Note: This is a repost from earlier today; sorry for the diary spam, but I want this video to get as much exposure as possible. Please Rec! (no, I had nothing to do with making it).
So, a ton of people including many in my family members have been taking the attitude of "I understand why they're pissed, but I'm not exactly sure what their demands are" when it comes to the Occupy movement.
Well, a guy named DC Douglas has put together a brilliant 3-minute video which boils down the situation and just what the hell should be done about it.
Video below the fold.
For those without video access, or who just want a summary of the piece, here you go:
It starts with Elizabeth Warren breaking down (in what appears to be an interview by, I would guess, Charlie Rose) the three major things enacted after the Great Depression which kept things running smoothly for 50 years:
--Glass-Steagall
--FDIC Insurance
--various SEC regulations
...and how those were systematically dismantled starting in the 80's.
Then she notes how once the deregulation happened, things started falling apart:
--S&L crisis in the late 80's
--Hedge fund mismanagement in the late 90's
--Enron in the early 2000's
...leading to the mess today.
Then it switches to statements by Sen. Bryon Dorgan urging that Glass-Steagall be reinstated, Alan Greenspan admitting that he totally fucked up, Sen. Levin and GOP Sen. Collins grilling a couple of Wall St. douchebags, Rep. Grayson and Sen. Sanders trying to unravel the mystery of where the hell all the money went, a woman's voice (I recognize the voice but can't place it at the moment) summarizing what a disaster the Citizens United decision was, and then back to Warren's instantly-famous "underlying social contract" speech.
The demands are pretty damned easy to summarize:
--Reinstate Glass-Steagall
--Audit the FED
--Reverse Citizens United (via Constitutional Amendment)
--Overhaul the tax code for the mega-rich (1%) and corporations
The video then cuts to various clips of the police confronting the Occupy protestors by beating/corralling/pepper spraying them...
...and wraps things up with a list of various #Occupy hash tags by city: #OccupySanFrancisco, #OccupyBoston, #OccupyDenver and so on:
Occupy Your City
Occupy Online
Occupy the Voting Booth
I strongly advise making this go viral; it quickly and powerfully answers the question "What the hell do these people want, and why?"
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Update: Wow, I wanted this Rec'ced, and you Rec'ced it was indeed. Thanks, all!
I just wanted to add a couple of notes:
--Several people have made suggestions for additional clips or solutions that should be added to the video. While these may be good ideas, I want to reiterate that I have nothing to do with the video beyond posting it. Any suggestions should be sent to Mr. Douglas (aka Lance Baxter) directly.
--As a follow-up on that: While there are certainly a dozen other issues/clips/demands which should probably be added (reinstating a 10% Usury cap, public financing of elections, etc), some of these would just confuse people while others would simply drag the piece out too long. You have to capture people's attention long enough to get your message out while ending it before they lose interest. Perhaps Mr. Douglas will make a series of these, focusing on 3-4 issues in each one, but I think this clip stands on its' own.
--The woman's voice near the end (talking about Citizens United) appears to be that of Amy Goodman; thanks to Garfnobl and tbird in the comments for identifying her.
--I found it interesting that he chose to refer to the Citizens United ruling by it's official (and obscure) case number (80-205) instead. Perhaps he figures that using "Citizens United", which certainly sounds positive (like "Healthy Forest Initiative"), would confuse people as to why it was a bad decision.
--Thanks to BruinKid for noting that D.C. Douglas, aka Lance Baxter, the creator of this (and several other excellent videos...check out his full YouTube channel) is also notable for being the former Geico voiceover guy who was fired after getting in a nasty public exchange with the teabagger outfit FreedomWorks.
Update x2: Here's some more insight into the creator of this video, Lance Baxter aka D.C. Douglas aka "the former Geico voiceover guy".
I attended Day 1 of #OccupyLosAngeles on Saturday. But after loving some signs and finding others antithetical to my world view, I decided to embrace the tangible goals I saw there. I found three* that I think could be effective in partly reversing the inequity of the last 30 years.
I also thought they’d be a good excuse to make another video.
*(I should note that the video actually includes 4 goals, not three, so I'm guessing he did some tweaking of it after posting this).
Update x3: FYI, here's D.C. Douglas' Facebook page...guys' got a great sense of humor as well (in fact, this video was so serious/stern in nature I was surprised to see that most of his other stuff is comedy/parody bits).
