OccupyCincinnati

A recent new article pointed out that all professional athletes are in the 1%, most Hollywood stars, many entertainers, doctors, and lawyers. In Cincinnati we have expanded our understanding that the 1% is far more than bankers or businessman.

We must keep the focus on the millionaires and billionaires here at home.  Sure, we are all in the 1% if we look at it from a global perspective but doing so would unite us against world poverty at a time that we need to divide America to use the political energy to change our own political system.  We need to be able to call the 1% evil to build the movement and gain momentum. 

If we see ourselves as the problem, instead of those that are more wealthy than us, then we will look to spiritual transformation and individual efforts to server instead of demanding our government reform.

The problem isn't insufficient charity. The problem is corruption in Washington. Additional charity won't solve anything.

Did you forget, Other Peoples Lives?

(filmed in East Germany)

We here you and we are preparing to move our camps to Washington. By the end of the summer OWS will be known as Occupy Capital Hill and Occupy White House.

If you don't think I'm legit please send me a personal email at our email: occupycincinnati@yahoo.com

I didn't grow up reading the Little Red Hen.  We must be from different generations.

Don't misunderstand. I value hard work and I value success. It's just that if we allow success and wealth to be limitless we end of with a small minority that experiences more success, wealth and influence that the rest of us. We need to balance the two.

And what makes you think that our occupy crowds aren't make up of people from across the political spectrum. Our camp includes liberal, conservatives and many that don't know how to categorize themselves. I'd say that conservatives are just as unhappy with the establishment and current power structures as liberals are.

Have you noticed that most of the 1% are college educated?  And those that pursue masters and doctorate degrees are more likely than others to climb the ladder and reach the 1%.  In our camps we've been discussing creative ways of slowing down the progress of those that are progressing towards and achieving the 1% level.  What if we put a stiff federal tax on college educations and an even stiffer tax on post degree courses?

God's Politics has always been a cauldron of cutting edge thinking.  What say you on our idea?

How do politicians who arrive in Washington, D.C. as men and women of modest means leave as millionaires? How do they miraculously accumulate wealth at a rate faster than the rest of us? How do politicians' stock portfolios outperform even the best hedge-fund managers'?

We need reform that provides real transparency. Congress should be subject to the Freedom of Information Act like everyone else. We need more detailed financial disclosure reports, and members should submit reports much more often than once a year. All stock transactions above $5,000 should be disclosed within five days.

We need equality under the law. From now on, laws that apply to the private sector must apply to Congress, including whistleblower, conflict-of-interest and insider-trading laws. Trading on nonpublic government information should be illegal both for those who pass on the information and those who trade on it. (This should close the loophole of the blind trusts that aren't really blind because they're managed by family members or friends.)

No more sweetheart land deals with campaign contributors. No gifts of IPO shares. No trading of stocks related to committee assignments. No earmarks where the congressman receives a direct benefit. No accepting campaign contributions while Congress is in session. No lobbyists as family members, and no transitioning into a lobbying career after leaving office. No more revolving door, ever.

This call for real reform must transcend political parties. The grass-roots movements of the right and the left should embrace this.

We must not let a few negative stories distract us from our mission of standing for the rights of the 99% and against the accumulation of power by the 1%.  We must continue to speak out against lawyers, doctors, athletes, entertainers, businessmen and politicians that earn more than 99% of all others in society.  It is time to put a halt to the rising incomes of the past 20 years.