Adam Carolla explains the OWS Generation

[rwh11385]

Avg home price in NYC, $200k.

Avg home price of OWS protestors in NYC who were arrested, $400k.


It's not about helping the downtrodden, it's about spoiled middle-class white kids angry their Philosophy/Liberal Arts degree is basically worthless.

Source? Not surprised or disagreeing with but curious so can use.

[Dozyproductions]

Source? Not surprised or disagreeing with but curious so can use.

That would be interesting to see. So are we calling successful middle class people spoiled or that these 'kids' come from such backgrounds but no longer have such accommodations?

[rwh11385]

That would be interesting to see. So are we calling successful middle class people spoiled or that these 'kids' come from such backgrounds but no longer have such accommodations?

From my adventures in life, most of the kids that are like OWS crowd typically seem to be the entitled sons and daughters of upper middle or wealthy parents. No rational poor or middle class student would study masters level philosophy with a lot of student loans. My friends that are from less than well off families study stable career majors like accounting, engineering, nursing, etc. And are so happy to be in college that they don't waste the opportunity. (No luxury to do anything else either) Alternatively, my friends from rich families take the world for granted, aren't pressed to find hireable skills in college, and often advocate for taxing the wealthy which they themselves derive life funding.

[z31maniac]

My bad, I misremembered some of the numbers.

http://news.yahoo.com/nyc-arrest-records-many-occupy-wall-street-protesters-045625415.html

[Dozyproductions]

From my adventures in life, most of the kids that are like OWS crowd typically seem to be entitled sons and daughters of upper middle or wealthy parents. No rational poor or middle class student would study philosophy with a lot of student loans. My friends that are from less than well off families study stable career majors like accounting, engineering, nursing, etc. And are so happy to be in college that they don't waste the opportunity. (No luxury to do anything else either) Alternatively, my friends from rich families take the world for granted, aren't pressed to find hireable skills in college, and often advocate for taxing the wealthy which they themselves derive life funding.

Interesting and definitely it would be good to see actual data to support such conceptions of the OWS crowd instead of assuming as much though.

While high off my ass last night I was speaking with my political discussion friend who supports the OWS in the San Diego crowd. No matter how much fundementally un american I told her the progressive tax was she still held to the belief of the rich should pay their "fair share". It seems like a lot of people observe white collar crime injustices and misconstrue the solution to such problems in higher taxes in order to artificially keep the poor from getting poorer and the rich from getting richer. What a mess.

[Kershaw]

My bad, I misremembered some of the numbers.

http://news.yahoo.com/nyc-arrest-rec...045625415.html

you definitely did. at least you admitted it though.

Among addresses for which information is available, single-family homes listed on those police intake forms have a median value of $305,000 — a far higher number than the $185,400 median value of owner-occupied housing units in the United States.

once you take into account that most of the OWS people are from urban areas, where housing is much higher, you realize they arent exactly privileged people. a $300k house in the dc area is at the lower end of the middle class. a $500k house is middle middle class. are they counting their pennies to afford bread? no. but they are definitely not wealthy.

straight up sensationalism.

[z31maniac]

However you need to justify it, but the point is, the majority of OWS come from families that are noticeably (and measureably) better off than AVERAGE.

[rwh11385]

straight up sensationalism.

The article did a poor job putting the figures into context, whether intentional or overlooked.

But the link within article was better: [warning - some NWS body painting pictures, etc. as UK article] http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/arti...-protests.html

Sleeping beside the hardcore activists are increasing numbers of wealthy students turning up to make the most of the party atmosphere, drugs and free food.

While they dress down to blend in, the youngsters' privileged backgrounds are revealed by glimpses of expensive gadgetry or the absent minded mention of their private schools during heated political debates.

One student, who did not want to be named, admitted she had been sleeping at the protest site with her boyfriend despite living in nearby TriBeCa, a neighbourhood which is home to many of New York's A list celebrities.
While she is not camping out, she studies at Bard College in Manhattan - a private school which charges fees of up to $200,000 for a four-year degree.

'Most of the kids are trust-fund babies. They don’t need to be here,' Andre, a 40-year-old activist told the New York Post. 'I’ve seen some making out, having sex. It doesn’t look good.'

Ironically, many of the wealthy youngsters are planning a 'Millionaires March' - to confront some of New York's wealthiest tycoons on Tuesday.

When it comes to Occupy Student Loans, one of the supporter is a professor from NYU... one of the most expensive colleges in the country, like #3-6. ($57K a year) Instead of fighting student loan policy, wouldn't it be smarter to go to a cheaper school??

http://www.buzzfeed.com/jpmoore/10-douchiest-colleges-in-america

1. NYU
Home of The Hipster Douche and the Privileged Activist Douche

[BraveUlysses]

^If it's so easy to pass, then why bother testing to begin with?

Because it makes sense to be so self-righteous that those who complain about money given/spent on the poor, want to spend even more money enforcing bad drug laws on another subset of people.

[Kershaw]

However you need to justify it, but the point is, the majority of OWS come from families that are noticeably (and measureably) better off than AVERAGE.

average. lol. average across what? the entire nation? lol. if you dont understand what i previously said, there is really nothing more i can say. i'd hardly say housing prices are directly equal to quality of life. a 2000 sq ft house built in the 1920s-1970s in a dc suburb is around $400-500k. a 5000 sq ft house near gaithersburg (30+ miles from dc) built in the last 10 years is probably around $400-500k. so uh.. yeah. that's really comparable.

as far as all the trust fund babies (and lol i think i can relate to them) i'd tell you they are there because it's something they believe in. yes, they are shooting themselves in the foot. but they are highly idealist. they want a better world and they have the time to try and make it so. the truly poor is going to have a really hard time taking off work if they have to feed their families. and unless they're local, they're going to have a really hard time getting there.

[chadthestampede]

average. lol. average across what? the entire nation? lol. if you dont understand what i previously said, there is really nothing more i can say. i'd hardly say housing prices are directly equal to quality of life. a 2000 sq ft house built in the 1920s-1970s in a dc suburb is around $400-500k. a 5000 sq ft house near gaithersburg (30+ miles from dc) built in the last 10 years is probably around $400-500k. so uh.. yeah. that's really comparable.

as far as all the trust fund babies (and lol i think i can relate to them) i'd tell you they are there because it's something they believe in. yes, they are shooting themselves in the foot. but they are highly idealist. they want a better world and they have the time to try and make it so. the truly poor is going to have a really hard time taking off work if they have to feed their families. and unless they're local, they're going to have a really hard time getting there.

lol

[z31maniac]

average. lol. average across what? the entire nation? lol. if you dont understand what i previously said, there is really nothing more i can say. i'd hardly say housing prices are directly equal to quality of life. a 2000 sq ft house built in the 1920s-1970s in a dc suburb is around $400-500k. a 5000 sq ft house near gaithersburg (30+ miles from dc) built in the last 10 years is probably around $400-500k. so uh.. yeah. that's really comparable.

as far as all the trust fund babies (and lol i think i can relate to them) i'd tell you they are there because it's something they believe in. yes, they are shooting themselves in the foot. but they are highly idealist. they want a better world and they have the time to try and make it so. the truly poor is going to have a really hard time taking off work if they have to feed their families. and unless they're local, they're going to have a really hard time getting there.

THe article EXPLICITY stated avg NYC home price vs avg home price of NYC OWS protestors.

Is it really too much to ask that you guys ACTUALLY read the article you're commeting on?

It's not they are idealist, it's that they are dumbasses. I listened to some of those guys get interviewed, and they are COMPLETELY out of touch with reality in regards to how much taxes the top 1% pay, along with many others

However, I do agree with them on the corporate greed/interconnection with Congress.

[KenC]

My bad, I misremembered some of the numbers.

http://news.yahoo.com/nyc-arrest-rec...045625415.html

Playing Devil's Advocate, but I question the cross-sectional accuracy as it states that it only used demographic data available. It doesn't state how many individuals it was. Homeless and transients aren't going to have this data available.
I walked around the OWS park a few weeks ago when I was there, and hardly any of them looked like "privileged individuals," though I'll admit looks can be deceiving.

Before the police came in to clear out the Occupy Portland crowd (which was weeks too late IMO), shelter employees combed the encampment to relocate the homeless individuals to local shelters. Over 75% of the camps population was moved by morning. I'm inclined to believe the proportions are similar for most of the Occupy movements.
The Occupy camps are some of the safest places in the city for homeless people. Police and crowd protection from assault and theft, shelter, and often free food.

I still don't think that the Occupy fools are accomplishing a damn thing aside from wasting resources, and don't think that they're a legitimate threat at all. It's all just mob mentality of cognitively-deficient individuals.

[z31maniac]

It states most of it in the articles, you guys just refuse to accept things that don't confirm your view.

[KenC]

It states most of it in the articles, you guys just refuse to accept things that don't confirm your view.

It states that they used demographic data available. I was just curious how many people they were able to get data from. The actual numerical value.