Patters

Occupy Wall Street has been doing some good things lately. I thought I'd list a couple. Does anyone want to list some of the compassionate acts being organized by the Tea Party?

Occupy Wall Street Launches 'Rolling Jubilee' To Buy Up And Forgive Debt | ThinkProgress

OWS is going to start buying distressed debt (medical bills, student loans, etc.) in order to forgive it. As a test run, we spent $500, which bought $14,000 of distressed debt. We then ERASED THAT DEBT. (If you’re a debt broker, once you own someone’s debt you can do whatever you want with it — traditionally, you hound debtors to their grave trying to collect. We’re playing a different game. A MORE AWESOME GAME.)

This is a simple, powerful way to help folks in need — to free them from heavy debt loads so they can focus on being productive, happy and healthy.

Occupy Wall Street morphs into Occupy Sandy, offering relief - The Denver Post

The social media savvy that helped Occupy Wall Street protesters create a grassroots global movement last year is proving to be a strength in the wake of Hurricane Sandy as members and organizers of the group fan out across New York to deliver aid such as hot meals, medicine and blankets.

...

Now the group has dozens of relief centers across the city and a stream of volunteers who are shuttled out to the most desperate areas. It is partnering with local community and volunteer organizations.

A recent post on Occupy Sandy's Facebook page said: "Attention! If anyone in Rockaway needs to have their basement pumped, please contact Suzanne Hamalak at suzybklyn@aol.com. Her family wants to help and have industrial pumps ... they will do it for free ..."

PatsWSB47

Those efforts by the OWS should be commended, but what is your point, that liberals give more than conservatives?

PatsFanInVa

Good on 'em.

Obviously these guys' parents explained to them the origin of the name Grateful Dead, and took it to heart...

The Straight Dope: Where did the Grateful Dead get their name?

Or maybe they just read their bible

Teabaggers oughtta try it.

PFnV

Patters

OWS is often seen as the left counterpart to the Tea Party movement, and comes under a lot of criticism in this forum from the right. Is the Tea Party anything more than part of the political establishment? It came about as response to politics and usual, but really that mantel seems to belong more to OWS, which has not yet been co-opted. But, I could be wrong. I really would like to know if the Tea Party activists have been there for natural disasters or other good works.

Patsfanin Philly

I commend OWS for what they are doing. It is a good thing and from a PR point of view, it is brilliant......
Hope somebody in the tea party is taking notes, though they would probably get less positive press even if they did the same exact thing.......

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Um, Mr. Brady, can we line up?

Harry Boy

I think it's time for the Tea Baggers to just step back and then let The New Pop Culture Government destroy the country, let some of them kill each other off with their riots, let the economy hit rock bottom, let all of us old bastards die with their Omabacare Garbage, all the different races won't be able to talk to each other so the first thing they will do is start killing each other, the liberals can get Jessie Jackoff Jr out of jail and appoint him President (God Imagine That A Real All Black President, I'm getting an erection right now) Obama, Reverend Wright and Michelle can all go back to Hawaii and eat lobster roles and spare ribs, then when the time is right The Tea Baggers can rise, they can ask God to come back then they and God can step in and mop things up and start all over again.

GOD WILLING THE SUN WILL SHINE AGAIN MOMS APPLE PIE, LAWRENCE WELK, GENE AUTRY, RONALD REAGAN, SANTA CLAUS AND JESUS CHRIST WILL RETURN, THE NEW WONDERFUL GENERATION SHALL BE UPON THE COUNTRY AND THE LORD WILL SAY "THIS IS GOOD"

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Harry Boy (Genius)

In The Absence Of Law And Order Society Will Surely Destroy Itself

Patters

Harry, they just tried that, but the economy improved by most measures and the power of the democracy asserted itself with a huge backlash from minorities to Tea Party efforts they felt specifically targeted their interests. Basically, Harry, the Tea Party is a rural phenomenon of a handful of states (primarily Texas, Florida, and Louisiana), but already the Constitution gives rural states disproportionate power by assigning two Senators to each state. As Americans, we've come to accept this unfairness, but there are limits to what a bunch of backward bohunks who have no contact with reality can get away with (and let me me clear, I'm not referring to all rural folk, just those who live in irrational fear of Hispanics, Muslims, blacks, gays, and single women).

Wolfpack

Before you break your arm patting yourself on the back (although it seems it may already be too late for that) let me clue you in to 3 things:

1) How does buying the debt of people who are obviously too irresponsible to manage their own finances compose some sort of noble act of compassion? It's actually a moral hazard. But hey, if they want to waste their money then more power to 'em.

2) What the heck kind of debt are these people buying when they can get $14,000 worth for $500??!? Mortgages? No way, Jose. Student loans? Doubtful. Medical bills? You can easily cry poverty to get medical bills lowered, but not quite by THAT much. That $500-for$14,000 is the kind of rate you get to pay off someone's credit card bills when they've amassed $50,000 in charges buying stuff on the Home Shopping Club.

3) Debt forgiveness is 100% taxable income. Over the past 10 months, you liberals have railed on and on and on about how important it is to you that everyone pays the maximum amount of taxes required by law (and then pay even some more after that), so that guy who just had his $14,000 debt erased now owes Uncle Sam a couple thousand dollars (depending upon what tax bracket he is in).

Patters

You make some good points. I have no idea what kind of debt is that cheap, but clearly it is debt that is quite old. Given the way that credit card companies were giving easy credit in the 1990s, I wouldn't be surprised if a lot of it is credit card debt, but one imagines that OWS will target specific kinds of debt now that they know they can do this.

As far as responsibility goes, you are right, but at the same time one presumes that many responsible people find themselves in debt because of factors beyond their control. While there are some people who are just irresponsible, others experience unexpected illness or disasters of some sort from which they have no good way out. I doubt if OWS is bailing out the banks, who I suspect you agree should not have been bailed out, but certainly irresponsible investors were among the beneficiaries of that. So, sometimes people just get lucky, I guess.

As far as taxable income, I didn't know about that. That said, owing $2000 is better than owing $14,000. My hope is that OWS focuses on forgiving small debts, the kind of debts that are likely to be held by the poorest members of society, but I don't know how the process works.

Hamar

Cheap debt like that is usually owed to a company that is no more and the debt has been bought and sold more than once so is considered to be not collectable.

No, owing 2,000 to the IRS is not better than owing 14,000 to some 3rd or 4th party collection. The IRS has WILL collect that money.

P.S. I don't think the OWS is anything like the Tea Party. The OWS is more of a social movement and the Tea Party is much more politically focused.