Well, if you did happen to have the opportunity to go to college, you shouldn't complain about not being able to find a job if you decided to major in something as random as archaeology or insert another odd major here. Part of being a smart student is surveying the job field and picking a major in an area that has the most job potential. I work as a software developer and there is a severe shortage of them...jobs are abundant in this field. If I were going to school now I would think long and hard about going for computer science.

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Yep, that's it. If only they had gone to school. Because students graduating from college now have 100% employment. And as we all know the only reason people don't end up in college is because they didn't do their homework. It doesn't have anything to do with having the ability to pay. And all our public schools are of the same high standards. So yeah, if only those 46 million people were as smart and educated as you.

Yeahh Wall Street sucks so let's block traffic on the brooklyn bridge! I think they were more pissed that Radiohead was a hoax.

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Where Wall St got it wrong:
1. Robo-signing - kicking people out of their homes without due diligence.
2. Over-leverage - taking risky bets with shareholders money.
3. Bad risk controls - issuing mortgages to people that couldn't afford it, packaging and rating those mortgages wrongly,
4. Bad securitization and valuation - selling those assets at a wrong risk/credit rating.

1 hurt individuals the most directly. 2 & 3 hurt people with 401ks outside of public sector-style pension plans. 4 Hurt mostly the advanced corporate investors who dabbled in the CMO/CDO markets.

The whole mess wasn't down to a single group. From the late 90's the US government had been promoting home ownership as a way to individual wealth. Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac led the way on this backed by the US Gov

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fannie_Mae

The wealth of millions of middle class and poor people have been directly impacted. Wall St and their shareholders continue to lose billions. Mostly down to bad risk management on Wall St's part. But for the most part, blame squarely lies on the US Gov and those that elected them.

Quote:It is a disgrace...if those 46 million studied in school and did their homework they wouldn't be in the position they are now. 15% of the population being below poverty, in these United States, in the 21st century is hard to digest.

I applaud the demonstrators. Corporations, banks, hedge funds and Wall St. have been ripping off this country since the Reagan administration. A steady downward spiral for the middle class and the poor. This country now has 46 million people who live below the poverty line. It's a disgrace.

Michael Pellagatti, of Jersey City, N.J., holds the plastic handcuffs police used to arrest him for disorderly conduct while marching on the Brooklyn bridge along with the resultant court summons, Sunday, Oct. 2, 2011, in New York. Over 700 protestors from the Occupy Wall Street protests camping in nearby Zucotti park were arrested when they marched on the Brooklyn bound lanes while protesting against corporate greed.

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Wall Street protesters: We're in for the long haul

By VERENA DOBNIK
The Associated Press

NEW YORK ? Protesters who have been camping out in Manhattan's Financial District say their movement has grown and become more organized, and they have no intention of stopping as they move into their third week, following the second weekend in a row of mass arrests.

A large group of protesters affiliated with the Occupy Wall Street movement attempt to cross the Brooklyn Bridge, effectively shutting parts of it down, Saturday, Oct. 1, 2011 in New York. Police arrested dozens while trying to clear the road and reopen for traffic.(AP Photo/Will Stevens)

Occupy Wall Street movement protesters take photos of a couple while marching across the Brooklyn Bridge in New York, Saturday, Oct. 1, 2011. Police arrested hundreds of protesters Saturday. (AP Photo/Daryl)

The Occupy Wall Street demonstration started out small last month, with less than a dozen college students spending days and nights in Zuccotti Park, a private plaza off Broadway. It has grown sizably, however, both in New York City and elsewhere as people in other communities across the country display their solidarity in similar protests.

The event has drawn protesters of diverse ages and occupations who are speaking out against corporate greed, social inequality, global climate change and other concerns.

Kira Moyer-Sims, 19, of Portland, Ore., said things have changed a lot since the protest started, with the group much more organized. "We have a protocol for most things," she said, including what to do when people are arrested in terms of getting legal help.

She said the protest would only continue.

"They thought we were going to leave and we haven't left," she said of city officials.

"We're going to stay as long as we can," she added.

NYPD spokesman Paul Browne said the department wouldn't be changing its approach to handling the protest, that it would continue regular patrols and monitoring but not assign additional officers. Police officers have been a regular sight at the plaza.

"As always, if it is a lawful demonstration, we help facilitate and if they break the law we arrest them," Browne said.

The Fire Department said it had gone to the site several times over the past week to check for any fire safety hazards arising from people living in the plaza, but there have been no major issues.

On Sunday, a group of New York public school teachers sat in the plaza, including Denise Martinez. The 47-year-old Brooklyn resident works at a school where most students are at poverty level.

"The bottom line is the feeling that the financial industries here on Wall Street have caused the economic problems, and they're not contributing their fair share to solving them," she said of her reasons for camping out Sunday.

She said funding for education has shrunk to the point where her classes are as large as about 50.

"These are America's future workers, and what's trickling down to them are the problems - the unemployment, the crime."

Another voice on Sunday belonged to Jackie Fellner, a 32-year-old marketing manager from Westchester County.

"We're not here to take down Wall Street. It's not poor against rich. It's about big money dictating which politicians get elected and what programs get funded," she said.

Gatherings elsewhere included one in Providence, R.I., that attracted about 60 people to a public park. The participants called it a "planning meeting" and initially debated whether to allow reporters to cover it.

In Boston, protesters set up an encampment across the street from the Federal Reserve Building.

The New York City protesters have spent most of their time in the plaza, sleeping on air mattresses, holding assemblies at which they discuss their goals and listening to speakers including celebrity activist Michael Moore and Princeton University professor Cornel West.

On the past two Saturdays, though, they marched to other parts of the city, which led to tense standoffs with police. On Sept. 24, about 100 people were arrested and the group put out video which showed some women being hit with pepper spray by a police official. On Oct. 1, more than 700 people were arrested as the group attempted to cross to the Brooklyn Bridge.

Some of the protesters said they were lured onto the roadway by police, or they didn't hear the calls from authorities to head to the pedestrian walkway. Police said no one was tricked into being arrested, and those in the back of the group who couldn't hear were allowed to leave.

The NYPD on Sunday released video footage to back up its stance. In one of the videos, an official uses a bullhorn to warn the crowd. Marchers can be seen chanting, "Take the bridge."

Browne said that of the most recent arrests, the vast majority had been released. Eight people were held, three because of outstanding warrants and five others who refused to show any identification.

http://www.ajc.com/news/nation-world/ ... testers-were-1192908.html