WE CAN IN THIS WAY PROVE THAT ALL THE SO CALLED WORK IN THE WORLD CAN BE ACCOMPLISHED BY VOLUNTEERS.
The OCCUPY movement is the beginning of the dawn of this new form of living, as a matter of fact this is the dawning of the age of AQUARIUS.
Keep on thinking free
Ir Wilhelmus de Wilde
Wilhelmus.d@orange.fr
24 October 2011
France
Posted by: Wilhelmus de Wilde | Nov 22, 2011 10:26:58 AM
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