Drive-Bys

Why, ultimately, will Occupy Chicago not work?

“Are you here to occupy?” asks Tyler, 20, a young man from Tennessee with whimsical facial tattoos. I tell him no, I’m the media, and ask why he is here, standing in the rain.

“First of all, we’re changing things,” he says. “The people in this bank right here have to listen to the drums every day and have to see us every day, and sooner or later they’ll get real tired of it. We’re going to be here until something happens. Sooner or later, everybody’s going to get sick of it.”

No doubt, though when it comes to real change, I put my chips on “later.” I can’t see the economic order crumbling because those in power get tired of the drumming. Those who have in our society do not generally give up what they have unless forced, and when they do give, it’s symbolic — the bags of cash being handed out by the Federal Reserve at its lobby money museum are shredded, of course, and thus worthless. There is no free money.

Ah, yes! The bank will cease to do business, pack up its marbles and go home because the powers-that-be are sick of the drumming!

Then again, maybe this explains all behind that kind of magical thinking:



And then there's the brilliance of Occupy DC:

You could say they haven't harmed anyone here downtown, except that they have. In McPherson Square, where some two or three dozen of them have been camping out for the last week, they have already ruined a few newly sodded sections of the park.

The re-sodding of the park was completed this year as part of a $419,000 stimulus project to refurbish the square. The park, which is across from the Examiner Building in downtown D.C., was shut down for months during the project.

You could say they're stimulating the economy, because now taxpayers will have to cough up a few thousand more to fix the damage.

Wonderful strategy, eh?

Krauthammer sums it up beautifully:

To the villainy-of-the-rich theme emanating from Washington, a child is born: Occupy Wall Street. Starbucks-sipping, Levi's-clad, iPhone-clutching protesters denounce corporate America even as they weep for Steve Jobs, corporate titan, billionaire eight times over.

These indignant indolents saddled with their $50,000 student loans and English degrees have decided that their lack of gainful employment is rooted in the malice of the millionaires on whose homes they are now marching — to the applause of Democrats suffering acute tea party envy and now salivating at the energy these big-government anarchists will presumably give their cause.

Except that the real tea party actually had a program — less government, less regulation, less taxation, less debt. What's the Occupy Wall Street program? Eat the rich.

And then what? Haven't gotten that far.

Too right.
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But maybe I was wrong about that free money thing after all:

Like many homeowners these days, Victor and Yvonne Delia stood to lose a lot — about $90,000 — when they sold their townhouse near Midway Airport five months ago.

Instead, the two retired Chicago police officers managed to walk away with a 23 percent profit — thanks to property taxes collected from 61,145 of their fellow Southwest Side homeowners.

Ah! That's the Illinois way. And there's more:

Scanlan — a neighbor of Illinois House Speaker Michael J. Madigan, who helped enact the home-equity law — used the program to more than double his investment on the West Lawn bungalow at 6430 S. Keeler that he bought for $105,000 on Dec. 20, 2003.

He enrolled in the program and was given a guaranteed value of $263,000, according to an Aug. 31, 2005, appraisal.

He sold the home for $182,000 on Sept. 8, 2010, then got $81,000 more from the association on Sept. 20, 2010 — for a total of $263,000.

Scanlan moved to a two-story home in Burbank that he bought for $200,000.

And this:

The Suarezes bought their ranch house at 6221 S. Karlov in West Lawn for $135,000 on Sept. 22, 1998, enrolled in the program and were given a guaranteed value of $248,000, according to a March 2, 2005, appraisal.

They sold the house for $164,000 on April 8, 2011, then got $84,000 more from the association on April 20, 2011 — for a total of $248,000.

The Suarezes now live in a bilevel home they bought for $332,500 in the Garfield Ridge neighborhood.

The magic money machine strikes again. That is what you pay taxes for, isn't it?
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Here's an article on how to fix some of the privacy issues with the new Facebook features. (If I hadn't just friended someone who I haven't seen or heard from in a very long time, I'd have deleted my page with this last round of changes. And I may do it yet. Ugh.)
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This could almost turn me into a Katy Perry fan:


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