The Commentator visits OccupyLondon protests

[jennywhojenny]

Raheem's face when the hippie is reading off the insidious smartphone!

[sulijoo]

I haven't laughed so much in ages. Just great. Give them enough rope and they'll hang themselves, condemned from their own idiotic lips. "Their heads are as empty as their tents." Quite!

[theycallhim]

"Market fundamentalism born in Chicago"

He means 'mainstream economics'.

[givinitsome]

I'm already not in favour of the next TWO wars.

[ChristopherHeward]

To be fair, friends just got back from Venezuela where apparently fuel is 100th of the cost, 50p a tank.... So maybe it is more helpful to have oil in public ownership?

[CheeseBlackOps]

@ChristopherHeward venezuela has large quantities of natural oil sources. we dont.

[ChristopherHeward]

Well done for picking out people you disagree with and disregarding the arguments of everyone else just because you disagree with some.

Give that most people say they aren't anti-capitalist but against corporatism why are you surprised when then aren't against elements of capitalism continuing?

Maybe you should engage with the issue.

[proudhon]

@CommentatorIntI Your figures on average salaries don't account for the fact that the value of money fell through the floor in that time. Also the figures are in $ so irrelevant to the UK's population. Very entertaining vid though and yes a lot of the Occupy protesters are gullible morons and bellends

[bugster247]

That's cleared that up!

[joecrib]

Last week I got laid off 6 weeks into an apprenticeship due to cuts at a major client for the agency I worked at. It took me 4 months to find that job whilst working full time night shifts and looking for longer term jobs in between.

I accept the fact I have to work hard and that I'm lucky to live in a country where the government can support me with the bare minimum I need to survive should I lose everything, but we can't allow basic democracy to be subjugated by profiteering and selfishness

[TheHolySpirit]

OP: Let's talk about usury, fiat currency, Exter's inverted pyramid of assets, the business of war, the revolving door of "opportunity" between Government and Banking institutions, and the fact that we don't have capitalism right now. You seemed to be very selective who you were talking to.

[TheHolySpirit]

@TheHolySpirit Some of us at OLSX take this view.. youtube. com/watch?v=ewKr0dUyAtU

(take out the space)

[Sres1]

@TheHolySpirit funny video... bankers are not the problem, governments are the problem, just some can manipulate far better.

Welfare is the problem, too many people on welfare, welfare is spreading the wealth and welfare is a failing of government, it causes people to become lazy, why work when someone will give you money for doing nothing?

[dmaxwright1]

the unwashed and the untaxed again disrupting the life of the hard working majority

[ShazaLondon]

@dmaxwright1 I think you'll find there has been campers been seen waking up in the mornings and putting on there suits to go to work from their tents, their normal people just like you but their just demonstrating their view on how the current system is failing.

[alastairis]

Yes that's a nice video, mock people who are trying to make sure we get our money's worth from the bail out. Why not engage in a transparent and constructive fashion?

Any suggestions on how to stop undemocratic institutions such as the large global banks or the medieval Corporation of London, having such a huge, unaccountable and devastating influence over everyone's lives and spinning a profit out of it all would be greatly appreciated.

[jiros00]

Excellent video. Thanks for doing this. Someone sane should go in undercover and cause a stink - I would contribute to their costs. And to the nutters, a yougov poll shows only 20% back the protest. If you're still there on Remembrance Sunday you can reasonably expect the rest of the population to despise you.

[londonplayer]

very funny. well done....

[CommentatorIntl]

Thanks for the kind words, guys. Please do share this!

[mrsbettybetty]

What a lazy minded, cheap piece of bullshit.

I imagine those as cretinous as you will enjoy this hugely.

Congratulations.

[CrassHeretic]

Not only has it infiltrated our society, it appears to have infiltrated your pocket!

[jasonizdead]

What strikes me is your lack of understanding of what is being protested against plus your ability to use the handful of people that didn't answer your questions very well. I know there are highly intelligent, articulate people that would've answered your questions much better but well done for jumping on the band wagon & making a cheap joke. The images you've used of Starbucks was a que for the toilet btw. Equally, your photos of Chavez with dictators exist with western leaders with them too.

[Slossius1983]

@jasonizdead My sentiments exactly. Even if they DID buy Starbucks coffee, it wouldn't mean much. Any food they buy or clothes they wear would be necessarily a product of the economic system they exist in. It would be like visiting a communist society and saying to the pro-capitalist protesters "look, you're eating food from collectively owned factory - AND you didn't pay a penny, you hypocrites!".

Also some economists DO support the "Occupy" movement. Paul Krugman for example.

[Sres1]

@Slossius1983 What is wrong with the Good Life? No one forces you to buy Starbucks, or wear gap or type on smartphones.

I love your video on the XNA stuff btw, damn that Microsoft corporation taking over the world with their computers... hypocrite...

[Slossius1983]

@Sres1 But we are forced to buy food from capitalist shops (or else we'd die) and so on. Tesco is a corporation just as Starbucks is. It doesn't follow that anyone who argues against a particular economic system must forgo any commodities produced in that system, or somehow live "outside" the system.

Also, not everyone is anti-capitalist. Many are just peeved that bailout money is funding kleptocratic bankers' bonuses.

Anyway, I don't see why you're calling me a hypocrite. I'm not an Occupier.

[Sres1]

@Slossius1983 No capitalist forces you to do anything, people are not forced to purchase anything from Tesco or Morrisons. You are forced to pay your taxes and the BBC tax, these are forced.

You can take your custom to a local butchers, a local market for your groceries, you could do as we do and grow your own produce.

Again, capitalism does not force you to do anything, they meet a demand, that demand is for local one stop shopping.

Socialists bailed out the banks, not capitalists.

[Slossius1983]

@Sres1 Yes, we're forced to pay tax, or refrain from hurting others and so on. However, just because the state does not directly force us to purchase food under capitalism does not mean that we're really free to do otherwise - after all, we would starve and die if we did not. Local markets are still capitalist, of course. Perhaps we could farm/hunt or whatever, if we were lucky enough to own suitable land.

I'm not sure how you think the bailout was done by 'socialists'. GW Bush... a socialist?!

[Sres1]

@Slossius1983 hence why being anti-capitalist is a stupid idea.

I was refering to our country (UK, seeing as this is a UK political youtube channel).

True capitalism would have let the banks fail, unfortunately what we have is social-consumer-capitalism, it's all the bad parts of all three elements rolled up and paraded as capitalism...

Lets be honest, all business is created off the back of capitalism, so we should all just lie down and die is what an anti-capitalist believes...

[Slossius1983]

@Sres1 "all business is created off the back of capitalism" is clearly false, unless by "business" you mean "trade under capitalism", which is question-begging.

[Sres1]

@Slossius1983 no one forces you to buy anything, you have free will. You have the ability to spend your money that you earned where you want. If you disagree with Tesco, Morrisons, Asda etc, you can spend your money in a host of other places.

Support your local shops, that is the way to get one up on the capitalist supermarkets.

[Slossius1983]

@Sres1 I'm not trying to get 'one up' on anybody, I was merely saying that it is not hypocritical to participate in an economic system out of necessity while at the same time criticising it.

But, just on one point - you seem to think that local shops aren't capitalist. The term 'capitalist' doesn't just apply to giant corporations you know... Rather, it is the economic system the Western world uses. To avoid it would be to trade nothing - just produce your own 'use-value' (as Marx would say).

[givinitsome]

@Slossius1983

"I was merely saying that it is not hypocritical to participate in an economic system out of necessity while at the same time criticising it."

Saying that capitalism is the root of all evil or it needs to be destroyed isn't 'criticism', it's 'trashing', and given that millions of people have already died under the economic model most lefties propose, their positions are simply unhinged.

As Churchill said of Democracy: it's the worst system there is, apart from all the others.

[Slossius1983]

@givinitsome My point stands even if you substitute "criticising" with "trashing". You seem to be saying that there are two options: Capitalism, exactly as practised in the UK right now, and Communism, exactly as practised by Stalin. I say that is poverty of imagination.

[givinitsome]

@Slossius1983 No, not intentional. The crony capitalism has to go if we're ever to see any joy for the rest of our lives. Since the end of WWII it's been downhill and we need to get rid of the 'capitalism is evil' mentality.

The capitalism we practice is exactly the kind of watered down, wussy capitalism that is closer to Stalin's economic model than to the American founding fathers (for example).

[pwei34]

@Slossius1983 I think you will find in a Communist society the verb is "Queueing" for food, not eating.

[Slossius1983]

@pwei34 Perhaps, but only if there is a food shortage. I don't see how "if you have enough money, you can eat all you like while others starve to death" is any better.

[dannidandannikins]

@Slossius1983 Is that the same Paul Krugman who wrote that if the human race all unified to fight aliens then the extra spending on interplanetary weapons would stimulate the economy?

[Sres1]

@jasonizdead even you haven't outlined what the protest is about? Impart your knowledge, tell us the 98% who don't support what the point of camping outside st'paul's is?

And it's Queue for future reference when you're waiting to use a capitalists toilet...

[jasonizdead]

@Sres1 I only had 493 characters so couldn't really. I think your 98% comment is fairly incorrect. Firstly, '99%' is the percentage of the people that don't share the majority of the wealth. No one is suggesting that the figure is used to claim that we represent the 99%, it is used to show they are part of the 99%. Ironically, you have used 98% in the fashion that your are suggesting is wrong. Do you really represent the thoughts of the 98%? I doubt you can claim that.

[jasonizdead]

But to answer your original question. The majority of people camping outside of over 2,000 sites worldwide are there to spur on dialogue about the huge disparity there is between the rich & the poor. They have certainly done that, it's in the news, people are talking about it. Even the church now backs the protesters. Ed Miliband (god forbid) understands the protest & why it's happening. There may not be a solution to the problem as yet but it's better working towards it than doing nothing.

[artievand]

Brilliant!



[Slossius1983]

Ah, the argumentum ad Starbucks fallacy. Surprised you went for that after the ribbing it got on HIGNFY!

Also, kudos on interviewing a handful of people and discovering that, since one or two people aren't entirely consistent and aren't economists, that therefore non of them are. That's an impressive leap and I can only wish my mind was capable of such a feat.

[HorusUK]

What's the music about 15 seconds in? I have a use for it, and would appreciate knowing what it's called. :-)

[kruthian]

Not a single one to break the mould in the lot.....!

[EdMcF1]

@kruthian Might have to scrape the mould off them though.