The Confluence

October 2011
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OccupyWallStreet: The people in the park

Posted on October 19, 2011 by riverdaughter

These are pictures of OccupyWallStreet in Zuccotti Park taken on Monday, Oct. 17, 2011. The freaky people can be found on the perimeter of the park facing outwards, which is one of the reasons I suspect some of them were hired by Fox News. On the interior of the park, all ages and ethnicities can be found. As you can see, the vast majority of people in the middle of the park are perfectly normal looking and acting. It’s just that you have to pass through a phalanx of some pretty strange looking people to get to the middle. This is a shame because, even though the passersby could see that there were a lot of typical, average people in the park, the media audience won’t know that because that’s too mundane. What’s so fascinating about potentially meeting your neighbor at an occupation? Let’s be voyeurs and take a picture of the scary looking guy with the tattooed face!

The park is full. There are people sleeping it off in sleeping bags in unexpected places. It’s hard to see how they manage to sleep with all of the activity going on around them, especially when there’s a good possibility that they could get trampled. There’s really nowhere to sit so the plantar boxes and stairs are where people congregate to rest, if you can find a bum sized space.

This guy was brave or trying to demonstrate his arithmetic skills. Most people stopped to talk to him and he seemed to be having some good interactions.

This is where you can leave your ideas for the OWS think tank. Keep in mind that the occupation is prohibited from erecting structures in the park so makeshift tables and recycling/sanitation bins made of cardboard pop up here and there. If you have an idea and you want to develop it into a policy with other 99%-ers, you can contact the think tank at OWSthinktank@gmail.com.

It’s impossible to keep all religion out of the park. The Hassidim are celebrating Sukkot this week and are looking for Jews in the park to perform a blessing. I thought it was kind of nice. It’s a “green” holiday. Partition Function was singled out by a boy of about 11 who made him bless the four directions with the palm fronds. Then he turned to me and asked, “Are you Jewish?” ”1/8th”, I replied. ”Mother or father?”, he said, hopeful that he might have snagged another one. ”Father”, I said. ”Nope”, he said, and moved on. For a brief second, I was crushed. But I got over it.

The scene below is more representative of the occupiers of Zuccotti Park. I include day trippers such as myself. Many people came and stayed for awhile. There seems to be more men than women, although at the General Assembly, the genders seem more evenly split and the directing facilitator that night was female, with a big voice. About the GA, there is a reason why they use the People’s Mic and hand signals. There is no voice amplification allowed in the park. To get a permit for a megaphone would cost more money than they have. So, the people’s mic is necessary to make sure everyone can hear what the speaker says, while the hand signals cut down on clapping and other noise that tend to interrupt these kinds of meetings and drown out the speaker. It’s very effective, you can hear the speaker pretty well and it forces you to listen closely. I think it’s brilliant.

This picture is rather big and may be partially cutoff in your browser. In mine, I can only see the left half of the picture. Open it in a separate window to get a better view of the 99% in Zuccotti Park. Note that the smoothie stand on the right makes a nice bubble tea, if you’re into black tapioca balls in your drinks.

Filed under: OccupyWallStreet | Tagged: OccupyWallStreet, OWS, people, Pictures, zuccotti park | Leave a Comment »

Posted on October 18, 2011 by riverdaughter

A revealing peek into the relationship between the finance industry and the Democrats came to my attention via Atrios via Greg Sargent at The Plum Line. It’s a Politico post on the bankers’ outrage that the Dems are trying to work both sides of the OWS phenomenon.

After the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee sent a recent email urging supporters to sign a petition backing the wave of Occupy Wall Street protests, phones at the party committee started ringing.

Banking executives personally called the offices of DCCC Chairman Steve Israel and DCCC Finance Chairman Joe Crowley last week demanding answers, three financial services lobbyists told POLITICO.

“They were livid,” said one Democratic lobbyist with banking clients.

The execs asked the lawmakers: “What are you doing? Do you even understand some of the things that they’ve called for?” said another lobbyist with financial services clients who is a former Democratic Senate aide.

…This cycle Democrats have a particularly tough sell, since they pushed through a financial regulatory reform law last year and Mitt Romney has emerged as a Republican presidential front-runner, whose deep Wall Street ties clash with Obama’s recent populist overtures. The lip service to occupiers is only hurting an already rocky relationship.

“You can’t have it both ways,” said one in-house financial services lobbyist. “It just makes it harder for people who are Democrats in New York, Boston, Chicago to on the one hand be demogagued and then be asked ‘Hey, you can get your picture with the president for $30,000.’ It doesn’t square.”

I never thought I would ever be able to see the banker’s point of view but I have to admit they are right. Democrats are notoriously fickle, disloyal and self-serving. I have been feeling the very same sense of anger toward the Democrats since they managed to get a filibuster proof majority in the Senate and then played a tricky little game of withholding one or two crucial votes that would have made the difference between good legislation for the 99% and a bill that has a nice sounding name and little else. Can we say Ben Nelson when it comes to abortion funding in the Affordable Care Act? I think we can. How about Bart Stupak? And remember those crazy dreams we had about the public option that would have forced the insurance companies to compete? Where was Joe Lieberman on that? Christopher Dodd, where were you when the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau was defanged and deep sixxed as an “interim affiliation” of the Treasury Department run by Tim Geithner, a guy who hated Elizabeth Warren? Shall I go on?

For far too long, Democrats have been calling us up, asking for money, scaring us about what would happen to the economy and reproductive rights if the Republicans got control. Finally, after all our contributions, phone banking, canvassing and advocacy for them, they got what they wanted. And instead of actually defending the values their constituents thought were important, they acted all helpless. I mean, what did we expect from them? They only had all the power they needed. Don’t even get me started about how they threw their base under the bus and rigged the primaries so they could benefit from all that financial industry cash that would be flooding into the DNC coffers in 2008. What was it again? $28,000 per donor? That might account for the substitution of student council president type congressional candidates for more liberal candidates in 2008. Maybe that’s why Eric Massa and Anthony Weiner had to go and why Charlie Rangel had to be sidelined. They were made examples of what would happen if others acted on their more Democratic impulses. It all makes sense now.

I don’t know what’s more laughable, that the bankers’ are pissed that the OWS movement may give them real competition for the money of the 99%, forcing them to compete for that money in a free market, capitalist manner for a change, or that the Democrats think that a pathetic letter of support is going to help them win elections next year.

It’s too late. You can’t be trusted. You’ve let the middle class down so badly it is unforgivable. The OWS movement is making people think that maybe there is a way out of this economic and political trap they’re in and that the solution doesn’t include Democrats.

We’re walking out of this relationship and even though we don’t know what the future holds, it feels good to be free.

You can’t have it both ways.

Filed under: General | Tagged: Democrats, disloyalty, OccupyWallStreet, Schadenfreude | 10 Comments »

Did I see this coming?

Posted on October 18, 2011 by riverdaughter

Yesterday when I was at OccupyWallStreet in Zuccotti Park, I was interviewed by a student from Columbia University who appeared to be conducting a real survey of the occupiers. The last question she asked me was something like, “did you see this coming?”. And suddenly, I remembered. I wrote a post about it almost a year ago. Here it is in its entirety:

Are you better off now than you were 40 years ago?

Mrs. Winters' third grade class, Bandini Street School, San Pedro, CA

I’m a child of the 60′s and 70′s. Back when I was a kid, most mothers didn’t work. Almost everyone we knew lived on one salary. My dad was career military and although the work was steady back then, we weren’t exactly rich. We moved frequently but always lived in nice lower middle class neighborhoods in townhouses and 3 bedroom ranches. My family benefitted from socialized medicine. Navy doctors saved my asthmatic sister’s life on more than one occasion. In the summer, we went to day camp on the Navy base or to the all day activities at Bandini Street school in San Pedro. You didn’t need to sign up or pay anything. You just walked over to the school and dropped in without your parents and learned arts and crafts or competed in Chinese handball tournaments.

Meanwhile, the war waged all around us. We watched Walter Cronkite on the CBS evening news tally up the dead in Vietnam and the dead in the streets of America after the riots. But in our day to day existence, we were oblivious. My classes were integrated and I never experienced the gender biased education of kids even a few years older than me.

By the time I reached middle school, the summer of love was long over. The protest era had ended at Altamont Speedway but I barely knew who the Rolling Stones were. I went to an experimental middle school in upstate New York, taught by those very same hippies who spent the summer in Woodstock. They had traded in their long hair and bell bottom jeans for respectable attire and groomed hair but the spirit lingered on. They taught us the old protest songs in assembly. But for my generation, that was all ancient history. We missed out.

My first protest was something entirely different. It was on the steps of the Capital in Harrisburg, PA, when the legislature had was about to yank money from the state related university I was attending. Reagan shortly followed, the cold war amped up to crazy heights and anyone who accepted anything from government was considered a parasite. For kids like me on financial aid, life became very interesting. Changes to income taxes meant I missed out on a lot of deductions my parents took for granted while I was saddled with a social security payroll tax hike that was guaranteed to keep the system running right through my retirement.

In short, I have never been able to break out of the class I was born into despite my college education and nice salary. My salary buys me the same lifestyle my parents had. On one salary in NJ, I have a nice townhouse in a middle class suburb and I pay for everything. I don’t qualify for any governmental program. My kid will never get a Pell grant and it doesn’t matter if I can’t pay her tuition myself. I can’t save too much for her college education or my retirement. I just pay and pay and pay. Taxes, mortgages, my 401k and fees that are growing over time on everything. The greedy have taken over and have decided to extract every last disposable dollar I have and there are no restraints on the unscrupulous or the criminal.

In the past 40 years, the country has been voting Republican and conservatively. It has been one long pull to the right, at first starting slowly and now picking up steam. The Democrats have been yielding ground as well. The center is now where moderate Republicans used to be and the left is completely ostracized.

It should be obvious to people that they aren’t getting what they want by voting Republican but they keep doing it. They do it because they are terrified and they do it because there was a generation before the baby boomers that also missed out on the cultural revolution of the 60′s. There were the women who were slut shamed into believing their bodies were their enemies. They were shut out of higher education and the workplace. There are men who expected to be at the top of the pyramid and have had to steadily yield ground to the women and minorities of my generation who took advantage of the gains the babyboomers made for us. The older generation indulges in its nostalgia for a simpler age and vote conservative because Republicans have their number.

But it’s pulling us all towards destruction.

It’s time we re-energized that protest age of the 60′s and this time let the ones who missed out carry that spirit forward. That means the women and men of my age and younger and the women and men of my mother’s age and older. Now is the time to hit the reset button. You might have missed it the first time around. But you can shake up the country now by sweeping out the powers that be that have a lock on our government now.

My voting strategy this year is to vote out every incumbent I can.

1.) I am not voting for any Republican. I know nice Republicans. Nice Republicans are friends of mine. Unfortunately, none of them are running for office this year. Republicans are determined to overturn the New Deal and cut social security for myself and my mother. Oh yeah, they would do it. They have no conscience.

Those of you who are planning to vote Republican because you are so angry should know what you’re getting yourselves and the rest of us into. You are obligated to not throw us in front of a speeding train. The Republican party is now composed of predators. They’ve picked off the poor, the sick and the old. Now, they are moving in for the kill. Don’t let them do it. You know what their plan is. They offer nothing but more of the same but much, much harsher. You know it will bring hardship and misery to millions of Americans and you know that Democrats are cowardly. Don’t give the Democrats an excuse to punt and sell us all out. Get tough.

2.) I am not voting for any incumbent Democrat. Fortunately, there is one Democrat running in my district who is not an incumbent who shares my values. That would be Ed Potasnak. He gets my vote. However, if any of your Democratic candidates were endorsed by Bill Clinton, I’d vote for him/her. They’re going to owe him someday if they win.

3.) I’m going to seek out an vote for every left wing alternative party candidate I can. We need new blood in Congress. I may not share all of their goals but without substantial pull from the left, the government will continue its radical slide to the right.

My goal is to vote out as many Republicans as I can and replace them with people on the left. My fear is that Obama and the Democrats are hoping the Republicans will take over at least one house of Congress so the Democrats get political cover for imposing an austerity plan on us that they don’t have the courage to fight. And with David Broder banging the gong for another war in Iran, I’m concerned that they will give in to another bloody mess to distract us and ruin the lives of countless more innocent people.

So be it. Now’s the time to restart the cultural revolution. No matter what happens tomorrow, things will never be the same. But going back is not an option. If we want to have it as good as we did 40 years ago, we have to move forward in a radical new way.

Now’s the time all of you who didn’t participate the first time to wash out the old and bring in the new.

Throw the bastards out.

Filed under: General | Tagged: altamont, Are you better off now than you were 40 years ago, OccupyWallStreet, Revolution, rolling stones | 19 Comments »

OccupyWallStreet: We have been starving the wrong beast

Posted on October 17, 2011 by riverdaughter

I’m back at home in my own warm little bed. Ahhhhh. So, I have a little time to process what I saw here today. I have pics but will wait until tomorrow to post them. Many thanks to Partition Function for meeting me in Zuccotti Park and letting me bounce impressions and ideas off of him.

Ok, here are my general impressions and hints about where I think this is going:
Tonight was OWS‘ first month anniversary. So, they’ve already crossed an important milestone. The park looks different from the first time I visited there in both a good and less good way. There are a lot of people. It’s fairly packed and there really aren’t many places to sit down and collect your thoughts. There is still a very diverse population. You will find people of all ages and ethnicities there. These people seem to be very smart. Organizationally, it feels like a neighborhood block party with small groups working on logistics or concepts. There is a lot of openness and sharing and this is all good. (I’ll say why there should also be a note of caution as well later.) There are also a few more freaky types. I don’t know where these people come from. If I didn’t know better I’d say they were hired, as in, if they didn’t exist, Fox News would have to invent them and for all I know, it did. I didn’t notice these people the last time I was here.

The mood of the place seems a little less festive and a little more serious. By that I mean that people are turning up because they are looking for connections. They have something important to say, their own perspective on a complicated puzzle and they are seeking synergies. It seems a little disorganized but there wasn’t one person I spoke to who didn’t know exactly why he/she was there. Think of it as a giant open air salon.

There are more people who have mapped out their own little smidgeon of the park for identity politics. In this respect, I’m a little concerned. In my humble opinion, the more you go overboard to make your point, like wearing a grim reaper costume and earnestly proclaiming your concern about who is killing the planet, the more people you will drive away. Yes, the environment is paramount in all of our minds but it would be a shame if the movement, which is based primarily on economic grievances, is derailed by this kind of thing. It would give an unrealistic picture of the 99% and, frankly, I’m an omnivore. I like my steaks medium rare and my veal grilled with porcini mushroom dust. I’m not interested in your lifelong committment to veganism. I understand why having options for vegans who are occupying is important but I don’t want to feel like I’m doing something immoral if I don’t get onboard some crunchy granola agenda. No, seriously, some of these identity groups have a quasi-religious zealousness to them and I don’t want any part of that.

So, there are two possible solutions that the facilitators might want to consider. They could ask the people in question to tone it down. Or they could try to make the economic issues more prominent. What we the 99% can do is continue to come to the occupations. I’m cool with the prospect of safe nuclear energy someday. We need more people there who are willing to entertain that idea. We need more people from corporations who are willing to say that some industries work better as corporations. It’s the way they interact with the financial industry, politicians and deregulation that are the problems. I don’t want buzzwords and tribal allegiences to ruin what could be very promising.

As to where I think this is going, hmmm, I got a few hints and clues. The alternative currency working group is up to something. If I were the typical hysterical Glenn Beck viewer, I would relax. They don’t want to cause an economic catastrophe. But it sounds like this group has been talking with “prominent” experts who would be able to act as outside consultants. They are weighing their options about how to create a new, vibrant economy. I am intrigued.

The other interesting thing I picked up on was the plan for the global day of solidarity on 11/11/11. OccupyCentralPark wants to kick off a weekend of learning on that day and have a massive occupation in Central Park. The theme of this event appears to be that we hate Wall Street because we are dependent on it. And our individual and national economic well being is tied to how well Wall Street does even as it feels free to abuse us. So, OWS would like to present some plans to teach us to free ourselves from the Wall Street tentacles so that we can reassert control over our lives. I don’t know what this will involve but if you’ve ever felt that your life was out of control because Wall Street had you strapped to its global roulette wheel, this event would seem to be geared to presenting alternatives so that you can break that gambling addiction, at least for yourself. If I had to sum that idea up in a short meme it would be, “We have been starving the wrong beast”.

Finally, about the perils of openness and sharing. Let me tell a story about an event called YearlyKos. YearlyKos1 in 2006 was planned as a meetup for the users at DailyKos to get together and brainstorm how to take back Congress. Few of us had ever met before and when we did, the feeling of complete openness and sharing and psychological flow state was very powerful. It was like a 3 day high. It took me a week to come down from my euphoria. YearlyKos2 was a different story for me. I had logistical problems, like a missing registration, a hotel room that was distant from the ones that the rest of the kossacks were staying and related transportation issues. In short, I was not experiencing the flow state of the year before and I was not as attuned to the emotional state of the other participants. It occurred to me today that this was a very good thing because emotions can be easily manipulated when they are in an excited state and the people all around you are responding to the same stimuli.

This afternoon, I briefly got that fleeting feeling of YearlyKos1. There were some people who I felt I was connecting with who wanted to talk about stuff I felt was important and the sharing of ideas was very simpatico, not because we were thinking the same things but because I was getting information that was filling in the data I was missing from my own perspective. That is when I started to feel that I had to be cautious. Collaboration is highly desirable; a hive mind is not. That is not to say that OWS is promoting such a thing. It’s just that it’s probably inevitable due to the nature of the movement, our grievances and our desire to work this out. It’s a social phenomenon as well as a psychological one. When that flow state is reached and we’re all in an excited emotional state, that is when we are most vulnerable to each other and to outside forces who may wish to infiltrate and redirect the movement in a certain direction. I want this movement to succeed and grow and add as many diverse voices as possible that will work to help us shake our dependence on Wall Street, and by extension, the parties that rely on Wall Street. So, I would advise you that if you start to feel euphoric, that you step out of the conversation, go get something to eat, take a pee, walk around the park until the feeling goes away. If it doesn’t go away, go home. Come back when you have a clear head and have learned to master your ability to put some emotional distance between you and the rest of the group. Be happy, enthusiastic and engaged. Do not get giddy. Engaged is good, giddy is not. I hope that makes sense.

Ok, I’m off to beddy-bye. Things are starting to take shape. It’s a good thing. Make it grow by getting involved. We CAN do this.

nighty night

**************************************************************
Here are my notes from the general assemby (GA), and other observations from today:

7:25 pm: partition function and I are at the general assembly. Is there any topic you want us to present at the progressive stack? Please let us know ASAP.

First working group reportback: Occupy Halloween. They need donations. Check the kickstarter page for Power to the Puppets

We are making a flowchart of the declaration of Occupation of NYC. We want to make it easy to read without too much simplification. the working group is requesting help.

Visions and goals document group working group report back: a new group whose goal is to collect, refine and working toward publishing liberty plaza’s visions and goals. The results will be released only with the consensus of the general assembly. Over 200 people have had input. We will have a meeting tomorrow to explain creatively the goals of this group. We will also be discussing potentially a proposal that the GA will follow.

A statement of the document will be proposed at tomorrow’s general assembly.

The divine feminine discussion group will be held tonight for females and female identified individuals. There will be a women’s caucus.

Working group on alternative currency has gone missing.

Religious support group: any religion, philosophy, or chemical affiliation. ???

Think tank working group: collects ideas and solutions. Email your ideas to owsthinktank@gmail.com

Alternative currency working group has been found! Next Monday, there will be a meeting where we can see the stars. (this has meaning to them, but is Greek to me). There will be a meeting tomorrow at Charlotte’s place. There will be prominent thinkers. All very mysterious.

Media working group: breakout session on GA to more effectively communicate everyone’s message of solidarity.

Widescreen subgroup: we need some help with media production. Contact the media subgroup.

ANNOUNCEMENTS: they are for important information but not personal opinions
Save your opinions for Soapbox. It happens every night after GA. No time limit.

- I’m from security. I just confiscated a whole case of alcohol. This will get us kicked out of this park. Don’t even think about it.

- Christina: I would like to announce a march on Oct 22 against police brutality at 2:00pm. We do not promote violence at any time. We don’t know how people got the idea that we do otherwise.

- Community affairs: please read the good neighbor policy and do not pee or poop in public. I can’t stress this enough. We are under attack by the media. Don’t give them ammunition.

- Occupycentralpark: we are growing. We aren’t allowed to camp there. But it’s our park. We want to be able to meet there on one weekend. We want to teach people. We only hate Wall Street because we depend on it. We can run our own system so we don’t have to depend on wall street. So, meet in central park on 11/11/11. (That’s binary for 63, right?) We would like the whole world to join in for a day of solidarity. What part of central park? We are designing a new map of central park. We are planning to meet at the bandshell but we are hoping so many people come that we will be everywhere in central park.

Sounds like there will be a plan on how to escape Wall Street on 11/11/11. That’s my interpretation.

2:43 pm: Ok, I’m in Zuccotti Park. It’s packed here. The place is crawling with press. I just got interviewed by a student at Columbia for a report she’s writing. I told her all about the decimation of the R&D industry but she wants to hear from more people who have advanced degrees and can’t find a job in the sciences. If you are interested in talking to her, leave a comment in the comment threads. You don’t have to announce who you are or your contact info. I can retrieve your email address from the comment and will send you the student’s name and email address. Deadline for her report is Wednesday morning.

5:20pm Hello this is Partition Functions with RD in occupied OWS on this beautiful but windy
Autumn day. While the crowd is diverse in ages, background and interests, there appears to also that specialization is occurring in that working groups on topics related to the wider community
are forming, for example we were both recruited to be a part of a school policy curriculum working group. There are also more musicians, but despite that, the mood is more serious. Not sure why, could be that maybe it’s the office crowd. Maybe it’s because it’s a weekday. We’re heading over to open mic. RD signed up.

See you later.

Filed under: General | Tagged: Occupy | 52 Comments »

ooOOoo, the chemists are getting restless

Posted on October 17, 2011 by riverdaughter

Last Friday, Derek Lowe posted the latest rumors on Amgen. The pointy haired bosses are saying euphemistically loaded code words for liberating the wage slaves:

Amgen is out today speaking the sort of language that we’ve all come to fear. It appears that the local Ventura County Star picked up some rumblings from inside the Thousand Oaks headquarters, and when they asked the company about it, they got this:

“We are currently evaluating some changes within our Research & Development organization to improve focus and to reallocate resources to key pipeline assets and activities. . .”

Been there, done that. The whole day at Amgen was wasted with scared shitless labrats floating from cubicle to cubicle running down the options. Those who weren’t constructing elaborate scenarios were furiously updating their CVs, searching for their publications and slapping together presentation slides. Lots of networking going on. ”Heeeey, how are you doing? Haven’t talked to you for, what is it now? Five years? Oh, I’m doing fine. Working at Amgen. Yep, great site. How are the kids? Really? High school already? Doesn’t time fly? Is it true Satanaco just made you director of flarnjarn chemistry? How’s that going these days?…”

Thinking back on it, there is a certain pattern to these announcements. They occur roughly a year after the email about the multimillion dollar contract the company just signed with a consulting firm (located more frequently in Massachusetts, hmmm…). So, be on your guard, guys. Don’t wait until the big announcement to bug out. Do it as soon as you hear the consulting firm is studying your discovery process.

For the past 10 years, chemists, who tend to be introverted types, watched as their work environment disappeared lab by lab. At first, they were able to jump around locally. Then all hell broke loose in 2008 and the layoffs came like a blitzkrieg. There is absolutely no relief, no place to go and no security. No sooner have you unpacked your new clean labcoats in the new company before there’s a merger announcement or a restructuring and, once again, you have to figure out if you can afford the house *and* the small apartment you’ll be forced to live in during the week in Massachusetts while your employed spouse works in your former state of residence.

The chemists grumbled but took it. But now that so many of them are out of work, some of us permanently as far as we can tell, the labrats are getting mad. Here’s a promising comment:

“The reality is that we have all gotten to the good old days when you could stay with the same company with job security. Those days are gone! Do not blame your management! Face the reality. For the chemists, why you think you would be entitled to a good job if the need is not there for your services?”

Yeah, I’ve been thinking about that lately in light of the last nine months in the world. Sure, chemists may be smart and resourceful and maybe can deal with getting laid off a lot, but most humans aren’t. Most humans do expect relative job security and certainty for the future. A lot think they are entitled to it. Don’t believe me? Look at Tunisia, Egypt, Syria, Greece, Spain, and now New York. It all sounds fine to say that we need to adjust to the new market, but I’m guessing that in the future the financial industry will have to throw billions at people to keep them in boring, steady jobs with a degree of future certainty just so they don’t tear out a banker’s throat. Much as Saudi Arabia is doing now by flooding Egypt and Yemen with billions in the futile hope that the hunger and unrest doesn’t spread.

I’m sorry, but I don’t think humans are evolved enough for today’s market. Maybe in a few thousand years… but the instability and uncertain future has obviously risen beyond what the human species as a whole can support with the current gene mix. Too many people want a certain stability on a primitive level. This whole business with the Euro collapsing and the Arab world imploding/exploding will lead to a lot more problems for Pharma (and not only them) in the future.

Sad but true. Human beings have not sufficiently evolved to give up their food and housing addictions. If we were, getting laid off repeatedly would be much more pleasant than it is. I must say that the image of bankers’ throats being torn out by a crowd of angry labrats gave me a momentary feeling of delight, sort of like a lion that has finally downed its prey and is ripping the esophagus out of the neck, like bloody banker steak tartare… Where was I? {{catching breath, straightening clothes, wiping chin}} And this comment from an Amgen Oldtimer tells the story of Amgen’s demise. Substitute any well known biomedical research company for Amgen, it’s happened to all of them:

Yes Amgen was a great company. Under George Rathman it was an awesome culture. For about 15 years, early 80′s to mid-nineties, almost no one left. Attrition ran less than half industry standard. It was a vibrant, scientist driven culture of innovation. Team culture was strong, people supported one another, careers were nurtured, ethics were everyday stuff, not laminated speaking points. As a young scientist there, I awoke each day early and got off to work because my head was full of anticipation for the day.

The middle period was run by Gordon Binder. A decent man, but he set the seeds for future failure. He ran a tight ship financially, growing the company perfectly to beat estimates steadily, quarter over quarter, year after year. A lot of people got rich, but also complacent and no risks were taken with the revenue other than to support internal research. While that was a good thing, the senior team had lost some steam, and was also stubbornly resistant to the McKinsey minded management movement that was threatening all research organizations. While I think this was wise, lack of performance and suggesting no alternatives other than to do what we’ve always done led to the next disastrous phase.

Kevin takes over. In comes GE based performance systems [Jack Welch's "rank and yank" that nurtured Enron as well], in comes BCG (Boston Consulting Group) lead restructuring of R&D processes to generate “seamless alignment”, in comes an attitude that R(esearch) only costs money. Team culture evaporates, those that can manage up well shift around from function to function, with success claimed for new initiatives before any measure of impending failure. Scientists who have clarity about the folly, and speak up, are shown the door. New “superstars” are hired that have no track record of success (but amazingly are all friends!), and that is still true now after a decade at Amgen. ESAs are over-promoted, Hematocrit pushed to high and the fall begins.

Management structures bonuses based on revenue, so Amgen buys Immunex and enbrel, which produces a lot of revenue, less margin, pays too much, but pads bank accounts. Stock falls, so management changes incentive at low price to be aligned with shareholders, taking more money out of the company. In the end, company sheds something like 40-50B in market cap, lays off employees while the CEO buys 2 corporate jets and takes home about $250MM. Amazing pay for shedding that much company value. Amazing lack of concern for employees and patients. Amazingly different company than George Rathman led.

Great company, once.

The anger isn’t limited to Wall Street but Wall Street had a significant role to play in the demise of research in this country. And now, as one commenter noted, the flood gates are about to open to admit more foreign STEM workers because companies are whining that they don’t have enough well-trained workers in the US. That might be motivated by Wall Street’s pressure for profits but the ultimate responsibility for reducing STEM professionals to low wage jobs with no security will fall on the president and Congress who don’t prevent the H-1B visas from flooding the system with cheap, expendable labor that can be sent back to Asia when the season’s over, like migrant workers rotating from lab to lab.

Obama should think about that. Chemistry used to be a good career. The work requires a lot of education, technical skills and experience. The salaries were decent if not spectacular compared to the corporate office purchasing administrators and sales reps. Chemists paid their fair share of taxes and had nice houses in the suburbs where they sent their children to local schools and attended school board meetings. They did demonstrations for kids at Science Fair night. They coached soccer. These are not the people you want to alienate in an election year.

Because these are the same people who may show up at a OWS site in a nearby park carrying signs like this:

One more thing:

Over at Craig Crawford’s Trail Mix (nice blog), there is a video of Matt Taibbi talking to Don Imus about Occupy Wall Street. I’ll see if I can embed the video. One thing that annoys me is Don Imus asking Matt if he thinks any of the occupiers even understand the banking issues. Condescend much, Don?? A lot of us have read Michael Lewis’ book The Big Short and can tell you exactly how securitization of mortgages work, what a tranche is and the difference between a CDO and a CDS. Yep, and we know the people at ratings agencies are unreliable at best, looking for jobs with the people they rate at worst. AND that the SEC did nothing about the concerns that were raised by some hedge fund managers. And that derivatives are not regulated to make them transparent. And that fund managers love their status and money and have very little interest or incentive to protect their clients’ pension funds. Is that enough, Don, or do you want more?

Jeez, he hasn’t aged well. He’s younger than my mom and looks about 10 years older. Ahhh, I see. Prostate cancer. That’s not good. Too bad I don’t do cancer drugs anymore…

Filed under: General | Tagged: amgen, Beaker, Bunsen Honeydew, chemists, Don Imus, Matt Taibbi, occupation, Wall Street | 39 Comments »

Nitecap: A little ditty to Glenn Beck from the 99%

Posted on October 16, 2011 by riverdaughter

I’m winding down and having a bavarian style beer type thingy. Not sure that I like this one. Not sure I like the pumpkin ales either. Oatmeal Stout, that I love. Oh, well, we drink what’s on tap.

If you’re getting ready for another week of whatever, whether you work or are looking for a job, sit back, relax and brace yourself for the garbage that Glenn Beck and droogs are going to throw at us.

Stick together, hold hands, watch both ways before you cross the street. Bottom’s up, 99!

Hey, that singer must know Glenn or something…

I think you’ve met your match, Glenn. You won’t get away with it this time.

Filed under: General | 5 Comments »

OccupyWallStreet: To the naysayers

Posted on October 16, 2011 by riverdaughter

"Find a space and occupy it, even if it's only your own mind"

You know who you are. You’re the ones who are trying to convince us that there’s something fishy about OWS. That it sounds too much like OFA. And as I have said already, if it turns out that OWS is a sneaky move by Obama to create the pressure he needs to do what he was supposed to be doing for the last three years, I will be the first one to denounce OWS, and the country in general will look very disfavorably on his political campaign. Any candidate that uses this kind of deception to win some campaign battle while allowing such misery to happen on so grand a scale does not deserve my vote or your vote. People do not like to be pushed out of the middle class through unemployment and crushing debt just so the political class can out psych each other in some high stakes game. As Naomi Klein said, “You are not the cannon fodder for Washington policy wonks”.

I happen to think the movement is genuine. It’s getting people from all over the country involved and it’s giving them a sense of control, which has been lacking since the Democrats f%^&*ed us over and installed a cypher presidential candidate instead of a Democrat. It’s also very interesting to watch it grow and develop. Fascinating, which is why I like to cover it. It’s unpredictable. And if it takes them some time to figure out what they want, it still will be a blip on the historical timescale. This movement has spread like wildfire, it appeals to many diverse demographic groups and the internet will help facilitate the way it gets things done. I also don’t see a lot of tedious wordsmithing which tends to kill a movement quicker than spit.

But OK, some of you will still be nagging doubters. If I didn’t know better, I would almost say you were trolls trying to disuade liberals and progressives from actually getting the band back together and doing a gig. And that would seem to suit the parties very well, wouldn’t you think? Neither one of them has any interest in making working people look good and united and determined to get respect and their money back. It suits both very well that OWS is made to look as bad as possible. Scare away more conservative types by making them look like degenerates; scare the liberals away by telling them it’s just a smokescreen covering for another nasty Obama fanbase operation.

I don’t have to give you reasons why you should or shouldn’t support OccupyWallStreet. I don’t speak for the movement but it’s not particularly difficult to figure out what it is they stand for and what they hope to accomplish. When they figure out the best way of getting that something, then you’ll get your answer. Until then, take and old cold tater and wait. If you want to stand up with OWS, OK then; if you don’t, well, that just means that there will be one less person representing your point of view. And if you’re determined to believe that it’s an offshoot of OFA, then you owe it to yourself, and to the rest of us who are sick of your persistent, belligerent grumpiness, to go to an occupation site and check it out for yourself. There’s even an occupation in the tundra so don’t complain that there aren’t any around you.

Then you’ll know for sure what’s real and what’s not real because you will have been able to collect and analyze your own data. Until then, go complain and distract on someone else’s blog. I’m not interested in arguing with people who aren’t willing to do the work. It makes me suspicious that they are up to no good.

Filed under: General | Tagged: OccupyWallStreet, OWS, trolls | 119 Comments »

What’s wrong with this picture?

Posted on October 16, 2011 by riverdaughter

The NYTimes had an article yesterday about Indian college students attending American schools. But something about this just doesn’t sound right:

NEW DELHI — Moulshri Mohan was an excellent student at one of the top private high schools in New Delhi. When she applied to colleges, she received scholarship offers of $20,000 from Dartmouth and $15,000 from Smith. Her pile of acceptance letters would have made any ambitious teenager smile: Cornell, Bryn Mawr, Duke, Wesleyan, Barnard and the University of Virginia.

But because of her 93.5 percent cumulative score on her final high school examinations, which are the sole criteria for admission to most colleges here, Ms. Mohan was rejected by the top colleges at Delhi University, better known as D.U., her family’s first choice and one of India’s top schools.

…

“The problem is clear,” said Kapil Sibal, the government minister overseeing education in India, who studied law at Harvard. “There is a demand and supply issue. You don’t have enough quality institutions, and there are enough quality young people who want to go to only quality institutions.”

American universities and colleges have been more than happy to pick up the slack. Faced with shrinking returns from endowment funds, a decline in the number of high school graduates in the United States and growing economic hardship among American families, they have stepped up their efforts to woo Indian students thousands of miles away.

Representatives from many of the Ivy League institutions have begun making trips to India to recruit students and explore partnerships with Indian schools. Some have set up offices in India, partly aimed at attracting a wider base of students. The State Department held a United States-India higher education summit meeting on Thursday at Georgetown University to promote the partnership between the countries.

Ok, let me see if I’ve got this right. American universities are seeing a decline in the number of American high school graduates and an increase in the number of students seeking financial aid. But every year, the exclusive top tier universities take great delight crushing the hopes and dreams of the best high school students America has to offer. In fact, some schools think it’s a mark of distinction to turn down so many overqualified students each year.

BUT, then they go ahead an offer quite substantial scholarships to Indian students. And let’s be clear about this, there is no shortage of foreign students, especially Asian students at quality American universities. In the hard sciences, they are the dominant demographic. The problem is in India where the number of qualified students exceeds the number of top ranked university slots so we offer them our limited seats because… ??

So, overqualified but poor American students will be rejected and similarly qualified Indian students will be lavished with money. Don’t get me wrong, I’m glad we are still good enough to attract a foreign clientele even if we are their “safe schools”. But this is a real slap in the face to thousands of American high school students who can’t get a foot in the door and who routinely burn themselves out only to receive rejection letters. Then there are the mountains of student loans they have to take out just to get through the second tier colleges who admit them.

This is why occupywallstreet is attracting so many people to its movement. Education is extremely expensive and now we have to compete with Indians for the few slots and scholarships in our own country, as if the high school product here, which has generated many Nobel prizes over the last century, is somehow not quite good enough anymore.

Disgraceful.

********************************

Other Stuff:

Atrios says that the Galtian overlords don’t know what’s best for them:

Sure their lawyers and accountants and lobbyists might have a pretty good idea what some specific provision might mean for them, but there’s no reason to think that they really understand how to run the macroeconomy for their benefit. I think a lot of the mess in the housing/mortgage markets post-bubble was due to the fact that the securitization contracts were poorly done, giving mortgage servicers very bad incentives, but I also think a lot of the mess was because the banskters didn’t really know what was good for them, or at least their companies. It’s hard to imagine that large scale principal modification with some sweeteners from the government, along with bankruptcy cramdown, wouldn’t have actually been better for both the macroeconomy and the banks.

This is true of the pharmaceutical industry, which for the past 15-20 years has been run by a bunch of MBAs who do not understand the business they run. They’ve made a business out of merging companies to the detriment of their research pipelines. It’s almost like they have a complete disconnect between the money they play with and the actual source of that money. It’s all catching up with them now with the patent cliff looming. You’d think that some political types would want to fix this problem but apparently not. It’s just a simple case of companies acting like adolescents with very permissive parents. Someday, they’re going to end up in rehab.

**************************************

Krugman says he thought occupywallstreet was imminent back in 2008:

…Occupy Wall Street site today, reminds me of the closing passage in my introduction to The Great Unraveling:

I have a vision – maybe just a hope—of a great revulsion: a moment when the American people look at what is happening, realize how their good will and patriotism have been abused, and put a stop to this drive to destroy much of what is best in our country. How and when this moment will come, I don’t know. But one thing is clear: it cannot happen unless we all make an effort to see and report the truth about what is happening.

It *was* imminent, Paul. There were those of us who saw the manipulation of the Democratic primary process in 2008 as a deeply disturbing harbinger of things to come. We were alarmed more than heartbroken that our candidate didn’t win. We thought that the foundations of the Democratic party were fatally compromised. So, we said, Party Unity My Ass and went to Denver to protest. And we were promptly marginalized and called racists. After the election, we tried to form a movement but some people wanted to go back to their old progressive tribes and others wanted to join the Tea Party, against our advice. In any event, nothing was going to get going until Barack Obama was shown to be the politician we thought he was. That is, one with an outsized ambition who was bought to serve the overlords and who didn’t have much political talent. Now that the honeymoon is over with Obama, suddenly everyone is aware of how corrupt the system is and how little influence the rest of us have in Congress or in the electoral process at large.

You didn’t have to be a Nobel winning economist to see it. All you needed to be was an menopausal, uneducated, working class, sino-peruvian lesbian type that the Obama campaign used to characterize us as, even though no one I know fit that description. So, welcome to Party Unity My Ass, Paul, one of the early ancestors of occupywallstreet. We will send you our new members package with complimentary white sheet and hormone replacement therapy samples.

**************************************

Oh really? Go read this post at Susie’s place. It will make your blood boil. And then, go to Occupytheboardroom and give these bastards a piece of your mind.

Filed under: General | Tagged: American high school students, Atrios, galtian overlords, Indian students, Ivy league, Paul Krugman, scholarships | 44 Comments »

OccupyWallStreet: Headed back to Washington Square Park

Posted on October 15, 2011 by riverdaughter

General Assembly at 10:00pm at Washington Square Park.

Music to march by:

and for the purists:

Filed under: General | Tagged: 99 Luftballoons, OccupyWallStreet | 20 Comments »

OccupyTogether: October 15- Global Day of Action

Posted on October 15, 2011 by riverdaughter

Update 6:54. Will have to leave momentarily to take a kid to a dance. Tell me if anything happens.

Here’s the best live feed so far: http://www.earthcam.com/usa/newyork/timessquare/

Update 6:35: At 6:37, Dwayne reports, they are all going to sing a song. They are singing, “This little light of mine”

All together now!

Update 6:24: Dwayne’s feed is very chaotic but he’s right there watching the horse mounted police coming into the crowd. Voice commentary is good. http://www.livestream.com/occupywallstnyc.

6:16 The earthcam let’s you see it all. In brutal detail. http://www.earthcam.com/usa/newyork/timessquare/

It is very, very crowded down there. Think New Year’s Eve crowded. I can only see part of Times Square but the crowd is chanting “The whole world is watching”, which can’t be good. Now, massive Booing. That’s not a good sign. I hope things calm down before curtain time. It would suck to have just spent a small fortune on Broadway tickets and not be able to get to the theatre. That would be seriously uncool.

Update 5:59: Ok, this is ridiculous. There are thousands of people jammed on the sidewalk who can’t cross the street. They are bound to spill into the street. It would be impossible to keep them confined for much longer. Ruh-roh, here come the police on Vespas. One of the earthcam webcams is overwhelmed.

From the livestream chatroom moderator:

 the revolution is experiencing technical difficulties.
piscaa: expect interference from

Update 5:57pm: The square is really filling up now and making some noise. The problem with Times Square is that there is a main thoroughfare right through the middle of it so the protestors have to stay on the sidewalks. On a normal Saturday evening, the sidewalks of Times Square are crowded. I don’t know how the police are going to keep people from spilling into the street. I just hope everyone stays calm. It looks from the webcam that the police are preventing people on the sidewalk from crossing over into the area beneath the big marquee. That’s not a good plan, IMHO. There’s still plenty of room over there. In the meantime, Occupy Berlin is having interactions with police.

Update 5:19pm: If you are following along on the Earthcam, you can hear the occupiers coming into the square. It sounds like they are singing “We ARE the 99%!” They’ve got a band! Did the Musicians Union join them?

Update: Here is what Times Square looks like from the Earthcam live cam at http://www.earthcam.com/usa/newyork/timessquare/

You can hear the Occupiers chanting on the earthcam as they enter the square but the crowd is still small at this point. Watch it grow.

Marchers should be entering the square from the bottom of your screen if you are watching the Earthcam.

Update 4:45pm: Dwayne and the media team are in a cab headed up to Times Square. Broadcasting live from the back of the cab. I found a live cam broadcast from Times Square. check it out here: Times Square Cam. There are a couple different angles to choose from. Hit the “See more Times Square Cams” in the upper left hand corner.

Update 4:25: The police have shut down Times Square. (unconfirmed) WTF? There are people who have shows to do up there. Musicians, actors, singers, restaurant people, Sephora salespeople… Curtains go up at 8:00pm.

There are two streams of marchers headed for Times Square. One stream is headed up Broadway, the other is headed up 7th avenue. The Mic Check just said that the police will be searching backpacks at the train station on the way to Times Square “SO DON’T BE STUPID!” This is OK by me. Security is notoriously tight around Times Square when they expect crowds.

Update 4:07pm: Dwayne is MCing the live feed from Zuccotti park. He is headed to Times Square in a cab so that they don’t lose air in the subway. He says crowd estimates in Times Square are supposed to be 50,000 people. There are rumors in the chat room that police are getting antzy at Times Square, which is too bad. Because if there was ever an ideal place to party, it would be Times Square. Why ruin it with riot police? For that matter, why ruin it with riots? If you’re there, stay on the sidewalk, follow traffic rules, keep an eye on your fellow occupiers. Keep safe and cooperative.

HAVE FUN!!

Update 4:11: There are arrests right now at Broadway and 16th street. Times Square is at 42nd street so they still have quite a way to walk. No indication of what is setting off the arrests.

Today, OccupyTogether has events all around the world for the first Global Day of Action. There’s probably one near you. Go, and say hi. I guarantee that there will be someone there your age. Maybe you’ll be the first but if you do it, others will join you and that’s what this movement is all about. Stand together in solidarity with the other 99% and demand that your hard work and playing by the rules are rewarded.

In Manhattan today, there are several events planned today for OccupyWallStreet. There is an OccupytheBoardroom, and Take Times Square Convergence and Occupation Party at 5:00pm. The Times Square occupation could be an amazing event. Times Square is generally packed on Saturdays anyway. There are people from out of town to see plays and there are three hours to kill before curtain time. This could be a really inspiring community event. When the lights come on in Times Square, I hope people have their cameras at the ready.

Alas, I won’t be one of them. Brook is going to a Homecoming Dance tonight and I will be acting as stylist and limo driver. I wouldn’t miss that for the world. But I will be checking in through the various livestreams. If you have similar pre-engagements, you can still participate by joining the conversation on the livestreams or through twitter at #occupyWallStreet

Here are some livestreams to follow:

GlobalRevolution Livestream (this one is the busiest and will cut in with events from around the world)

OccupyWallStNYC – This is mainly from Zuccotti park but features other occupations as well

Avaazwallstreet – A Euro-Middle East collaboration activist organisation. Their livestream was pretty good yesterday.

I don’t know if OccupyWallStreet will be able to do what the left on its own has not since 2008 but what the heck, why not try to promote each other? It couldn’t hurt. So, in the spirit of re-engagement, check out the livestream from Firedoglake. They will be covering events live. Check out their live coverage post here. I expect quality work from Jane Hamsher’s crew.

Also doing a bang up job covering a number of OccupyTogether sites are our friends at Corrente. Indignés is covering OccupyParis from Corrente. And while you’re there, make sure to tip your host. I keep thinking that Lambert is on the verge of a great idea about collaborating in the blogosphere. Let’s help him over the critical threshhold of creativity. If you have any ideas for how to do this, see this post: Readers, how do we publish ourselves to the occupiers and indignants?

I don’t know but what if we could put together an application like The Daily app for the iPad? Just a suggestion.

Finally, for those of you who are still confused about how OccupyWallStreet works, check out this episode of Virtually Speaking with Jay Ackroyd, Stuart Zechman and Alison Kilkenny. They discuss the Open Source model, which is quite unlike what many people are used to as an organizing philosophy. If you hit your stride in your career at the beginning of the internet age, you will probably grok this idea pretty easily. Here’s a brief wiki summary of open source philosophy:

The open-source model includes the concept of concurrent yet different agendas and differing approaches in production, in contrast with more centralized models of developmentsuch as those typically used in commercial software companies.^[2] A main principle and practice of open-source software development is peer production by bartering and collaboration, with the end-product, source-material, “blueprints,” and documentation available at no cost to the public. This is increasingly being applied in other fields of endeavor, such as biotechnology.^[3]

The internet made this collaborative organizing model possible. If you’re not familiar with Open Source, Allison, Jay and Stuart will walk you through it and tell you why it’s so powerful even if it’s leaderless.

In addition, Stuart explains why the parties are probably dead. They’re too badly compromised. He has a field report from an independent Democrats (the “good” guys) meeting he attended in Manhattan recently. They also talk about why they don’t think either party or MoveOn type organization is going to have an easy time co-opting the Occupation. In short, the 99% are disgusted by the parties and orgs and want something new. If Obama was planning to turn the Occupation into a new version of OFA, he and the other Democratic leadership should shelve that idea pronto. I don’t think the Occupation even wants endorsements from them. They’re going to do things their way from now on.

So, livestream and learn and get out there. I plan to go to Zuccotti Park tomorrow after all of the excitement is over in hopes that the party carried on through the night and I haven’t missed a thing.

Filed under: General | Tagged: occupy times square, OccupyWallStreet, october 15, open source, Virtually speaking, zuccotti park | 16 Comments »

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