Occupy Wall Street - So what's the real deal?

For the past week a group of people have come together to "Occupy Wall Street" and several other similar groups have sprung up around the United States. Interesting enough when a group of people, not to many years ago, started a ground swell of protests to the overspending and raising debt by our Government they were tagged as racists. The current group is not touted in a similar method. So, what is it that these "occupiers" want? A list of demands has materialized on the website for "Occupy Wall Street" so let's take a look(http://occupywallst.org/forum/proposed-list-of-demands-for-occupy-wall-st-moveme/):

Demand one: Restoration of the living wage. This demand can only be met by ending "Freetrade" by re-imposing trade tariffs on all imported goods entering the American market to level the playing field for domestic family farming and domestic manufacturing as most nations that are dumping cheap products onto the American market have radical wage and environmental regulation advantages. Another policy that must be instituted is raise the minimum wage to twenty dollars an hr.

How does "re-imposing trade tariffs" level the playing field while raising the minimum wage to $20? Ironically this demand sort of contradicts a demand made later in the list.

Demand two: Institute a universal single payer healthcare system. To do this all private insurers must be banned from the healthcare market as their only effect on the health of patients is to take money away from doctors, nurses and hospitals preventing them from doing their jobs and hand that money to wall st. investors.

How does the private insurer prevent health care operatives from doing their business? Isn't Medicare and Medicaid that are dictating to these same health care operatives how much they will be reimbursed?

Demand three: Guaranteed living wage income regardless of employment.

Is the guaranteed living wage $20 hr? What happens when the cost of goods go up with the increase in the minimum wage?

Demand four: Free college education.

If we are guaranteeing a living wage why do we need college education? Not to mention we have lost our manufacturing base and skilled jobs. How will a liberal arts degree help us reclaim those jobs?

Demand five: Begin a fast track process to bring the fossil fuel economy to an end while at the same bringing the alternative energy economy up to energy demand.

I agree that we need to bring alternative energy to the forefront but we cannot ignore the short term solution to job creation is through fossil fuel. Right now alternative energy does not produce enough for the cost required - plus it is a net job loss notion - See the Spanish report that came out three years back.

Demand six: One trillion dollars in infrastructure (Water, Sewer, Rail, Roads and Bridges and Electrical Grid) spending now.

Now this is the role of government. To ensure our means of transporting of goods and services are capable to met demand. The question comes as to how do we pay for it? We have already mortgage the futures of our grandchildren to fund entitlement programs and current spending in the United States.

Demand seven: One trillion dollars in ecological restoration planting forests, reestablishing wetlands and the natural flow of river systems and decommissioning of all of America's nuclear power plants.

Does this gentleman believe that companies that rely on timber for their livelihood are not replanting trees for those being harvested? Also, we need a certain amount of harvesting otherwise the undergrowth from dead trees and plant life created a tinder box waiting for Mother Nature to strike. I find it interesting that he'd want to decommission all Nuclear Power plants since much of the rest of the world rely more on this type of energy then fossil fuels.

Demand eight: Racial and gender equal rights amendment.

We already have this in place. It is through continued legislation that we have blurred this line and created second class citizens.

Demand nine: Open borders migration. anyone can travel anywhere to work and live.

Okay, here is one that goes against Demand One. If we have free flowing borders how do we ensure all goods and services coming into the United States are having the correct amount of tariffs levied against them? Also, will these migrant workers file IRS tax forms, will they contribute to our tax base so we can spend one trillion dollars on infrastructure since they will be using our roads, rails and waterways.

Demand ten: Bring American elections up to international standards of a paper ballot precinct counted and recounted in front of an independent and party observers system.

Now I agree that we election reform - but this doesn't do it. We need to eliminate all campaign donations and reduce the amount of time in our campaign season. I am reading a book on the election of Lincoln and one thing that strikes me odd is that candidate Lincoln did no campaigning and didn't even talk to his Vice Presidential running mate until after the election.

Demand eleven: Immediate across the board debt forgiveness for all. Debt forgiveness of sovereign debt, commercial loans, home mortgages, home equity loans, credit card debt, student loans and personal loans now! All debt must be stricken from the "Books." World Bank Loans to all Nations, Bank to Bank Debt and all Bonds and Margin Call Debt in the stock market including all Derivatives or Credit Default Swaps, all 65 trillion dollars of them must also be stricken from the "Books." And I don't mean debt that is in default, I mean all debt on the entire planet period.

If we forgive all debt then how will we pay for entitlements? What happens to all those retirement plans?

Demand twelve: Outlaw all credit reporting agencies.

Really? So we go back to buyer beware then? When one invests or goes for a loan, how will the person lending the money out have a standard of comparison?

Demand thirteen: Allow all workers to sign a ballot at any time during a union organizing campaign or at any time that represents their yeah or nay to having a union represent them in collective bargaining or to form a union.

Okay, I trust that this process will work in the opposite direction as well. If a group of people do not want to have a union they can simply sign a ballot and be done with it?