Culture | November 16, 2011 | 24 comments

Hoovervilles, the Bonus March and Occupy America

JanforGore
Proof that not much has changed since this time for all of our supposed progress. The same problems with income disparity, class war, unemployment, and those who think problems can fix themselves or "trickle down" to others. And this is because we are still doing things the same way hoping for a different outcome. The same two party system, the same greed, the same campaign rhetoric, the same empty promises, the same catering to the 10 who can buy the country rather than keeping their oaths to the millions who make it work.

I posted this because I thought of the Bonus March after seeing Mayor Bloomberg's actions in NYC regarding the Americans occupying Zuccotti Park and the actions of others. Their Hoover mentality also reflects a time when we saw high unemployment, homelessness due to failing mortgages and the corrupt greed of those who then took advantage of the less fortunate. **That is why Americans are out in the parks now for those who seem to have forgotten their own history.**

This is not a just society. This is not a society that strives for equality. This is a society that thrives on the needs of the many being sacrificed for the wants of a few. And it is failing all of us, especially our children and all of us have had a hand in it because we continue to place trust in those who do not care about anything but continuing to cater to those 10. So we now see Americans taking a stand to make it right and hold those who will not take responsibility for their corrupt actions accountable. Just like veterans did when they held their Bonus March on Washington DC and built their shantytowns in the Capitol. And it was the right thing to do then and it is the right thing to do now.

So to all of the mayors in all of these cities, to the jackbooted Homeland Security Dept., to this administration that is silent on this, to those from the last USSC appointed administration who precipitated this and to all those who think that you are on the right side of history... history has already proven you wrong. Shame on you all for forgetting that.
We won't.
  1. groups:
    Culture,   Earth Care,   Human Rights,   Citizen Journalism,   1 more
  2. tags:
    Obama,  War,  America,  Bush,  21 more
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24 comments // Hoovervilles, the Bonus March and Occupy America // Video

  • Toughth
    • 0
      Toughth  

    • Lets support Perry and his plan for deregulation and watch how many 1% raise their champaign glasses. Watch how many start dieing on the job.

    • 6 months ago
  • 2warsoffbooks
    • 0
      2warsoffbooks  

    • I noticed several posters referring to " going full circle..." I think its more like, "We never left the starting line!" "Trickle down" = "let them eat cake..."

    • 6 months ago
  • Des_Akkari
  • cmc101
    • +1
      cmc101  

    • I had too many family to live thru the depression
      and was taught " if you turn your back on the thieves they will do it again".

    • 6 months ago
  • artemis6
    • +1
      artemis6  

    • Um , this history is ALMOST identical to what we are facing now , except one crucial point i would like to make , is that FDR could NEVER be elected president today . I think you all know why . He could not get a big enough war chest to make it a fair run . Also , one more thing to consider , this is the beginning of a global movement .... the outcome , is going to be global .

    • 6 months ago
  • SIBob
    • +2
      SIBob  
    • Image

    • It is ironic that Douglas MacArthur, George Patton, and Dwight Eisenhower were in charge of routing the Bonus Army from their Hooverville. You didn't hear too much about that in the later book, documentary and movie versions of their lives.
      It didn't fit into the post World War II anti-communist propaganda machine. We are still in denial here about early labor leaders and socialists. I guess if we stick our heads in the ground we can pretend these things never happened.
      http://sibob.org/wordpress/

    • 6 months ago
  • Kelly_Balthrop
    • +1
      Kelly_Balthrop  

    • Actually it did get a little better for a few decades. Then, in the 70's stagflation was used to throw out what little was left of Keynesian economics by then. The neo-cons brought back the classical theory. Since then they have done untold damage to the balance of wealth in this country.

    • 6 months ago
  • JanforGore
    • +3
      JanforGore  
    • Kelly_Balthrop:

      It may have been a bit better for some financially and yes, we did make some strides regarding social justice and the environment, but I'm also talking about the same rules ultimately being at play. There has always been a group of elite few who have done their best to keep it that way.

    • 6 months ago
  • Kelly_Balthrop
    • +2
      Kelly_Balthrop  
    • JanforGore:

      Agree 100% on that point. I'm starting to lean toward the position that any form of Capitalism will eventually become corrupt by those who game the system to gain power. I've been reading everything I can get my hands on regarding alternative economic theories to try and understand if it is even possible or desireable to establish a different way of running things.

      I've been leaning towards the original teachings of Marx, not the Soviet version which is not even close to what Marx had in mind. We have no farther to look than our friendly neighborhood credit unions for a business model that fits Marx's original intention. Not for profit, and owned by the membership, whether that be the employees or customers. There are a lot of Coop organizations springing up, though they are more popular in Europe. One interesting idea I've been reading about are Time Banks.

      I still have a lot of self education to do. One way or another the corrupt econo-political system we have can not survive much longer. Like animals in the wild, once free we don't take to living in a cage.

    • 6 months ago
  • artemis6
    • +3
      artemis6  
    • Kelly_Balthrop:

      I have been reading like mad as well , and i too , think you are on the right track .... Time banks and co-opreatives and a strong local economy (local energy included , as in solar and bio gas , which recycles waste from animals and humans leaving only fertilizer and energy producing methane ) .... If the insanely rich would not hoard SO much we COULD take care of ourselves and most everyone . Honestly , i would like to get rid of money all together . Charging interest on it , is too tempting a power grab to ever be prevented for long . It is a slippery slope of greed .

    • 6 months ago
  • Kelly_Balthrop
    • 0
      Kelly_Balthrop  
    • artemis6:

      Yes, using currency does create problems. Perhaps in the next 50 years it may finally become obsolete. In 50 years there will be no labor performed by people; it will be done 100% robots. In 10 years we will have the ability to create in our home, anything material we want with 3-D printers, and only pay the cost of raw resources (think star-trek replicator). They will cost no more than a microwave oven. Commodities will virtually be free to anyone who wants them, so no need to keep track of value with a currency.

    • 6 months ago
  • James_King
    • +4
      James_King  

    • And congress continues to insist on "trickle down" and continue to block any efforts by the POTUS to create jobs through work programs designed to benefit all.
      They should all be forced to watch this film until they finally get it,

    • 6 months ago
  • JanforGore
  • GRC54
    • +1
      GRC54  
    • James_King:

      Do you seriously think they would get it? We all get it and I have been making this comparison for many months now. Our elected officials will never get it. There is no money in it for them to get it.

    • 6 months ago
  • JanforGore
  • Des_Akkari
  • queenofit
    • +5
      queenofit  

    • Ten men in our country could buy the whole world and ten million can't buy enough to eat.”
      ― Will Rogers

      Excellent quote...(1931)

    • 6 months ago
  • queenofit
    • +3
      queenofit  

    • Excellent post! I watched the video and you are so right, we have not made much progress? Update the pictures and the dialog remains the same, it would be hard to guess the year? Well, so far we don't have those giant military tanks rolling across the OWS...(yet?) Good gosh? Douglas MacArthur and his military called out to attack our sacred vets? Dam, that is pathetic; shame, shame.

    • 6 months ago
  • JanforGore
  • Des_Akkari
    • +1
      Des_Akkari  
    • queenofit:

      someone should use the same audio and remix the video to fit OWS.....unfortunately I have no skill. I would make a great commercial to wake up some of the sheeple. Let them HEAR AND SEE how far the American dream has come in the last 80 years.....full circle and back to where we started. JEEZ!!!!

      If you are not a paid stooge....even if you identify as a repub....you cannot look at that video and think that we are on the right track. You have to be a complete moron.....oh crap, they are morons!!! The US is doomed

    • 6 months ago
  • queenofit
    • 0
      queenofit  
    • Des_Akkari:

      I think you have a great idea, wish someone would do it, I am like you, don't have the skills. My parents lived during the depression, my mother never stopped speaking about that period in her life, it had dramatic effect upon her, as it had on many from her generation. In spite of the many changes we have seen over the last 80 years, one thing has remained the same, the money has stayed in the hands of the elite. If nothing changes, nothing changes.

    • 6 months ago
  • JanforGore
    • +2
      JanforGore  
    • queenofit:

      My parents were young then but they lived through it as well. My mom used to tell me times were hard, but they lived within their means and appreciated what they had. I think that is good advice for the times we live in now.

    • 6 months ago
  • JanforGore
    • +4
      JanforGore  

    • "Progress, far from consisting in change, depends on retentiveness. When change is absolute there remains no being to improve and no direction is set for possible improvement: and when experience is not retained, as among savages, infancy is perpetual. Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it."

      George Santayana.

    • 6 months ago
  • Des_Akkari
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