In most regards, I agree with you. Social media reaches out to a wide swath of people with disparate values and beliefs.That attracts individuals with less than noble objectives. In other words, you don't need that much forethought, planning or commitment to show up at the designated time and place. That's unfortunate. To be more than anger, and to be a serious movement, there must be more clearly defined issues, and there must be some form of leadership that can articulate the desired messages. There are many other problems with using social media as a tool to organize demonstrations. One of the biggest problems is the nature of the media itself. When your information comes in tiny bits and bytes the key issues tend to be over-simplified. This is also true with "comment" sections, blogs, and other electronic media elements. Nonetheless, people need to communicate, and these are popular communication tools of our time.

Protesters in Portland have it pretty easy compared to marchers in many other cities across the United States. Generally, the police show restraint, and most people here are tolerant; acknowledging that as Americans we have a right to free speech and public assembly. In New York the police are pretty quick to take out clubs and use force to remove people, even when they are well within the city guidelines for protest and assembly. Still, anyone who gets out and takes a public stand against the wholesale illegal activities of large corporations and financial institutions that are ruining America deserves some credit. Some of the protesters are unemployed, and simply bored. However, many of them are genuinely committed to affecting positive change. Without any protest, there is nothing to slow down Goldman, Chase, Citi, Bank of America, and others from further degrading and corrupting our political process.
But, if you like bailing out billionaire CEOs with tax dollars, or if you believe in exempting bank executives from criminal accountability, then things may not seem that bad. As long as your social security check shows up on time, and your pension keeps paying out, maybe it's not your problem. Many of us have had the opportunity to benefit from the educational and employment opportunities that used to be available in America. Today, those same opportunities do not exist for a lot of people. Getting a good education and having a good work ethic are often not enough to get part of what used to be "the American dream."

To Riptorn conservative operative w/ 4,549 comments posted
I looked at the survey you linked to, and on the surface it seems reasonable. Most people don't think the gross tax rate is too low, it's more that the effective tax rate after deductions and loopholes is too low for individuals and corporations, particularly considering the growing deficits. It appears that both Republicans and Democrats are finally starting to appreciate this, and that there could be some agreement there. Unfortunately, translating anything as sensible as meaningful tax reform into reality is probably too much to hope for.

Calling AIG a success ignores the fact that the government (taxpayers) had to bail them out with more than $200 Billion. If you mean by "success" that some of the people who nearly destroyed the US economy got paid obscene and undeserved bonuses then that's one twisted way to look at it. As for "valuable services" would that be things like credit default swaps? I guess too that you didn't notice that in my post I said "reported" and that I put the entire text in quotation marks. Maybe in your world quoting is stealing, and stealing is succeeding.

I'm critical of many elements of the Occupy movement, including not seeking permits. Also, setting-up an extended camp attracted street people and the mentally ill, which caused most of the damage and created most of the problems. Homelessness and mental illness are problems too, but they weren't supposed to be the focus of the message. I don't automatically assume that if someone doesn't support Occupy that they also support corrupt corporations, but if you read many of the posts here that is the case. I am a small business owner, and several people in my family are educators. I am ACTIVELY involved with my neighborhood association, and I have never defecated in a park. My question to you: why do you assume that just because somebody supports peaceful protest and free speech that they break stuff and tear up the parks?

OK ALL YOU BLIND DEFENDERS OF CORPORATE AMERICA WHAT ARE YOU GOING TO DO ABOUT THIS?
Reported today: "Last week, the American International Group (AIG) reported a whopping $19.8 billion profit for its fourth quarter. It was a quite a feat for a company that was on its death bed just a little over three years ago, so sick that it needed a huge taxpayer bailout. But if you dug into the numbers, it quickly became clear that $17.7 billion of that profit was pure fantasy — a tax benefit, er, gift, from the United States government. The company made only $1.6 billion during the quarter from actual operations. Yet A.I.G. not only received a tax benefit, it is unlikely to pay a cent of taxes this year, nor by some estimates, for at least a decade.This rule-twisting could deprive the government of tens of billions of dollars, assuming the firm remains profitable. The tax dodge — and let’s be honest, that’s what it is — also will most likely help goose the bonuses of A.I.G.’s employees, some of whom helped create many of the problems that led to its role in the financial crisis."

ALEC has been a very effective go-around strategy for corporate interests that want to circumvent the democratic process. In other words, if your company or industry can benefit from certain legislation it is easier to sway the legislators when you're at a resort and buying the drinks (among other things). So this is a well-targeted group and an issue to address with protest. It's odd that the tea party crew can't see this, since they are frequently criticizing corrupt politicians and government representatives. It's unfortunate that the protest leadership has not taken the initiative to get a permit to march because not having a permit lowers the moral high ground of a worthy protest. It also erodes some public support. Nonetheless, the cause is just, and ALEC is a menace to society and an enemy of democracy.

U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara is doing a good job of taking on Wall Street corruption and crime. However, he still is just hitting the easy targets, and the lower level perpetrators. He does have a strategy and history of making the smaller perps provide information on the higher ups, and then working his way up the chain. So, it is something, and maybe a good start. Bharara can't do it alone, but it's refreshing that there may be at least one "Elliot Ness." Now he needs a bigger team of "Untouchables."

To Riptorn (political operative with 4,438 comments posted) The government used money from all of us to bail out the big banks that made $ billions in profits betting on the real estate market (many investors lost $ billions). Then they made $ trillions getting free money straight from the Federal Reserve at zero percent interest. Four years later, the government tells the banks that they must give every state $200 million (a small bit) of the money that they got for free from taxpayers and the Federal Reserve. A few of those irresponsible home owners may get a loan adjustment, and a few people who were evicted from houses through the use of forged documents may get $2,000 somewhere in the future. That's socialism for the banks and Wall Street. It happened under Bush, and it continues under Obama. But you have an interesting strategy: trying to divert attention to all that by blaming it on home owners that are being evicted. At worst, home owners who default break a civil contract, while many bank officers knowingly broke the law and committed felonies by directing forgery and fraud.

Consider someone who rented for 5 -10 years. They paid their rent, and they were basically ok that they weren't getting 10 percent a year appreciation on a house investment. They also didn't get a mortgage deduction on their taxes. For 10 years the real estate industry kept hounding them to buy a house and be part of the " American Dream." Federal and state governments made programs to encourage anybody and everybody to buy a home. The banks and mortgage companies pre-approved them to buy houses that cost 40 percent more than they wanted or could afford. Or, someone in their home for 20 years that they bought cheaply was making their payments, and was grateful their net worth increased every year for owning a house. For years they were barraged daily with offers from their own bank and offers from other banks with mailings, calls, bill stuffers, and tv and radio ads telling them to use their "home" equity. A portion of those people said "ok" I guess I'm a dope if I don't do it. They bought a house or took a home equity loan, and in each case there were dozens of pages of small print legal items attached that would confuse a 3rd year attorney. But, everything was ok because housing prices could only go up, and unemployment was 4 percent or less. Behind the scenes, Wall Street broke-up and re-sold those loans over and over, knowing the bubble was about to burst. To keep it from bursting too soon they ignored prudent lending standards, and they falsified documents and balance sheets. When it finally blew up, they told Congress the world would end if they weren't bailed out immediately. Henry Paulson (Bush's man) told them they all needed to take government bailouts whether they need them or not so the public wouldn't crash the most troubled institutions. The rest, so they say, is history. Except...what about all those people who could no longer pay their mortgages or home equity loans, or just lost their jobs because unemployment shot up to 12 percent? Well, of course it was their faults. So here is the cool part: The government used money from all of us to bail out the big banks that made $ billions in profits betting on the real estate market (many investors lost $ billions). Then even better, they made $ trillions getting free money straight from the Federal Reserve at zero percent interest. Four years later, the government tells the banks that they must give every state $200 million (a small bit) of the money that they got for free from taxpayers and the Federal Reserve. Oh yeah, a tiny few of those irresponsible home owners may get a loan adjustment, and a few people who were evicted from those houses through the use of forged documents may get $2,000 somewhere in the future. Yep, that's Socialism, but not for the poor or middle-class. That's socialism for the banks and Wall Street. It happened under Bush, and now it continues under Obama. But, why not blame your neighbors instead of your Republican or Democratic officials or the bankers who gave themselves $ billions in bonuses?