They used to write articles like this so we could feel a bit of vicarious richness. We, too, could be awesome if we just applied ourselves. I remember the show Lifestyles of the Rich & Famous. They didn’t air it so we’d know where to go to string the bastards up. Things feel different now.
Not too long ago I went on a guided bicycle tour of Central Park. I recommend it, by the way. The guide knew his audience. Well, he knew his regular audience. He pointed out where countless scenes were shot for movies I’d never seen or heard of. But he also pointed to different buildings and told us who lived in them and how much they paid for the privilege. He showed us numerous buildings that had turned down Madonna’s applications. Anyone truly famous probably wants people to know where they live, in Manhattan, at least.
Of course, that may be changing.
Telling us where Jamie Dimon and Lloyd Blankfein live has more of an ominous feel to it at the moment. Don’t you think? It seems more like an invitation to pay them an unfriendly visit.
I mean, it’s not hard to picture things taking an ugly turn and people stripping 15 Central Park West down to the copper. And then taking the copper.
Maybe it’s my imagination, but things are changing.
This is good news! For John McCain!
I for one am optimistic about these protests. For the first time in a long time. I participated in some of the anti-war protests in the run up to the Iraq war, and it seems to me like the media is treating these differently. People are excited about it, and that goes for our “journalistic class” too. I think it’s because OWS is actually promoting equality and democracy, unlike some other astro-turfed orgs who think that millionaires are Taxed Enough Already, Dammit!
I’m also starting to feel optimistic in general. Albeit at the pace of a aircraft carrier turning in the ocean, the economy seems to be turning around to me (I’m not an economist). At this time in 1983, everybody (especially liberals) everybody thought St. Ronny was toast. The economy made some very modest gains and voila. Just sayin’
It’s much more like 1979 than 1983. Complete with President who blames the people for malaise.
Where does Blankfein live? I would be interested in knowing. I live in SD, and so am nowhere near any of these locales. Yet if a person were to go to LB’s neighborhood, and hoist a dummy with a hangman’s knot on a lampost named “Lloyd”, this might have a salutory effect.
These assholes think that they are getting away with stuff. Time to fire the warning shot.
If you want to know where he lives, read the linked article. It gives the home addresses, although not the Suite/Apartment numbers of several bankers.
That’s the whole point of this article. It used to be a thrill when people wrote up how awesome your digs are. not it seems like a threat.
And your comment confirms my impression.
I don’t advocate threatening these people with hangmen. But they can’t feeling too comfortable with the fact that people like you can now go to their apartment building and harass them, or worse.
Nor is this.
I perfectly understand more moderate views, such as those from Ian and Stirling (cited here). I just don’t buy them.
The garbage on the books is too excessive, this time, in the age of plateaued oil, and even perhaps without plateaued oil, to prevent some extremely harsh outcomes, e.g., shaving 5 billion people off the planet.
Probably, not all at once.
I realize this post is descriptive, or possibly predictive, and not a call to action. Still, comments predicting the imminent and violent death of leaders of the opposition tend to be taken the wrong way. 🙂
have been for some time. You should check out Michael Panzner.
Well, this is quite a change in attitude from when these protests had no purpose other than to distract from Obama’s jobs effort. Howard Zinn in his People’s History described how before the revolutionary war the elite tried to promote dissent for their own purposes to gain support. They realized how dangerous stirring the pot was when things got out of hand and people started to burn the wrong mansions. This is why in Goldwater’s day the nut case fringe was shut down by the Republicans themselves. McCain and some in the 1% stirred the pot for even more power and now that has produced a political situation making congress incapable of doing anything to ease our problems let alone solve them.
When Nixon was forced from office my reaction was, wow, our system really works. The only thing the politicians care about is money and votes. We have the votes. This protest includes 99% of the votes (except the religious nut cases) and is a fill in the blank type protest so each person can have their own specific reason. This has the power to force the Republicans back to the fringe where they belong and realign the Democrats. We did this after the last crash of a gilded age and we will do it again.
If we knew where Blankfein and Dimon lived, we’d know where Obama would be with his silver tray.
and not without cause.
it seems OWS also read that article: Wall St protesters target homes of top executives.
this once thought of ragtag band of hippies, young and old, appears to have ignited a spark with the potential to start a big fire.
oh dear, whatever shall the 1%’s do to put it out?