The police made scores of arrests on Saturday as hundreds of people, many of whom had been encamped in the financial district as part of a lengthy protest, marched north to Union Square. As darkness fell, large numbers of officers were deployed on streets near the encampment in Zuccotti Park, at Broadway and Liberty Street, where hundreds more people had gathered.
Paul J. Browne, the Police Department’s chief spokesman, said in a statement, “There were approximately 80 arrests, mainly for disorderly conduct by individuals who blocked vehicular and pedestrian traffic, but also for resisting arrest, obstructing governmental administration and, in one instance, for assault on a police officer.”
Protest organizers estimated that about 85 people were arrested and that about five were struck with pepper spray. Among those was Chelsea Elliott, 25, who said that she was sprayed after shouting “Why are you doing that?” as an officer arrested a protester at East 12th Street.
“I was on the ground sobbing and couldn’t breathe,” she said. The continuing protests, against a financial system that participants say favors the rich and powerful over ordinary citizens, started last Saturday and were coordinated by a New York group called the General Assembly.
Many of those taking part have slept in Zuccotti Park, which is private, using it as a base. In the early afternoon hundreds of people left the park and moved north toward Union Square. Witnesses said that for much of the route, protesters spilled from sidewalks onto streets and added that the police used long orange nets at Fifth Avenue and 14th Street in an apparent attempt to block the march from proceeding.
Many marchers, however, detoured and entered Union Square before eventually turning south again. Video showed a confusing scene as protesters went south on University Place, where motor vehicles run north.
At 12th Street the orange nets again were used, this time to box in protesters between University Place and Fifth Avenue. About 3 p.m., more than two dozen people sat, handcuffed, on the sidewalk.
Nearby, two other protesters standing handcuffed on Fifth Avenue told a reporter that they had both been arrested on sidewalks and were not aware of having broken any law.
“They put up orange nets and tried to kettle us and we started running and they started tackling random people and handcuffing them,” said Kelly Brannon, 27, of Ridgewood, Queens. “They were herding us like cattle.”
Next to her, David Smith, from Maine, said that he had been chanting “Let them go” as people were handcuffed, and was then arrested by a senior officer who told him that he was being charged with obstructing governmental administration.
After his arrest, one protester posted a Twitter message about his experiences from a bus taking him downtown.
@DustinSlaughter there’s 50+ of us arrested in a caravan, netted & maced by police after standing on sidewalk where they told us to
Sat Sep 24 20:12:15 via Twitter for iPhone
JRL
NONVIOLENCE
PulseOfProtest
Many demonstrators made their way back down to Zuccotti Park, where they were joined by new arrivals. “Right now we are more determined than ever that what we are doing is necessary and correct,” said Patrick Bruner, a spokesman for the protesters.
New rules posted in the park on Saturday seemed aimed at the protesters. In addition to bicycle riding, camping gear and sleeping bags were now also banned.
Social Justice: Current Affairs, Business, Politics, and all the reasons in the world to Thrive on Creative Discontent!
Saturday, September 24, 2011
Looks like a buying opportunity!!!
The price-earnings ratio as of Friday was 5.1 percent below the S&P 500’s average valuation of 13 at its lowest point in the last nine bear markets, data compiled by Bloomberg show. To reach the lowest of those, 7 on June 21, 1982, the index would have to fall 43 percent to about 640, based on profit in the last 12 months of $91.41 a share.
“Stocks are starting to get pretty cheap,” Jack Ablin, chief investment officer for Chicago-based Harris Private Bank, which oversees $55 billion, said in a telephone interview. “It’s reality versus expectations. I don’t know where reality is going to be, but if their expectations are pretty low, that’s a good sign for me.”
The Morgan Stanley Cyclical Index of companies most-tied to the economy rallied 1.1 percent. Home Depot, the largest U.S. home improvement retailer, gained 2 percent to $33.72. Intel rose 2.5 percent to $22.16.
The Dow Jones Transportation Average advanced for the first time in a week, stopping the worst five-day decline since Aug. 8, as airline shares rallied and traders were lured by the lowest valuations in about two years.
“Stocks are starting to get pretty cheap,” Jack Ablin, chief investment officer for Chicago-based Harris Private Bank, which oversees $55 billion, said in a telephone interview. “It’s reality versus expectations. I don’t know where reality is going to be, but if their expectations are pretty low, that’s a good sign for me.”
The Morgan Stanley Cyclical Index of companies most-tied to the economy rallied 1.1 percent. Home Depot, the largest U.S. home improvement retailer, gained 2 percent to $33.72. Intel rose 2.5 percent to $22.16.
The Dow Jones Transportation Average advanced for the first time in a week, stopping the worst five-day decline since Aug. 8, as airline shares rallied and traders were lured by the lowest valuations in about two years.
Sell Europe to Greenland?
Europe is working on ways to boost the firepower of its bailout fund, a top European official said as the United States, China and other countries turned up pressure on the euro zone to contain its debt crisis.
Signs are growing that Europe is readying new measures to prevent fallout from Greece's near-bankruptcy from spreading to other euro zone countries, threatening the region's banks and hurting the world economy.
The European official said on Saturday the euro zone countries cannot boost the size of the 440 billion-euro fund, known as the EFSF, because Germany would not agree to such an increase.
"We need to find a mechanism where we can turn one euro in the EFSF into five, but there is no decision on how we could do that yet" the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity.
Signs are growing that Europe is readying new measures to prevent fallout from Greece's near-bankruptcy from spreading to other euro zone countries, threatening the region's banks and hurting the world economy.
The European official said on Saturday the euro zone countries cannot boost the size of the 440 billion-euro fund, known as the EFSF, because Germany would not agree to such an increase.
"We need to find a mechanism where we can turn one euro in the EFSF into five, but there is no decision on how we could do that yet" the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity.
Hello....Have you not looked at the poverty and unemployment figures in the USA???
U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy F. Geithner said the fate of democracy in North Africa and the Middle East depends on building economies that help the youth of those nations.
“The success of these emerging democracies will hinge on building strong and inclusive economies that improve people’s lives, especially the lives of young people,” Geithner said in a statement during the annual meetings of the International Monetary Fund and World Bank in Washington today. International financial institutions “will be central” to that effort, he said.
“The success of these emerging democracies will hinge on building strong and inclusive economies that improve people’s lives, especially the lives of young people,” Geithner said in a statement during the annual meetings of the International Monetary Fund and World Bank in Washington today. International financial institutions “will be central” to that effort, he said.
Friday, September 23, 2011
functionally obsolete = USA? Can't create jobs; can't manage its debt; can't provide 1st world benefits to its citizens.
President Barack Obama pushed his jobs proposal Thursday against the backdrop of an outdated bridge that links the home states of his two chief congressional Republican rivals — a symbolic and cheeky maneuver designed to apply pressure on the GOP and convey resolve in the face of a sputtering economy.
Obama pitched his new initiative combining $447 billion in tax cuts, jobless aid and public works projects at the Brent Spence Bridge south of Cincinnati, an aging span that connects House Speaker John Boehner's state of Ohio with Kentucky, home of Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell.
The politics of the speech were clear, even as Obama name-checked both leaders in his remarks.
"Now, the bridge behind us just happens to connect the state that’s home to the Speaker of the House with the home state of the Republican leader in the Senate. Now, that's just a coincidence. Purely accidental that that happened," Obama said as the audience chuckled.
"But part of the reason I came here is because Mr. Boehner and Mr. McConnell — those are two of the most powerful Republicans in government. They can either kill this jobs bill, or they can help pass this jobs bill."
Obama pitched his new initiative combining $447 billion in tax cuts, jobless aid and public works projects at the Brent Spence Bridge south of Cincinnati, an aging span that connects House Speaker John Boehner's state of Ohio with Kentucky, home of Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell.
The politics of the speech were clear, even as Obama name-checked both leaders in his remarks.
"Now, the bridge behind us just happens to connect the state that’s home to the Speaker of the House with the home state of the Republican leader in the Senate. Now, that's just a coincidence. Purely accidental that that happened," Obama said as the audience chuckled.
"But part of the reason I came here is because Mr. Boehner and Mr. McConnell — those are two of the most powerful Republicans in government. They can either kill this jobs bill, or they can help pass this jobs bill."
Thursday, September 22, 2011
Affordable Care Act = USA acting like a 1st World Nation
Ever since it became law in March 2010, the Affordable Care Act has been mocked from both sides of the aisle for its slow rollout and intangible benefits. But a key provision that kicked in early -- allowing young people to stay on their parents' health insurance until the age of 26 -- has proven wildly popular and is paying big dividends:
Young adults, long the group most likely to be uninsured, are gaining health coverage faster than expected since the 2010 health law began allowing parents to cover them as dependents on family policies.
Three new surveys, including two released on Wednesday, show that adults under 26 made significant and unique gains in insurance coverage in 2010 and the first half of 2011. One of them, by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, estimates that in the first quarter of 2011 there were 900,000 fewer uninsured adults in the 19-to-25 age bracket than in 2010.
This was despite deep hardship imposed by the recession, which has left young adults unemployed at nearly double the rate of older Americans, with incomes sliding far faster than the national average.
The Obama administration, intent on showcasing the benefits of a law that has been pilloried by Republicans, attributes the improvement to a provision of the Affordable Care Act that permits parents to cover dependents up to their 26th birthdays. Until that measure took effect one year ago this week, children typically had to roll off their parents’ family policies at 18 or 21 or when they left college.
Some twenty-somethings adopted a posture of “young invincibility,” forgoing health insurance they could afford while gambling that they would not incur steep medical expenses. But others, like Kylie R. Logsdon, who credits the provision for enabling her heart transplant in July, were living with chronic or life-threatening conditions and had no prospects for coverage.
“I honestly don’t know what we would have done,” said Ms. Logsdon, 23, of Gerlaw, Ill., who gained coverage under her father’s policy after losing her job as a legal secretary. “There was no way we could have afforded it. I might not be here right now.”
Last week, the Census Bureau reported that the share of young adults without health insurance dropped in 2010 by 2 percentage points, to 27.2 percent. That decline meant that 502,000 fewer 18- to 24-year-olds were uninsured. Most gained coverage through private policies, not government programs.
For every other age cohort, the proportion without insurance increased, as high unemployment and contractions in employer coverage continued to take their toll. For the first time in more than 10 years, 18- to 24-year-olds were not the least insured group, having been overtaken by those 25 to 34.
Kathleen Sebelius, the secretary of health and human services, accentuated the silver lining in an otherwise grim Census poverty report by declaring: “The Affordable Care Act is working."
Obama needs a steady trickle of reports like this one to slowly improve impressions of the healthcare law, which remains his signature domestic achievement, before he's on the ballot again in November 2012.
Young adults, long the group most likely to be uninsured, are gaining health coverage faster than expected since the 2010 health law began allowing parents to cover them as dependents on family policies.
Three new surveys, including two released on Wednesday, show that adults under 26 made significant and unique gains in insurance coverage in 2010 and the first half of 2011. One of them, by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, estimates that in the first quarter of 2011 there were 900,000 fewer uninsured adults in the 19-to-25 age bracket than in 2010.
This was despite deep hardship imposed by the recession, which has left young adults unemployed at nearly double the rate of older Americans, with incomes sliding far faster than the national average.
The Obama administration, intent on showcasing the benefits of a law that has been pilloried by Republicans, attributes the improvement to a provision of the Affordable Care Act that permits parents to cover dependents up to their 26th birthdays. Until that measure took effect one year ago this week, children typically had to roll off their parents’ family policies at 18 or 21 or when they left college.
Some twenty-somethings adopted a posture of “young invincibility,” forgoing health insurance they could afford while gambling that they would not incur steep medical expenses. But others, like Kylie R. Logsdon, who credits the provision for enabling her heart transplant in July, were living with chronic or life-threatening conditions and had no prospects for coverage.
“I honestly don’t know what we would have done,” said Ms. Logsdon, 23, of Gerlaw, Ill., who gained coverage under her father’s policy after losing her job as a legal secretary. “There was no way we could have afforded it. I might not be here right now.”
Last week, the Census Bureau reported that the share of young adults without health insurance dropped in 2010 by 2 percentage points, to 27.2 percent. That decline meant that 502,000 fewer 18- to 24-year-olds were uninsured. Most gained coverage through private policies, not government programs.
For every other age cohort, the proportion without insurance increased, as high unemployment and contractions in employer coverage continued to take their toll. For the first time in more than 10 years, 18- to 24-year-olds were not the least insured group, having been overtaken by those 25 to 34.
Kathleen Sebelius, the secretary of health and human services, accentuated the silver lining in an otherwise grim Census poverty report by declaring: “The Affordable Care Act is working."
Obama needs a steady trickle of reports like this one to slowly improve impressions of the healthcare law, which remains his signature domestic achievement, before he's on the ballot again in November 2012.
FTL
An international team of scientists said on Thursday they had recorded sub-atomic particles traveling faster than light (FTL) -- a finding that could overturn one of Einstein's long-accepted fundamental laws of the universe.
Antonio Ereditato, spokesman for the researchers, told Reuters that measurements taken over three years showed neutrinos pumped from CERN near Geneva to Gran Sasso in Italy had arrived 60 nanoseconds quicker than light would have done.
Antonio Ereditato, spokesman for the researchers, told Reuters that measurements taken over three years showed neutrinos pumped from CERN near Geneva to Gran Sasso in Italy had arrived 60 nanoseconds quicker than light would have done.
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