The financial crisis we our in is affecting everyone, and I do not see it changing anytime soon. Our generation is growing up in a society that will not benefit us and will only make it harder to find jobs. With lowering the interest rates to only %1, but what is the point if it is such a low return on investments, so now the investors want nothing to do with it. This is where the people of the U.S get screwed. There is more supply than there is demand because of the increasing rate of foreclosure on homes. There is no middle ground with dealing with anyone and that is the problem with American's, no one wants to make any sacrifices for the improvement of the polis. The way things are cannot be turned around over night ,but with the way the banks have been dealing with foreclosures on homes we are not gaining or moving forward in any direction. In order for our system to improve there needs to be a good understanding of what is wanted from both sides. The problems will not be fixed for years to come ,but I feel that we have to hit rock bottom for people to realize how messed up our economy is, and unfortunately it has to happen

While I did enjoy the little homes and banks, etc, I am going to focus more on our class discussion that we had about this. You (Dr. Marichal) said that, basically, we love the people who figured out how to cheat the system, but we hate the effect that comes as a result of it. We love the ethos of living large and the Ben Affleck character, but we hate what comes out of it. Then Magen brought up a really good point- that the people in this protest need to be able to look at themselves before they expect any change. I agree with this entirely. I also think that these protesters needs to be more informed, which is an opinion that I formed in class today as well. Many of these people do not know what they are fighting, which makes their arguments pointless. I think that if people were aware of what they were fighting for, they would have more of a success rate (if there is any success rate at all), but even before that, they need to become self-aware. If they are not knowledgeable of what they themselves are doing and how they actually need to make some changes before any other changes are made, they are contradicting the whole point of the protest. One of the most important things I have ever learned is "nothing changes if nothing changes," and that is something that the "99%ers" should also know.

I am great at proof reading.. I meant to say the little video on homes and banks, etc. :)

I agree with Weiss's argument; the OWS movement has to gain solid backing, rather than emphasizing weak points with protesters who do not know what they are protesting. The way Weiss worded his thoughts could have been simpler and clearer, but I suppose that his goal was to sound knowledgeable about the topic.
The classic scene from "The Boiler Room" makes those who chase after wealth seem like corrupt looters, while the Crisis of Credit video shows the bankers as if they are as negatively affected by a bad economy as the rest of the people are. Also, the Crisis of Credit video did a great job of explaining the economy in a way which combined an engaging story, symbols, fun visuals, numbers, and charts.

The crisis is really growing high and I think there is no solution to it. Because people who has the power only take advantages on the blessing He/She have. Carpet Cleaning Service

This is a paradox. Americans like the idea of living large with the best cars and the bigest houses, but we despise the ruin that those mindsets causes.We dont want people to be greedy.People want to be like the Ben Affleck character, but they do not want to adopt the same character(SOUNDS CRAZY). Yesterday in class many people stated that they do not understand why people are occupying if they are simply trying to change mindsets. However, protesters are protesting for social and economic inequality, the greedy characters, and the influence money has over government. With that comes a sector to change mindsets, because it is a part of the goal, but it is not all. The protest has been getting alot of flack because of lack of focus, and an unspoken goal, but in fact the goals are just broad. But that is how we have to start to be able to make change. Also, this whole discourse about the protesters being uneducated is probably a good observation, but the majority of the protestors know the reason they ae protesting. We cant judge the inentions of the protest because a few uneducated people are a part of the movement. Finally, I agree with Weiss about defining the American contradiction, or else the movement will be dismissed! I DONT THINK Weiss was saying the movement was only about changing mindsets, but more so about why we have a crisis, which is in correlation with the corupted minds of America. The movement is deeper than changing mindsets!

I liked the video with the houses, families, investors, etc. I think it attempts to provide understanding to a very complex reality.
OWS, TPP, and other groups do have a point. Something is obviously wrong, it doesn't take a genius to figure out that much. However, I am beyond frustrated because NO ONE is offering a potential solution to the problem. I don't really think complaining about an issue is going to fix anything. Prominent figures from both groups should stand up and share their opinions on what to do in order to FIX THE PROBLEM.
Personally, I think we should have let the banks fail. There are more than likely a lot of other banks/ investment firms that would succeed.I find the clip from the boiler room to be humorous because they make those men seem "evil," but the truth is everyone is striving for their level of wealth...is it right? Probably not. But I also don't think we should prevent people from making over a certain amount of money. People with good intentions, good ideas, good inventions, etc. should prevail, and the banks who got themselves into a lot of trouble should fail!

The Crisis of Credit video does a very good job of clearing up a lot of misconceptions about what's going on with our housing market right now. Many people don't understand the system, and quite frankly I wasn't even totally clear on the financial processes involved, but the video will help anyone to understand why everything is panning out the way it is. I also feel that the more people who really understand what's going on, the closer we will get to a solution to the problem. Right now no one knows how to fix the housing market, let alone the economic issues this country faces as a whole. The Ben Affleck clip ties in well because it personifies the "investors" depicted as robust stick figure types in the Credit Crisis video. It's true that investors want to make as much money as possible, but can we blame them? There are the types who want as much money as they can get, and money is simply an object of success in those types of firms.

While I enjoyed the Crisis of Credit video, I would like to point out that the video uses framing and priming to sway the opinion of the viewer.Of course we have established that most political pieces are story tellers, it is interesting to me that the bankers are all depicted as "fat-cats" in suits while homeowners are depicted as families with kids and pets - with "irresponsible families" being depicted in a less flattering light. The causal story is one of blame which is placed both on wall street and the "irresponsible families" - which I would contend were likely made up of a good number of financially sound individuals who ran into bankruptcy or fiscal issues.
That being said, I would like to with Weiss' statement. The 99% movement has been growing at a rapid rate, as protests have sprung up around the nation (and globe for that matter). While the protests are often called "direction less" I do not see the need for explicit definition of desired policies as an inherent need for political protest. Protests are fueld by a desire for something, some form of change, which is to be enacted by the government. The 99% has called for economic reform in this country - that in itself is a demand.
As to whether the American culture of "getting rich even by getting dirty", this is not the concern of the OWS movement. Sure, this is a genuine issue in American culture which prevents the economic redistribution that the 99% movement is calling for, but it is not their responsibility to "account for" this culture and to "reconcile it" with their demands. It was not the duty of the civil rights movement to reconcile their beliefs with the beliefs of those who propagated segregation and racism. It was thrust onto the feminist movement to compromise with misogynist culture. The gay rights movement is not being told that in order to enact equal protection laws and gain the rights they deserve, that they must explain the "American contradiction" of a state with equal rights which doesnt equally extend rights in order to "avoid derision".
It is not the burden of the protesting group to explain the cultural attitudes of the public. To say that the OWS movement is an exception to this, because Americans are in agreement with the need for change but like things the way they are culturally completely misses the point.

When I think of Weiss' opinion, it does make sense in a way. Many people are disagreeing with companies because of the housing crisis (if they know what they did) but if individuals had the oppurtunity to do the same thing to become "a billionaire" like the Boiler Room clip, they would jump on it. Even though there were ways to handle the housing better that would avoid the crisis, I feel that it is an "American contradiction". To solve this problem, I feel we need to figure out exactly what we are fighting against, I know it is about the 1% and wall street but it needs to be more specific that is worth fighting against. I feel the OWS cause is just complaining about the 1% being rich and the rest ofthe 99% being poor. I does not have a specific problem that we can look at to solve. Otherwise the problem will still be looked passed. This will also help people to get better educated on how the crisis was caused instead of what the crisis caused. How can you solve a problem if you do not know how it occured?

It is interesting to consider how likely it is that people would take an opportunity like the one in the Boiler Room clip, despite the fact that they despise the ruin caused by that mindset. I agree with Weiss' argument. If the protestors cannot explain why these apparently conflicting opinions can exist, the OWS movement will simply seem like people complaining that they are not the people in the top 1%. The video did help me to understand how the housing crisis played out; I did not know about the lowering of the interest rates as a key factor. The OWS movement is unorganized because most protestors do not know what is wrong, even though many know something is wrong. It would be easy to say that the crisis was caused by the approval of sub-prime loans to try to get more money, but the video showed several factors which caused the crisis. This video could help give the movement a clearer understanding of the problem and give the protestors more direction than holding up signs with generic complaints that could be used for any issue.

I do agree with parts of Weiss' statement. While I do believe that an underlying tone in the OWS is that they are angry because of the social lifestyle of America, I do think that they know why it exists. They don't need to account for it. Our problems in the nation stem from this idea that blowing money is a cool thing. We have this idea that its "good" or "cool" to spend money frivolously. Money that might not have been "earned" so much as making bad deals, and working the financial system to your advantage. Back when the railroad tycoons were making money, it seemed "ok" to spend the money frivolously because they, in a sense, "worked" for it. Places like the Vanderbilt Mansion are examples of the money spending. But our culture has changed to where we can see that spending that money in such a way is not good for our future as a whole. Sure, short term (15-60) years won't matter too much. But its when you have an entire culture and generations making bad deals, manipulating the financial system, it will eventually turn into a slippery slope that has no bailout option. The answer to why these problems are happening is in our past. Its in our society today. Maybe a capitalist market is not beneficial in the long run. Maybe Marx had it right. Not social communist Marx, but he predicted everything that has happened so far. In a society where its citizens are only worried about themselves maybe this was bound to happen.

(Yes, I talked a lot about what we talked about Dr. Marichal. Our talk was extremely enlightening and it solidified a lot of my thoughts on this issue.) Thank you.

This video was a pretty clear depiction of the credit crisis because of the simplicity of the language, graphics, and pace. There was clearly bias and possibly rude humor but the simple fact was addressed; the housing market is down and investment bankers and bankers are in extreme trouble because of the millions spent on bonds. The OWS movement is focused on corporate greed and inequality; both socially and economically. However, I think that this accusation is not completely legitimate because of the faults of many people included in the 99%. Many people who bought houses without the necessary means of financial security played a vital role in the spiral of the housing market and crashing economy. Therefor, these picketers are fighting the system, when really, people from their own "percentage" heavily contributed to this hurting system.

I agree with almost everyone who is thinking that if someone had the ability to be like Ben Affleck I guarentee that everyone would want to be a millionaire. No one wants to work for free, people work to make money and they work hard to make more money to provide themselves and their families with a better lifesytle. The people in the Occupy Wall Street movement, to me just seem like people who are upset with the wrong person. They are blaming Wall Street but all Wall Street did was drink the alcohol poured by the Federal Reserve. If Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac were not guarenteeing all the mortgages, Wall Street probably would have never been in the whole situation. It was the government who choose the winners and the losers of Wall Street and the mortgage crisis. The OWS people need to learn that the government's role is to not bailout corporations. In a pure capitalist system the failing companies would go under. The government should have let these banks to go under and let the shareholders lose money. Thats capitalism and bailing out is a moral hazard and it promotes big corporations to make bad decisions. The market determines winners and losers, not the government.

I think that the movement of Occupy Wall Street should be aimed more towards the effort of creating a battle between us and our inner selves. The truth of the matter is, until we become less greedy about such matters, nothing will permanently change. I agree with the belief that the movement is in essence fighting against a culture and mindset which has been instilled in us. However, until we stop trying to be rich because of the luxuries that it entails and we let go of the greed that exists, it's ha rd to predict better economic times. Personally, I think what should be done is that the government, instead of taxing the upper 1% more, should "force" (through laws)these upper 1% businesses to invest more money in helping better the economy through creating more job opportunites for people. Granted, these people earned their money, and the economic problems we currently face should not all fall on their shoulders because they have money, but at the same time they would not be rich if this exact country did not allow them the opportunity to become rich. So I think these upper 1% businesses should invest in the economy in the previously mentioned way, if anything, to give back to the helping hand who helped make them rich in the first place.

I definitely agree that we, as Americans, admire the Ben Affleck character. The millionaires on top of the world. We all want to be that top 1% but we hate the effects of it. We resent the people on top for being on top and what they're getting to the top did to those not on the top. I do believe that Weiss is on the right track. We don't want to be against the 1% necessarily because that is what is considered the "American Dream." Most everyone wishes that they could be part of the top 1% and because it is a part of our culture to praise these people in the top 1% we find it hard to suddenly say that they should be "punished" for being so successful.

All three sources presented painted a different picture as to who has fault and the reasoning behind why this movement has taken off so quickly with so much man power. But what it is lacking is the power of knowledge. The average person has no idea what they are protesting about. We do indeed have a problem with our economy, one that has been building up from years of regulation ( or lack of). Whatever your position is on the topic, something is definitely wrong and we did a disadvantage to our society with our mindset that we could have it all with no repercussions; who takes the blame at this point doesn't matter. But how are we to fix this if we live in a society where we want more than we actually need. Where we are told that in order to be "rich" we must work hard and that one day we will climb that latter all the way to the top. But that is not the case anymore, the gap in socio-economic status has increased. So what are we protesting about, that change needs to come in the sense of making those who hold the top wealth contribute more to setting an equal playing field, or are people protesting because they are not the ones at the top? Would people trade in the ability to move up on this status quo latter for a steady set lifestyle? Would people be okay with the idea of everyone holding the same wages and same benefits? I am not sure, but what I do know is that blame doesn't lead to a concrete solution. Lately this is all we have been seeing in the media, in videos, and with testimonies; some blame the top one percent, others blame bankers, and some blame the polis for wanting the government to be the almighty savior.

I agree with Weiss to an extent. Many people in America do revere those who were able to make their own fortunes and achieve the American dream, but as the movement gains more speed, more and more people are no longer seeing these people as honest and hard-working, but instead bloodthirsty and money-hungry. In these hard times, people are looking for someone to blame. The OWS movement, by portraying Wall Street the way they do, are working (somewhat successfully) to change people's opinions. By calling themselves the 99% they again break down the celebration around the top 1% and show that the majority of the American people no longer support the "hard work" that these individuals had to do in order to make their wealth. The video could also be used by the OWS movement to give some kind of proof that the crisis was the fault of banks and money-hungry investors who didn't care about the fallout of the crash and knew that they would be bailed out.

I think the OWS protesters will get a better result and have more people listen to them if they are more peaceful about their protests. While the drama of the arrests and police raided protests get their issue out on the news, it gives it less respect from other people. Protesters need to know more about the issue and be better educated in order to get their point across without violence or vandalism. Even thought the ethos of a strong personality the "go big or go home" philosophy portrayed by Ben Affleck in The Boiler Room is what people are most attracted too, if they know more about the issue they don't have to puppy dog and follow the person with that strong character and thats where i think protests get out of hand. People puppy dog follow people who are enthusiastic about what they are protesting and they take it too far. The protesters who are involved in OWS need to know who is really to blame for the financial issues going on today. They need to direct the protests not to just one person per say but more towards the root of the issue.

I agree that the protest is protesting something more of a mind set, and yes with out defining and figuring out what really is the problem there will be no solution, just more chaos and anger. The fight against having power and being a rich man/woman at the top is contradictory in and of itself. I honestly think that most if not all people, given the chance to have that, would take it. We all have this desire to be great to have more, and when we are not given it, we complain. Which is kind of what this is, is it not? Is this not people who do not live this life style but want it, fighting in order to have an operatunity to have it? And even with saying that, most people do not even know what they are protesting, they are there just to be there

Michael Weiss could not be more correct in his understanding of the issue at hand. The wisest way to bring up an issue no matter the context or situation is by providing a well defined and thought out solution. Although the banks have used their extraordinary power and greed to manipulate their own incomes while screwing up the system, the "banks" are run by people. People are greedy, people have enormous self interests, especially when dealing with great amounts of money. Basically, the OWS is mad about a real problem and mad at the right people, but the only solution provided by them is by changing the banks way of thinking, but the banks way of thinking is that of human greed(which everyone has), stemmed from the feeling of not being able to fail. So the only logical solution to fix their greed is to allow them to fail. Hence, the OWS is contradicting themselves. Also noted is, the OWS wants to be bailed out because the greedy banks were bailed out, but that makes the OWS greedy as well.

I do agree with Weiss in stating that the OWS protest in an American contradiction. By labeling themselves as the 99% they attract more attention and cause more people to feel that they are included and therefore they need to participate as well. Because they attack the millionaires as only one 1% and label them as non working bloodthirsty and money hungry people they no longer are seen as hardworking and become hated by the main population.

In our class discussion you focused on how america simultaneously loves and hates those who are doing high risk/high reward probability jobs, and the goal of the OWS/99% campaign is to stop this practice in particular in the financial industry. I think that the complete rejection of this is dangerous many industries thrive on it. The technology industry is a good use case many of the most profitable companies in it were started in similar circumstances where the were putting everything on the line for it, but when those companies fail no one comes along and repays the investors and buys the failed company from the founders. They have to deal with that loss themselves and move on to the next project. I think the primary problem in the case of the financial crisis is that these people are not just betting with their money and their actions will affect everything. This high risk/high reward system is also the basis of all of the startup industry (in and out of technology) which are the main source of new job creation.

I think that the as a whole the financial system is broken no one is willing to take any responsibility when large quantities of money is lost yet everyone is willing to take a cut of the profit when times are good.

In class I, as well as some others, were saying that the Occupy Wall Street protests seem a bit pointless because, in addition to many other things, they are out there simply rabble rousing and being angry and pointing out problems and demanding change; all the while they offer no practical or uniform proposals as to how this change may come about. Perhaps that doesn't matter to some people, but at least to me it severely diminishes my respect for the movement, if you can even call it that. Take our own American Revolution for an example. There was an obvious problem and a majority of dissent within the polis. There were riots to be sure. After all we don't call it a revolution for nothing. However, there was an overarching and clear vocalization of what the demands were. Soon a group of intelligent, charismatic, and insightful men gathered to clearly articulate what the wishes of the colonies were and drafted plans and ideas on how to rectify the situation. We all know the rest of the history but the point I am trying to make is that their was a unified goal and sense of purpose that was spearheaded by strong representatives and through great personal sacrifice from all who believed in that cause, change was enacted.

Occupy Wall Street and majority of the 99 percenters are just a bunch of whiny do nothings, as I see it.

I would have to agree that almost everyone take an opportunity to be a millionaire if they were given the chance. Their reasons are both selfish and selfless; some simply like the idea having money while others like the idea of having security for themselves and their families. The 99% group or OWS, which ever name you chose to recognize are a mixture of people who are both educated and uneducated on the financial issue. However, when it comes down to it they both have one thing in common and that is they are angry. They are angry because they see themselves or other people suffering while others are flourishing. Their frustration is understandable, how can people in the same society be at opposite levels of income. However, this is the outcome of a free market and capitalism. Although it is a bit overreaching to place all the blame of the financial crisis on the top 1% it is understandable why OWS feels this way. All they are trying to do is fine the center of the problem so that they begin a movement to make a change for the better.

I already had an idea of what was going on in the economy today with the credit crisis but this video help expand my knowledge of the issue. I enjoyed watching this video. I like how they broke down everything making it simple to understand what was really going on. I believe that the major problem with the economy now is that everyone has the expectation to live the life like the Ben Affleck character... young, rich, with a nice car and nice house. Everyone wants to be on top and be a millionaire, but in fact not everyone can live that life. People need to except that if they can’t afford that life style they should try to purchase things that that style accommodates for. Because in the end it makes everyone suffer.

Although we can now identify the problem with the mortgage system and we can put all the blame we want on the people who developed this idea. When the system backfired and lost people money and power we no longer support it, we only support and use a system the creates a cycle of gain whether you are the homeowner banker or invester. COnsidering from the begiinning it was a time bomb that was bound to blow and our society bought into the time bomb a lot of the blame should be pointed at us but we want to create a bad guy, wallstreet. Wallstreet would not be near as powerful as it is if we didnt elevate it to that level.

This is definitely an interesting take and I agree with the point made in the class discussion that we do like the "Ben Afleck character." We root for the big corrupted money hungry people because we in turn, for the most part I would not say all, want that power and money whether we are going to openly admit it or not. The power is alluring, the money is tempting, and all the toys are the icing on the cake. However, when it all goes to crap we immediately blame the CEO, the powerhouse, we cringe at the fallout that we wanted. This is the same thing with the mortgage crisis. Everyone was all for helping those who were in a tough spot if you will to own a home and get their lives started. As soon as those people started defaulting on their loans and things went south, everyone was looking for a scapegoat and everyone seemed to fail to realize that they had all supported it from the get-go. Wallstreet is now the current bad guy. They are some of the wealthiest and most powerful. Wallstreet is socially constructed and if we didn't place so much power int he hands of those with money maybe the general public wouldn't have to protest against something so ridiculous as wallstreet.

OWS is battling something much larger than itself, perhaps something so large that it cannot fully comprehend or define exactly what they're battling against. It is a multi-faceted, multi-factored monster. There are too many causes and contributions to count that have brought America and it's people where we are today. I don't expect OWS, or any other movement like it, to be able to properly protest against something without being able to define it clearly. Sometimes, people irrationally fear things they don't know about, like death. We, as the living, have no proof or stance to say whether death is good, bad, pleasurable, or painful. But we fear the unknown, the possibility that it might be any of these. We fear something without defining what it is and why it's scary (hence the irrationality). In this same manner then, the OWS protests, however valid the outrage of the American people, are rather irrational as well. But it's not their fault. They cannot agree on a definition of precisely what they want, precisely what needs to be fixed, or how to do it, and that is the true issue at hand. Weiss uses a sound Socratic logic when he says that OWS is meaningless until a meaning and definition are defined. This meaning and definition however, as I said before, is so convoluted and multi-faceted that it may never be found under the heaps of policy, selfishness, lies, scandal, laziness, desire of ease and instant gratification that have brought us where we are today.

From the news and videos on OWS, I honestly cannot determine a concrete reason for their protests, for which I believe the government and police force agrees with me because they keep dismissing the protesters. I do in fact, however, agree with Weiss when he says that these protesters are going up against a lifestyle or a mindset, and that is exactly where I believe the problem lies. One group in America cannot change an entire lifestyle of a group of people that, at least until recently, is widely used and accepted by thiis country. For their arguments and protests to be taken seriously, I believe that OWS needs to define a more concrete focal point in their crusade, rather than attacking a lifestyle/mindset, and then they need a lot more manpower to actually start swaying public opinion to join the protests.

The financial crisis occurring is hurting everyone in the United States. Even the richest if people. So far I see no end in sight. Lowering the interest rate is not making it any easier on the citizens. The Boiler room clip was very interesting to me because I feel that is close to how it is. Our country is digging their way back down into the ditch and needs to find a true way to drop the shovel and climb on out. I feel our government has a big impact on making this possible.

I feel like this video is a somewhat clear explanation of how wallstreet works, and for me, it cleared up a lot of unknown information that I was unaware of. Unfortunately, the problem with this process is that once we begin to help out those who are not as financially stable, the risk of them paying back their loans dangerously increases and this is where the downfall is at. Wallstreet, well aware, is somewhat at fault for this epidemic, since they have a piece of control. This control comes directly from the amount of money that is involved. Money is power. Until they begin to resist the temptation of taking these risks, we will continue to see the failure of wall street.

I did enjoy how cut and clear this presented the trickle of the financial system. Going on the topic of awareness in issue advocacy as with the people of occupy wall street, it is vital that something specific be known of the system. Interestingly the system as altered showed that it allowed people who could not pay them back, take on mortgages simply because they could. It falls upon people who default on that and lose a home to have the value of the bonds between sharers, lenders and buyers lessen and end up at the time bomb effect in the event of it being a constant trend. I feel that people opted to default and be the catalytic issue for the system should not be allowed that freedom but in the circumstances of the system today, people should have more of an education for the system. In the system of getting rich fast wall street cut the hole in their pockets wanting it to be so quick, cut and dry. Not allowing for it to become organic within the economy, slowly but still at a high yield; the rapid expansion where everyone felt stable put an inevitable inconsistent quota within the system to lead to a down spiral that we are in at this time.

I enjoyed the majority of the video and thought that it has some very interesting information. I am sure that it has some flaws in it and that not everything in it was what caused the current crisis but i agree that some of the things listed helped promote the current economic crisis.

I believe that this video was helpful and I was able to leave with a better understanding of how we've ended up where we are today as an economy. I enjoyed the fact that it supported both sides of the argument very much. I tend to agree with most that most people want to be the "Ben Aflack" character. As a society we see money as power and happiness. At the same time we have the classic story line of the man or woman who sabotages their lives in order to achieve extreme wealth and later in life they find themselves lost without true love or happiness. Personally I agree with the Occupy Wall Street Movements and raising the taxes on the top 1%. I also want to live a stable life with a pretty huge paycheck coming my way every month. Once I achieve such a dream, I would be more than willing to pay more on income tax because my country and society helped me achieve my wealth. It's like a give and take theory. It's not going to kill me or barely change my lifestyle choices to give back to the economy.

I think Weiss's comment could be stated in Walter Fisher's terms (from the article "Reaffirmation and Subversion of the American Dream"):

“The American Dream is two dreams, or, more accurately, it is two myths, myths that we all share in some degree or other and which, when taken together, characterize America as a culture. . . . the rags to riches, materialistic myth of individual success and the egalitarian moralistic myth of brotherhood. . . . Each of these myths has [had] its own rhetorical power and potential for destruction [throughout American history]”

(Note that “myths” here does not mean falsehoods, but rather “vehicles of communication between the conscious and unconscious” which “provide meaning, identity, a comprehensive understandable image of the world. . . . Without dreams or myths, a man [sic] or nation is without a past, present, or future”).

Interesting paragraph with a lot of depth and understanding. I have to agree with the statement that OWS will not be able to succeed due to in fact alone that they are not fighting the rich, they are trying to fight a lifestyle. This lifestyle has been known as the "American Dream", something that has been at the core of many Americans since we were old enough to understand what that lifestyle entails. If OWS can not come to terms with what exactly they are fighting, they will fall victim to just another hopeless parade of trying to change society. Yes OWS has already garnered much attention, rather worldly attention, and even succeed in creating an "evil" to fight specifically. Problem with this is their real goal and agenda should be attempting to take down a lifestyle and I don't know if or how someone can do that. Not for lack of effort, but a lifestyle is much harder to influence and take down than a policy of such. I think we are all curious what exactly OWS will have accomplished in 6 months, I know I am.

This video takes a very complex issue and makes it somewhat easy to understand for me. Kudos to the makers. With regards to Occupy Wall Street, I think they will have to fight a uphill battle due to the fact that they are not necessarily protesting a certain specific policy, but rather an ideology. How do you fight an ideology? I'm not sure you can through protest. What you can do, however, is gain awareness for your cause and stimulate talk among interested citizens. If OWS wants to be successful, they have to be able to stick around not just for a few weeks or even years, but rather decades. Changing the culture is not a matter of electing someone new into office. It is a matter of changing the outlook of the next generation.

Though this video does make sense, it raises the question of why the government has allowed this to continue for so long. Our government itself has created the policies and rules that cause business people to act this way. I spoke to a businessman recently who said that "business is like water. It follows the path of least resistance." Though I realize that individuals do bear some responsibility for the situation, I think that we should focus on calling for policies that will ameliorate the situation and prevent a similar one from occurring rather than making a villain out of Wall Street. Though they may be at fault, we have to recognize that the system they're working within offers greater incentives for this sort of behavior, and that if we are not going to enforce their behavior, our only option is to change the rules so that practices that would lead to a "greater good" are incentivized.