#ROBINHOOD Global March
OCTOBER 29 – #ROBINHOOD GLOBAL MARCH
Alright you rebels, redeemers and believers out there,
This Saturday October 29, on the eve of the G20 Summit in France, millions of us will hold Robin Hood marches around the world demanding that our leaders start imposing a 1% #ROBINHOOD tax on all financial transactions and currency trades. We will send them a clear message: We want you to slow down some of that $1.3-trillion easy money that's sloshing around the global casino every day – enough cash to fund every social program and environmental initiative in the world.
There are #ROBINHOOD actions currently planned in San Antonio, Las Vegas, Montreal, Vancouver, Durango, Calgary, Washington DC, Santa Fe, Denver, Liverpool, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Sydney, Amarillo, Edmonton, Salt Lake City, Berlin and more…
Bring it up at your general assembly … then create some edgy Robin Hood graphics for the world to digest and let's march out there millions strong in global unison this Saturday.
This could be the first delicious fruit of our movement,
for the wild,
Culture Jammers HQ
occupywallstreet.org / 29october.net / occupytogether.org / Twitter / Facebook
98 comments on the article “#ROBINHOOD Global March”
Displaying 81 - 90 of 98
Page 9 of 10
Anonymous
OWS does not support this tax. Nobody cares about it within the movement. Adbusters is putting words into our mouth! And the media is believing it! People need to question the people dressed in robin hood suits. I bet none of these people are camping out.
Why is adbusters doing this? This tax is horrible as it solidifies wealth where it is! It's good news for russia and everyone out of the g20 since the markets will move there.
Anonymous
OWS does not support this tax. Nobody cares about it within the movement. Adbusters is putting words into our mouth! And the media is believing it! People need to question the people dressed in robin hood suits. I bet none of these people are camping out.
Why is adbusters doing this? This tax is horrible as it solidifies wealth where it is! It's good news for russia and everyone out of the g20 since the markets will move there.
Anonymous
Paul Ryan's chutspah:
He takes from the poor to give to the rich and then accuses us who protest of class warfare!
Give me a f*cking break!
Anonymous
Paul Ryan's chutspah:
He takes from the poor to give to the rich and then accuses us who protest of class warfare!
Give me a f*cking break!
woottong
I am not an accountant or economist. But I can reason my way to the conclusion that
some kind of tax or other restraint should be imposed on trading, and especially
high-frequency trading, of stocks, bonds, and other forms of money -- call it
a financial transactions tax (FTT), a Tobin Tax, a Robin Hood tax or whatever
you like. Starting from first principles, it is obvious that wealth consists of
PHYSICAL stuff or things -- food, building materials, automobiles,
athletic equipment, etc. or SERVICES such as medical care or teaching.
Wealth CREATION thus consists only of cultivating, mining, manufacturing, etc. or
providing services such as medical services or informing others or ourselves
(teaching and studying). Moving money from one pocket to another does not
create wealth; i.e., it does not contribute to the real economy.
In the summer of 2002, the stock market was down roughly 30% below its level
just before the 9/11 attacks. I am not among the 1%, but I invested some money in
a mutual fund -- an index fund spread over 500 stocks.
I was just betting that the market had bottomed out and would rise over the
next 6 months. But I watched the NYSE S&P index for the
next 10 days and saw that the index had already risen by 10%. So I sold my
holdings and made a 10% profit in 10 days without doing a stitch of real work.
My gain came at the expense of others who had sold stocks during the downslide
and/or bought what I sold. In effect, I stole their money because my "hunches"
were better than theirs and WITHOUT CREATING ANY REAL WEALTH AT ALL or creating
any jobs. Playing the stock market has always been very little different from
that example.
Now financial companies are trading by computers running algorithms much smarter
than my hunches, at time scales much shorter than 10 days and with prodigious
monetary volumes. And since the repeal of the Glass-Steagall Act, they use
largely the money of other people (bank deposits) to steal money for themselves
in that way. We know that the process is a zero-sum game and the Wall Streeters
are making lots of money, so somebody is losing a lot of it. Smart accountants
and economists sometimes obscure that fact with a lot of razzmatazz.
A 2009 article by Lee Sheppard and Martin Sullivan at
http://spanishtaxes.blogspot.com/2009/09/mas-debate-sobre-la-tobin-tax.html
(apparently from Britain despite the Spanish connection) discusses claimed
advantages & disadvantages of FTTs, particularly proposals made by
Lord Adair Turner. But zero will always equal 1-1 or 2-2 or ...
1 trillion - 1 trillion; there will always be a negative quantity (lost money)
in the equation.
Many are advocating FTTs to derive funds for public-health purposes. That's fine,
but to me, any taxes on the financial sector, as well as anything else that cuts its
profits, is desirable because it disincentivizes greed and leaves less money for the
ultra rich to use in buying politicians. My understanding is that the profits of the
US financial sector are now 40% of total US corporate profits. They don't use that
to create jobs, and it's a heavy burden of parasitism on our economy.
woottong
I am not an accountant or economist. But I can reason my way to the conclusion that
some kind of tax or other restraint should be imposed on trading, and especially
high-frequency trading, of stocks, bonds, and other forms of money -- call it
a financial transactions tax (FTT), a Tobin Tax, a Robin Hood tax or whatever
you like. Starting from first principles, it is obvious that wealth consists of
PHYSICAL stuff or things -- food, building materials, automobiles,
athletic equipment, etc. or SERVICES such as medical care or teaching.
Wealth CREATION thus consists only of cultivating, mining, manufacturing, etc. or
providing services such as medical services or informing others or ourselves
(teaching and studying). Moving money from one pocket to another does not
create wealth; i.e., it does not contribute to the real economy.
In the summer of 2002, the stock market was down roughly 30% below its level
just before the 9/11 attacks. I am not among the 1%, but I invested some money in
a mutual fund -- an index fund spread over 500 stocks.
I was just betting that the market had bottomed out and would rise over the
next 6 months. But I watched the NYSE S&P index for the
next 10 days and saw that the index had already risen by 10%. So I sold my
holdings and made a 10% profit in 10 days without doing a stitch of real work.
My gain came at the expense of others who had sold stocks during the downslide
and/or bought what I sold. In effect, I stole their money because my "hunches"
were better than theirs and WITHOUT CREATING ANY REAL WEALTH AT ALL or creating
any jobs. Playing the stock market has always been very little different from
that example.
Now financial companies are trading by computers running algorithms much smarter
than my hunches, at time scales much shorter than 10 days and with prodigious
monetary volumes. And since the repeal of the Glass-Steagall Act, they use
largely the money of other people (bank deposits) to steal money for themselves
in that way. We know that the process is a zero-sum game and the Wall Streeters
are making lots of money, so somebody is losing a lot of it. Smart accountants
and economists sometimes obscure that fact with a lot of razzmatazz.
A 2009 article by Lee Sheppard and Martin Sullivan at
http://spanishtaxes.blogspot.com/2009/09/mas-debate-sobre-la-tobin-tax.html
(apparently from Britain despite the Spanish connection) discusses claimed
advantages & disadvantages of FTTs, particularly proposals made by
Lord Adair Turner. But zero will always equal 1-1 or 2-2 or ...
1 trillion - 1 trillion; there will always be a negative quantity (lost money)
in the equation.
Many are advocating FTTs to derive funds for public-health purposes. That's fine,
but to me, any taxes on the financial sector, as well as anything else that cuts its
profits, is desirable because it disincentivizes greed and leaves less money for the
ultra rich to use in buying politicians. My understanding is that the profits of the
US financial sector are now 40% of total US corporate profits. They don't use that
to create jobs, and it's a heavy burden of parasitism on our economy.
Anonymous
ADAMSWEAVER and your ilk - where do you people spend your time? You have convinced yourselves of a lot of nonsense. Are you unaware of the al-Qaeda terrorist training camps in Afghanistan sanctioned by the Taliban after Clinton sent cruise missiles, solidifying a relationship between bin Laden and the Taliban, who had been hostile to one another prior to that? The acts of 9/11 have their roots in those camps, among people driven by a backward, intolerant, misogynistic religion (read the Koran if you don't concur-"anyone who rejects Islam and converts to another religion, KILL HIM"), who arguably have no connection to the "1%" to whom you so robotically refer with such acidic venom. Since that war began, in what way exactly have we attempted to "take over" that country? Ridiculous. As for other wars, take WWII, whose roots were in the imperialist desires of Japan and the crazed efforts of a madman to tap into Germanic nationalistic pride. Hitler was not wealthy by any means. Indeed he was jealous of Jews' material success and rejected by their dislike of his artistic attempts. Efforts by the U.S. in that war had nothing to do with your wild-eyed theories. The conflict in Serbia? Ethnic in origin. Genocide of Hutus and Tutsis? Ethnic. The slaughter of Coptic Christians by Muslim thugs? Ethnic/religious. If you want to abolish war, install democracy and capitalism. War within Europe occured for centuries until establishment of some form of democracy there, though the socialistic economies are now imploding under their own weight. Economically speaking, the U.S. economy is about as large as the next three largest economies, COMBINED. That's China, Japan, and India. Add them up, with their 2.6 BILLION people, and our economy, driven by only 310 MILLION, is the same. How do you think this happened? Government? NOPE. Taking from the rich to GIVE to the poor? NOPE. Socialism? NOPE. Communism? NOPE. Capitalism did this. As for the "1%," they are the ones giving to charity and starting businesses that employ people. The vast majority of personal giving, foundations, and fundraisers get their money from - guess who??? THE WEALTHY. You decry poverty in this nation. Guess how the "poor" live? Most have: cell phones, flat-screen TVs, air conditioning, cars. Almost none go hungry. In Haiti, by contrast, children eat "mud cakes" and live in huts with dirt floors. Do us all a favor: if you don't like capitalism, GET OUT of this country and try North Korea or Cuba. Otherwise, STUDY ECONOMICS and GROW UP.
Anonymous
ADAMSWEAVER and your ilk - where do you people spend your time? You have convinced yourselves of a lot of nonsense. Are you unaware of the al-Qaeda terrorist training camps in Afghanistan sanctioned by the Taliban after Clinton sent cruise missiles, solidifying a relationship between bin Laden and the Taliban, who had been hostile to one another prior to that? The acts of 9/11 have their roots in those camps, among people driven by a backward, intolerant, misogynistic religion (read the Koran if you don't concur-"anyone who rejects Islam and converts to another religion, KILL HIM"), who arguably have no connection to the "1%" to whom you so robotically refer with such acidic venom. Since that war began, in what way exactly have we attempted to "take over" that country? Ridiculous. As for other wars, take WWII, whose roots were in the imperialist desires of Japan and the crazed efforts of a madman to tap into Germanic nationalistic pride. Hitler was not wealthy by any means. Indeed he was jealous of Jews' material success and rejected by their dislike of his artistic attempts. Efforts by the U.S. in that war had nothing to do with your wild-eyed theories. The conflict in Serbia? Ethnic in origin. Genocide of Hutus and Tutsis? Ethnic. The slaughter of Coptic Christians by Muslim thugs? Ethnic/religious. If you want to abolish war, install democracy and capitalism. War within Europe occured for centuries until establishment of some form of democracy there, though the socialistic economies are now imploding under their own weight. Economically speaking, the U.S. economy is about as large as the next three largest economies, COMBINED. That's China, Japan, and India. Add them up, with their 2.6 BILLION people, and our economy, driven by only 310 MILLION, is the same. How do you think this happened? Government? NOPE. Taking from the rich to GIVE to the poor? NOPE. Socialism? NOPE. Communism? NOPE. Capitalism did this. As for the "1%," they are the ones giving to charity and starting businesses that employ people. The vast majority of personal giving, foundations, and fundraisers get their money from - guess who??? THE WEALTHY. You decry poverty in this nation. Guess how the "poor" live? Most have: cell phones, flat-screen TVs, air conditioning, cars. Almost none go hungry. In Haiti, by contrast, children eat "mud cakes" and live in huts with dirt floors. Do us all a favor: if you don't like capitalism, GET OUT of this country and try North Korea or Cuba. Otherwise, STUDY ECONOMICS and GROW UP.
Anonymous
To ANON 10/31 @11:37 a.m. - this is the kind of ignorance that drives this violent, visceral, childish movement. Let's assume when you say Paul Ryan "steals" from the poor that you refer to the various nanny state social programs that he wishes to cut. The reality is we cannot support these programs as they exist, but let's leave that for the moment. Your reaction is exactly the one that leftists want when they create such programs. They use tax money (the real theft!) to create these handouts and get people dependent on them so that when economic reality hits and the adults in the room start to cut the programs, the dependents and their leftist defenders scream and howl at the injustice of it all! Never mind that by creating dependents you are robbing people (another real theft!) of self-reliance and pride. Never mind that you have done what CENTURIES of slavery and discrimination never did: break up the black family. Thanks to your drugged-out, impish 60s mentality, we have millions of people on food stamps, AFDC, WIC, "disability," Medicaid, heating assistance, HomePath, Section 8, etc. etc. etc. etc. etc. Scores of people are now in the fold and will mindlessly rail against those evil conservatives who try to "steal" from them by cutting these addictive government nipples. You, ANON, and all others who accuse the right of "stealing" when they want to trim these atrocities, are now officially classified as the useful idiots on whom divisive, contemptuous, vile creatures like the Obamunist depend to keep power. It is a truly sad day when so many are so bloody ignorant of economics that they demonize the very people who have made this country as prosperous as it is. What did you study? Anthropology? Philosophy? Communications? Political Science? Art History? I am sure you gobbled up every word your Birkenstock-wearing profs fed you about how everything is relative/subjective, how the evil white man has destroyed the planet and all its innocents, how those "bean counters" are sullied by their low task while you pursue such high honors as painting, questioning, challenging, pondering. Sorry, but they sold you a line of bull. Paul Ryan is the adult in the room, and it's time to take the pacifier out of the children's mouths.
Anonymous
To ANON 10/31 @11:37 a.m. - this is the kind of ignorance that drives this violent, visceral, childish movement. Let's assume when you say Paul Ryan "steals" from the poor that you refer to the various nanny state social programs that he wishes to cut. The reality is we cannot support these programs as they exist, but let's leave that for the moment. Your reaction is exactly the one that leftists want when they create such programs. They use tax money (the real theft!) to create these handouts and get people dependent on them so that when economic reality hits and the adults in the room start to cut the programs, the dependents and their leftist defenders scream and howl at the injustice of it all! Never mind that by creating dependents you are robbing people (another real theft!) of self-reliance and pride. Never mind that you have done what CENTURIES of slavery and discrimination never did: break up the black family. Thanks to your drugged-out, impish 60s mentality, we have millions of people on food stamps, AFDC, WIC, "disability," Medicaid, heating assistance, HomePath, Section 8, etc. etc. etc. etc. etc. Scores of people are now in the fold and will mindlessly rail against those evil conservatives who try to "steal" from them by cutting these addictive government nipples. You, ANON, and all others who accuse the right of "stealing" when they want to trim these atrocities, are now officially classified as the useful idiots on whom divisive, contemptuous, vile creatures like the Obamunist depend to keep power. It is a truly sad day when so many are so bloody ignorant of economics that they demonize the very people who have made this country as prosperous as it is. What did you study? Anthropology? Philosophy? Communications? Political Science? Art History? I am sure you gobbled up every word your Birkenstock-wearing profs fed you about how everything is relative/subjective, how the evil white man has destroyed the planet and all its innocents, how those "bean counters" are sullied by their low task while you pursue such high honors as painting, questioning, challenging, pondering. Sorry, but they sold you a line of bull. Paul Ryan is the adult in the room, and it's time to take the pacifier out of the children's mouths.
Pages
Add a new comment