poll: people in the USA don't like Wall Street or the government.

[Os Cangaceiros]

http://www.washingtonpost.com/rf/image_606w/WashingtonPost/Content/Blogs/behind-the-numbers/StandingArt/BTN%20favorable%201009.jpg?uuid=X0dnrvRJEeCCRONahT cYzg


The fledgling Occupy Wall Street protests tap into a deep vein of public animosity toward the country’s major financial institutions, one that is on par with the deep negativity aimed at Washington, according to a new Washington Post-ABC News poll.

Public distrust of the federal government is growing, and well documented. In the new poll, more than two-thirds of Americans say they view Washington unfavorably, including nearly half who hold “strongly” unfavorable impressions. These sentiments spike higher among Republicans, and continue to fuel the tea party political movement.

But there’s just as much negativity directed at Wall Street financial institutions. Fully 70 percent of those polled view such firms unfavorably, with strongly unfavorable mentions outnumbering strongly favorable ones by 8 to 1.

For political independents, there’s little love for either one: similar proportions — around seven in 10 — view government and Wall Street unfavorably. Most, 55 percent view both negatively.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/behind-the-numbers/post/public-ire-hits-wall-street-and-government/2011/10/11/gIQAB5iGdL_blog.html

[tir1944]

The problem is in the fact that many of those who "don't like" the Government are actually Republicans/Right-wing leaning.

[blake 3:17]

The problem is in the fact that many of those who "don't like" the Government are actually Republicans/Right-wing leaning.

Could that also be due to the Left too often identifying itself with Big Government?

[Os Cangaceiros]

Recent polls have put the number of Americans who disapprove of Congress at over 80%. That cuts across party lines in a big way.

[Belleraphone]

The problem is in the fact that many of those who "don't like" the Government are actually Republicans/Right-wing leaning.
Actually, I remember a lecture by Chomsky saying that even though the Tea-Partiers aren't in favor of "Big Government" they are in favor of more social spending to schools, hospitals, roads, ect. I'm strictly speaking of its supporters who are ordinary people that are being mislead, not the leaders which obviously want to cut everything.

[Robocommie]

Actually, I remember a lecture by Chomsky saying that even though the Tea-Partiers aren't in favor of "Big Government" they are in favor of more social spending to schools, hospitals, roads, ect. I'm strictly speaking of its supporters who are ordinary people that are being mislead, not the leaders which obviously want to cut everything.

There must be some kind of cognitive dissonance here, where "Big Government" only evokes images of creepy government agents in sunglasses, imposing institutions with unhelpful bureaucrats and complicated paperwork, and overpaid, unresponsive politicians, and then they completely associate infrastructure and development with something else.

[Rusty Shackleford]

what the fuck is a big government.

[RebelDog]

what the fuck is a big government.

Big government is when there is a degree of social spending and some social policies (like minimum wage, social housing) which aid poor people and its intrusive, evil and wants to take over everything and its all communism. Small goverment is when there is low taxes for the rich, huge subsidy for business and little protection for workers and its fabulous and means we are all free.

[Tablo]

Big government is when there is a degree of social spending and some social policies (like minimum wage, social housing) which aid poor people and its intrusive, evil and wants to take over everything and its all communism. Small goverment is when there is low taxes for the rich, huge subsidy for business and little protection for workers and its fabulous and means we are all free.
Don't forget the military! That's an important part of being free and having small government.

[agnixie]

Don't forget the military! That's an important part of being free and having small government.

Silly thing is, in terms of taxation and expenditure, the fascists had smaller governments than pretty much everyone else in the 50s. Jackbooted thugs are surprisingly cheap, although admittedly the fascists didn't have Lockheed to jack up the cost of airforce jets to 120 million a pop.

[RebelDog]

Don't forget the military! That's an important part of being free and having small government.

Yes. The military bombs people all over the world to protect our freedom, so with all the new-found freedom people have with small government, they need an even bigger military to protect them because they have more freedom. If we didn't have any freedom then there would thus be no military whatsoever.

[Le Socialiste]

C'mon Democrats! How can a majority of you still have a positive view of corporate media?

I don't know about this...a majority of people in either party doesn't favor Washington or Wall Street, but how is this going to end up? How far do they think they have to go? I suspect the furthest most people would go is ask for reforms. As for hating Washington, Americans have been in that state of mind for as long as I can remember (in what little time I've lived). I guess the real news is the growing distrust and hostility towards Wall Street...

[#FF0000]

That's good. I've noticed this at my local Occupy. People are still all "well I don't hate capitalism, but..." but they're all reluctant as hell to advocate for any legislation or anything.

Except for one Democrat shill who I can't stand.

[Tablo]

It seems to me that people are afraid to hate capitalism. They are afraid to explore alternatives...

[#FF0000]

It seems to me that people are afraid to hate capitalism. They are afraid to explore alternatives...

It's just never even been an option, you know?

So, I try and talk to them about how nothing we're fighting for is new. There was never a time in history where the monied elite gave a shit about the working class or was not actively trying to extract as much as possible from it.

I also point out that legislation alone is absolutely useless. The 1% have armies of accountants, lawyers, and lobbyists who are there with the job of finding legal slack and corners to cut. They are constantly on the attack, looking for ways to take more. So, it's a waste to have this huge rising of people and then sit there and say "we need this legislation" and go home once it's passed. To keep any gains we want to make, we have to be on the attack as well, out there every day fighting tooth and nail for it. Forever.

I think this line is true enough that even the "reasonable" can't really disagree with it, and I think it's a good explanation that demonstrates that class struggle is a reality, and that the interests of working people run diametrically opposed to those of the employers.

[The CPSU Chairman]

It seems to me that people are afraid to hate capitalism. They are afraid to explore alternatives...

Yep. Capitalism is like a religion in the United States. People are terrified to condemn it because it's like being blasphemous. You just don't do it.

That's why I have very little faith in OWS. I'm glad it's happening, though; i'd rather people be protesting than not, and the fact that people are out in the streets talking about how screwed up things are at least opens the opportunity to maybe get through to some of them.

[ckaihatsu]

This survey is unscientific -- besides 'Democrats', 'Independents', and 'Republicans' they forgot to include 'Freedom-hating big-government-loving loser commie slug hippie scumfucks'....





cognitive dissonance


Uh-oh -- someone just said the magic words...! Time for a diagram!


(8 (


= D


>x |


History, Macro-Micro -- Political (Cognitive) Dissonance

http://postimage.org/image/35rsjgh0k/

[~Spectre]

Yep. Capitalism is like a religion in the United States. People are terrified to condemn it because it's like being blasphemous.

More and more, I'm finding that faith in their God is shattered. The people know that God is dead.

[Ocean Seal]

Don't forget the military! That's an important part of being free and having small government.
Hey a big military is important in order to maintain our small and free government, so that when big governments across the world try to disrupt our freedom we can blow it all to fuck.

[ckaihatsu]

Probably not, a lot seem to love the government when there is a Republican President and majority in Congress. I'd say it is Obama and the Democrats, having power, along with many people nation wide viewing the governments performance unfavorably.


I've described this dynamic as being like a 'pendulum', though in retrospect I think I was being too kind in that characterization -- it's more like a political schizophrenia in slow-motion, where the electorate first goes for the Rambo / Terminator personality, then realizes that pissing off the rest of the world has its limits, not to mention negligence at home (Hurricane Katrina), then worries about domestic policy for awhile (Obama), gets bored, and goes back to aggressive jingoism (Tea Party)....

[arabellaB]

Critics of Occupy Wall Street claimed the protest was missing focus, and Occupy Wall Street has responded, reports The Street. The focus is now “Bank Transfer Day,” where customers can transfer their cash out of large banks in what would prove to be a more potent form of demonstration against the establishment. Occupy Wall Street introduces Bank Transfer Day where customers of banking monoliths are being encouraged to withdraw all funds, close their accounts and move to smaller banks and credit unions.

[Nothing Human Is Alien]

~30% of registered voters are neither Democrats or Republicans.

~59% of the eligible population (which itself excludes millions of people) is registered to vote.

~45.5% of the eligible population votes at major elections (like Obamania 2008).

The media's insistence on categorizing everything as "Democrats vs. Republicans" is meant at keeping the level of discourse contained within the realm of "acceptable mainstream politics," which vast swaths of the population actually detest.

[ckaihatsu]

Critics of Occupy Wall Street claimed the protest was missing focus, and Occupy Wall Street has responded, reports The Street. The focus is now “Bank Transfer Day,” where customers can transfer their cash out of large banks in what would prove to be a more potent form of demonstration against the establishment. Occupy Wall Street introduces Bank Transfer Day where customers of banking monoliths are being encouraged to withdraw all funds, close their accounts and move to smaller banks and credit unions.


Even though I'm chemically blitzed at the moment -- (kids, don't try this at home) -- I'll have to agree that this is a fairly decent tactic. A call for a run on the banks, Argentina-2000-style, is a populist consumerist move that could give the empire some pause, at least for a moment or two.

It's instructive, at least, to show that the world's confidence may be misplaced if they're always looking to the U.S. consumer as being the cutting-edge for everything economic.

An economic no-confidence vote here could lead to a broader anti-trust *political* sentiment....

[CAleftist]

Populist anger, while understandable (and I'm sympathetic to it), is no substitute for a revolutionary working-class programme.